5.12.08 | Steelcase and Jeannie Bochette organized an event of Shakespearian import a couple of weeks ago. Presented by Roger Payne (biologist) and Lisa Harrow (actress and author) of the SeaChange Institute, SeaChange: Reversing the Tide is performance art that combines science and poetry to make the point that “man is not the overseer of life but an integral part of life’s complex web, and that our survival requires that we attend not just to our own wellbeing, but also to the wellbeing of the entire web of life.”

5.12.08 | Milan was teeming with energy from the first moment I landed, on the eve of the Salone Internazionale del Mobile. It was my first time to the Salone, and I didn'’t know what to expect, but the feeling in the city was equivalent to a bubble about to burst, stretching and expanding until finally giving way to the momentum of the event. When the bubble bursts on the first day of the fair, the city comes alive with design.

5.12.08 | The International Contemporary Furniture Fair will take place May 17-20 at New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, 655 West 34th Street. More than 25,000 interior designers, architects, retailers, designers, manufacturers, representatives, distributors, and developers are expected to attend during the Fair’s four day run.

5.5.08 | Milan'’s premiere design museum, the Trienalle di Milano, states: to know Italian design, you have to understand Italy and vice versa. We are back from the 2008 Salone Internazionale del Mobile (Salone) to report on the latest in European design trends, and after spending days afoot in the exhibition halls, it became clear that I was due for a refresher course in Italian design (and Italian language, for that matter).

5.5.08 | Introduction
Most architects are faced with significant competition when they decide to compete for a large industrial facility design project; when the process includes both architects and design-build contractors this competition often becomes both more severe and more polarized. And neither the design firm nor the developer is often able to step out of their metaphor for industrial design quality.

5.5.08 | There’'s no doubt in anyone’s mind that Charles and Ray Eames left an astounding legacy to the world of design. From film to product design, this couple created timeless pieces that still resonate to fresh minds today. This year, IIDA Northern California chose to honor them at the 2008 Pioneers in Design event. Charles’ daughter Lucia Eames, and her daughter Llisa Demetrios came to the Four Seasons hotel in San Francisco to represent their family legacy, and to share with us many pictures of the couple and their house that had never before been made public.

5.5.08 | Project/product rapid prototyping and specification software we be an indispensable tool for manufacturer-dealer sales people and interior designers within the next five years. This software represents a great leap forward from the current dealer specification tools and now equips dealers and interior designers to collaborate to most effectively present to clients their project capabilities.

5.5.08 | The worlds of interior design and fashion travel in similar, but differing circles. Rarely do the two worlds collide with such force and grandeur as on the evening of the Emerging Green Builder’s Project Earth Day, an eco-friendly fashion show put on by the USGBC’s young professional contingent. Teknion positions itself right in the thick of things by hosting the event at its New York City showroom, a space that perfectly suits the event’s eco-minded theme as well as the stylishly chic crowd.

5.5.08 | As the industry quakes as the present economic difficulties recall the blood-letting earlier this decade, thoughts inevitably turn toward areas less struck by business cycles. Those include government work and, as if to create some silver lining the IIDA (International Interior Design Association (and Tandus are collaborating to produce a series of events in 2008 for government designers, and in particular members of IIDA’s Government Forum.

4.28.08| Kimball Office and chiropractors see eye-to-eye: alignment can be a good thing. In 2001 Kimball Office started developing its Select Dealer program, and this, of course corresponds to Kimball’'s expansion into a full-line contract furniture manufacturer, building – significantly –on its wood casegoods roots.

4.28.08 | Chuck Saylor had an idea for a little cute company using his granddaughter’'s nickname, also cute: izzy. (See officeinsight 05.07.07) izzy (formerly called izzydesign is now a brand name within this growing conglomerate). It was founded by Mr. Saylor in 2001 (nice timing), but even then he was shrewd and had a lofty vision.

4.28.08 | This year's Calibre Awards was a bit different and included a 20 year retrospective of all the worthy, proven partners on the design team. Calibre Awards were given in seven categories.

4.28.08 | In 1994, the Northridge earthquake caused such significant structural damage to the highly acclaimed UCLA Medical Center that the cost to repair the damage and retrofit the building was more than double the cost to replace it, so replace it they did. On March 7th 2008, the brand new Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, the most technologically advanced medical center in the world, held one of its first pre-openings: a tour led by Lynnette Tedder, Perkins + Will (founding member) and other members of the design team for AAHID (American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers).

4.28. 08 | Spring in New York is more pleasant than many would envision, The smallest bud and a few rays of sunshine after a long winter mean so much more in this giant gray city than they do on the plains. And so it was on the evening of April 8^th the spirits were buoyed as we looked forward to the ELF, (Educational Legacy Fund) Ten Years of Giving annual Interior Design student scholarships.