Mixing things up for inspiration’s sake
BLEND INTERIORS, an L.A. outpost of a Paris-based design gallery, has opened with a combination of aged industrial pieces (steel factory lights, work cabinets), pedigreed midcentury designs (plaster torchiers by Serge Roche) and new designs by Eric Thevenot. “We think interiors that artfully blend old and new, different materials and contrasting styles work the best,†Thevenot says. “It’s about relying less on convention and more on inspiration.†Among the more affordable items are early 19th century architectural etchings of the Louvre ($700) and 1940s champagne flutes from the south of France ($100 each). 933 N. La Cienega Blvd; (310) 360-7500; www.blendinteriors.com.
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A simple touch of blue will do
Royal blue and white have always struck a chord: Chinese porcelain, Delft dishes, and more recently IKEA’s Arv cup and saucer, left, and Williams-Sonoma Home’s Moroccan Tile dessert plates. Now Czech designer Maxim Velcovsky of the studio and shop Qubus has taken a classic onion pattern and applied it to the bottom half of a European Coke bottle (shown here, $35) and white vases shaped like a Wellington garden boot. To add a little red to the white and blue, he also created “Ornament and a Crime,†a bust of Lenin that costs a capitalistic $1,000 at A+R in Silver Lake, (323) 913-9558, www.aplusrstore.com.
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HOME PAGES
Pop goes the lifestyle
Published out of Long Beach by the team behind the contemporary fashion magazine Metro Pop, the 1 1/2 -year-old PopLife aims for the hip in the latest issue, featuring profiles of Hollywood interiors legend William Haines, “Nip/Tuck†set decorator Ellen Brill and Atwater Pottery’s Adam Silverman. PopLife dares to mix 21st century Northern European design with California vintage modernism and blend fashion with furniture, but rather annoyingly, it doesn’t include prices. $5. www.poplifemagazine.com.
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Green means go -- if you’re in the know
Social Hollywood, which boasts furnishings from the Tangier hotel where the cast of “Casablanca†stayed, opens its bar and restaurant to the public this week in the landmark Hollywood Athletic Club space. The man behind the revival, New York-based hotel and restaurant designer Mark Zeff, has more than a few surprises for the members-only spaces. His Green Room, at left, features wallpaper by the Irish firm Timorous Beasties, Belgian blown-glass lighting fixtures, Scandinavian Modern furniture and Zeffdesign tables. “Everybody has done black and red,†Zeff says. “Green is such a yummy, playful, sexy color. Especially at night.†Social Hollywood, 6525 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles; (323) 462-5222; www.socialhollywood.com.
