Connor Renwick: March 2021

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

DMTV Milkshake: Laura Hodges on Bringing Global Style Home

This week’s DMTV Milkshake guest is Laura Hodges, interior designer and founder of Domain, a Baltimore-area home decor shop offering a stylish mix of goods by designers from around the world.

Hodges’ aesthetic is evident in her recent transformation of a 2,000-square-foot loft-style residence in Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood — a once-industrial space made softer and more beautiful with Hodges’ graceful interventions, like covering the original concrete floors with wide oak planks. That same graceful aesthetic informs the selection of products at her shop, like paintings by Maryland Institute College of Art graduate Heather Kirtland, handmade Ugandan baskets and Earth Elements bath products; her favorite products at the shop, she says, are the jewelry, like citrine drop earrings by Wild Sol and handmade leather earrings by Deanne Lenehan.

Here, we speak to Hodges about the city that finds most inspiration (spoiler: it’s Paris) and the vacation the British-born designer will take once international travel is again a good idea: “We actually had a trip for my family last summer to go to England to show my kids where I grew up, and hopefully we’ll do that sometime soon.” She also discusses the space in our homes that are most primed for a new style: “I’m really excited for home gyms because they’re usually that space that people kind of don’t really get too excited about,” she says. “We’re hoping to make sure that this year we can make them really usable — and then people actually want to use them. I’m really excited to bring in some more, really cool design elements and make them more interesting.”

Take a peek inside this Baltimore Loft project by Laura Hodges Studio:

Diana Ostrom, who has written for Wallpaper, Interior Design, ID, The Wall Street Journal, and other outlets, is also the author of Faraway Places, a newsletter about travel.

Milkshake, DMTV (Design Milk TV)’s first regular series, shakes up the traditional interview format by asking designers, creatives, educators and industry professionals to select interview questions at random from their favorite bowl or vessel. During their candid discussions, you’ll not only gain a peek into their personal homeware collections, but also valuable insights into their work, life and passions.

via http://design-milk.com/

from WordPress https://connorrenwickblog.wordpress.com/2021/03/31/dmtv-milkshake-laura-hodges-on-bringing-global-style-home/

A Year of Culinary Rooted Creativity

With the one year anniversary of lockdown behind us, we wanted to highlight two projects with culinary rooted creativity that emerged during incubation. One is a look back at how we ate in 2020, and the other a look into the future of how we can eat again together in the future.

SOURDOUGH \\\ CORONA FOOD HABITS \\\ Photo: Angela Lamprecht

First, is the observational photo series conceived by hej studios’ Creative Director, Brini Fetz and brand strategist Lisa Langmantel, captured by Austrian-based photographer Angela Lamprecht. The group took a closer look at last year’s meal plan, and how our collective eating habits evolved from a social and cultural perspective. Their concept of reflecting on the culinary monotony and receptive routines of lockdown was visualized in 8 monochromatic images.

ZOOM DRINKING \\\ CORONA FOOD HABITS \\\ Photo: Angela Lamprecht

BUY LOCAL \\\ CORONA FOOD HABITS \\\ Photo: Angela Lamprecht

TAKE OUT \\\ CORONA FOOD HABITS \\\ Photo: Angela Lamprecht

HEALTHY FOOD HABITS \\\ CORONA FOOD HABITS \\\ Photo: Angela Lamprecht

HOMECOOKING \\\ CORONA FOOD HABITS \\\ Photo: Angela Lamprecht

GO-TO-DISH: PASTA \\\ CORONA FOOD HABITS \\\ Photo: Angela Lamprecht

SNACKING \\\ CORONA FOOD HABITS \\\ Photo: Angela Lamprecht

David Hockney, A Bigger Splash, 1967

The second project we wanted to showcase is actually Pinch’s Pool Party. Inspired by David Hockney’s iconic pool paintings, our latest food furniture design was developed to make future party-goers feel safe by offering individualized portions, but presented with a splash of POP. Thus, the pool is adorned with 80s square white tiles and fun vibrant accents of yellow and blue. At Pinch, we love solving party problems, and so re-imagining how grab-and-go “buffets” could remain COVID-friendly while offering an interactive component for the guest was very important to us. In this instance, food is warmed via a sous-vide wand hidden in the diving board, keeping the floating glass jars of goodness at the perfect temperature. Two of our favorite jar menus for this interaction are a faux risotto with Arborio rice, maitake mushrooms, mushroom demi-glace, egg yolk and parmesan butter. The other a zucchini bolognese, with roasted tomato, cavatelli and mirepoix. Guests select their jar, shake to emulsify + enjoy, without ever coming in contact with another party-goer’s plate.

via http://design-milk.com/

from WordPress https://connorrenwickblog.wordpress.com/2021/03/31/a-year-of-culinary-rooted-creativity/

Framery Collaborates With Ultra To Launch Custom-Made Office Pods

With the world slowly transitioning back to being in the office, workspaces need to be more adaptable and flexible than ever. This latest collaboration between Framery and Helsinki-based design studio Ultra will help make that transition easier. Framery, known for their soundproof private spaces for open offices, tapped on Ultra’s designers to work with Framery’s R&D in creating the newest, high-tech iteration of their office pods, called Framery One.

Over 14 concepts were created to get to this final design, which incorporates leading sound insulation standards, echo-free acoustics, and the latest technology. Nearly all the components of the Framery One pod are exclusively custom-made. These office pods, which have been used by leading companies like Microsoft, Puma, and Tesla, are now available globally to all companies.

via http://design-milk.com/

from WordPress https://connorrenwickblog.wordpress.com/2021/03/31/framery-collaborates-with-ultra-to-launch-custom-made-office-pods/

The 2021 Cadillac Escalade Is Intuitive Luxury

I was lucky enough to live with the 2021 Cadillac Escalade for a week. I’ve come to the conclusion that there is only one word that describes the many facets of this vehicle: AWESOME. It’s fitting to describe the size, tech, interior finishes and exterior design.

The first thing I noticed about the Escalade was its size. It’s big. But, despite its size, it has modern lines and a simple aesthetic. The 22-inch wheels fit neatly into the wheel wells and were appropriately proportioned; the rims are well designed and not too aggressive, but edgy enough. The minimal trim drew your eye across the landscape of the exterior and instilled a feeling of motion, even when the vehicle was sitting still. From the front, the grill is imposing and conveys a feeling of dominance without being overbearing.

The interior was inviting. The seats were dressed in buttery leather and were both heated and cooled. Other parts of the interior were a mix of leather and cloth. There was no mistaking the fact that I was in a luxury vehicle. The modern, curved OLED dash screens were impressive and seemed to stretch from the driver’s window to the center of the vehicle. Yet, they never felt overwhelming. The resolution was nothing short of amazing. No matter what the lighting situation was, there was never any glare on the screen. Everything remained crisp and easy to read, was easily viewable from any angle. The rearview camera display was a fun at first, however, I couldn’t get used to it while the vehicle was moving. I ended up opting for the comfort of the old school mirror and turned the camera off (Jaime: I loved the mirror camera!).

Curved OLED display

Night Vision

OLED front camera

The technology features were everything that you would expect. From parking assist, to night vision, head’s-up display, and Apple CarPlay – the Escalade was loaded. I’m not sure that there was an option that I ever heard of that wasn’t included. It even had massage seats! Thankfully, it was also more intuitive than I could have imagined. After little more than a half an hour, I felt the same comfort and ease that usually comes after spending months with a vehicle. If I tried harder, I might have figured out that there was parking assist sooner. I eventually discovered it, but only after I had already parallel parked. Yet, with all of the cameras and sensors, parallel parking was a breeze. But, for as intuitive as it was, my daughter was disappointed that we couldn’t get her iPhone hooked up to rear screens. I know that you could cast some devices, however, that wasn’t an option for Apple devices. I think that it would have been great if we could have mirrored her screen.

One of the nice things about the quick adjustment to the bells and whistles was that I got the opportunity to focus on the ride. It was smooth. I mean…really smooth. You could barely feel the road underneath you as you glided over the asphalt (Jaime: I felt like we were flying!). The interior compartment was supremely quiet. I couldn’t help getting the feeling that I wished someone was chauffeuring me around (Jaime: Jordan was chauffeuring us around and my daughter and I felt uber-fancy – like celebrities!). At the same time, it was fun to drive. For a full-size SUV, it drove like a much smaller vehicle. It had nice acceleration and the handling was nimble. I was thankful for the driver assist features that helped me change lanes and stay in my own lane. The model I drove didn’t have their new Super Cruise Handsfree Driving Technology because I understand that wasn’t available at the time of our test drive, but it will be this Spring.

Super Cruise utilizes two advanced technology systems – a driver attention system and precision LiDAR map data, to provide added confidence for the driver.

Second row sliding seats that allow for increased distance between the first and second row seats.

The layout of the interior was also really convenient and spacious. There were two rows of captain chairs and a third row of bench seats. The third row of bench seats could lower and raise automatically. I was able to put a 7-foot surfboard right down the middle by lowering one side of the bench seat. I still had room for four more passengers. And, if they surfed too, it would have been no problem to fit their boards as well.

Sleek interior design lines mimic movement

Overall, I enjoyed my week with the 2021 Cadillac Escalade and hope to test the Super Cruise technology as an excuse to drive this vehicle again!

via http://design-milk.com/

from WordPress https://connorrenwickblog.wordpress.com/2021/03/31/the-2021-cadillac-escalade-is-intuitive-luxury/

Roche Bobois’s 2021 Outdoor Collection Is Welcoming + Ready

Roche Bobois’s 2021 Outdoor Collection has all the makings of a good party. A comfortable modular sofa in bright, becoming colors and patterns. Lounge chairs in which to take an afternoon snooze, either next to the pool or in the garden. Tables and poufs that invite you to pull one over to become part of the conversation. Each piece is ready to help you reclaim your surroundings, and the furniture is waiting for you to settle right in.

Two standouts are Informel Outdoor and Pekin. Informel consists of two sofas and two armchairs. Designed by Hans Hopfer, the collection’s fabric is made specifically for the outdoors and is truly amazing. The exclusive textile is exceptionally soft and elastic, embracing the sofa’s plush angles and adding yet another layer of comfort to an already welcoming design. Pekin, an outdoor floor lamp, was designed by Gabriel Teixidó. Reminiscent of a fishing rod in appearance, the angle and orientation of Pekin allows you to adjust the lighting for every situation – lots of light for putting together a puzzle, and perhaps less for a quiet chat.