5 quick questions: Munge Leung and Charles Khabouth

So, the Ultimate space that designers Munge Leung and Charles Khabouth of Ink Entertainment are collaborating on for the IDS is quite the showstopper. I've had a sneaky look during construction and I can't wait to see it finished, especially since I've heard it'll launch their latest venture - a swish hotel/condo project. Now, this isn't the first time these guys have worked together, within the past year they've made a splash with Ame, the swanky re-do of the Rubino brother's famed Rain restaurant, as well as Ultra (yep, the one with the chickens, more here), and have even re-done Khabouth's own condo.

So, to get a slightly more in-depth take at what's going on I cornered both Charles Khabouth and Alessandro Munge, one half of ML, and asked them 5 quick questions. The first two snaps shows what's what inside Ame (the cocktails are stellar btw), the third is a peek inside Khabouth's condo.[Image: Condo interior, National Post. Portrait,  Arash Moallemi/IDS]

Arren Williams: What's inspiring you right now?

Charles Khabouth: My recent trip to paris, France.

Alessandro Munge: My travels!

AW: Is there anything that can drive you crazy when you walk into a space?

CK: Bad lighting or an unwelcoming/unfriendly host.

AM: Low ceiling heights and no natural light.

AW: What's the next thing you have your eyes on for your own house?

CK: Art.

AM: Art, and lots of it.

AW: How would you describe your style - personal or design - and has it changed over the years?

CK: I want to say that my look is simple and edgy, though I’ve stopped trying hard to look my best because I just don’t have a lot of time. Now I just wear what’s simple and comfortable – and the result is actually my best look yet.

AM: Eclectic. Timeless. Modern.

AW: What's next on the horizon?

CK: I have four serious projects on the horizon in the near future – but the most prominent and exciting for me right now is a residence and hotel development in the heart of Toronto that will be the launch of a new brand. This brand will represent the ultimate lifestyle in design, comfort, amenities and access.

AM: 5-star hotels worldwide!

IDS 10: Big trucks and letterpress

Yesterday morning I was on a truck at 5am driving down to the Interior Design Show to offload and start setup. Okay, I'm taking a moment to whinge here: There is almost nothing I hate more than driving a truck, seriously, well perhaps raw celery, but that's another story. By 7am I was in and offloaded, along with my contractors two trucks and a van, and work started. The floor was screwed together pretty sharpish, then the walls went up, and by now, 24 hours later, the floor tiles will have been completed, along with the grout. Next up is this wallpaper from Graham & Brown!

In my bleary I-haven't-had-coffee brain of yesterday morning I forgot to bring my camera to document the progress. Sheesh. So instead, since I think this is really rather cool and I love a peek behind the scenes, here's a great video by Quarter Productions that shows Repeat Press making letterpress coasters for Highsnobiety and Selectism. Oh, and the bluesy soundtrack is brilliant.

Julia Black: Manga meets chic

What do you get when you combine the brilliance of a young female cartoonist inspired by Japanese Manga comics (remember Sailor Moon?) with my fave Scandi retailer? You get Ikea's latest textile collection, Charlotta. The line of 5 patterns was designed by Asa Ekstrom, who dreampt of becoming a Mangaka (a Manga cartoonist) from the age of 13, and trained in both Sweden and Japan before releasing her first Manga comic strip. Each of the Charlotta patterns is an imaginative, magical and lively mash-up of Japanese and Swedish styles, mixing Japanese woodcuts, origami and Vikings (one even goes so far as to let Godzilla rampage through some of Scandinavia's most historical buildings). So, whether you fancy new cushions, new drapes, a tea cosy, or you just love a bit of Manga, grab a couple of yards of Charlotta and get sewing.

IDS10: Butterflies and blurry dressers

Things are reaching boiling point in getting everything confirmed for the Ultimate space I'm working on for the IDS and, so far at least, things have been going in the right direction. Bev Hisey has come up with a brilliant prototype for something called a Butterfly Chair (there's a snap below of her playing around with the materials). All I can say right now is they're huge, cool and incredibly comfortable. Beyond that snap you'll see a couple of blurry cellphone shots of vintage furniture that is currently going from icky to spectacular at Beresford's, getting a lovely new coat of colour. McMaster by Para to be exact. Well, lol, that was the plan, until I went to actually buy them both and found that one had already sold. Blurgh. And it was that weirdly gorgeous vanity with the mirror. Double blurgh. These things are sent to try us, as someone so wisely said, so I found a pretty fair replacement. Honestly, that piece was so mine, and it was only $40 (I will now be kicking myself for the next while, and should really listen to my own rule of buy it when you see it).

Sanna's birds

You probably know Sanna Annukka's work for Marimekko (her Kanteleen Kutsu pattern is a fave of mine), but did you know she designed Keane's Under The Iron Sea album art? I love her sense of style, pattern and colour, so to I was super happy discover she's launched a new online shop for her screenprints, lithographs and these v. cool wooden Soul Birds. So, be sure to check out her site, and definitely have a gander at the rest of this talented half Finnish, half British designer's projects too.

  

IDS10: The work has begun

Well, the work started months ago really, first with the out-of-the-blue phone call inviting me to design one of the Ultimate spaces for the Interior Design Show. That led to meetings galore. Next, as soon as I'd decided on the inspiration for the 700 sq. ft. space - which I'm totally excited to say is Calvin Klein Euphoria - I set to wrangling every little detail and hashing out the concept and drawings with Boychuk + Fuller, ordering swanky fixtures from Kohler and absolutely fantabulous Italian tiles from Savoia. I guess you figured out it's a possibly a bathroom (lol) and, talking of tiles, they just arrived (phew) off of the boat from Italy.

Right now Cera Stone is pre-building the space in a warehouse, it'll then be disassembled and put back together - a bit like a jigsaw puzzle - on site at the MTCC, where we'll have 4 1/2 days to completely finish it. Okay... I'm trying not to hyperventilate. Take a look below and you'll see we're at the plywood-y bare bones stage, all I can say is thank heavens there's a Home Depot right around the corner!

Julia Black: Staying in the closet

With New Year’s resolutions and must-do lists in mind, just the thought of tackling my closet gives me a headache. This January, not only do I need to clean mine, I also need to source an entirely new closet system that can smartly handle all my clothes and accessories, all while staying within a relatively thrifty, post-holiday budget. Thankfully, West Elm has once again managed to answer my prayers in efficiently chic home décor, this time with the Bergen Closet Collection. All the shelves, drawers and racks within the line are both stackable and portable, so I'll get that posh custom look and can always take it with me should I ever want to move! The icing on the cake: The collection (available in chocolate & white) is made with FSC-Certified wood veneers (which means it’s using material from sustainably managed forests), uses eco-friendly hardwood construction (so no MDF and therefore less glue and other icky stuff) and is finished with water-based stains and lead-free lacquer. If that isn't good news enough, most of the hardware is made from recycled materials. Love!

To read more posts from Julia click here, and to check out her cool blog click here.

Rocking out and colouring in

Funnily enough I mentioned this contemporary artist colouring book from RxART the other day and then, over the weekend, I stumbled across another reason to grab your Crayolas and get to work - The Indie Rock Coloring Book from Yellow Bird Project. YBP, if you didn't know, is a Montreal-based not-for-profit gang that hooks up with Indie rock groups to produce t-shirts (and now the colouring book) that raise money for charity. Cool no? So, yep, the book is brill and filled with 25 illustrations inspired by the likes of Broken Social Scene, Bloc Party and Devendra Banhart, all dreampt up by the v. talented illustrator Andy J. Miller. And did I mention the book was only $10? Okay, with a little mental math, that works out to, errr, less than 50 cents a masterpiece. Now that's what I call affordable artwork. Oh, and don't worry about your colouring in abilities, YBP kindly recommends that you stay outside the lines.

For more YBP click here to hook yourself up with one of their latest t's, like the one designed by Metric, oh, and I totally recommend you buying Andy J. Miller's limited edition Love Yes Wow poster too (though not before I've ordered mine).

Staying in Martin's room

Yes, I think I'm on a bit of a hotel room jag right now, since this is a suite designed by edgy Belgian fashion designer Martin Margiela for a hotel/spa set in a vineyard in France. The hotel is Les Sources de Caudalie and the room Margiela designed is the grand suite L'ile aux Oiseaux. Check the hotel's website out in French and you'll see the suite before its transformation (it's a woodsy cabin on stilts set on a secluded island and looks totally charmant). So, perhaps the new look is a little incongruous with the rest of the hotel, but it certainly does have a rather dreamy edge with all that white painted wood, faux panelling wallpaper and mirrored cubes. If you fancy checking in it is a bit of a splurge at 650 Euros a night, but those that do decide to snuggle up to the pillowed headboard will apparently receive a special gift signed by Margiela himself. Via the NY Times Style Magazine [Image: Xavier Bejot]

Julia Black: Milk, no cookies

When hunting for eco-friendly alternatives to painting furniture while we were shooting Pure Design, I was ecstatic to discover Homestead House Paint Company, Canada’s only milk paint manufacturer. I was even more thrilled to learn that beyond the 45 shades of all natural, enviro-friendly milk paint, they also have wood stains, 100% acrylic latex paint, and traditional oil paints (linseed or hempseed oil, just like the pioneers used), all of which are eco-awesome! If you can't find a colour you love (like the pretty robin's egg blue called Loyalist) all of Homestead's natural, biodegradable, VOC-free and all around earth-friendly paints, stains and finishes can be matched to any colour you wish, and can be used on just about anything - both indoors and out - that you fancy. So, as we look forward into the New Year, we can also look back and appreciate that some historic design tricks are in fact the way of the future. Cheers to a healthy, clean and environmentally kind 2010!

Check out the snap below to see Nadine and Jacques' gorgeous Homestead House milk-painted cabinet (and lovely living room) from a recent episode. [Image: John Queenan]

To read more posts from Julia click here, and to check out her cool blog click here.

Is 'Hotel chic' chic?

An interior designer friend was complaining about the idea of Hotel chic the other day. He'd heard clients bandy those two words about one too many times and had quietly blown his top. Why? Well, is Hotel chic actually chic? Yes, there are tons of gorgeous hotels out there, but is there a single defining style that gums it all together? Not really. For a while it was all sleek lines and chocolate brown wood (thanks to Christian Liaigre), and we were all romanced by an imaginary jet set life of perfect room service and miniature soaps, but as soon as the bed scarf showed up it all went to pot. A bed scarf, if you've never seen one, is kind of a fakey blanket laid at the end of a hotel bed. For whatever reason a real folded blanket is a complete no-go, so we're left with this odd imaginary thing that (hopefully) only exists in the mind of hotel designers. They make me shudder...

So, as you can imagine, it's been a while since I've been really inspired by a hotel bedroom. And then the Crosby Street Hotel opened up in NYC, and I saw this gorgeous monochromatic room. It's completely jam packed with personality, interesting hits of pattern and style and a brilliant mix of furnishings. Oh, and look, no chocolate brown wood, and certainly no bed scarf in sight. Love it.

Snaps of Christmas past

Happy Hols to one and all! Below you'll see a few shots from a Holiday feature I did a few years back with Donna Griffith for Flare Magazine. I still love the mix of vintage and new pieces and thought it would be a nice send off before all the festivities begin. Looking through the shots reminded me that the silver angel's wing, in the pic with the chair, was a flimsy piece of a Halloween costume that I found sitting forlornly on a shelf at Value Village and saved to use one day (wish I knew where it was now!). Oh, and to see more of Donna's beautiful work, click here.

Boxing day comes early

I do love a bit of good packaging, so when I was shopping in H&M the other day and saw these fab gift boxes I knew I had to post them. The snaps below show the lids of the boxes which have a cool trompe l'oeil photo of a box-in-a-box-in-a-box-in-a-box. Love the fashion-y animal print one, the red patterned option feels fresh, crafty and Swedish, and the painterly kid's design is super sweet. All three were designed at H&M's Swedish headquarters, and are free with purchase. And hey, anything that doesn't need to be wrapped with paper and then tied with ribbon this time of year gets my vote, though you might decide they're too cool to gift and keep them all for yourself.

Spring awakening

Funnily enough my sister posted about Spring 2010 this morning over on the her fashion reporting blog, Blink London, and I'm loving all the vintage chintz and mod florals she's been seeing. So, yep, here's a taste of Spring from me. In fact, to be exact, it's a taste of April, which is when Ikea's outdoor lines hit the floor (and sell out in minutes as usual, lol). The shot shows a sneak peek of a collection called Blanko, and the mix of bright white, cherry red and a lovely turquoise-y blue - the key colours for Ikea's Spring/Summer look - is totally whetting my appetite for warmer weather.

{Giving it} Kiehl's Creme de Corps x KAWS

Giving it is all about my take on what makes a great gift. Okay, perhaps I'm a little over excited this morning (it's either the shot of espresso I just downed or the fact that my guest post just appeared here on Elle Decoration South Africa's lovely blog) but I'm totally digging the mash up between Kiehl's and the grafitti artist KAWS on the Creme de Corps moisturizer. This cool meeting of the minds is all in aid of an admirable US children's charity called RxART, which is all about getting art into hospitals. In fact, if you hop on over to the Kiehl's website you can also catch this limited edition RxART contemporary artists colouring book and crayon combo. Hey, and whether you decide to go for the limited edition Creme de Corps moisturizer, or the colouring book, all net profits go straight to RxART.

Julia Black: Pop-Up Colour

In light of all the pop-up shops that have been, well, popping up lately, I've felt a lovely buzz around the city like never before. The only problem is that this dampening, dreary winter weather throws a blanket on all the energy we have. I know, when you look outside it appears cold and grey, but the fix is in, and it's colour! Just look to the latest from folks like Jonathan Adler, CB2, Ikea and BoConcept for tons of helpful inspiration, and decide on a New Year's resolution to get more pops of colour in your life. Have a look below at snaps of BoConcept's collection for 2010. Oh, and btw, BoConcept has a store in Vancouver and are about to open a brand new location in Calgary in the next few days.

To read more posts from Julia click here, and to check out her cool blog click here.

Inedibly gorgeous

I was explaining this morning how the Holidays are making me feel - Christmas is the iceberg and I am the Titanic. I guess I'm feeling a bit of seasonal stress, lol. It's been a busy week taping a CityLine - you can catch the show this coming Monday - shooting book covers in studio and one outdoors on location (in a very balmy -10C), plus gearing up even more for the Interior Design Show. Oh, and not to mention I have a pile of cards that have to be written, addressed, stamped and posted. Oy.

In the meantime this e-card popped into my in-box this morning and was too delicious not to share. Cupcakes, yes, but look closer and you'll realise they're all made of fabric (though I think I still got a sugar high looking at the shot). Maybe Lelievre, the swish French fabric house behind the shot, should get into the buttercream icing and baking business?

{Giving it} Virginia Johnson for Hudson's Bay Co.

Giving it is all about my take on what makes a great gift. Phew, since last week my brain has been totally wrapped up in creating an overgrown English garden in a studio for a book cover shoot. Fun and lots of work... Anyways, back to gifting! I am a huge fan of Canadian designer Virginia Johnson, and just love her point of view, whether it's illustrating a book for Kate Spade or creating printed fabrics that always feel loose, fresh and summery. So, you can guess I was super happy to discover she'd created a special lightweight scarf smothered in bright and sketchy elks as part of HBC's new Hudson's Bay Company Collection. If you fancy one, or fancy giving one to a v. special person, then check out the full collection at The Bay's Queen Street location (yep, along with Best Made Co's point blanket inspired axes).

Galliano rocks a tree

Ah yes, time for a bit of glamour. I don't know about you, but a good dose of something spectacular is just the kind of kick in the pants I need. And today's inspirational kick is courtesy of fashion designer extraordinaire John Galliano, who created his version of a Christmas tree without an evergreen twig in sight. Instead Galliano's tree is smothered in orchids, butterflies and a rather chic leopard, all fashioned from papier-mache and inspired by the Orientalist vibe of his Fall/Winter '09 collection for Dior. If you'd like to take a gander at the tree you'll have to stop by Claridge's hotel in London, where it'll be on display until Jan 6th. Looking around for snaps of the project I discovered Galliano's original sketch, which gives a lovely peep inside the creative process, and just had to include too. Oh, and I have to thank Laird for the tip on this! Via Bornrich.

{Giving it} Zoku Quick Pop Maker

Giving it is all about my take on what makes a great gift. Okay, I don't care whether it's minus whatever outside, I think the Zoku makes a brill present. In fact, it can make frozen pops in as little as 7 minutes. Seriously, an iced up chocolate fudge, latte and Baileys number would totally sort me out or even, ahem, something healthier with fruit. For more info, and to check out a demo video, click here. The Zoku Quick Pop Maker is available at Williams Sonoma.