"It's In the Mix . . . "

Eric Cohler

Greetings all,

I was delighted to attend an insightful lecture from Eric Cohler at the Lee Jofa showroom during "Design San Francisco" last week. It was an hour packed with inspiration - but one particular quote of his seemed to resonate with me - "We all need a past in order to find the here and now." It was an expression of that 'duality' in design that many of the week's speakers all seemed to touch on. Mixing periods. Mixing styles. Mixing colours. Mixing patterns. And creating energy from that tension. Finding great style in that contrast.

Here are some perfect examples from Cohler's own portfolio. Such a great talent. No wonder he's referred to as "The Mix Master."

Classic oil paintings, but hung on grasscloth wallpaper.

European bombe chest paired with contemporary upholstery and lighting.

Love, love, love.

Classic space. Classic furnishings. But, paired with horizontally

striped wallpaper for some contrast and energy.

This might be one of my favourite images from Cohler's portfolio.

I love this collection of vintage photography and prints, but displayed with

just a clean modern eye. And pairing them with the geometric floor covering

is just genius.

Simply lovely. But the use of the photography over the mantle

gives it much more edge. and interest.

And this is just storage porn from Cohler's own home.

(oh, if I could only convert a bedroom into a closet!)

And a bit of shirting envy as well.

(with a great use of wallpaper on the ceiling!)

Keep mixing,

tartanscot

here's a bit more information on Cohler's collection for Lee Jofa Textiles.

"Ooooooo look . . . "

" . . . something shiny."  lol.

I, in fact, can be somewhat easily distracted.  But, thankfully, I am also somewhat easily entertained - lol - and one of my secret joys is . . .  cleaning and polishing silver.  Don't tell anyone.  It only makes me seem strange.

from the tartanscot table

I've been collecting silver for years - starting on a mad, silver-frenzied Saturday morning at the Portobello Antique market in London during my holiday vacation. Over the span of about 2 1/2 hours and four blocks, I was able to find service for fourteen from ten different vendors in 4 or 5 differing patterns.  Including some great serving pieces with my monogram.  Yay.  I've also been lucky enough to continue adding to my collection over the last few years and delight each time I find some new odd treasure.

I also use it everyday.  for everything.  My friends always ask if it bothers me to have to polish it all the time, but truly, by using it everyday and washing it promptly, it doesn't need polishing all that often.

According to sterling.com - "Sliver should be cleaned immediately after use, especially after contact with food that may cause corrosion or contain acids such as eggs, tomatoes, mayonnaise, or salt.  Many people are concerned about their silver tarnishing, but if you use it everyday, it will actually tarnish less."

Dining by Design, 2008

silver for grand dining.

and silver for cold pizza, breakfast cereal, and 

home-made grilled salmon with fresh vegetables.

oh, and I love ironing sheet.  please, don't tell anyone.

some images from here.