Blu Dot: Three Stand Up Guys

Being the obsessive chair fanatics we are—our furniture editor had "quite a few" in her home at one time and I’m on the hunt for the perfect chairs for every room in my house—it’s no wonder we see ALOT of chair designers and designs. A favorite, we want to share with you,  is the Blu Dot crew. They create the most amazing chairs in comfortable and fascinating shapes. Chair fanatics themselves, they even conducted a Real Good Experiment with one of their chairs and produce movies about their designs featuring a large furry squirrel.

John Christakos, Blu Dot’s CEO and founder, recently interviewed with Bradford Shellhammer over at dwell.com. In the interview, he touches on what makes Blu Dot different from other design houses. He tells Shellhammer, “As one of the few design firms that also manufactures and markets its own designs, I have learned that design is really the easy part.  And the most fun part, although I suspected that from the beginning.  Getting a design from sketchpad to marketplace is much harder than I originally thought.”

Charles Lazor and Maurice Blanks join Christakos to make up the three Blu Dot principals. The three college friends share a profound passion for design, art and architecture. Their mission?  To “bring good design to as many people as possible.” Their design philosophy? To "create simple straightforward objects in a complicated world. Clarity is very important to us." We like the way they think!

Another character trait we love about these guys is they don’t take individual credit for their designs. They approach concept, design and production as a collective effort. Christakos says of the process, “We are a design collective and have been from the very beginning. For the first several years, Charlie, Maurice, and I designed everything and we did that collaboratively. Some pieces may have started in my sketchbook or Charlie's or Maurice's but by the end they were truly a group effort. We are firm believers that the collective effort often yields results that can't be reached on a solo basis.”

Others are talking about the Blu Dot trio too. Marissa Bartolucci of American Contemporary Furniture, says of the three designers,  "With their inventive, can-do spirit that characterized the work of the Eameses, Blu Dot has resurrected the values of the Good Design movement and its popular potential."

Design on you terrific three! The Blu Dot Buttercup Rocker below would work great as a living room chair and has my name written all over it. Simply b-e-a-uuuu-tiful!

• Posted at 8:24 PM
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Calling All Bookworms

With all that’s happening in the world today, sometimes you need a place of your own to curl up with a good book and hot beverage. Necessities for the perfect nook are a comfy chair, side table and lamp. Even when you don’t have time to read, just having a cozy reading place ready can be comforting. Here’s what we suggest to help you create the perfect reading nook…

The Westbrook Multi-Accent Armchair by Signature Design for Ashley Furniture is fitted in beautifully-patterned upholstery in muted earth tones set atop showood bun feet. The thick rolled arms and plush pillow back of this upholstered chair will give you hours of comfort.

This hand-painted Round Floral Top End Table in its dark red finish makes a perfect companion piece to your plush upholstered chair. From the cabriole legs to the golden brown crackle top this table is sure to please.

Shed some light on that intriguing mystery you’re reading with this Quoizel Two Light Table Lamp. This handcrafted shining beauty is made from genuine fossil stone and looks remarkably like agate. A detail you that might interest—fossil stone is actually petrified wood which was embedded in the crust of the earth for eons!

• Posted at 2:15 PM
• living room chairs
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