Image from Wrapables.com

This Foot in the Door Doorstop is perfect for shoe lovers! Simply slip the tip of the shoe under your door and ta-da! It comes in black or red and is made from rubber. What a stylish way to keep your door open. At least you don’t have to damage the tip of your own real shoes for that purpose! Just don’t go around looking for the partner of this shoe… unless you want to keep another door open! Like say, your shoe closet?

This will make a great present for those who love shoes or for anyone who just wants to make that fashionable statement right at their home’s entrance!

Post from: Blisstree

A Foot in the Door

I was excited to recognize a few of these items from sexy women’s TV shows like “Sex and the City” and “The Real Housewives of Orange County.”

If you’re not ready to go completely out of your comfort zone and try some of the crazier items, they also have a beautiful collection of scented candles and beautiful massage stones.

Contour M + Afterglow Sensory Set $40.50

This set stimulates multiple senses with a gentle candle, warming scented massage oil, and a perfectly shaped ceramic massage stone.  Not too scary, but definitely sexy right?

Check out the rest of the range of products on sale at Jimmyjane.

Post from: Blisstree

Sale on Sexy Items at Jimmyjane

Kindergarten:

Light:

You can see this is going somewhere good:

Wavy amazement: Actually, this home, I did take the time to look up because I really like it. Here’s the full scoop from Architectural Record.

Visit Kauffmann Theilig & Partner for more.

Post from: Blisstree

Wish I Spoke German

MoCo Loco, reigning king of contemporary design (at least in my opinion) has a super holiday submission post with strange fold up eco-minded Christmas tree, a sweet and ultra modern take on the traditional nativity scene and this cool marble maze set-up. Wish I’d seen this one before I picked up Cedar’s this year.

PrairieMod’s specialty is finding stuff I wish I’d found first. They almost always do and I’m usually jealous. They recently posted this super keen Sorapot — a teapot with so much style it hurts. I should have sent this straight over to Kettle and Cup but besides being jealous I’m also sometimes greedy. (Yes, I’m getting coal for Christmas).

Now if you want to check out some beautiful finds go check out the rest of PrairieMod. They also run a slick mod store — too late for holiday orders but still a nice place to shop.

Core77 has their annual 77 gifts for under $77 list posted. Actually, it’s been up for a while. I knew I should have finished this link love last week. Still, since it’s more for looking than actual gift buying I won’t feel too bad. You will LOVE this list. Full of the coolest, most unique finds under the winter sun. It reminds me of my own lists here at Offbeat. From candle carvers, to The Universal Guggenheim SnowDome, to tattoos, and Barbie doll dusters this list is packed with fun. In fact I even saw stuff people around here might enjoy.

Like I think Noreen over at Hankering for Yarn might like these cupcakes:

And maybe Joshua over at Junk Creation would like these — he could keep creating (or fixing at least) stuff all through dinner.

Lastly, the always lovely Inhabitat has the scoop on Canada’s greenest building — not photo heavy but a great read about what may just turn out to be one of the most environmentally friendly buildings in the world.

There, I finally finished last week’s link love. Nice. Now go and visit some of the cool sites above. It’ll be fun, I promise.

Post from: Blisstree

Incomplete Link Love

This week there is an “Offbeat Hot” but there will be no “Offbeat Not,” because when Bart Prince is in the house how can you possibly complain?

My house is full of architectural books and magazines and discussions often turn towards home building and design. But frankly, although I enjoy this stuff, hearing about drywall, soffits, or PV modules for the umpteenth time isn’t that exciting. What’s exciting to me is to see unique design in structures; architectural pieces that give something back to the space they occupy. Buildings that enhance the natural world around them fascinate me and Prince’s designs do just this. Here is one of my favorites:

According to Prince’s site, the Height Residence, a weekend home near Mendocino, California, was designed, “With a continuous undulating roof which provides a buffer to the wind on one side while opening to ocean views on the other.” I love how this house looks like it completely belongs here — almost like it grew out of the ground. The colors and shapes work directly with the landscape instead of overwhelming it.

Personally, I’ve always been curious about what goes on in the mind of individuals who have such such an original focus; so I was thrilled when Prince agreed to answer some questions I sent him about his work.

Background:

The New Mexico born Prince, is recognized internationally for his unique residences. Prince was awarded the Record House of the Year Award in 1989 for the Brad and June Prince Residence and again in 1991 for the Joe and Etsuko Price Residence. Other accolades, among many, have included featured works in numerous exhibitions, the 2004 International Excellence in Design Award, and Prince is recognized as one of The AD 100 by Architectural Digest. Now this is just a smidgen of a bio. You can find out much more at Prince’s website.

I asked Prince if he always imagined himself designing offbeat and unique structures or if there a specific moment, such as at the College of Architecture at Arizona State University or after meeting Bruce Goff, where he decided to build unusual projects vs. the average project. Here’s what he had to say:

“I’ve never really thought of my work as particularly ‘offbeat’ though I guess that word has probably been used on occasion to describe it by others. What I’ve been interested in since I was very young is CREATIVE work. Work that is RESPONSIVE to each individual situation, site, climate, client etc. I can remember going to kindergarten in Santa Fe and wondering why people lived in these dark, creepy brown buildings. I don’t know why at age five or six I was so affected by these things but I was. I didn’t know what an architect was and at that age I didn’t really know how buildings came about but I certainly thought we MUST be able to do better! I began making my own designs and models to show people what we could have. I never thought of my ideas as anything but serious attempts at creating something beautiful for our own age.

I came across the work of Frank Lloyd Wright when I was around 8 or 9 years old and I was amazed that such beautiful work was possible. I learned that he was an ARCHITECT and that architects actually DESIGNED these buildings. I knew that this was what I wanted to be. By the time I got to ASU I had been working on my own trying to design buildings I thought were more interesting, unusual and beautiful. While in high school I saw a few of my designs built by a local contractor who had asked me to do drawings for houses he was building. This was good experience since instead of learning how a building was supposed to be built, I learned a lot about how buildings WERE built while at the same time realizing there were others ways they COULD be built.

One of the things that made me decide to attend ASU’s School of Architecture (aside from the fact that it was a very good school at that time) was the proximity to Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio just outside of Scottsdale. Paolo Soleri was also working near there and I got to know him as well as many people who lived and worked at Taliesin West. While at ASU Bruce Goff came to give a talk and that is when I got to know him and his work (I had seen a few things prior to that but didn’t know where Goff lived and worked . . . that was before the internet and it was not so easy to find people). Goff was very interested in the designs I had been making and I went to work with him that summer. After graduating I continued my work with him until I opened my own office in Albuquerque in 1973. One way that Goff was an inspiration was that I could see he had an interest in Wright and other very creative people but he was able to find his own way and do work which was not imitative of them. This is something I felt was very important.”

To have these amazing ideas in your mind is one thing; explaining them to a potential client is a whole other issue. Prince’s site offers some very cool random models and drawings in order to show how he communicates designs to clients and later contractors.

Groves drawing above, and below a Groves model.

With all of these cool designs it can be hard to pick a favorite. I asked Prince what his most interesting design request from a client has been and he said:

“All design requests are interesting. I once had a client who needed a design that looked beautiful from the air as opposed to the typical ‘front elevation’ most people are concerned with. True ARCHITECTURE has no front or back, top or bottom. This client went everywhere in a helicopter and wanted his house to be something extraordinary from the air as he approached it. He wanted a helipad where he could land, push a button which opened the door to the hangar while a platform on tracks pulled the helicopter inside and the door closed behind. I gave him what he asked for but it’s no helipad or hangar like you’ve ever seen. He also wanted his kitchen to be able to move from the den to the dining room to the upper view room all of which were on different levels. That’s what he got!”

Below, a residence near Glorieta, New Mexico.

I don’t know the background of the Glorieta residence, but it almost looks like an airplane landed down in the desert. Very cool. What do you think? Would you like to live in a house like this?

Tomorrow (technology willing) I’ll post some more Prince Q&A and more of his amazing designs. So stay tuned.

All photos courtesy of Bart Prince. (Thanks Bart!).

Post from: Blisstree

Offbeat Hot: Q&A With Architect Bart Prince