Vladimir Kagan's Blog

THANKSGIVING AT THE KAGANS

 

 

Copyright Vladimir Kagan 2010

 

 

Thanksgiving at the Kagans has become an institution. Some of our guests have been with us for 32 years…. every year!..... They come yearly to fatten up on turkey and guzzle down gallons of wine….. They’re hilarious, they’re dysfunctional, they’re nuts…. but we love them!.... They affectionately call themselves, “We is what we Waz”

 

 Some are the bi-product of our son-in-law, Billy Cushman. These characters share a common denominator; they went to The Berkshire School, a preppy environment for rich kids. The school, over the years, may have spewed out some illustrious grads, but the class of 1971 certainly did not. (It was in the time of the Vietnam War and Hippies and no one paid much attention to studies.) They are all scions of America’s lost industrial grandeur. George Sterling Coyne’s forebears owned textile mills in Philadelphia before they morphed into Coyne Chemicals. The Keeney brother’s, now living in the family’s grand 20 room mansion, built in 1912 in Summersville, Connecticut, now look at the once proud, but abandoned Keeney Textile Mills across their side yard. William Sanderson Cushman is a direct descendant of Samuel Colt, the inventor of the six-shooter (on his paternal side) and the Ford family (of Model T fame) on the other. Karyn Kudra Coyne is from New Jersey, where her family were the proprietors of one of the largest cranberry bogs in the state, (until the industry migrated to Chile) The Kudra family dates back four generations in Vienna where they were furriers to the royal family.

 

Everyone arrived by ferry on the blustery Wednesday before Thanksgiving. They Brought enough luggage, coolers, and cases of wine to fill up all available space in our Explorer SUV…. (alas, they had to walk to our house in sub-freezing temperature with gusty Nor’easter wind in their faces.) Bill Cushman arrived on his beloved Moto Guzzi bike followed by Jessica and her daughter Mallory, in the family’s pick-up.

 

This motley group meets once a year in our Nantucket home and collectively bring: 13 lbs of bacon, one 26 lb. Turkey, a Ham, 4 Cases of wine, Cider – 4 gallons, 3 pounds sausage, 6 lbs of Philadelphia Scrapple, 4 gallons cider, 5 pies 4 loaves of home backed bread, 6 qts. of berries, 1 gal. Of heavy cream, 8 lbs of butter, a bushel of vegetables including Brussels Sprouts on a stem, (to taunt me as I hate Brussels sprouts) 20 lbs of potatoes…. Plus much, much more. Add this to what we purchased on island including 3 lbs of freshly shucked Nantucket Bay Scallops for my specialty: seviche…. You get an image of what our weekend will be like!

 

It is an ongoing cook-fest for four days…. (I abandon the kitchen to my eager imported chefs…. in fact I sneaked up to my studio to write this Blog!)

 

This is the stil-life photo of the finished product....(I neglected to take photos of the chaotic goings on in the kitchen for most of the day.)

If I make my guests sound like neir-do-wells: they are not! Rob Keeney is president of the Burgundy Tastevin Foundation, and a member of The Yale Russian Chorus, plus other wine societies. He was an officer in The Republic National Bank (as he likes to say, a token “Goy” in a Jewish bank), Tod Keeney ran a successful real estate business in Hawaii, George Coyne is an actor playing amazing character roles (befitting his girth and sense of humor), Karyn Coyne has her own Antique business in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania. Billy Cushman was a successful builder and contractor until the market crashed…. (He now works with our daughter Jessica, running her growing Jewelry emporium, appropriately called “JKC - Jessica Kagan Cushman” (Note the “Kagan” was inserted to help kick-start her identity using my designer credentials).

 

This accounts for the ten guests camping in our house. Tonight, the rest of the family will join us: five Diserios (daughter Vanessa and family, who lives five houses away from us) and our son Illya, (a permanent resident of Nantucket) adding four more Kagans. We’ll squeeze 20 cheerful people into our smallish dining room, (designed to comfortably seat eight!)

 
 
 Erica's perfect table setting for twenty (in our dining room designed for eight)

....and the party is in full swing!

Our usualThanksgiving "suspects": Rob Keeney, Billy Cushman Chef for the evening, George Coyne our perenial clown, and Karyn, his long suffering wife. (unfortunately Tod Keeney was left out of this photo)

The children and son, Illya, with Erica at the head of the table....

Daughters Jessica and Vanessa with Dad

The weekend is one giddy party after another until the mass exodus on Monday…. leaving us with all the mess and tons of leftovers…. We can’t wait till next year’s reunion.

 

 

THE COUDERT INSTITUTE IS OFF AND RUNNING

 

Copyright Vladimir Kagan 2010

 

Dale Coudert did it again…. her first evening’s soiree for the winter season opened with a brilliant dialogue, featuring Professor Jeremy Wiesen.* He gave us advice on “Entrepreneurship to the Rescue! -  How to Start and Build a Business”. (Read Jeremy Wiesen’s recent article in The Wall Street Journal) - September 13^th “The U.S. Needs an Industrial Policy”. It is a wake-up call to the new Congress.  Better to open the new session with substance than haggling over political trivia.

 

Professor Wiesen’s book: ENTREPRENEURSHIP TO THE RESCUE served as the foundation for the evening. The book is a no-nonsense primer of 45 rules for starting and growing a business.

 

The intimate dinner for 25 guests opened with a lively “round table” discussion. Among the distinguished guest were the head of the Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce; the Provost of the Palm Beach campus of Northwood University where 6,500 students have studies that emphasize three things: entrepreneurship, globalization and ethics; and John Brown, a regular commentator on CNBC who predicted the housing crisis and ensuing financial collapse.

 

 

The first part of the talk set up the way new business ideas are to be evaluated: the ability to execute the idea is more important than the idea itself. Execution turns on how to acquire "infrastructure" – classes on entrepreneurship teach what you need and how to do that regardless of the money that you have for the project. For example, you might develop the most healthy, delicious tasting cookie in your kitchen but the chance of getting it on the grocery shelf is very unlikely -- the shelves are "controlled" by the big food companies who pay millions in "slotting fees" to hold the space for whatever cookies, etc. they turn out.

 

Professor Wiesen described how he helped build the Financial News Network into a venture acquired by CNBC. He determined that television is primarily entertainment: selling finance to the lay public had to be entertaining!.…. Bloomberg News is great for the pros, but CNBC puts it out with lovely ladies and attractive male presenters. Anyone tuning is entertained first and wised up in the process.

 

There’s a simple formula that Mr. Wiesen feels is applicable to most start-ups. He broke it down into 6 categories.

 

1- Understand your product and be passionate about it

2- Be certain that no one else has already done the same thing… this requires a good lawyer’s research

3- If you own it…. patent it…if possible

4- Exploit your prime asset…. which is probably you. Your location…Your reputation

5- position yourself into high visibility – A good PR firm can pave this road

6- Go to your best friend, the Venture Capitalist living next door and get the financing to get your idea off the ground

 

Much of the fun repartee during the evening was trying to blow holes into Professor Wiesen’s theory, but he staunchly prevailed!

 

In these days of stagnation economics, it was refreshing to hear an upbeat dialog that can make sense.

 

 

 

 

* Professor of Entrepreneurship, Retired: The Leonard N. Stern School of Business – New York University

 

HERE’S SOME STUFF WE CAN ALL AGREE ON

 

Copyright Vladimir Kagan 20210

 

This is a work-in-progress…I need your help to flesh out this short list into a meaningful dialog!

 

In this day of derisive arguments, Tea Parties without sweeteners, here are a few items that we might all agree on:

 

1-             Standard Time is a no-brainer…. we gain an hour’s sleep in the morning but it gets dark too darn soon. This is BAD for energy conservation, as we must put on lights an hour earlier wasting untold kilowatt-hours of electricity.

2-             Christmas cards should not arrive before Thanksgiving.

3-             Leaf Blowers should be banned.

4-             Design Within Reach is hardly within reach.

5-             Travel “aint” what it used to be and airline consolidation really hurts the traveling public… great for their bottom line but lousy for us travelers

6-             ????

 

THE ELECTRIC CAR IS ALIVE AND COMING OUT OF MOTHBALLS

 

Copyright Vladimir Kagan 2010

Posted November 15, 2010

 

I’m not talking about GM’s much-vaulted Chevy-Volt…. I’m talking about stuff that was made in the 60s…about guys who have spent their lives tinkering with an idea that has been pooh-poohed by the Automobile industry for years.

 

Michael Faraday (1791-1867)

Electric motors have been around for over a century. Michael Faraday, The British physicist and chemist, best known for his discoveries of electromagnetic induction and of the laws of electrolysis had his biggest breakthrough in electricity when he invented the first electric motor.

Between 1832 and 1839 (the exact year is uncertain), Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first crude electric carriage. A small-scale electric car was designed by Professor Stratingh of Groningen, Holland, and built by his assistant Christopher Becker in 1835. In America, Thomas Davenport and Robert Davidson invented more practical and successful electric road vehicles around 1842. Both inventors were the first to use non-rechargeable electric cells. In the meantime, Frenchmen Gaston Plante invented a better storage battery in 1865 and his fellow countrymen Camille Faure improved the storage battery in 1881. This improved-capacity storage battery paved the way for electric vehicles to flourish. By the early 1900s there were more electric cars on the road than combustion engines!

 

In the early 1900s there were more electric cars than gas or steam

It’s all about the battery!

Batteries are awkward things, do not last for ever and are heavy, as you may know from trying to replace a simple 12 volt battery in your car… Trying to run a car on electricity will require more than a dozen of these batteries. That translates into an unattainable weight. Moving weight needs more power – more power needs more batteries…it becomes a catch 22…. That is why we haven’t seen many successful electric cars on the road. (Except in California, where smog and pollution was the highest in the country. In 1995 the State Government mandated that by 2010, 10% of all cars on the road must be electric (ZEV’s – Zero Emission Vehicles) To maintain their sales of gas guzzlers, GM complied and designed a very smart-looking sprity ZEV…. By 1998 there were 300 leased vehicles on California’s Thruways, buzzing along at top speeds without spewing out any toxic fumes. However, no sooner had GM created this automotive marvel that they covertly went to work to eradicate it by killing the legislation that mandated it…. by 2002 they succeeded and the law was rescinded! They instantly recalled ALL their cars and crushed them into oblivion. (Be sure to see the documentary: Who Killed The Electric Car)

 

Subtler reasons made the electric car less attractive. Batteries needed frequent recharging…millage between recharging made the vehicle impractical except for short commutes. Then came the Hybrids. Toyota was out in the forefront with their attractive Prius. The field has since broadened: Today a plethora of new models are following in their footsteps. Hybrids use electricity and conventional gas engines to stretch their millage. (It is amusing to note that while these new vehicles tout 40 plus miles on the open road, small, efficient cars in the seventies where accomplishing this without the high-tech concoctions.)

Thanks to better batteries, the electric car is finally coming into its own. Next year 74 Car manufacturers are introducing some version of their own ZEVs. The breakthrough came with the Lithium battery… Lithium is a relatively new player in the field of batteries. It is lightweight and can be used in cars in conjunction with a conventional gas engines to stretch the millage. The downside is that it’s expensive, in limited supply, takes long to recharge and has a short shelf life…. This adds bucks to the cost for the projected life of the car, but it’s a massive improvement over the conventional lead batteries that have been around for eons… The truth is: Lithium batteries are great in computers and cell phones and not ideal for automobiles.

What is needed is a lightweight battery with a short recharging cycle that is cheaper than Lithium and made of a material available in unlimited supply. Every problem has a solution. Last week we stumbled on what might just be the next generation of batteries in the form of a dignified gentleman: Robert Raymond Aronsson, Chairman and CEO of Apollo Energy Systems in Pompano Beach, Florida (www.electricauto.com). He is an inventor with hundreds of patents relating to batteries and electric cars….  One of his patents is for Lead Foam, a reconstituted form of lead that will reduce the conventional battery weight to equal or better that of Lithium but will be 23% of it’s cost. (Here is a basic course in battery construction 101: batteries use thin slabs of lead immersed in acid and through chemical reaction form an electric charge…. [I’ve left out a dozen intermediate steps leading to the end product.] It’s multiples of these slabs that add up to the intolerable weight…. Using Aronsson’s lead foam, weight will be reduces by 85%.) We looked at this foam under a microscope and sure enough it resembled the foam used in upholstery, wrapping material and myriad other products. Aronsson overwhelmed us with pertinent statistics and figures adding up to the fact that his battery is the future: longer life, cheaper to fabricate, lighter weight, raw material in limitless supply and most significantly, it holds the charge for over 350 miles and can be recharged in 45 minutes.

Romantic rendering for a 1980's Electric car, designed by GM's Henry Lauve... it really exists today in a four door sedan version.... we drove in it last week!

This is the four door luxury sedan (x-gas guzzler) converted into a clean air electric car by Robert Aronsson in 1980.

 This wonderful vintage car is still a beauty today!....the green car on the right is the fresh out-of-the-box Chinese ZEV Mars 5. (Leave it to the Chinese to beat us to the punch.)

The mothballed fleet of electric cars ready to zoom across the country sometime next spring

Mr. Aronsson’s passion is Electric Cars. He took us for a ride in his vintage 1980 ZEV, the Silver Volt, (built on a converted GM’s “A” body & chassis) gussied up with streamlined aerodynamic headlight covers and flow stream hatch back… very hip stuff for 1980. Aronsson assured us that it will do 100 mph (though we didn’t put it to the test in our demo) and will get 150 miles on one charge and 350 miles with its rotary engine booster. Mr. Aronsson and friends plan to drive five of his prototypes from Pompano Beach to Washington DC and then across the country to LA and back, fast charging at Holiday Inns along the way, with some Holiday Inns 300 miles apart. (He has generously invited Erica and me to drive a leg of this trip and I am looking forward to taking him up on this.)

Next we test-drove a spanking new electric vehicle, the Mars V, just arrived from China; the Chinese version of the Volkswagen…completely electric, compact, smart looking and cheapish. Aronsson intents to supply it with his new battery and the vehicle will take you 180 miles without a recharge. Cost after tax credit: in the neighborhood of $16,000.

The MARS 5.... This little beauty will be equipped with Apollo's super efficient batteries, go 150 miles on one charge, charge-up in 45 minutes and will sell for around $16,000 after rebates.

Sitting in Mr. Aronsson’s modest office we chatted about many of his other projects. He regaled us with numbers and data. Ammonia fueled power cells, Apollo Lead Cobalt Batteries and much more. I bragged of having met an Austrian lady, Erika Pollitzer of Resort Vehicles Inc. who was planning to produce  electric cars in our back yard in West Palm Beach. She had just received an order for 10,000 vehicles to be used as taxis in Peru; Of course he knew her and will be manufacturing them for her! His plans are grandiose… capital intensive…. But realism, sensible planning, plus years of experience make his project appear within reach.

Erika Pollitzer's racy little ZEV will be manufactured by Apollo Energy Systems...(can't wait to drive one in Nantucket!)

Is Robert Aronsson the Knight on a White Charger?...... We hope so!

If there are any venture capitalist amongst my readers…. I can get you in touch…. but remember, I want a piece of the action!

 

 

 

 

 

THE DESIGN WORLD IS ALIVE AND KICKING

Copyright Vladimir Kagan 2010

 

I had been asked to participate in a small event at the newly opened Soho Beach House, (a recently renovated mid-century Art Deco hotel) turned into a tony private club dedicated to the arts. Hardly worth a special trip to Florida, (I thought), but as my schedule was taking me to Palm Beach, I acquiesced.

 

 

The event was titled: Design Files - DCOTA presents Design Discussions at Soho Beach House

First Up: Dror and Kagan. A candid conversation between the two design minds - spanning perspectives, aesthetics, and generations.  Relaxed, impromptu format.

 

I wouldn’t have missed this for anything!.... I had heard of Dror…had a vision of some of his designs and bigger than life reputation, but never met the guy. Turns out, he’s a 6’2” Israeli, learned his stuff in Holland’s respected Eindhoven Design Academy, and comes complete with the new designer image: shaved head, stubby beard, black uniform, combat boots and an Apple Mac Book tucked under one arm and a beautiful blond under the other. (I too came with my Apple under one arm and a beautiful blond under the other), but that is where the similarity ended. Dror, in the short eight years he’s been practicing design in the Untied States has built a rostrum of clients that can be the envy of any long established design firm…. Certainly made my credentials look like a pauper’s.

 

Like all sexy clubs, this meeting was conducted in a dimly lit room with overstuffed leather couches and a bar to keep the audience enthralled. Dror designed a bottle for a French producer of absinthe (which was seriously toned down from the original form) they kindly donated a case to this event. I produced a bevy of beautiful shills to fill the front row of seats on the out-chance that there wouldn’t be much of an audience…in the end we had standing room only.

 

Ashlee Harrison, a wispy brunette representing DCOTA introduced us and we were on our own to set the format for the evening. We both had our indispensable Power Point introductions to our work, which gave us a sparing opener and illustrated the difference in our work. In my 65 years of design, I had stuck to the core: mostly furniture. Dror, in his eight, developed the broadest range of design involvement from products, furniture to architecture and brand development. My presentation was a slide show playing with Power Point’s myriad slide transitions, Dror’s was a 21^st century computer generated walk-through of his lively mind.

 

This gave us ammunition to explore our design philosophies: Dror is very cerebral, coming at his designs through intellectual explorations: applying geometry, technology and “the complexity of the manifold meanings and uses that intersect at a single object. Every project is driven with the desire to unleash the mutable and non-static nature of objects.”    WOW…that’s a mouth full.

 

I am a pragmatist. My designs fulfill a narrowcast mission: comfort, visual appeal, (sometimes when needed price-points), function, practicality of production. I design from the gut: I sketch a lot and visualize the end product with pencil and paper…. Use the computer as a tool of communication not design.

I have a reservoir of over 700 designs to please the eye, to match a clients needs, whether a private individual or manufacturer, designs that have become icons over the last fifty years. I am still actively designing new products for my domestic and international clients. In recent years I have expanded into new material such as Fiberglas, done sculpture and architecture, found my latent talent as a writer and cartoonist for my Blogs. I have done wonderful interiors that no longer exist and have come to the conclusion that my work is installation art: here today and gone tomorrow.

 

 Me sixty years ago in my first important chair....still in production today!

A fifties sculptured hanging console table in walnut

My Boomerang Desk from 1960 reintroduced in the Pucci Gallery in 2010

Tri-symetric Chaise on sculptured aluminum legs ca 1955

A derivative design for the Capricorn Collection 1958....

The Erica Chaise...In 1970 I substituted Acrylic for the aluminum (lost our foundry) all these chaises are still available today'

My Serpentine Sofas from 1949 reintroduced in 2000 by my Italian manufacturer as The Kagan New York Collection at the Milan Salone Di Mobile

A vintage Back-to-Back Serpentine in a Paris interior 2010 - originally conceived it for a house I designed in Long Beach California (one more instance of Installation Art - Here today and gone tomorrow!

Five years ago a client wanted me to design a piece of furniture reflection NY's iconic Chrysler building. I chose the Gargoyle as symbolic - see below how this was transformed into a Kagan piece of furniture

The Sketch for a Console Cabinet

The Gargoyle interpreted as a "Lalique" sculpture in acrylic

The finished design: Surprise - the Art Deco inlayed marquetry facade become the backs of four dining chairs

An interior I designed for a client in Boca Raton on the inland Water Way....(The house is for sale and my design will soon become another piece of installation art: Here today and gone tomorrow

Another piece of "Installation Art"...A Penthouse in St. Lois with my furniture from the 50s and 60s now for sale.... and gone tomorrow!

My departure from furniture - a building for the corner of The Bowery & Great jones Street in New York (it may never be built for lack of money)

My foray into sculpture - one of four commissioned pieces for Ralph Pucci - my NY gallery

 

********

Dror thinks a lot; mulls it over and dissects it in his mind. What comes out is sometimes obtuse, not a direct line connection between two dots. A chair is not a chair… it is a convoluted folding of felt to produce a dancer’s tutu or perhaps a 17^th century pleated collar for Sir Francis Drake. A resort complex in Abu Dubai is not a series of modern structures to flatter the wealth of the middle-eastern potentates that will buy into the project. He buries them under a carpet of green to establish complete privacy.

 

Dror and I agreed that architecture is a monument, good or bad, not easily destroyed. We agreed that designing furniture is for the birds…no profit in it. He discovered it early…took me sixty some years to come to the same conclusion. While he has a rostrum of enviable clients such as Target, Cappellini, success does not necessarily relate to the bottom line. His beautifully conceived furniture for Target was a huge success but has been discontinued: perhaps too intellectual for the buyers. Cappellini’s Peacock Chair is too expensive to make major sales. A sexy well conceived shoe for Puma is still only in the experimental development stage… All that glitters is not gold.

Dror's highly imaginative Peacock Chair for Cappellini made entirely of folded felt without a stich

 

 

Porcelain vases for Bavaria's esteemed Rosenthal China company...Dror's theme: what is the worst thing that could happen to China....break of course...and that is how he conceived this best seller 

 

Dror's elegant littleTable Lamp for Target

 

Dror's clever Nesting Tables for Target...(see below, how they morph into other configurations)

 

The Tables as individual End Tables

 

The Nesting Tables as a bookcase stack

Dror's latest project: An Island in Abu Dubai called Nurai, to be developed into a luxury resort. Dror's concept: Carpet the place with green....this is his conceptual sketch

 

Computer renderings of the luxury houses beneath their carpet

Nurai Island is connected to the mainland by a causeway - This is Dror's sketch for housing along the way

....A rendering of one of the floating houses along the road to the Ilsand

When he's not busy designing bricks and mortar houses, Dror turns his attention to ethereal stuff such as these geometric blocks for Material ConneXion

Dror is unique and has earned his reputation. We had a ball exchanging our foibles. (He does have a last name: Benshertrit)…Check us out on the web. www.studiodror.com www.vladimirkagandesigngroup.com

 

 

KIPS BAY SHOW HOUSE

The premier designer event in New York

Copyright Vladimir Kagan 02010

 

I should have told you about this before…. but it’s not too late.

 

There is a magnificent town house for sale on East 71^st Street…. asking price somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty-eight million…. (move-in condition).

 

How do you sell property like this? Turn it into a show house…Of course! And the clever organizers of the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club charity jumped on the opportunity. This year’s show house is a gem with 20 of New York’s top designers spending their own mega-bucks on decoration…. Even I, as a staunch modernist, found rooms that I would move into in a flash.

 

We were invited to the gala opening last month…. Abounding in glitz and glamour. Erica and I started our tour on the top floor and oozed our way down the magnificent spiral staircase that connects each floor. First to mesmerize us were two black on black rooms with many overtones of gray: One dedicated to fitness; elegant and restrained, the other a connecting living room with magnificently detailed woodwork, moldings and a disciplined furniture layout; accessorized with a seductive masculine aura. The designer, Jennifer Post knew her stuff. Jennifer is a beautiful young, no nonsense, woman in control of her medium. I would have settled in right there, but Erica reminded me that there were five other floors that we had to cover.

 

Jennifer Post's plush, but no nonsense fitness room

A detail of the elegant fitness room by Jennifer Post.

(I am sorry that I do not have a photo of her adjoining living room, which I thought was the best in the show house!)

The next floor provided a dramatic change of pace, (as is usual in a show house)…. An airy bedroom plus-ultra feminine…. by the designer Noel Jeffrey (Erica immediately wanted to move in, but now it was my turn to move us on.)

 

The luscious bedroom, by Noel Jeffrey, stood in stark contrast to the masculine sixth floor rooms

Plunk down into the chaise in "Erica's boudoir" 

As we wound our way down against the milling crowd working their way up, the rooms became a blur intermixed with people that we had to greet: Designers, editors, V.I.P.s and wannabees (of course, I forgot to bring my camera to keep you abreast of this happening…. hence this belated article…. how could I write of such an event without photos!)

Our next stop was Coffinier Ku’s (Coffinier Ku is a partnership between Ed Ku and Etienne Coffinier) luxuriously subtle “Sitting Room” in muted toned of taupe. architectural cornices, fireplace, and furniture in a fumed, pickled oak. Windows shades with gossamer curtains, chandeliers, tables and lamps, sofas and chairs, all designed by the talented Ed Ku. I admire Mr. Ku’s restraint (in comparison to my more-is-more philosophy…. actually, it is less a philosophy than an inadvertent exuberance.)

 

Coffinier Ku's sophisticated sitting room

Ed Ku's two tiered coffee table in fumed pickled oak and stainless steel

On the third floor we discovered a modern room artistically decorated with fascinating artworks designed by the sister team of Elizabeth Pyne/McMillen Plus.... Jayne and Joan Michaels. 

 

The sister team of Jane and Joan Michaels from the design firm: Elizabeth Pyne/McMillen Plus, created this eclectic mix of modern and traditional elements

 

More views of this gem of a modern room by Jane and Joan Michaels

 

Somewhere, tucked into a small closet sized space we found the creative wall panels Sculpt du Fleur by Nina Helms, produced in three dimensional plaster and acrylics.

Nina Helms three dimensional wall decoration

 

My multi-talented friend, Robert Verdi, who’s face occasionally pops up in taxi movies and more often at very hip openings around town, partnered with Deirdre D’Elia to design an elegant little vignette on the 4th floor.

 

The second floor flaunted the Grande dining room, elegantly designed by the team of Cullman & Kravis…. Very traditional and apropos for this luxurious mansion.

  

The Dining Room, in the grand style of mix and match by the very savvy team of Cullman & Kravis

detail of Dining Room with a table set for a princely crown

Well chosen accessories add color to the wall niche display cabinets

Quite surprisingly, the ground floor opened onto a glamorous kitchen – eating room. (Traditionally, kitchens were relegated to the basement with dumbwaiters bringing the food to the dining floor with stiff butlers and pretty serving maids in black dresses and white aprons attending to the guests…. find the BBC classic: Upstairs – Downstairs for reference.)

 

A dream kitchen on the ground floor, to welcome you into the Kips Bay Show House

The breakfast room...part of the glamorous kitchen by Eve Robinson

Looking out of the rear balcony into the garden below, we were transfixed by a magical garden literally created with mirrors and lights, befitting the best movie set for a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance sequence. This gem was created by Plant Specialists.

 (Sorry, I have no photos of this magical garden...you'll have to come and see it yourself!)

This show is nearly over, but if you hurry you can still get a tasteful wallop of glamour for an admittance fee of $30…. going to a good cause: The Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club: helping needy kids in the Bronx stay out of trouble!

 

KIPS BAY SHOW HOUSE – 106 East 71^st Street – New York. Open 11 am to 5 pm until November 11^th….. Hurry!

 

NEW YORK’S UNSUNG ARTISANS

Copyright Vladimir Kagan 2010

 

You don’t often think of your local butcher (if you have ever seen him) as an artisan…. but he is. There are very few of them left in this high rent town…. they are concealed behind closed doors in the supermarket, (unless their meat is brought in pre-packaged just like the vegetables). If you are lucky enough to have a local butcher, watch how deftly he sharpens his knife…ten times over and over to perfection. Observe how skillfully he dissects the meat to within a centimeter of his fingers. See his ancient chopping block, carved into a concaved shape by hundreds of chopper blows…. the wood carefully scraped after each process. (Did you know his chopping block, scruff though it may seem, is more hygienic than the new plastic chopping blocks we use at home?) Take his carefully aged meats, hung proudly in a display refrigerator and painstakingly prepared for your dinner, trimming the fat, cutting out the grizzle and then wrapping it like a treasured piece of jewelry.

 

Apologies for the fuzzy pic...but you get the point...our local butcher, Joe Dimaggio plying his trade

The fine art of the Karate Chop

Find your local shoe repair shop… if you can. (The English still call him a Cobbler). He is truly a treasure. Mostly tucked into a shop too narrow to house any other kind of business. He frequently works alone, as apprentices are hard to come by. There is a suffocating smell of glues and polishes, that he apparently thrives on, but it’s enough to turn your stomach if you had to work there eight hours a day. Ancient machinery in the back of the shop, he barely hears you walk in over the din of his grinding wheel and sewing machine. If it weren’t for his door chime, he wouldn’t know you were there. To supplement his meager earnings, he entices you with over-the-counter add-ons such as umbrellas, shoestrings, and do-dads for your leather care…. But his craftsmanship often goes unnoticed, until you have brought him a pair of dilapidated old shoes that you can’t part with and ask him to rejuvenate. And three weeks later they come back better than new. He’s stitched the leather, replaced the soles, skives the edges, burnished the new materials to blend with the old and in the end you are reunited with your old friend, virtually unrecognizable… but they fit soooo comfortably…like an old shoe! Additionally, he will repair your favorite luggage; replace its handle, zipper and burst seams. You think his prices are outlandish, (you could buy a new pair of shoes for the price), but don’t sell him short, he works hard for his living and pays the rent.

 

Jimmy's irreplaceable Shoe Repair shop

Jimmy at the wheel

Jimmy showing off his restored-as-new shoe

Jimmy's right-hand man at the anvil (Jimmy had a serious heart attack last year and can no longer do it all alone)

The inevitable add-ons in the shoe repair shop

Florists are a dime a dozen on the Upper East Side. They ply their trade in a scented environment, full of color and damp pungent smells. They take the raw flowers as they come from their wholesalers and arrange, pluck, snibble, and mix them till they are just so for your next dinner party. These are usually not your delicate Ikebana Japanese arrangers---- but their little art adds color and diversity to the neighborhood.

 

One of of our neighborhood florist shops

Our own "Lisa Doolittle" in front of her shop

Floral arrangements ready for Thanksgiving

 

The itinerate Knife Sharpener is virtually extinct. The modern version, plies his trade in a dilapidated van or station wagon with a foot activated grinding wheel as his only mechanical tool. (Try to sharpen your knife on one of the modern do-it-yourself gadgets and you are grinding away the metal to create a temporary sharp edge to be dissipated on your next encounter with your cutting board.) The professional sharpener magically creates a slender razor sharp tip that will last and last. It is a painstaking process of trial and testing, which he does with great if not dangerous agility. If you have decent scissors instead of the dreadful throwaway kind, he will make that fine instrument cut like new.

 

The itinerate knife sharpener: (This is the only photo I pinched from the internet) My guy didn't send his photos as promised

The art of the tailor was traditionally a Jewish profession, (and in some neighborhoods you may still find a little picturesque tailor with his glasses perched on the tip of his nose… huddled over his sewing machine). Today, more frequently, you will find him in your local Asian cleaning establishment…. (In our neighborhood there are two on every block)… The tailor still is the artisan who adjusts your trousers to fit your bulging waistline, or taking in the seams on your wife’s skirts and dresses as she becomes more svelte…He can make a purse out of a pig’s ear or what ever you bring to him or her to do. You may have a language barrier in communicating with this new breed, but indisputably, they belong in the register of my vanishing unsung artisans.

 

The empty tailor's seat at our cleaners...he was too shy to be photographed!

The pristine Korean dry cleaning establishment that replaced our toxic chemical old fashioned cleaner 

Nail Parlors are the latest phenomena on the city streets. Unheard of just a few years ago as a viable business (it was always an adjunct at the hairdresser.) the young, mostly Nepalese, Korean or Japanese ladies who run these ‘Mani-Pedi’ emporiums are managing to pay the new high rents and provide a delightful service. Their skills too, border on artisanship as they maneuver around my deformed toenails, bruised finger nails from summers of sailing and neglected cuticles. It is my greatest luxury to have a pedicure as I am too clumsy to reach my toes and lazy to do my nails… I am vastly in the minority amongst the chattering women, but brave enough to face their disapproving glares... And then the ecstasy when the young ladies complete their task with a gentle hand and foot massage that you wish would go on forever.

 

My treasured Nepalese Mani-Pedi emporium where I can find an hour of relaxation

My adorable manicurist (unfortunately out of focus))

A lucky lady getting her morning fix

Finally, I cannot ignore the local Pizza parlor…. the man tossing the dough into the air is truly a performer, if not an artisan. The more he tosses, the thinner the crust. The Pizza parlor benefits from the “sizzle on the steak syndrome”. (As you walk in, that irresistible aroma filters up your nostrils and preps you for the feast just ahead.) It is instant gratification and the man behind the counter is my local hero as he prepares pie after pie in what seems an unending inventory.

 

Our local Pizza joint...this one makes world class crusts

The proud chef who preps all the other dishes

Here's my guy, ready with the dough for the next Pizza

Spinning the wheel...an arial feat

Take your choice...anything form a vegie Pizza to my favorite with lots of pepperoni

These are the unsung heroes of the city streets…. Its interesting to note that all the marvelous resources I have just introduced to you are located within one block of each other on Lexington Avenue, around the corner from where we live. (Except for the itinerate knife sharpener, who will come by appointment when called… Fred DeCarlo (201) 945-7609)

 

Rejoice that we have these treasures living and working amongst us. Be sure to support them….