Vladimir Kagan's Blog

Vintage vs. Classic: That is the Question!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vintage vs. Classic

Copyright Vladimir Kagan, September 13, 2015

 

I have recently been asked to define the difference between Kagan Vintage and Kagan Classic furniture. I thought that the answer was worthy of a Blog.

In doing my research for this article. The issue of fakes, wannabes and misrepresented furniture begged to be explored. The comparison is amusing and revealing.

 To get you started on Vintage vs. Classic 101, here is the Wikipedia description:

 

 “Antique furniture is furniture that is at least 100 years old - plain and simple. This is the definition that is most widely accepted by experts including those on PBS's Antiques Roadshow. The definition has its origins in the Tariff Act of 1930, enacted by the U.S. Customs Office.

 

Vintage furniture is furniture that is between 30 to 100 years old. Anything more recent would qualify as simply used furniture.”

 

Vintage furniture has inherent value as long as it is untouched. Once you tamper with the original piece of furniture its intrinsic value is diminished. Unfortunately most vintage seating deteriorates over the years and requires new springing, webbing, horsehair stuffing and foam topping in addition to new fabric covering. Restoration of antique or vintage furniture decreases its value. Quality auction houses will have a provenance in their catalog to the effect: “this item has been repaired/restored on the right corner etc.” thus reducing anticipated value.

 

When to buy a VINTAGE KAGAN:

 

• IF you’re buying primarily to have a collection of Vintage furniture and you do not intend to restore it.

• IF it has a good provenance and you “must have” the piece.

• IF the design is unique and is no longer in our production.

• IF you happen to find a bargain in a thrift shop or on Ebay and are certain of its authenticity.

 

RECOMMENDED TO BUY: This is a perfectly beautiful example of one of my architecturally inspired desks ca. 1970. It appears to be in excellent condition. Made in Rosewood, it is reasonably priced at $18,000  Dealer: Adam Edelberger

RECOMMENDED TO BUY: An original Kagan desk chair from the 50s. The base  is a sculptured work of art. It looks to be in excellent condition, in black leather. (I can't tell if it has been reupholstered)

$7,800 Dealer: Oliver

 

WARNINGS:

I have evaluated many, many Internet offerings and found dozens to be fake, mislabeled or outright forgeries. 

Some of what is offered as “Kagan Vintage” furniture was produced under license agreements in the late 90s and more recently. These designs do not qualify as Vintage Kagan! The furniture is not made to the  quality standards of Kagan Classic furniture. (In the trade this simplified manufacturing process is known as value engineering.) 

BEWARE - This is AN AUTHORIZED LICENSED DESIGN: manufactured by Directional - these sofas date from the 90s and do not qualify as Vintage because of their age. 

$8,250 

BEWARE - NOT A KAGAN DESIGN, it is offered as  "designed by Vladimir Kagan for Preview"

$9000 

 

   

BEWARE - A WANNABE: This knock-off table was "designed" by Adrien Pearsall and is often offered as a Vladimir Kagan design.

 

THE ORIGINAL: Vladimir Kagan 412 Coffee Table designed in 1950. This photo is a currently manufactured Classic Design available through authorized Kagan showrooms

BEWARE - FAKE: This chair is often offered as a "Vladimir Kagan sculptural Lounge Chair" It is NOT a Kagan design

$9,500 

THE ORIGINAL: 175E Contour Side Chair designed ca 1950 available through The Vladimir Kagan Design Group Inc. and authorized Kagan showrooms

BEWARE - FAKE: This table is labeled as a Vladimir Kagan Design. It is NOT>.

 $6,975 

 

 

THE ORIGINAL, 201 Extension Dining Table was designed ca 1956. The photo is of the current Classic production and is available through my company and authorized showrooms around the country

 

BEWARE - a WANNABE: This cabinet is offered as "extraordinary Italian in the style of Vladimir Kagan" $,800 

 

THE ORIGINAL ca 1950s custom-built ten-drawer file cabinet for an executive's office

 

 

BEWARE - MISLABELED: Skyscraper Floor Lamp by Vladimir Kagan IT IS NOT MY DESIGN

 

 

ORIGINAL: The Stalagmite floor lamp - also available as a ceiling light: Stalactite

 - both variations are available in my Classic Collection.

 

 

 

 

BEWARE - KNOCK-OFF: Labeled "four Lotus Chairs by Vladimir Kagan"

 

 

ORIGINAL: The Lotus chair ca. 1970  Back in production by popular demand.

 

NOTE: IF you are uncertain of your potential purchase, Vladimir Kagan offers a Provenance Service that will help authenticate an original Kagan. There is a five hundred dollar fee per item, but it is worthwhile to prove your purchase to be genuine. For more information, contact [email protected]

 

NOTE: A fine quality piece of KAGAN VINTAGE is often more expensive than a new KAGAN CLASSIC piece custom-made to your specifications.

 

 

When to buy KAGAN CLASSIC furniture:

 

• WHEN you buy a Kagan Classic Design through a Kagan authorized representative, you are guaranteed the furniture’s authenticity with an attached plaque, which includes a registered number recorded in the Vladimir Kagan Archives. For information for an authorized dealer in your neighborhood contact [email protected]

 

• KAGAN CLASSIC furniture is made to the exacting specification of my original Kagan designs and is manufactured under the supervision of the Vladimir Kagan Design Group Inc. No piece of furniture leaves the factory without personal inspection. When you buy a new piece of Kagan Classic, you are assured of an original Kagan Design that will give you years of pleasure and will assuredly appreciate in value over the years.

 

The Shortie Sofa is under eight foot long and fits into any apartment sized living room. Easy to Deliver. However, a custom made sofa can be eighteen feet long to fit into your client's space. Our craftsmen will travel anywhere to install your custom made sofa.

 

• KAGAN CLASSIC furniture offers customization of a design that include detailed specifications and, when appropriate, can provide a full-size template for your designer or architect to place into your home.

 

• PERSONALIZED EXCLUSIVE DESIGNS: Vladimir Kagan offers a consulting service to create one-of-a-kind Kagan original furniture. I will work with you, your designer and/or architect to create unique solutions for your home or place of business. For information please contact  [email protected]

 

 

A few examples of “by appointment” designs I created for individual clients

           

Two custom designed back-to-back sofas and a pair of  1947 barrel chairs redesigned on swivel brass bases so that they can face either side of the room

(for Interior Designer: Amy Lau)

 

 

 

 

A "Floating Island" Sofa to view the client's art collection

 

 

A custom built corner Sofa for extra seating in the living room

(for Architect: Edda Elias)

 

You have just graduated from VINTAGE vs CLASSIC. Go out and enjoy your shopping!

Measure Three Times - Cut Once!

Copyright Vladimir Kagan, August 29, 2015

 

Measure Three Times - Cut Once! This was my father’s admonition seventy-odd years ago. It was a lesson that I never learned!

 

It is the story of my life. I am compulsive and have always cut three times and didn’t bother to measure! - It is how I became a furniture designer instead of a cabinetmaker!

Furniture design is a haphazard endeavor that relies on visual recognition, the ability to draw well and pray that sometime in the future proper measurements are put to each design. Cabinet making, on the other hand is a precision endeavor that takes careful planning, skilled use of tools and most importantly, accurate measurements. If you can’t do that, you can’t cut the mustard and had better think of becoming a designer. And so my dear readers, that is how I ended up being a designer. 

Every once in a while, I derive great pleasure of following my Precision Muse and attempt to do something challenging and meticulous. - It is a rare moment of pleasure.

Building the half model of my sailboat was one of those rare moments. I am joining a class this fall at Nantucket’s 1800 House, to build a scale model of a wooden Dory. I can’t wait.

 

Last week, I inadvertently drifted into one of those challenging moments when I was helping a friend hand-bind a dozen books. I have never done bookbinding, but the prospect had always appealed to me. She had seen the work of a mutual friend of ours: a beautiful small sketchbook of pen drawings of New York City.  In her enthusiasm she volunteered to duplicate them for grandchildren and posterity; a task much, much larger than it seemed at the time. 

Our friend is a robust 90 years old, full of spirit and jour de vivre. Little did my friend realize what she was getting herself into: scanning 44 drawings, cleaning each in Photoshop, printing over 500 pages onto quality rag paper. This was only the beginning. Prepping jackets and covering them with handmade paper, collating loose pages and a myriad of other steps needed to be accomplished. In desperation, my hapless friend had sought out a friend of hers, an artist and experienced bookbinder to help her – much work got done but it just never got finished. A year later a new volunteer was needed: I jumped into the breach. 

My designing juices were fired up with the challenge. I conceptualized that a drilling jig and press was needed to hold the pages and the cover. I launched into the project head-on. But Oooops, “Father were are you?” - “Measure three times and cut once!” A lesson still not learned. I measured only after having drilled three holes haphazardly; built jigs the wrong way, until finally, three days later, I got it synchronized. We had produced twelve beautifully bound books - a very satisfactory result.

 
  

First mistake: I drilled three holes without careful measuring

   
The key to success: a jig to hold the book

The book-press: clamping pages and cover firmly together

A happy me with my improvised book-press

   

The beautiful sketches by my friend Sheila 

Collating roughly five hundred pages ready for binding

Mission accomplished one year later!

Lesson learned: the road to the finished product has not changed for seventy years: I’m still compulsive, impatient, helter-skelter and slap-dash, but I rejoice in the end product.

 

 

 

The True Vladimir Kagan Revealed

Copyright Vladimir Kagan, August 21, 2015

 

 

 

Your favorite Blogger at home -  photo courtesy of The New York Social Diary

 

Many of you have followed my career as a furniture designer; a few of you may have seen my homes through publications or an actual visit. Here’s an opportunity to take a virtual-reality trip through my New York apartment. My reputation has placed me amongst the celebrated minimalist of the fifties. How wrong they are. My designs may be:

Sexy curves!

A generous use of colors!

Clean architectural details

Minimalist: heck no! My motto “More is More”!!!!

 

The NY Social Diary, an Internet magazine, did an in-depth exposé of my lifestyle, revealing the secret life of a “closet maximalist”.

 

Here is the link that invites you to be a voyeur into my N.Y. apartment.

http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/the-way-they-live/2015/vladimir-kagan

 

I hope that you will enjoy this little romp through my New York home.

 

Foot Notes:

 • The perfectly minimalist white rooms belong to my daughter Vanessa and her family.

 • The storage boxes in the bedroom were temporary while the closet was being repainted… (What I am really trying to say is that I am not as messy as it appears!)

 

 

 

The new Whitney Museum in downtown New York

The Whitney Museum 

Copyright Vladimir Kagan, June 21, 2015

 

 The Whitney Museum of America Art in its new location in the Meat Packing District, a fun user-friendly building by prize-winning architect Renzo Piano.

 

For the past 54 years, the Whitney Museum of American Art has been a shrill outsider in the hoi polio neighborhood of the Upper East Side; a location better suited for the Metropolitan Museum and The Frick Collection. Its only comparable neighbor had been Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum; a work of art in its own right.

 

The Whitney has finally returned to its roots. Not quite Greenwich Village, but to what was until recently considered an unsavory neighbor: the Meat Packing District.

 

Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, a sculptress in her own right and an avid advocate for living American artists, established the Whitney Studio in Greenwich Village in 1914 to exhibit artists works’ previously disregarded by the traditional academies. By 1929 she had assembled a collection of more than 500 works and generously offered them to The Metropolitan Museum of Art complete with an endowment. When the offer was refused, she set up her own museum with a radically different mandate, to focus exclusively on the art and artists of this country. The Whitney was founded in 1930, and opened in 1931 on West Eighth Street in Greenwich Village. In 1966 the museum moved into its Marcel Breuer designed building on Madison Avenue at 75th Street. It was a jolt to the neighborhood when it opened and a shock when it closed its doors after a massive retrospective for Jeff Koons. No one could quite believe its move to 99 Gansevoort Street and the Hudson River. Most “uptowners” hardly know where it is and how to get there. Even our taxi driver was confused until he consulted his GPS.

 

This was my usual Sunday excursion with my cultural Muse, Ellin Lake-Ewald, the doyen of modern art appraisers and a living encyclopedia for all that was on exhibit. We were delighted to find an unpretentious building by Renzo Piano, who is better known for his monumental buildings; the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, (in collaboration with Italian architect Gianfranco Franchini), The Shard in London, Europe’s tallest skyscraper, and in 1998, the recipient of the most coveted prize in architecture, the Pritzker. 

 

Mr. Piano created this Museum to celebrate the Art! Not as a glorification of himself. The museum is a thinly disguised warehouse! It touts no pretentions, no ego. Frills are left to a minimum. The building is a monument to the arts!

 

We rode up in the freight elevator capable of carrying over thirty passengers; a cavernous box with minimal decoration to break the bleakness of its size. When not used as a people conveyor, it moves the museum’s supersized paintings and sculpture. The doors slid open on the eighth floor to reveal a high-ceilinged, well-lit room, hung with masters of the early modernist movement. There was ample daylight filtering through glass walls on either end of the building. Day light is a frequently recurring phenomenon on every floor, some with doors leading to open terraces, others just providing sitting space for viewers to enjoy the view and meditate on the art inside. The vistas open onto the elevated gardens of Highline, the piers on the Hudson, and dozens of new high-rise buildings that have blossomed in the neighborhood.

 

A panoramic view looking North from one of the many terraced roof-tops of the museum. On the right is the Highline Park that runs along an abandoned elevated railroad track and the building in front is the new Standard Hotel that straddles right over the park.

A view of the Hudson River showing some of the abandoned piers that now will be renovated to enhance this new destination neighborhood.

 

The new Whitney opened its doors at 99 Gansevoort Street on May 1, 2015 with an exhibit of it own collected works called

 America Is Hard to See

A show culled from the Museum’s 22,000 works by some 3,000 artists. I will not give you a blow-by-blow description of the art; that would fill a book… and there are plenty of books. Here’s the floor-by-floor synopsis of the exhibit: 

 

EIGHTH FLOOR 1910 – 1940 Obviously easy to digest and easy to look at art, even I recognized most of the “players”.

 

SEVENTH FLOOR 1925 – 1960 still recognizable and loveable art

 

SIXTH FLOOR 1950 – 1975 the powerhouses of the abstract movement – artists whose work fashioned my design philosophy

 

FIFTH FLOOR 1980ish into the 21^st Century… Here’s where I start to get lost: Installation Art – Sexually explicit art – wacky films – 3D stuff – and all that is experimental and new – but not necessarily good.

 

FOURTH FLOOR offices

 

THIRD FLOOR Theater

 

GROUND FLOOR An expensive restaurant, a coffee house and the usual gift shop.

 

If you happen to be in New York, go see it. It’s worth the trip!

 

Design Week in New York - Part 2

Design Week in New York

 Part 2

Copyright Vladimir Kagan, June 7, 2015

  

 

 

Three years ago Steven Lerner, an enterprising young architect, found a cavernous empty space in the abandoned U.S. Post Office Sorting Facility on West 30th Street. Steven came up with the idea of replicating the off-premises shows that were such a huge success at Salone Del Mobile in Milan. He solicited a handful of small galleries in the USA and European to exhibit their artisans in a start-up show he called Collective Design. Today Collective Design is the premium exhibit of Design Week. The show relocated to 550 Washington Street in Tribeca and can brag of an impressive lineup of exhibitors that go beyond the usual suspects, which is why the exhibition is so exciting. I will take you on a belated tour of this exhibit.

 

I am a car buff - classic cars! This 1953 Cadillac LeMans Concept Convertible was my "take-home" favorite. Cadillac was one of the sponsors of the show and as a VIP guest I was picked-up and delivered home in a very comfortable Cadillac Limo.

 

After my love affair with the convertible "Caddi" - I found my friend, Dana Barnes, with an installation of her concrete seating blocks embedded with her signature knotted and felted wool blobs reminiscent of tropical islands in a sea.

    

Some of the most creative design ideas were tucked away in a separate wing dedicated to new talent. Amongst these I found a basket maker, who loved sewing machines and created these amazing works sewing together tightly wound cords.

 

Another craftsman built this elegant cabinet with doors covered in industrial rubber thereby forming a soft bubble for the finger-grips.

 

I loved this geometric bronze coffee table with a cubist motif marble insert

 

 

 

 

 

Joseph  Walsh, the master of extruded ribbons of wood, created this dining table  in the Todd Merrill exhibit.

and bellow  a young Japanese artist, Laura Kishimoto is one of Walsh's disciples.

 

 

 

Who knows better than Mom what kids need. -- She created a store just for kids furniture and founded kinder MODERN, a Soho mecca for fun kids furnishings

 

.

 

 

 

My friend Madeline Weinrib keeps getting better and better with her exciting rugs and textiles

 

And finally, the reason I spent such a productive day at Collective Design was at the invitation of Michael Boodro the Editor of Elle Décor, to join him in an open-ended conversation about design.

 

Michael Boodro and me with the first copy of my new book!

 

 

 

Steven Lerner, the  founder of Collective Design, welcoming Michael and me for our tete-a-tete.

Fortunately, I had brought a copy of my book with me for the interview with Michael Boodro. It was immediately snapped up and launched my 2015 autographing career.

 

Below are just a few of the curve balls Michael threw at me:

 

Elle Decor: The connection between modernism and decorative arts.  Why do you think so many modernists were antagonistic toward decoration, which you embraced? Your history of working with jewelers, artists, and of course your wife, Erica Wilson.

VK: I was brought up among art and artists. Incorporating decorative art into my designs was a mission. From my earliest days I commissioned artists and craftsmen to create tiles, table bases, buffet surfaces and hardware to incorporate into my designs. Naturally, working with my wife, Erica for 54 years had kept me focused on the marriage of the arts and design.

 Elle Décor: Your family history of woodworking, crafting and design. Your father and grandfather, etc. Having a shop. How do you think being a retailer, interacting with the public, influenced your designs?

 VK: My father, Ilii Kagan was a stanch modernist, selling Deutchewerkstätte and Vienerwerkschtätte, the two most avant-garde collaboratives, in his shops in Worms and Heidelberg. He collected German impressionist art ranging from George Grosz, Käthe Kollwitz and Ernst Barlach to Kokoschka.  Some of these are hanging in my apartment today. My grandfather, Julius Wallach, on the other hand was a dyed-in-the-wool traditionalist: he collected folk art, peasant furniture and textiles. His store, Volkskunsthaus Wallach, in Munch was world famous. Even Hitler had his block-printed fabrics in his Eagle’s Nest. Julius was the diametric opposite of my father: they did not get along. I loved both their art, which found roots in my earliest designs. The flared legs of the peasant chairs and stools became a part of my early chair vocabulary while my Father’s adherence to the Bauhaus philosophy of ”Less is More” has motivated me all of my life.

Elle Décor: Many of your designs—even pieces from the 40s—seem so modern as to be futuristic, but you have always looked to natural and organic forms. How do you make organic inspirations seem so contemporary?

V.K. Nature is a great streamliner. Nature is a great engineer. Organic shapes are ergonomic. Learning from Nature inspired me to simplify and reduce excess elements in my designs. Though no one would ever call me a Bauhaus modernist, this is where my inspirations originated.

Elle Décor: The scale of works of contemporary art inspired one of your most famous pieces, the Serpentine Sofa—the era of the big Abstract Expressionist paintings—which inspired pieces floating a room. Andre Emmerich was a client, etc.  You’ve dealt with the rise of open plan layouts, home offices and modular small pieces.

V.K. I had to take furniture away from the wall and open them for wall-to-wall art. To allow for generous seating and appreciation of the art works, I created my Serpentine Sofas that could seat eight to ten people in an animated way – not like birds perched on a power line. Building these huge sofas eliminated excess chairs and fulfilled by Bauhaus philosophy of “Less is More”. I called this “Interior Landscaping”.

Elle Décor: You have seen so many styles/trends come and go—you have ridden the wave, a few, such as Post-modernism, you embraced yourself.  You have been in and out of fashion. Embraced by Tom Ford and Bill Sofield at Gucci in the nineties. Did that surprise you? It seems you are more ubiquitous in high design than you ever were. How does that feel?

 V.K. Well, with a long career in design, like a marathon Runner, you can “hit the wall”. You’ve reached the end of your stretch, when along came the  Memphis movement! It was a crazy, non-functional media event that was like a shot in the arm for design. We all of a sudden could look at classic designs and rejoice in their decorative appendages. Add a touch of wild colors and you step over the threshold of traditional modernism and find a new world of design opportunities. I didn’t stay in that idiom for long, but it liberated me from the doldrums and helped me to move on. - How did it feel that Tom Ford and Bill Sofield latched on to my designs? A great boost and confirmation of my work over the years!

Elle Décor: What new technologies do you think are influencing furniture design today? What do you feel about the resurgence of interest in design and making furniture among the young generation?

 V.K. Furniture making is a traditional art. Yeah, plastics, high tech machinery, injection molding will make furniture cheaper and more accessible. But what I really like are the young people at this show experimenting with new ideas and carrying on in the time-honored tradition of furniture making.

Elle Décor: How do you feel about your early work being considered collectible, even as you create new pieces?

V.K. Cool!

 

When a person in the audience asked what was my favorite design - a difficult question to answer as they are all my favorite designs, I answered, my rocking chair, NOT knowing that there actually was one on display in the show!

 

 

Design Week ushered in the introduction of my new book “VLADIMIR KAGAN a Lifetime of Avant-Garde Design” 

 

The first official book-signing was at the Ralph Pucci gallery at 44 West 18^th Street. I signed 150 copies! The opening was followed by two more events in Dallas and Houston at the David Sutherland showrooms. Dallas was where I had opened my first representative showroom some forty years ago. It’s a changed city, wild imaginative architecture that puts the East coast to shame. But no one wears cowboy boots or 12-gallon Stetson hats, which are still only worn in Fort Worth and points west. It was great fun seeing old and new friends and eating the best Tex-Mex food… alone worth the trip.

 

The first book signing event at Ralph Pucci in New York

 

Ralph Pucci, like a proud father, introducing me and my book to the guests

 

My two favorite red-heads: Renee Landegger and Amy Lau

 
A family affair - The Keiser clan, who's loft is featured in the book and my great friends, the Bordes family with friend Ellen Lake-Ewald

 
My lovely client, Clarissa Bronfman and my friend architect Edda Elias

Both Clarissa's and Edda's sofas are featured in the book.

My terrific book designer, Stafford Cliff flew in from London for the event

And finally, my two lovely daughters, Vanessa and Jessica hugging Dad

 

Book signing in Dallas

My hosts, David and Anne Sutherland who hosted my events in Dallas and Houston

     

Hugging Vladi was the big event in Dallas - I loved every minute!

Onward to Houston

         
Hugging and lap-dancing is definitely "IN" in Houston

There's nothing like an after party, party - here were some of the Houston guests listening to my word's of wisdom after the book signing.

 

I am sure, comes fall, my darling publisher, Susan Slesin will have me criss-crossing the country hustling more books and I collecting more hugs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Design Week in New York

 

 

Design Week in New York

Part 1

Copyright Vladimir Kagan, May 31, 2015

 

 

New York has its Fashion Week, Fleet Week, Bike Month, Manhattan Cocktail Classic… and finally the spotlight was on us with DESIGN WEEK, (which ended two weeks ago)

It all started some twenty years ago with a small event called ICFF held in a newly built glass palace on 11th Ave. called the Jacob Javits Convention Center.  Designed by I. M. Pei after his huge success with the Louvre addition in Paris.

ICFF was the brainchild of a group of young entrepreneurs who were inspired by the success of the Milan and Cologne Furniture Fairs. It was time to show contemporary design in America. The show was fresh, vibrant and relevant. It was a perfect showcase for new talent, exhibited in unadorned ten by ten foot plain booths. It was where I reintroduced my designs and I credit this show with the rebirth of my Classic Collection.  

 

Over the years ICFF expanded, incorporating exhibitors from Italy, Austria, Spain and added an adjacent space under a huge tent. When more space was needed, new exhibitors found locations at the Piers on the Hudson River. Satellite exhibits found vacant spaces in Soho, Tribeca, Hell’s Kitchen, the Meat Packing District and anywhere temp space was available… Design Week was born.

 
ICFF is like an old school reunion; no sooner did I walk through the doors, when I immediately ran into a half dozen clients, old friends, and admiring fans. I love this show!

However, ICFF, like most exhibits over the years, has become institutionalized. The bloom has worn off.  It is a real estate venture with space rented to anyone willing to pay the price of admission. The sheer size has diluted the presentations. The show that started as an exhilarating showcase for new talent has become unexciting. Today, it includes dozens of bathroom companies showing sexy bathtubs carved in marble, beguiling faucets, showerheads and square toilets.

In all fairness, “Seek and thou shalt find”. Tucked into small-unadorned cubicles there are still gems to be discovered. In the British sector there were creative designers with hardware, lighting and wallpaper. My friend Chris Poehlmann of CP Lighting Is still making beautiful tree-inspired chandeliers. Audrey Sterk, a friend from Nantucket, is showing her graphic wallpapers designs for the first time.  Her work has caught the eye of Janovic - Plaza, a major paint retailer, who has taken on her collection. 

 

 

 You know how I love birds... I couldn't resist these feathered friends by Daniel Latorre Cruz from England

 

 

Nantucket artist, Audrey Sterk's first exhibit at ICFF

 

A talented young English artist with her imaginative wall mural paper through Badgers of Bohemia

 

 

 

I found this very amusing caterpillar stool with articulated vertebrae by an Australian design cooperative called Designs By Them

s  

Christ Poehlmann's twig wall sconset is a classic

 

I discovered Aaron Scott's work at the Architectural Digest show a year ago... this Brooklyn based artisan is doing great original work

 

I loved this amusing rattan chair (though it may not be stable when sitting in it)

In a  Danish exhibit called "Onecollection" I found this reproduction of one of my all-time favorite mid-century craftsman Finn Juhl 

 

Twist and turn - two artisans explored similar concepts

The stool is by British artist Nick Rawcliffe - Sadly I do not have the name of the maker of the table

Revisiting acrylic lighting with new LED technology

  
A very simple but effective wall clock by Nomon

 

George Beylaryan's Design Memorabilia company with a collection called De Gustibus

 

A cool bookcase system with movable dividers made of recycled wood

   This all steel cabinet is made of discarded - recycled metal shelving from the dump by Jim Rose. The pattern is from an old American quilt design

 
   

Fun designs concept from the schools: A bird-house with wings • A glass decanter cast into a wood mold

F
...and finally the prettiest shoes at the show

and an endearing exhibitor from Northern Canada showing her father's tables

 

 

 

The Social Agenda

The MAD Museum (Museum of Art & Design) used Design Week for its annual Gala dinner honoring the young emerging designer Sebastian Errazuriz. I was honored to introduce my friend at this Gala dinner. At only thirty seven year old, Sebastian is one of the hottest, most talented multi-faceted artists today. (I had devoted an earlier Blog to his provocative work - look him up on the internet)

Dapper Sebastian Errazuriz got to hug the two most beautiful women at the Gala

...but I got the Kiss!

 

Saturday evening, I was invited to a night of impromptu jazz at my friends the Vales, who do this once or twice a year. The entire family is into jazz and each member performed with the twenty-five invited musicians at the party.

 

Look for Part Two of this review shortly

The Flight of the Snowbird - A Farewell to Florida (part 1)

Reflections on a Little Treasure in South Florida

Copyright Vladimir Kagan, April 26, 2015

 

 

I Have just returned to frigid New York after spending the last month in balmy Florida. The next few Blogs are my recollections of what I have left behind.

 +++++

Barreling down a six-lane highway on route to Ft. Lauderdale or Miami, you hardly think of exiting in Delray Beach for a visit to a Japanese garden. It has always been on my back-burner until I needed some entertainment for visiting friends and family.

 

 

A Japanese garden in Florida? With lakes – pagodas - topiary trees - Bonsai trees - Koi fish? A respectable Japanese restaurant topped off with an irresistible gift shop? … All this is available just six miles off bustling I-95 in the hinterland of Delray Beach!

 

The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, is one of Palm Beach County’s most treasured cultural attractions. Located in a tranquil natural setting, its 200-acre park features nature trails, pine forests and picnic areas. The gardens reflect major periods of Japanese garden design, from the eighth to the 20th century. According to the garden’s designer, Hoichi Kurisu, each sequence of gardens is intended to express the character and ideas of a counterpart in Japan. As you follow its swirling pebbled trails, each garden flows seamlessly one into the another to becomes a paradisiacal landscape.

I was surprised to discover a century-old connection between Japan and South Florida. In 1904, Jo Sakai, a recent graduate of New York University, returned to his homeland of Miyazu, Japan, to organize a group of pioneering farmers and led them to what is now northern Boca Raton. With the help of the Model Land Company, a subsidiary of Henry Flagler’s East Coast Railroad, they formed a farming colony they named Yamato, an ancient name for Japan. Ultimately, the results of their crop experimentation were disappointing and the Yamato Colony fell far short of its goals. By the 1920s the community, which had never grown beyond 30 to 35 individuals, finally fell apart. One by one, the families left for other parts of the United States or returned to Japan. All that remains on the map is Yamato Avenue – exit 00 on I-95. (Now I finally understand why the Japanese Name!)

 

 
 Me. the eternal tree hugger, on my scooter, scouting out the trees

Every tree and shrub has been carefully "topiaried" - they look like grown-up Bonsais

And this is the real "mcCoy" - a beautiful Bonsai forest

 

 

 As most of you know, I love bridges... here are two charming examples

 

The garden is full of beautiful flowers

  

A heron in search of lunch - the Koi fish were too large for his appetite

   

A dipping fountain - water drips into one bamboo stem which slowly tilts to empty it into the pond below

 
  

A walled garden is enclosed with elegant glazed tiles

 

 

...and then you come out into a wilderness waterfall

You can rest assured that there will be one of these Japanese lanterns in my garden this summer!

++++++++++

Addendum from my daughter Jessica's I-phone photos

I love this guy because he reminds me a bit of me!

   
 

 

 My design motto "When in doubt, dress it up with a bit of red" 

 

Jessica and I doing a selfie - me tootling on my scooter

 

The Gardens are named for George Morikami, who over the years gifted all the land to the town of Delray Beach. The Museum offers a plethora of cultural events, but it was my leisurely stroll through this tranquil garden that has inspired this Blog.

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day

The Spoiling of Vladimir Kagan

Copyright Vladimir Kagan February 14, 2015

 

Syb-a-rite
Noun
Plural noun: sybarites

A person who is self-indulgent in their fondness for serious luxury
Synonym: hedonist, sensualist, voluptuary, libertine, pleasure-seeker, epicure, bon vivant, bon viveur

A Sybarite was a native of Sybaris, an ancient Greek city in southern Italy. Sybarites were stereotyped as seekers of pleasure and luxury, and "sybarite" and "sybaritism" now connote such sensualism.


The Sybarites never had it so good!

I came to visit my sister and console her after the loss of her husband, David. Two weeks, perhaps three… who would have guessed that I would still be here almost two months later? For someone who thrives on activity and diversity, this could have bordered on insanity; incarceration in a sanitarium. No one stirs in the house until 10 am

But, why get up at 7 or 7:30, my usual “rise and shine” hour, when we get to bed closer to one-thirty or two? My wake-up call is the muffled sound of the steel security blinds being electrically retracted to allow the morning to penetrate. My room has a picture window overlooking a wooded landscape and a grandly restored turn-of-the-century mansion. Each morning I am greeted with a different setting; one day covered with a blanket of white glistening snow, the next brilliant sunshine, all too often though, the day is a gloomy gray with a thick cloud cover with no chance of burning off. Consequently, the occasional bright sunshine is a special treat.

 

Breakfast at 11, lunch at 2:30, tea at 4 and dinner always after eight… and often considerably later. Breakfast can be served in bed or on a small table in the library overlooking a bucolic winter scene. We face east and west so there is never a time of day when streaks of sunlight, if in fact there is sunshine, cannot penetrate the rooms.

Lunch is set out on a beautiful dining table capable of sitting fourteen but graciously set for five or six depending on who will drop in unannounced. The table is always replete with fresh flowers. Like most of the furniture in my sister’s house, the table is early Kagan vintage, beautifully preserved and loved. That alone makes me feel at home.

 

None of this would be possible without my sister's devoted staff: Espy who hails from Peru and Albano from Portugal - my Gloria in the middle is from Serbia

And then there is my sister’s loving attention. Need a manicure? The next day a delightful Spanish lady turns up to trim my nails: feet and hands. Feel stiff? - A charming Swiss masseuse appears to ease the pain. Need a haircut? you don't go to a barber, she takes me to her coiffeur.

A selfie at the hairdresser 

The cook in the kitchen prepares divine meals, but my sister is an inveterate chef and cannot stay out of the kitchen. Her soups are to die for! The cuisine hovers between healthy and Asian, neither of which catch my fancy… but never mind, Tanya gives me a free hand to shop for my favorite food: “Schweinerei” – pig food: sausages, salami, jambon cru, prosciutto, cheeses galore and crispy fresh-baked bread… And of course after dinner chocolates. Have I gained weight? Of course not. Ha ha!

My favorite "Pig" food

To ease my anticipated tedium, Tanya wisely assigned Slavica Rnjak, better known as Gloria, to entertain me; keep me out of trouble and definitely spoil me. (Not in the biblical sense), But pampered I am. Every morning my clothing is carefully laid out – color matched from head to toe. It helped that my departed brother-in-law had a closet full of the finest polo shirt with Hermes labels; cashmere sweaters from Italy, and sweat suits in every color imaginable. My sheets are changed every other day… new linens bring new colors. The chest of drawers, now assigned to me, was originally built by my father, one of my earliest designs dating to the mid-forties. The drawers are carefully organized and tidied daily… open one and it looks like a display at Saks 5th Avenue or any high-class men’s haberdashery.

                                                    These photos don't need a caption!

I have a desk bigger than any in my homes in America. I have two screens for my computer to keep me in touch with my office and monitor new design development. I sketch, I scan, I write Blogs… why bother to come home?

She invites friends for fun musical evenings -Fabrizio Chiavetta is a concert pianist, who plays magnificent accordion... here is is playing both at the same time

When Tanya's daughter Vicki arrived from Milano, we went straight out for a great steak dinner... Do you see the family resemblance?

Polly Hering, Tanya's devoted daughter, who lives in Geneva,  at  Art Expo

 

We go out for lunches - Tanya makes certain that I have a pretty girl as my guest: Nadege Chambrier studies environmental engineering in Lausanne - Albano and Gloria joined the fun 

some afternoons are so sunny and warm that I can sit on the balcony and do designs

A frigid walk along Lake Geneva with "ice fences" created by the freezing name of lake fish dish in genevaspray

The reward for a frigid walk; a delicious Peche de lac lunch with my friends Marion and Jullius

A twilight stroll along the lake

On one of our cultural outings: a visited to the Fondation Martin Bodmer that houses a World class book collection. the exhibit space is purposely located underground not to obstruct the magnificent view of the lake. The Swiss architect  Mario Botta did a sensitive design inserting a modern structure into an historic landscape

 

How do I keep fit in such a sybaritic environment? It’s not easy. Gloria and I take walks in the neighborhood and photograph chimneys, iron gates, old buildings and gnarly trees. Friends take me walking along the lake. Geneva has diverse museums to visit on gray days. I have found a superb trainer who makes me crawl on the floor and works on my abs. When I do finally leave here, I will surely have the much treasured six-pack stomach muscles Arnold Schwarzenegger is so famous for!

Doing my abs in the gyms with my  trainer

Vladi the tree huger can't resist an ancient tree

And finally: a clear sign to curb your dog!

 

 

 

Thinking of you!

 

 

Happy Valentine to all my girlfriends 

See you stateside…sooner or later. 

A Visit to Art-Geneve

A Visit to the Art World

and

The Bullshit Factor!

 

 

Copyright Vladimir Kagan - February 6, 2015

 

My sister, Tanya, is an artist and an experienced art collector. She knows what’s good. On my arrival in Geneva, she showed me her latest acquisition, a delightful little Jeff Koons bunny. You know how much I dislike Koons, but in fairness this one was masterfully finished and a livable scale.

Except it wasn’t a Koons.  It actually came from the candy section at the local Co-Op grocery store!

 

The bunny lives behind an aquarium in Tanya's studio!

 

So much for the true value of art…the Bullshit Factor

 

Art Basel –  has become an International phenomenon. The copycat syndrome has generated numerous wannabes: Art Basel - Miami… Art Basel – Hong Kong… Art  Palm Beach…. the Armory Show in New York, a precursor of Basel and now Artgenève are just a few of these..  Artgenève started tenuously four years ago and has grown into a full-fledged international show. There must have been 70 or more exhibitors from all over Europe. You know that it’s a major show when 50% of the exhibits fall into the Bullshit Factor.  Admittedly, the rating of bullshit is a subjective issue; one person’s bullshit is another’s intellectual masterpiece. My sister’s candy bunny is a case-in-point.

 

As usual, I browse through these events looking for the oddities and do not give adequate credit to the genuine art. There were some very fine examples of both.

 

What is “real” art? How can you tell it apart from the bullshit?  Can you judge it?  What are your qualifications over the person that loves it?  Art is subjective, its value is in the eyes of the observer.  One person’s masterpiece is another’s bullshit.

This Blog is a picture story, as I do not qualify as a bona fide art critic.

 

 

 

My discoveries at the Geneva Art show

Do you remember Salvador Dali - this lamp and chair appeared in his paintings

 

Two pieces - a fourteen foot table and a wallhanging - I really liked them both

 Beware - here comes the latest in Boudoir fashion

Which salvaged car part do you prefer? Door or Hood?

Geneva is the watch capital of the world - how about a 1,000 carat diamond?

This was one of my favorites!

A walk dow one of the aisles of the Art exhibit in PalExpo

 

Who is not a work of art?

The piece on the left is an eerily animated squawking head - the one on the right is your author!

This is Gloria, my friend from Serbia, who has been assigned to me to keep me out of trouble

 

Carpenters Workshop exhibit - one of the best in the show 

 

Some of the featured artists in the Carpenter exhibit

Much of the new art is experimenting with new materials - this is an illuminated wall-hanging woven on fiber optic strands

 

Two of my favorite pieces of nonsense - A  lovely girl imitating the human sign-carriers on America's street corners.... And of course the usual pile of rocks that represents "installation art". No art show is complete without one!

 

 

 

 

The latest in Women's fashion - a bed of nails to stimulate the feet

 

A  chair built in hundreds of layers of wood - is it art or is it a chair?

 

A 3D painting of things not identifiable - experimental art?

 

 

Waste not - want not - a recycled toilet seat

 

 

 

 

 

 

White was definitely the theme of many of the exhibits. I particularly liked these three framed white canvases - Just the right touch of minimalism. ha ha

This is my contribution to the show - the staircase to the exhibit floor - two views - one turned 90 degrees - aren't I clever!

....and finally, the wheelchair brigade - my sister and I getting a free ride

Post Script

     

 

 

We are not in a museum or an art show. This is a wall in a friend's living room.

 

Can you identify the artists?

 

 

An Ode to a Great Man

Remembrance Of A Great Man

who died silently

Copyright Vladimir Kagan January 22. 2015

 

David Josefowitz 1918 - 2015

The measure of a man is not his size. He can be a giant and bumble through life with open eyes and do nothing. He can be blind and see more than his sighted neighbor. He can be decimated by Alzheimer, existing within a silent shell, where there still might linger the remains of the genius that once was. Now, there is nothing left but the music swirling in his head - his useful hand conducting the orchestra that once was his voice. Communication left him years ago. “No” was the only word that stayed with him to the end. Why “NO”? Perhaps it was the last remnant of self-expression?

 

You may not recognize the name David Josefowitz, but he was one of those giants. While doing his doctorate in Chemistry at MIT, David invented the formula that gave us vinyl LP records. If you joined a classical music Club you were likely a member of Concert Hall Society or Guild International Du Disque –anyplace in the world– Again a brainchild of David. Together with his brother Sam, they created the Vitamin Club of the Month. David did not invent the Book of the Month Club, but if you were a child studying your homework from flash-cards sent to you on a monthly basis, you benefitted from yet another creation of David and Sam’s. If you lived in Europe, you surely bought books from Editions Rencontre, one of Europe’s preeminent publishing houses. Yes – David and Sam’s creations. If you lived in London, were a music enthusiast and went to concerts of the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra. The founder and conductor was David Josefowitz. He created this unique orchestra to give young gifted musicians from all over the world, an opportunity to perform as soloist. If you studied music at London’s Royal Academy, chances are you did it in the David Josefowitz Hall. When young promising ensembles or soloists wanted to borrow great string instruments David organized the lending of them.

 

 David was married to my sister Tanya. For 65 years they spent their lives collecting art… while other entrepreneurs amassed real estate in the Hamptons and fancy watering holes in Europe, Tanya and David sagaciously bought art; not any art but selectively; The Fauves, French Impressionists and Cubists, and with an expert eye, a discriminating collection of old masters. Their collection is world-class and is generously loaned to institutions around the world.

 

When David finally retired, Queen Elisabeth, in appreciation for his contribution to music and art in England, bestowed the honor of a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) on him.

 

David knew that he had Alzheimer and for the comfort of his family returned to live the remainder of his life in Switzerland, where so many of his children and extended family lived.

 

David Josefowitz died quietly on January 10^th in the arms of his wife and surrounded by his family – He was 96 year old.