THE EDIT.
A+R's digest on design + discovery
Manta North & Muuto Join Forces for Ready-to-Live-In Prefab Homes
by Paul Andrew Griffith |
Imagine moving into a home that’s set up from day one, furnished with iconic pieces from Danish design house Muuto. Manta North, renowned for sustainable prefab homes, now offers customers a complete, ready-to-live-in experience, with Muuto's high-quality furniture bundles tailored to each home’s layout.
Designer Spotlight: Muller Van Severen
by Paul Andrew Griffith |
Founded in 2011 by artists Fien Muller and Hannes Van Severen, Muller Van Severen effortlessly blend art and design: Known for using bold, graphic, and linear forms, they have a cult following for their use of vibrant colors and the sculptural qualities and the visual impact of their designs.
A+R Brands at Salone 2024
by Paul Andrew Griffith |
Milan’s marquee design fair Salone del Mobile continues to grow towards pre-pandemic levels as more brands and designers return to what has always been ground zero for the design industry. Here we put the spotlight on some up-to-the-minute updates from a scan of brands that are A+R favorites.
Cut the Cord
by Rose Apodaca |
The shift to life on the go and taking care of business from anywhere has been nothing short of seismic. Lighting designers, influenced by our ever-evolving collective need for versatility, seemed to have taken note, introducing some of the most attractive lamps on the market—cord-free, rechargeable and ready to go from poolside to bedside, desk to dining table, camping to carousing.
The Other Art Fair
by Rose Apodaca |
While the A+R showroom has welcomed clients for weeks now by appointment, we are looking forward to the official re-activation of our 32-acre home ROW—specifically the kick off this week with the 4-day visual art fest known as The Other Art Fair. Presented by Saatchi Art, this curated showcase of 75 artists is taking over several store fronts, windows, as well as wall space in existing shops—including yours truly, A+R. ...
Design for a Better Future
by Rose Apodaca |
The best in design improves the quality of life. And this adage isn't limited to our individual whims. Quality of life is increasingly a matter for the global community, one that means products that consume less energy and minimize waste in manufacturing and post-production. Quality is also matter of lasting durability. In a nod to Earth Day, an LED spotlight on just a few of the dozens of products at A+R produced with a healthy world in mind...
Yes, Women Design
by Rose Apodaca |
Women might account for nearly half the global population, but design, from architecture to products, remains a man’s world. If the recent rise in women designers and entrepreneurs in the marketplace and at A+R is a sign of the times, perhaps marking women’s history in this realm will sooner than later become a year-round given. In the meantime, a spotlight on a handful of creators—who happen to be women—we can’t get enough of...
Just Add Gratitude
by Rose Apodaca |
What to do when life serves up lemons?
Make a gin and tonic, of course.
For every qualifier about this year in the negative, we opted to find solace and strength in all those turns of events and turns of human grace and compassion that provided hope..
Happiness is a Warm Yellow (+Gray)
by Rose Apodaca |
The color gods have spoken: following a impoverished year on so many levels, the Pantone Color Institute proclaimed that 2021 serves up not just 1, but 2 colors in a combo platter of "happiness supported by fortitude."
Unites States of Goodwill
by Rose Apodaca |
If the space in front of the White House were given back to the people, what gesture, activity or ritual would you bring to uplift it? So is the ask from Bettina Hubby in her online virtual reality experience and panoramic pictorial collage released Election Day, “The People’s Lawn: Bringing the White House Back to the People.” Featured among the 45 creators, activists and healers is A+R founders Rose and Andy, their daughter Nina and dog Gypsy.
Rising Star: Iris Murphy
by Rose Apodaca |
From behind a sizeable 8-foot-wide-by-6-foot-high loom inside her Silver Lake studio, Iris Murphy commands bobbins of paper and silk, jute and upcycled yarns across 24 harnesses, interworking the textures into singular works of textile artistry that run the gamut from interiors to performance, fashion to fine art.
Meet Peter De Jong
by Rose Apodaca |
The best in modern design is where you find it. And while A+R's reputation is built on new and legacy collections from around the world, sometimes it's a matter of heading down the street to discover work that gives us pause. Such is the case with De Jong & Co., a brand born and bred in LA that defies notions in this age and all in the interest of furnishing homes and tabletops for generations to come.
Write On
by A+R Staff |
Back to school or just not quite back to the office, a designated work space energizes. Make it all the more appealing to report to day after day with a desk that looks as smart as it performs and can survive a career or two. Here, a brief selection of standout desks on task, and that fit a range of needs and spaces.
LA Design Fest is On
by A+R Staff |
With a milestone anniversary to mark, the festival spotlighting Los Angeles design in all its creative and innovative manifestations was delayed due to the pandemic shutdown, but fiercely determined to press on with a reimagined forum September 24-27 that will deliver to the people here–and worldwide—like never before.
Master Class: July 11
by A+R Staff |
Learn online while paying it forward. Join A+R co-founder Rose Apodaca this Saturday, July 11, for @Glamhive's Digital Summer Bazaar, as she helms a remarkable online panel with fashion and beauty leaders parlaying their businesses with purpose.
Where We Stand
by A+R Staff |
At its core, design is about solving problems, about improving the human condition—for all humans. It is about a better life. At A+R, we are committed to doing our part—now—in designing a better world.
Black Lives Matter is the civil rights movement of our time. As we’ve seen in the protests worldwide, this is not just an American issue.
This is a global issue.
La Vie en Rose
by A+R Staff |
Summer is about dreamy blush sunsets, cases of chilled rosé, vibrant salads topped with salmon, cotton candy, and seeing life through rose-colored specs. It is the flush of good health and first love. Cheerfulness and play are also associated with this color. We certainly could all use time outdoors in the pink.
Off L.A.’s Deep End
by Rose Apodaca |
More than the palm trees or the Hollywood sign or any other man-made beacon heralding that home is within grasp, it’s the sight a mile-high out of an airplane window of those blue and green patches dotting the landscape, like so many puddles across the over-developed terrain, that signal a return, finally, to Los Angeles.
Bend It Like Rose
by A+R Staff |
During this new, not-so-normal normal, how does a business owner navigate creativity, deadlines, parenting and Zoom calls? Los Angeles-based design studio Bend Goods pressed those questions and more to A+R co-founder Rose (here with the brand's signature Lucy Chair and Cono Table and her and Andy's daughter Nina), in its most recent spotlight.
Tune In
by A+R Staff |
Why did Cindy Sherman make herself up as a clown? What has Diana Ross, Donatella Versace and Dita Von Teese revealed about their notions of beauty? And why is a skateboard on A+R founder Rose Apodaca's lip? Rose has a lifetime of observations and experience to spill, and spill she will when she's interviewed this Friday, May 10, on @MACpro LIVE at ...
What We’re Doing
by A+R Staff |
The downtown Los Angeles showroom might be closed for now—but business ticks on.
As an independently owned small business, our team is like family. Each one of these amazing individuals is now safely working from their own homes, relying on the many tech channels to keep everything on track for you, our customers. The website continues to operate for now, with social distancing measures in place among essential warehouse staff.
Hyper Hiber Nation
by A+R Staff |
Seemingly overnight and as if in a fever dream, the world has been forced to swiftly reckon with such dystopic realities as “social distancing” and “self-quarantine,” as we all navigate this, well, new normal. It’s all about keeping our distance. But the psychological ramifications can be equally chilling. Could there be any better time for “hygge”?
Binge-Worthy Design
by A+R Staff |
You’re home. The news is on hyper cycle and not reporting anything new; and there’s little comfort in repeat sitcoms or post-apocalyptic cable series. You crave some creative inspiration. Turn on that spark with these top films on design now streaming.
Stockholm Recap: Seating
by Andy Griffith |
Thirteen hours is a long time to fly only to sit on the job, but I did just that during the recent Stockholm Furniture Fair, an annual trek to this stunning city that also gives me an excuse to wrap up in my winter favorites. Seating is a key category for our clients, commercial and residential, and here are 5 edits worth a sit:
Art Will Travel
by Rose Apodaca |
In between braving the 30-degree temps, dining on reindeer and herring, and a sundry of day and late-night vendor events, traveling by subway in the Swedish capitol includes an eyeful of public artworks throughout miles of 3 Metro lines. Talk about underground art.
A Masterpiece Told Through Architecture
by Rose Apodaca |
As cinemaphiles await on the edge of their seat to see if “Parasite”—South Korea's first Oscar-nominated film—also becomes the Academy’s first non-English language film to win best picture this Sunday, a couple of the hit’s major characters are also in the limelight: the homes.
Snapshot: Train to Aberdeen
by Rose Apodaca |
A picture is worth a thousand words, so it goes, and in this new series, a member or friend of A+R will spill a few hundred or so on a cherished art photograph and why it so transcends the moment captured in film. First up: Mick Rock’s iconic…
Winter Reading
by A+R Staff |
Snow, rain or shine, ’tis the season to wrap up in a cozy blanket and curl up with a good read. The A+R team recommends these books, including one for the youngest in your life. Read on…
A+R Staff Gift Picks
by A+R Staff |
It’s the thought that counts. With that in mind, what’s on the thoughtful holiday lists of the design-happy individuals behind A+R? No surprise that one has faraway cities in mind, while another is getting hygge at home with his choice. And most on the team have seen the light, literally.
Color Me 2020
by Rose Apodaca |
No need to wait a minute longer until you're blue in the face, as the Pantone Color Institute announced its 2020 Color of the Year, and it’s the antidote to all the anxiety and unease plaguing us: the “comforting,” “honest” and apparently “relatable”…
Touch Stones
by A+R Staff |
From a restaurant in Spain, to a residence in Mexico, a cultural center in South Korea, to a museum in Morocco, among the 20 doors around the world open to readers of a lavish new book by the visionaries behind Kinfolk and Norm Architects, which 3 standout for one co-creator?
Our Man In NYC
by A+R Staff |
Did you know that one of A+R’s own is now based in New York? Between A+D meetings and managing sales in and around his new home base, senior design advisor Conor Ford invites us into his new digs and new life in Gotham.
Into One's Senses
by A+R Affiliate |
For all its democratization of spreading the gospel of design, the visual nature of social media impairs a complete picture of its promise, powerfully contends a striking new tome co-helmed by multi-threat Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen.
Fly Off the Wall
by Rose Apodaca |
The British capital has well served artists for ages as muse, and for Cristian Zuzunaga, a return to the city of his formative college years has already given rise to a first and, quite possibly, the most towering of projects for the Spanish expat: a mural.
Paul Smith Does it Again
by Rose Apodaca |
Consider it the highlight of London Design Fest: a trio of British design legends coming together to re-imagine a British design icon, inspired by yet another British design icon. It would all be too much if it were not all too cool.
Now Featuring
by A+R staff |
Guess who’s in this month’s issue of the national mag New Beauty? None other than our very own co-founder Rose Apodaca riffing on how she maintains her skin while balancing duties at A+R and writing her latest book.
Fish Butchery
by Rose Apodaca |
With so much coastline and so many eateries boasting oysters, Australia, we imagined, would more than sate one of life’s primordial, palatable, prehistoric pleasures. The truth, we discovered over 3 weeks, would prove, well, complicated.
Postcard: Sydney
by Rose Apodaca |
As Austalia’s oldest yet patently modern-minded city, Sydney serves as the perfect port of entry into this captivating continent, and so it is here—harbor-side against a skyline gleaming from glass towers and winter sun—where it all begins (and ends) for our big summer holiday.
People Like Us
by Rose Apodaca |
Can a garment deflect bullets? Symbolically, if the ammunition is the decimation of culture, of identity, a garment can provide the power of transformation, of confrontation, of action. It can serve as much as a badge of honor, as existence, as resistance.
Summer Reading
by A+R Affiliate |
Whether you’re escaping your zip code or basking in a staycation, there is nothing like a good read to enhance the adventure. The A+R team recommends the following books, new and old, mature and pre-tween, to get you and yours reading...
In Short: LA Design Fest
by A+R staff |
Global design, (mostly) locally produced and the impact such practices have for creator and client reverberated throughout the revealing recent talk on the status of designing in the modern world among creative forces Lukas Peet, Simon James and Scott Bridgens.
On the Diagonal
by Rose Apodaca |
To mark the worldwide launch of Diagonal, the streamlined pool table by Yonoh for RS Barcelona, last Thursday at A+R, the rousing eve engendered strangers to quickly become friends and the reticent to reveal their shark-like alter egos.
Site See Beyond
by Rose Apodaca |
The eye has to travel, that legendary arbiter of style Diana Vreeland loved to proclaim, and, so in that spirit, we invite you to take a trip through the all-new A+R site.
A+R Hits NYCxDesign
by Rose Apodaca |
Curvy seating, baby blue leather, marble charging discs, statement side tables—oh, and that pappardelle al ragu di coniglio at Bar Pitti—continue to swirl in our minds since returning home from the New York design fairs.
LA Design Fest: June 20-24
by Rose Apodaca |
From the awards opening night to the always energizing block party and throughout the panels, pop-ups, showcases, workshops, house tours and other experiences during the 4 days, the LA Design Festival continues to one-up itself annually—and next weekend’s edition proves that maxim.
Bombing a Surveillance State
by Rose Apodaca |
