Luxury Interior Design Journal » “Green” Products

Restoration Hardware Edmonton

Laura Bielecki — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 06:28:03 +0000

Its Time… Restoration Hardware is finally coming to Edmonton!!!

Restoration Hardware Gallery Store

Just in time for the Christmas shopping season the store will open its 9,100sq.ft. store this Saturday in its brand new Southgate Mall location. This is the second Restoration Hardware store in Alberta. The first one opened 2008 at Southcenter mall in Calgary with great success. This location will feature their new “gallery” store design with a warm loft look and feel. This Gallery concept showcases higher end products for a designer clientele. These new store pieces all worthy of both the hospitality and residential market.

Restoration Hardware Holiday Dining Room

Restoration Hardware was founded 30 years ago in California and has since become a leading purveyor of fine furnishings for home, hospitality, baby and child. With more than 100 retail and outlet locations across Canada and the United States they offer a broad range of products from bed and bath linens to sink into deep sofas, hardware and rustic to chic lighting.

If you appreciate quality, craftsmanship, design and sustainability and have a decent budget Restoration Hardware will turn your House into a dazzling masterpiece of a home. Their pieces have a Ralph Lauren type quality to them with rich smoky masculine leathers, button tufting and linen which is right in line with my design style!

Restoration Hardware Living Room

The Resto staff are all warm, bubbly and super excited about the company, its values and the great product lines they carry. When you pop in be sure to speak to my great friend Stefannie and the Store Leader Dawn, tell them I sent you!

Restoration Hardware Furniture and Accessories

Happy Christmas Shopping!!

Custom Contemporary Lighting from Yellow Goat Design

Laura Bielecki — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:00:23 +0000

Yellow Goat Design Halo Vert LED fixture

I have been in love with Yellow Goat Design for quite some time and often used their produc timages in visioning sessions with clients as there designs really push the envelope and complement different design concepts. The design team at Yellow Goat works one on one with design firms to come up with original and sculptural pieces. The company has been around for over 10 years and is known internationally for their work with hotels, casinos, clubs, resorts, shopping centers and residences. I see them being a complete hit in the UAE.

Here are some of my favorite inspiration pieces from their site. Enjoy!

Yellow Goat Design Wings chandelier

I love this piece for its scale and the uplifting and whimsical feel it gives. The reflections of light it gives off throughout the day must be magical!

Yellow Goat Design Alba Chandelier

This is a very sophisticated and elegant piece. I see it in a saks 5th avenue, boutique hotel, shoe store or jewelry store…. exquisite!Yellow Goat Design Celeste Chandelier

Yellow Goat Design Crystal Donut

Yellow Goat Design Dishy Chandelier

These chandeliers compliment this space so well. The contemporary shape but classic feel is effortlessly done and despite the visual weight they seem quite regal and bright.

Yellow Goat Design Drum Fixture with Recessed Diffuser

Yellow Goat Design Amoeba

Yellow Goat Design The Girls

Can you imagine these pendants over a sushi bar! This fixture belongs in Tao Restaurant New York.

Austrian Residential and Hospitality Furniture

Laura Bielecki — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:52:21 +0000

Donna Sofa by Hans Hopfer

In 1903 Joseph Hoffman and Kolo Moser started the Wiener Werkstätte known in English as the Vienna Crafts Studio based on quality and craftsmanship. After a long history in 1986 Kapo took over the company and still runs it today. Below are some of their great creations!

Consider using Neue Weiner Werkstaettes moderne and klassik collections for high end residential and hospitality spaces that require quality craftsmanship, timeless details and environmental consciousness. Some of these pieces have been represented through Roche Bobois since 1969. Hans Hopfer was one of the main designers who invented “seating landscapes” like his castell collection.

Walk in Closet by Neue Wiener Werkstaette

Magnus lounger by Annette Hinterwirth

Player sofa by Hans Hopfer

Boheme timless lounge chair by Annette Hinterwirth

Weekend Soft by Jan Wichers Klassik Collection

WW39 wall system by Neue Wiener Werkstaette

Best of NeoCon 2010: Products

Laura Bielecki — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 23:00:36 +0000

Best Of NeoCon Products

The Merchandise Mart is so large in Chicago that it is hard to put my finger on my favorite products from the trip but I managed to pull something together! NeoCon focuses mainly on Commercial interior design with a heavy focus on contract furniture and floor coverings. Most of the Showrooms are year round spaces but some of them were temporary booths.

18×36 Commercial Carpet Tile by Shaw Contract Group. In 4 great patterns: Fade, Overlay, Blur, and Laser Cut. The great selection is produced in eco-friendly Eco-Solution Q nylon on EcoWorx tile backing. This company has truly dominated the market for environmental story and aesthetics. Few others match them for the richness of their colors, quality, customer service (Thanks Celeste!) and the timelessness of their designs. I’m glad that they were the first to bring out the rectangular carpet tile and cant wait for samples to come out in the fall.
Joel Berman’s Heat lamp won Gold for decorative lighting at NeoCon. Heat is a light sculpture for designed interiors. Fashioned from a solitary 2 ¼ in. thick volume of acrylic resin, the luminaire is cast in Berman’s signature Arrigado texture, accented with brushed stainless steel hardware, and equipped with a high intensity LED light source.
Davis has created a great line of residential feeling contract furniture that is fully powered in delightful ways. I was also particularily struck by their bench seating- great form and quite conmfortable! Locally in Alberta you can find Davis through Solutions Workplace Furnishings, have a chat with Todd or Shannon and they can bring back some style to your outdated office space.
Kvadrat Maharam came out with this great vintage feeling nordic pattern in great colors called A Band Apart.
I can’t say enough how much I love Tai Ping Carpets. Their exploration of color and texture in wool and silk has been incredible to watch. Here is just one fine example of hand carving, color and play on textures. I can imagine anyone taking off their socks and shoes to run their toes through this piece. This company also suprised me this year by launching a luxury line of carpet tile called Innuendo.
Halcon came out of nowhere. I had never even heard of the company. Turns out they make high end Commercial and residential office furniture. As you can see by this image Simon was rather excited to see the clothes hanging space within the unit. Each and every element was customizable and teh drawers were all felt lined. The Proximus line was impecably detailed with the sliding workwall, eye height open filing, soft cloding drawers, ball bearing slider. The veratility and efficiency of this piece are well displayed and can benifit both the office piler and filer!
DIRTT (aka. Doing It Right This Time) certainly has blown me away. I had never seen an install until NeoCon and am shocked by how advanced their research and product line is. The clean lines and simple details of their project surely put it ahead of all other modular walls companies. These are truly living adaptable systems with infitite capabilities. I am not a health care designer nor have much interest to go that route but their healthcare display gave me infinite respect for how much work it must be to pull of an aesthetically pleasing, ergonomically correct compact hospital room that feels welcoming and clean. Congratulations DIRTT for opening my eyes!
Designed by Scott Wilson the SW_1 conference table for Coalesse is a great modern adaptation to the way we live and work. The casual work setting begs for comfort and flexibility as well as connectivity. This table allows a person to pull their table pad closer to them to make for a better posture and comfort when working with a laptop.
Jofco presented this piece in all white with a few pale blue accents but when I re-looked at it online in wood and black I was completely drawn. This piece is gorgeous and shoudl be a stand alone in any law firm or partners office. Its simple and uncluttered meant to show off stature and how critical the only desk accessory (the laptop) really is.
I was unfamiliar with Carvart until NeoCon 2010. nearly completely customizable the laminated glass can showcase images, materials, textures, graphics etc. in a sophisticated and elegant way. This large peice shown was of two faces with metallic sheer fabric in between giving the image a subtle and reflective quality to it that cannot be captured in photographs. Their website has some great closeups of what they can do. Turns out that they did Andres Escobars 11 Fulton as well as the Park Plaza in New York.
Poggenpohl makes luxury contemporary kitchens. I have been admiring the Porsche kitchen for a few years but it wasnt until visiting the Merchandise Mart in Chicago that I finally got to explore the design and truly appreciate it. The linearity of the design and integration of lighting as well as the assisted opening drawers and cabinets make you feel the qaulity and craftsmanship of the piece. Cabinets and drawers are divided by 5mm thick dark oak. Th eproporation of cabinet heights and depths is truly unique and ergonomic.
Poliform has a great collection of furniture, wardrobe and kitchen designs all in the same style but different proporations and aesthetics. I have used them in the past on a few projects overseas and am in love with particularily the Matrix collection (as shown in photo). There Grey-Dyed Oak is the most beautiful wood and finish I have seen and would love to have it for both my kitchen and wardrobe.

NeoCon 2010 Best Commercial Interior Design Showrooms!

Laura Bielecki — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 06:07:46 +0000

I have finally managed to tag and organize more than 3000 photos and 5 bags of books, pamphlets and brochures from my incredible trip to Chicago in June for NeoCon 2010. I had an absolutely great time with my friend, coworker and fellow designslave Simon Chu. Together we explored 18 of 24 magnificent floors of the Chicago Merchandise Mart with everything from commercial office furniture to silk carpets and crystal chandeliers. I feel a deep need to showcase some of the best permanent and temporary booths and showrooms from this great trip. Without further delay here are Laura’s Top NeoCon Showrooms!

NeoCon 2010 Best Office Furniture Showrooms

Office Furniture is possibly the largest draw to NeoCon with all of the major competitiors showing off their permanent showrooms and range of product offerings. Clive Wilkinson Architects did a stunning job for Haworth in creating a beautiful presentation and presence with a colorful and creative poolside design. Special Congratulations to Haworth for winning gold for both the Very task chair and the Enclose frameless glass movable wall system. Hawoth put on a bunch of great free lectures at their showroom this year. I only had a chance to attend one of them. The lecture was about the Macquarie group building in Sydney. I will definitely hav eto do an article just on that project in the near future!

Steelcase always combats with the other giants using simple color schemes and dynamic forms. Their Threesixty magazine showcases all of their great new product offerings and explains all the vitals, definitely worth checking out to call yourself ”in the know” even if you didn’t attend the show. Media Scape is by far one of their coolest products… the possibilities are endless with the integration of videoconferencing, sofas and bar height counter and stools. They define their offering this year as “harder working spaces” and I believe it with great compact furniture solutions for school and office.

NeoCon 2010 Best Textile Showrooms

Luna and HBF rocked the show with high fashion and drama in their showrooms. Each showcased all color options for their new ranges and let you pet and play with each of their product offerings. I love how Luna hung sneakers covered in their fabric making you feel like you really can use it anywhere.

NeoCon 2010 Best Corporate Lounge Furniture

Corporate Lounge spaces are all the rage at this years NeoCon. The office is no longer about a sea of cubicles (“drewbicles”) or the corner office, rather it is about flexibility and collaboration in an ever changing working environments. Consider quick meeting spaces, relaxed teleconference rooms, residential style board rooms… all this and more has become the new standard for all the major brands. Bernhardt design keeps classy and timeless with simple white lines and occassional pops of color. Turnstone takes the corporate office outdoors with campfire themed seating areas that encourage coomunity and natural postures and social instincts. (cave, campfire, oasis, daycamp, island, canteen, wildlife, shanty, picnic table,

NeoCon 2010 Best Glass and Resin Showrooms

Skyline Design sold me with humor and imagination. I love their new line of environmentally friendly tempered safety kids glass with plenty (11) of fun and creative patterns that can be written all over. Imagine them in a childs bedroom, classroom, library, hospital or anywhere you may need to keep a child busy and their mind active! Congratulations to Skyline for being a NeoCon 2010 Gold Winner!

Joel Berman is a captivating and talented glass artist from Vancouver Canada. This great Canadian has taken over the world with sculptural glass, divider panels, sidelights, lighting and more. His collection now includes resin which has benefitted him greatly for its lighter weight properties. His Heat luminaire is a gorgeous new light fixture that I would love to see over a dining or conference table. Congratulations to Joel and his team for capturing two best of NeoCon 2010 awards!

I will have more updates in the coming week of some of my favorite products, food, architecture and design from Chicago and NeoCon. Let me know if their is anything else you would like to hear about from the show or my trip or if I missed out on any great products or design parties.

Have an inspiring week!

Laura C. Bielecki

LEED AP

Laura Bielecki — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:21:32 +0000

Environmentally Conscious

I am proud to say that you are now reading the blog of a CaGBC LEED Accredited Professional. After tireless months of studying I was able to write and pass the exam. This accreditation gives me the knowledge I need to successfully work on and make well conceived decisions regarding any design project and most specifically any project that is aiming to attain LEED certification. I have now worked on 5 LEED buildings from LEED certified to LEED gold and am anxiously awaiting the opportunity to achieve LEED platinum. With a newer rating system and examination process LEED will be at a more advanced and challenging level for future LEED professionals. More info on these changes can be found on the CaGBC website www.cagbc.org

A few helpful study tips for those rushing to complete the LEED AP Canada exam prior to Christmas:

Read the WHOLE book through prior to doing any practice exams or intensive study.

Make yourself a “cheat sheet” with a list of all the information that you think you might forget on exam day: ASHRAE standards, how many credits are required for each level certified-platinum, rules/certifications to remember like SCAQMD and Green Seal and any acronyms that you tend to forget.

Take a few practice exams. You can find some online for free but most you have to pay for. I bought the 80 question exam from greenexamprep.com and found it very helpful. The great thing about going through practice exams while you study is that you begin to understand how the questions are written, what types of questions may be asked and what you seem weak in.

Take 4 solid days off prior to the exam to do intensive study

The USGBC (United States Green Building Council) and CaGBC (Canadian Green Building Council) are leading the way in North America for changing the Architectural industry for the better. Product manufacturers, engineers, urban planners and designers are all collaborating on pushing environmentally conscious decisions into new buildings, properties and renovations. This push is making sustainable design more available and more affordable.

New LEED AP path

I will be sure to present more sustainable design and product information in the coming future as part of my personal contribution to a greener future.

Below is a picture of the University of Calgary’s Child Development Centre recently completed by Kasian Architecture, Interior Design and Planning in Calgary. This building stands as Canada’s largest LEED Platinum building. All of the great design features can be viewed on the CaGBC or Kasian website.

Kasian LEED Platinum Building - UofC Child Development Centre

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