The Fashion Doll Chronicles: interior design

Showing posts with label interior design. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Barbie now has an architect designed dream house

If you are frequent readers of this blog, you probably remember back in May when the AIA Barbie® Dream House™ Design Competition challenged AIA members to design a dream house for this worldwide but oh so American icon. Well, the results came out this month: from only 30 submissions, a panel of jurors selected five finalists with input from Mattel’s own team of Barbie® experts. They then invited the public to choose their favorite design. Almost 9,000 people, children, but also those still feeling like children at heart, voted. The result: Barbie’s dream house is the quintessential Malibu beach house; it is modern, functional, spacious, fun and most of all sustainable. The design submitted by Ting Li, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP and Maja Paklar, Assoc. AIA, received the most public votes, out of the 8,470 votes registered.

The press release from Mattel tells us how Architect Barbie designed her house:

Naturally the newly minted Architect Barbie took on the task of designing her own dream house. She is creative, fashionable, busy and powerful. She has gone through years of training to become a leading figure in her field. She is LEED AP and a member of the AIA. Although she is an internationally renowned globe trotter, when not travelling she loves to look smart, entertain her potential clients, and come up with innovative ideas in her high-tech, low energy consumption home.

The concept of this house reflects exactly who Barbie is in her new profession. She has pledged to build an environmentally sustainable home using the principals set forth by USGBC as well as to stay true to all the needs of a classic California girl! The house is situated on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The entrance faces north-west and the main body of the building has a panoramic view of the ocean. Distinct building programs are specific to each floor, connected by a center core of spiral stairs.

The stairs rise around a hollow tube , which becomes Barbie’s tower closet. Since Barbie is the original fashionista, she inevitabily accumulated a large volume of enviable designer labels. This computer controlled closet allows for the clothes to be displayed and visible from every angle of the house. It also makes dressing easy: she can select her outfit, push a button, and the outfit is delivered to her bedroom via the double helix moving rack.

The house features 1,500 sq.f. of entertaining space and chef’s open kitchen on the first floor. A Steven Jobs approved office / library / meeting space as well as 500 sq.f. of terrace on the second floor. The third and fourth floors are Barbie’s private enclave, her bedroom and her inspiration room respectively. The roof has a green house and a landscaped garden for her domestic pets.

The design elements include solar panels, landscaped rooftop and irrigation system, operable shading devices, bamboo flooring, low flow toilet and sink fixtures, and locally sourced and manufactured materials and furnishings.

A joint statement from Ms. Li and Ms. Paklar stated, “We are very honored to have been chosen by AIA and Mattel as a finalist and as the public favourite - Barbie was both of ours’ favorite doll growing up in China and Croatia. We appreciate the versatility of our profession which allows us to express ourselves in a myriad of ways - from entirely built city environments to a Barbie Dream House. We hope to encourage more young female architects to flex their design muscles and just to have fun with architecture.”

“The intent of the partnership with Mattel to promote the launch of Architect Barbie was to engage and inspire young girls to experience the world of architecture and the range of possibilities that design thinking offers,” said AIA President, Clark Manus, FAIA. “We are thrilled that this initiative was so well received by the public and congratulations to the finalists and especially the winners of the design competition, Ms. Li and Ms. Paklar. Their submissions did an excellent job of showcasing the innovative approaches that architects reflect in the design of projects of all types.”

The bad news is that the architects’ submissions including the winning design, will not be produced by Mattel. The good news is that the creators of the winning design will have a $1000 donation made in their name to CHAD, a charter high school in Philadelphia focused on architecture and design. Bit AIA does not write if they or Mattel are making the donation.

Most text and info through The American Institute of Architects

BARBIE and associated trademarks and trade dress are owned by Mattel, Inc. ©2011 Mattel, Inc. All Rights, Reserved. Photos courtesy of Mattel, Inc.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Modern miniature furniture in New York Times

For all of you who, like me, love to look at (or even aquire) modern furniture for their dolls, here is an article in the New York Times about them. I resent the implication that people who collect stuff like that are eccentric and weird - it is the only thing that marred this article for me. I would love to have some of that stufff to photograph my dolls with. They have a nice slideshow too.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Tatiana's Doll House: The Bedroom

In the third instalment for Tatiana's doll house, I have the bedroom! Every house needs a nice looking bedroom to rest and relax and Tatiana's is no exception! Of course it is always in the style laid out for the rest of the house - black & white.

The bed and bedding are from the Fashion Royalty Loft collection furniture. This line of furniture was a hit with collectors and most items are very sought after. The bedside tables, trays, striped vases and lamps are from the Jonathan Adler Barbies.

Tatiana repainted lamp bases and trays that were originally hot pink (Barbie anyone?). The bench and vanity table are solid wood shadowbox frames cut with a miter saw - I can see she uses shadowbox frames a lot for making benches or side tables. For the vanity top she inserted a real mirror in the small wooden photo frame.

The Panton miniature chairs came with the Dynamite Girls convention chair pack given to the attendees of 2008 FR Convention. Integrity also sold a pack of chairs in an assortment of colours. The curtains are table napkins.

The closet door is from Barbie House by Mattel. The hinges were broken by Tatiana's girls beyond repair, so she just cut them off and the closet was born! The fluffy white carpet is a piece of craft fur. The white vases, telephone and basket came with various Mattel play-sets, which Tatiana then repainted. The silver tea set is Re-ment and the tea tray was just a purple no-name doll accessory.

The wine bucket and bottle are Gloria, the glasses are from a Fashion Royalty convention accessory pack. The small silver cushions came with a jewellery box that looks like a mini sofa - these are easy to find in accessory shops in various styles and colours.

I hope you enjoyed this month's room from Tatiana - back next month with another beautifully decorated room in black & white!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Tatiana's Doll House: The Living Room

As we promised, here is the second instalment of the presentation of Tatiana's doll house. In this post we visit the living room. I remind you that, as mentioned in the previous installment (dining room) the whole house will be made in black and white.

The room is another box made from double corrugated cardboard. Tatiana used oversize coverstock for walls and floor. The curtains are dinner napkins - black ones are faux dupioni silk, white is polyester. The console table and the TV bench are made from another one of the frames she got from a clearance sale. The back panel behind the TV was cut out from cardstock sides of the box that came with the Fashion Royalty bed (inspired by a visit to local IKEA store). Tatiana replaced the Barbie sticker on the TV screen with a cutout from the card that came with the registration gift at the Chicago Fashion Royalty convention. It may have to be replaced with a plain black cardstock later, but for now she likes how her dolls are watching Convention News!

The sofa and chairs are jewelry boxes. The black coffee table is from the Fashion Royalty Loft collection; the accessories on top of it were included: the shaker, glasses and champagne bottle in the bucket. The white carpet is just a piece of craft felt: Tatiana used two sheets for thickness. The two small side tables are acrylic risers from re-ment bakery cases, turned on a side with tops glued to them. Their sides, originally slightly sloped, became horizontal under the weight of the tops and lamps. The black mirrored tabletops are from a friend of Tatiana's - she is not sure what they are.

The lamp shades, candles, telephones, vases, electronics and jewellery box come from various Mattel play sets. Tatiana repainted the vases, jewelry box and statuette, which is an Esmeralda figurine from kids candy. The lamp posts are from the Gloria playset. A piece of thin wooden rod and a clear bead were used to attach them to the lamp shades. She purchased inexpensive self-adhesive mosaic stones from the scrap booking section and placed them adhesive side up under the back legs of the sofa and chairs to level them up.

Tatiana says she had fun making this diorama and likes that her dolls finally have a modern living room; she was meaning to make this one for years. They sure look great sitting in there.

All photographs courtesy of Tatiana.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Tatiana's Doll House: The Dining Room

The very talented Tatiana has started making a series of rooms in 1/6 scale - all together they will make a big dollhouse. I will be presenting her work here in the blog - one room each month. We start with the dining room. Tatiana was inspired for the table by the dining room from Calvin Klein's Doll House by architect Josh Prince-Ramus (see previous post and photo below) . She liked the "dressy" posh impression conveyed by the dark brown and white colour scheme, and decided to use black & white for her dining room.

Calvin Klein Dollhouse - for photo credit check previous post

The idea to make the whole doll house in black and white with style and colour coordinated rooms came to her after making the dining table from wooden frames, which she purchased on clearance for her craft projects. They are solid wood shadowbox frames with high quality black finish. Her husband kindly cut them to desired height with a mitre saw. She then finally had enough modern looking furniture to make not only the dining room, but also the living room and bedroom. These furniture pieces with their rich feel of solid wood and almost jewellery-box quality finish are her favourites.

Tatiana had several dioramas in foamcore boxes before and after discovering that they don't hold their shape and warp under furniture weight, began looking for something more sturdy. She found oversized double corrugated cardboard in a local art store and decided to give it a try. She scored the sheet with a construction knife, then proceeded to fold and glue it into a box. The result was much better than she had hoped for. Using oversize coverstock for walls and floor added more durability and allowed her to avoid unsightly seams.

The columns are 13-3/4" wedding cake pillars, bought here. The white chairs came with Dynamite Girls convention chair packs. Tatiana purchased some of them on e-bay and some on doll boards. Plates are Gloria accessories that were repainted white. The cutlery, candelabras, wine bucket with bottle and "crystal" glasses are from Gloria play sets too. Vases are by Mattel, except for the clear one, which is a lipstick base.

She cut out placemats from acrylic screen on collectible Barbie box. The white table runner is a candy box ribbon. The Fashion Royalty liquor cabinet was a part of her office diorama, that was disassembled to make room for this one. Tatiana thought that it would look much better as a china cabinet and, after arranging some Re-ment plates and tea sets in it, she was happy with the result. And so are we.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Madison Avenue (Doll)House - Rex Architects for Calvin Klein

CLIENT Calvin Klein, Inc.
PROGRAM (Doll)House for the “Calvin Klein Woman,” displayed in the Calvin Klein Collection storefront on Madison Avenue during the 2008-2009 holiday season
AREA Dollhouse: 4.0 m² (43 sf); Concept House: 190 m² (2,000 sf)
WEIGHT 450 kg (1,000 lbs)
PROJECT COST Confidential
STATUS Completed November 2008
ARCHITECT REX
KEY PERSONNEL Jeffrey Franklin, Joshua Prince-Ramus, Jacob Reidel, Alejandro Schieda, Eugenia Zimmermann

CONSULTANTS Magnusson Klemencic, Situ Studio

Calvin Klein’s Senior Vice President for Creative Services approached REX to design a concept house showcasing pieces from the company’s apparel, accessory, and home lines. The catch: the house would be realized in miniature and displayed in the main window of Calvin Klein’s Madison Avenue store during the 2008-2009 holiday season. REX dubbed this fusion of concept house and doll house a “(Doll)House.

For a practice committed to using constraints as generative opportunities, the project was challengingly whimsical, presenting an exciting (and fun) opportunity to test the limits of our methodology across multiple scales.

A response to two markedly different scales and purposes, the (Doll)House had to reconcile—in one design—the contradictory constraints of a concept house and a doll house:

1. The concept house had to be designed for the “Calvin Klein Woman,” a professed city-dweller; the doll house typology is traditionally a suburban, detached, single-family dwelling.

2. The concept house had to provide privacy for its hypothetical inhabitant; a doll house has to be open, at eye-level, and easily viewed in the round.

3. The concept house had to respect the minimalist aesthetic of Calvin Klein; the doll house had to be bold enough to attract the attention of holiday shoppers.

4. The concept house required a hypothetical site in New York City; the doll house site was already fixed—a Madison Avenue storefront.

By siting the concept house in the ‘landscape’ above a Manhattan intersection, the competing demands of the two scales begins to reconcile. Suspended in air, the concept house remains a freestanding residence while capitalizing on underutilized urban space. Undeniably frivolous, the Madison Avenue (Doll)House nevertheless contains a kernel of an idea for accommodating growth in rapidly-densifying cities.

Meanwhile, elevated and freestanding within the storefront, the doll house can be seen closely in the round and from afar, and can be opened from all sides for play.

The conflicting constraints that remained unresolved by the selection of the concept house’s site are reconciled by the (Doll)House’s design itself. The design begins as four, minimalist floor plates (dining room, living room, bedroom, and rooftop pool terrace) following the precedent set for Calvin Klein by John Pawson, the store’s designer. The plates are then shifted to maximize visibility into the doll house, and to provide views out for the imagined occupant of the concept house.

To balance the opposing desires for views and privacy, the (Doll)House is wrapped in a cocoon of translucent white textile. Conceptually, this fabric layer operates as a sunshade, outboard of a glass façade.

The interiors and roof terrace are furnished with miniature replicas of pieces from the company’s apparel, accessory, and home lines. These items were designed by the company’s creative directors: Francisco Costa, Calvin Klein Collection for Women; Italo Zucchelli, Calvin Klein Collection for Men; Ulrich Grimm, Calvin Klein Shoes & Accessories; and, Amy Mellen, Calvin Klein Home.

Architect Joshua Prince-Ramus in front of the Madison Avenue (Doll)House

Images Credits: James Lattanzio; Luxigon; Situ Studio

(text from REX Architects)

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Welcome to the Haute Dollhouse - A homage to Jonathan Adler by Michael Williams

Meeting talented people has been one of the many joys of collecting fashion dolls. Meeting people like Michael Williams is an honour. His talent in creating exquisite dioramas, that not only look realistic, but are bristling with taste and style, is unique. I will present here his amazing diorama inspired by the interior designer Jonathan Adler, letting Michael talk about it in his own words.

Michael: I was never your "normal," or perhaps I should say "ordinary," little boy who liked to play with action figures and toy cars in the sandbox. I got my first Barbie, Sweet 16, when I was 5 years old, and progressed to Malibu Barbie & Ken, Pretty Changes, and Superstar Barbie before selling them all off at a garage sale by the age of 10. As a child, I simply loved the escapist fantasy of these glamorous characters in their Dynasty gowns going on James Bond-like adventures in their bright yellow plastic mobile home, since we couldn't afford the A-frame Dreamhouse, back then. They were an outlet for my imagination, and I got to be the costume & set designer, hair stylist, screen writer and director, all in the confines of my small-town, Midwestern, middle-class, orange shag-rug-carpeted living room.

"BEFORE" living room scene
Superman Ken in LB BOYZ polo shirt with Sleepytime Gal reproduction
Barbie in vintage blue "Belle" dress; vintage sofa set found on eBay
for $15; Gloria table lamps repainted by photographer; picture frames
found at flea market. Thin sheet magnets adhered to back of all items
on wall; diorama magnetic walls by Room With A View; parquet hardwood
floor from Dreamstime.com royalty-free stock photo, printed on 13x19
inch Epson R1800 panoramic photo printer; Barbie and RE-MENT
miniatures abound.

The first time a doll resurfaced in my adult life was right before moving to New York in 1994. I was on a yearlong fellowship studying studio photography in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, when my best friend there gave me a Dutch-talking Barbie, complete with little wooden shoes. He and his boyfriend would often buy cheap play line dolls to repaint and restyle as their favourite silver screen icons, like Joan Crawford or Bettie Davis. And so I had my first introduction to grown men who play with dolls, and not the inflatable kind.

When I returned to the US and moved to New York, I discovered the Barbie on Madison boutique at FAO Schwarz and fell in love with retro reproductions of the very first #1 ponytail Barbie dolls from 1959, and I got a couple as novelties for my bookshelf, because I love vintage 1950's and 60's film and fashions, personified by actresses like Audrey Hepburn and Doris Day. An older friend once recounted nostalgically how he remembers when there was a time that you could HEAR a woman enter a room just by the ruffling sound of her crinoline petticoats. I enjoy escaping back through time to that era, where women wore pearls and little white gloves and both men and women wore hats, and these dolls can personify our idealized vision of that bygone Camelot.

This presentation gets its name from my September 2007 HAUTE DOLL Magazine feature on diorama doll house furnishings, and it serves as a laudatory homage to Bravo TOP DESIGN guru Jonathan Adler (age 41),who first fell in love with ceramics at age 12 in summer camp, but took a brief detour in the movie business before launching his initial line of pottery at Barney's in 1994. The line was an instant success, and in 1998 he opened his first store in Manhattan's SoHo neighbourhood, which has since been followed by several boutiques across the country, as he expanded his line into a glamorous new furniture collection, along with bedding, towels, and pillows (some of which are licensed and carried by Bed, Bath and Beyond and department stores). He even redesigned the Le Parker Meridien Hotel in Palm Springs, now a hot resort vacation destination.

Jonathan Adler catalogue photo

First, I thought I'd start off with the inspiration for my dioramas - from the catalogue of Jonathan Adler.

Jonathan Adler catalogue photo

Many of the pieces in the feature come from either bargain vintage finds on ebay (the centrepiece red corduroy sofa set cost only $15)or IKEA's line of doll house furniture that closely match Adler's lacquer-finished end tables, along with items like the wall screen from Barbie's My Scene and Fashion Fever line, accessorized with many simple and easy handmade projects like the Adler-inspired pillows (printed onto ink-jet friendly fabric), star burst mirrors of painted toothpicks and foam core, a George Nelson clock made of pins and paper, vases and lamps from fluted metal beads that closely resemble the gourd-inspired signature pottery of Adler, and an Adler place mat that doubles as an area rug.

Jonathan Adler catalogue photo

RED, WHITE & BLUE living room

Repainted black IKEA picture frames; all images by French fashion
designer Rene Gruau (he is pictured in small horizontal white photo
frame on shelf); white plastic "lacquer" look nesting side tables and
bookshelf - IKEA doll house furniture; lamps made from metal beads;
authentic Jonathan Adler-designed vases, lampshades, books from
Bozart Kaleidoscope Doll house accessory set; TV, record player -
REMENT; radio vintage Barbie by Mattel; wooden ashtray by Carolyn
Allen; Miss Honey, Silkstone Barbie accessory set.

Silkstone Fashion Designer Barbie (with gelled-back bangs) does
Gloria Vanderbilt in reproduction Commuter Set jacket with vintage
crest and "Open Road" vintage Barbie pants; pillows based on Jonathan
Adler designs, created in Photoshop and printed on 8.5x11 inch ink jet
printer fabric.

Vintage Allan head on VOLKS articulated body wearng vintage "Victory
Dance" Ken fashion, area rug - Jonathan Adler placemat from Bed, Bath
& Beyond.

IKEA dollhouse nesting tables, lamp of metal beads, Integrity Toys
Monsieur Z Fly Girl stainless steel cocktail shaker set and tray,
custom-painted vintage Barbie phone, Fashion Fever Barbie wall
screen, custom painted Gloria ice bucket as planter with fake fauna.

LIGHT BLUE CIRCLES living room

Blue circular wallpaper based on Jonathan Adler design; George Nelson-
style wall clock made of metal ring, foam core circle, push pins and
paper cut-out hands; Barbie My Scene coffee table, cordless phone and
customized floor lamp, Hobby Lobby photo frame chair, RE-MENT
teacups, bead lamp; area rug is Jonathan Adler place mat from Bed Bath
& Beyond.

Hobby Lobby photo frame chair (about $10, purchased on-line from
another board member, since there is no store in New York City I can
get to); Barbie My Scene table and customized lamp (I combined two
lamps to get this stand-alone upright); Barbie phone, RE-MENT tea
set; George Nelson clock made from foam core, pins and beads.

VITRA miniature white Panton chair (similar to the new Dynamite Girls
chairs, which are a better bargain, as VITRA can be quite expensive),
Barbie lamp and Fashion Fever screen, Bratz side table, IKEA
doll house chest of drawers, white enamelled and silver beads and wall
ornaments.

IKEA doll house chest of drawers, white enamelled and silver beads and
wall ornaments, Barbie lamp, star burst wall mirrors made of foam core
circles with metal rings, Mylar reflective adhesive paper, and
metallic spray-painted toothpicks.

Black & White Living Room (below from left) My Scene Barbie china cabinet with RE-MENT china set (top shelf), beads (middle) and custom painted Barbie My Scene stereo and lamp; cruelty-free (and pet-friendly!) zebra "skin" rug from ink jet printed fabric glued on black felt base, vintage Allan head on VOLKS articulated body in vintage houndstooth sport coat and fashion, repainted black flea market picture frames with added magnetic backing, custom ink jet printed pillows based on Jonathan Adler designs, Barbie My Scene repainted coffee table and RE-MENT tea set, vintage Barbie Go-Togethers end table with custom printed tabletop liner, white enamelled metal dollhouse birdcage (severed from original attached table bottom, lined with felt), Hobby Lobby photo frame chair, Silkstone Lingerie #3 Barbie doll in I Love Lucy Barbie fashion, Haute Traveler Susie doll in handmade reproduction Francie Japanese exclusive fashion by Joan Hudson; black and white wallpaper scanned in from fabric and printed on my Epson panoramic photo printer (about 3 pieces of 13x19 inch paper fitted together for each room width).

And some detail photos below:

China cabinet detail - looks so realistic!

The birdcage is one of the amazing details put by Michael into this exquisite diorama.

Even seasoned decorators have a lot to learn from Michael.

All photos are by Michael Williams: check him out at: MAWPhoto and also at his Flickr album.

RESOURCE LIST:

Room With A View magnetic diorama from Cleabella

Carolyn Allen
Mod-O-Rama Fashion Doll Furniture
cda311@myway.com

Matt Trujillo
Custom OOAK reflocked Ken dolls
rubbermatt2000@yahoo.com

Joan Hudson
Reproduction Francie fashion
jhudson1101@hotmail.com

B&J Fabric (for black and white pattern on wallpaper)
525 Seventh Avenue, 2nd fl at 38th St
New York, NY
(212) 354-8150

TOHO Shoji Bead Store
990 Avenue Of The Americas/36-37th St
New York, NY
(212) 967-2088