April Food Day

As many of you are probably aware, there is a drive underway this April 1st, for bloggers to unite and donate to the organization Feeding America and Food Banks Canada. April Food Day is asking all those who write blogs and those who read them to donate $1.00 in April. One dollar is such a small amount, yet it equates to ten pounds of food, or seven full meals! If you wish, and are able, you may donate any amount. Please help us fight hunger.

Click to Donate to Feeding America / Click to Donate to Food Banks Canada

Visit April Food Day for more details.
Thanks for being a part of April Food Day! Together, all of us can make a difference.

Patricia Gray writes about 'WHAT'S HOT 'in the world of Interior Design, new and emerging trends, modern design,
architecture, and travel, as well as how your surroundings can influence the world around you.
© 2007-2009 Patricia Gray Interior Design Blog

Six Things About About Me

I have been tagged by the marvelous Maria.... soooo the rules of the game are to divulge 6 facts/habits and trivia about myself.....
and try not to embarrass myself in the process.
So here goes:
1. My favourite color is yellow and always has been ever since I can remember.
2. I like cotton candy and ballerina flats. I prefer wearing ballerina flats to heels.
3. I I love the Ocean and always thought I couldn't live away from it, that is until I visited Palm Springs.
4. I always carry my passport and 50 Euros in my change purse. That way I'm sure I'm going back.
5. I love dogs - all dogs and especially mine. She is a 4 1/2 pound Yorkshire Terrier named Nicole.
6. I love ironing. Yes strange as it seems I find it relaxing.

I pass this on to: Meade Design, Qerat, Domain Design, Brillante Home Decor, Nest Home
The Rules: Tag 6 people after you have been tagged.
Let 5 people know that you have tagged them.
Let the 6th person wander blindly in the wilderness for 40 years, then tell them they have been tagged.

Patricia Gray Inc is an award winning Interior Designer firm  in Vancouver, Canada who blogs about WHAT'S HOT  in the world of Interior Design.
2009 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™

Language Translator

After coming back from Italy and navigating the Internet in a foreign language I realized how important it was to be able to read articles in my native language. It made me think of all my foreign visitors who may want to read my posts in their own language. So for all of you whose language of origin isn't English I have added this nifty "Translator".

Please let me know if your are using this feature and if you find it helpful........

 

Patricia Gray writes about Interior Design inspirations, emerging trends, and the world of Design. 
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I'm Back

I have been frantically trying to stay afloat.....that means I have been doing the proverbial juggling act of a circus acrobat.  When that happens in life some things have to give and that happened to be my daily Blog Postings.  Thanks to all of you who missed me and expressed your concern as to my whereabouts. I was in my office, and out and about town(s) - Vancouver and Seattle, creating and designing for 3 new clients.  The dynamics of the creative process is a very nebulous thing for me.  It happens in a vacuum of frenzied momentum and somewhat wondrous, and at times, inexplicable flashes.  So now that things are settling back to normal (not that I have that word in my vocabulary) I will be eagerly posting on my current inspirations.....Ready, Set, Go..........

Thinking of You

I've been short of time last week and I may not have time to do a full posting this week...but I am thinking about all of you. I have several wonderful new clients that are consuming my energies. It is all good and I am doing some new and wonderful and inspiring things that I will share with you soon.

Picture via Le Petit Cabinet de Curiosites. Check out Melanie's blog. She is in France and has a great eye for design and color.

{ Happy Monday }

You may notice a new wider format for my Blog and a few other tricks that I picked up this weekend from reading the Blogging "How To" posts hosted by Felicity at All Things Bright and Beautiful. Jo from Desire to Inspire provided the Html for making a table so that you can get pictures side by side. I had to change my Blog template to accomodate the wider format to Minimia stretch. I also learnt how to make a picture or link open in a new window by pasting a neat little macro in the Html code. This was all a little confusing for me (I am far from being a techie) but I am sure that it will soon become second nature.

So please let me know how you like the wider page format and the pictures side by side....if you can even remember what the old one was like.....Hmmm Happy Monday

Photo Credit Morgane Le Fay

{ Registry Bliss }

Anne from Perfect Bound Blog contacted me recently and asked me to contribute to a series of Posts she is doing on "Registry Bliss". Her instructions were: "to pick my Top Five Dream Registry items...she goes on to add: I'm not talking about a Crate and Barrel coffeemaker here. Instead, truly over the top items that are neither practical nor budget friendly in any way". Well did she ever ask the right person as I was left wide open to have some fun doing this. Although I do think that what I have chosen to present are all very practical, but I'll leave it up to your discretion whether they are budget friendly as budget is a very relative term. The following is my contribution.
Please check out the other posts on Perfect Bound on Registry Bliss
Enjoy
Classic Bride
Toast and Tables

(Reprinted from Perfect Bound)
"It's not everyday that you stumble upon a blog from an actual practicing interior designer." Such is the case with Patricia Gray Interior Design. I have recently been starting my day with visits to Patricia's blog and they have been brighter and better styled because of it. I was flattered when she agreed to contribute to this week's Registry Bliss. While many of us are happy to flip through magazines, Patricia Gray continues to be featured in several of them. I think we're all in for a treat.
1. Four Poster Steel Campaign Bed. A similar one a available through Niermann Weeks. Picture Mimmi O'Connell.
2. Philippe Starck Ghost Chairs & Knoll Saarinen Table with Carrera Marble Top are both classics and will make your kitchen the most stylish and talked about. Available at Design within Reach. $310 and $6603. A beautiful pair of Vintage Murano Glass table lamps. You will cherish these for a lifetime. Available through Swank Lighting. From from $1,800 to $6,000 per pair.4. A pair of matching Pratesi Bathrobes and the matching towels. These are made form the best Egyptian Cotton and are absolutely fabulous next to the skin. Available through Pratesi.5. Miele CVA4085SS Stainless Steel Espresso Machine & Coffee Maker. It does it all for you, grinds the beans, foams the milk, electronic display. It even has individualized setting for your coffee favorites. Available at Miele. $2749.

PS I would be interested to know what you would pick from this list to register for.....

LA Pacific Design Center & Dallas Market Center

I'm off to LA & Dallas this week. Three days in LA. I am planning to go to the Pacific Design Center and visit various showrooms in the adjacent area. Then to Dallas for the Market for two days. In Dallas I am going to meet up with Joni of Cote de Texas fame. We have never met in person....

I, of course, will take loads of pictures and notes to share with you when I return.

And for the International readers of my Blog I have added a translator in my Side Bar to make it easier for you to read my Blog in your native language. Let me know how you like it. I was inspired by the Blog Perfect Bound to add this Google Widget. It is easy to do. Click on the link under the box that says Gadgets and Google will walk you through it.

Felicity from All things Bright and Beautiful has just started a great new series of posts for people new to blogging. Where to store photos, how to insert different fonts, code - you name it she wants to share the knowledge. Send tips or questions her way to improve your blog's look and make your blogging life so much easier. You can also check out some great tips for New Bloggers (and it can also benefit those of us who have been blogging for awhile) at a site called Pro Blogger.

I'll be back posting next week.

Edelman Leather & my 100th Post

This is my 100th post and I wanted to do something special to commemorate this event. When I started blogging, I had no idea where it would lead me. I have met such wonderful people through the experience of blogging and learnt so much in the process. I tried to find a cake with a 100 candles, but instead found this gorgeous yellow cake (continuing on my Yellow kick) with maybe 100 daisies thanks to Sarah Dennis from Toast and Tables. The following is an special interview I had with John Edelman of Edelman Leather fame. I learnt that they pay homage to a few great design Icons of the past in their continuing tradition of excellence.

Edelman Leather
Interview with John Edelman, President

I understand that Edelman was established in New York in the 50’s, and is still a family run business and that you started out supplying the Fashion Industry. Could you tell us a little about the legacy of your family business?
My parents Teddy and Arthur Edelman joined my grandfather’s business in the early 50’s which was called Flemming Joffe (Joffe is my grandfather’s name). At that time they were tanners of reptiles, primarily for the shoe industry.

I heard that Andy Warhol did drawings for your company in the 50’s before his rise to fame. Could you share some of how this came about?
After a few years of joining the company, my grandfather retired and my parents needed a graphic designer. They put an ad in the New York Times and this nice little guy showed up with white hair. He didn’t talk too much and they liked his work. He was a working graphic artist and was unknown then. He came to work for my parents and that’s why many of his early pieces look like shoes with reptiles. He subsequently went on to become very famous, but this was before he did anything that he is now know for. My parents have a very large collection of Warhol paintings. We still use some of the early pieces he did for us. "This is a Chair" is one of our favourites and has been the theme for our Company since it was created in 1952 or '53.

You are known for your exquisite leather products. What are some of your more exotic products?
We work primarily with cow hides which are hand worked and embossed in different patterns and textures. We refer to them as unendangered species and we have over 40 different patterns. A few are: crocodile, ostrich, shagreen, and wild boar. The only “exotic” skin we use is Python.

Note by Patricia: Shagreen is a fascinating texture inspired by Jean-Michel Frank. A sharkskin (stingray) grain engraved on vegetable-tanned leather.

Why Python?
It is not endangered and it is big enough is for upholstery. Usually 30 feet long by 2 1/2 feet wide.

You use Swiss cow hides. How do these compare to other hides?
Our cow hides are from Southern Germany and our calf skins are from Switzerland. They are the best in the world. They use no barbed wire, no branding and they even clean the animals off at night to prevent staining.

Your leathers are advertised as being “100% GREENGUARD certified”. Could you tell us what that encompasses?
We want to be as green as possible. Our product is a by product of the meat industry, so we are actually recycling before we get started. We use all water based finishes and solvents to finish the leather. And all the tanning products are recycled to be used again. Greenguard certifies that we do not have any harmful off gasing which in turn qualifies us for LEED certified jobs.

Tell us about this wonderful Crypton finish you are using. I had a demonstration of the cleanabilty of stains on white leather by Matt Buckley, your National Sales Manager, and I was excited that it opens up new ways in which light colored leather products can be used.
Most people try to protect their leathers by adding more paint to the finish so it’s less natural. We worked for over 3 years with Crypton. Now Crypton is the leading company for protecting fabrics against stains. We worked with their technicians to develop a formula that impregnates the hide, to stain resist from inside the hide. So we don’t need to add any extra finish, we don’t lose any of the hand at all, but we can repel stains. If it does get a stain on it, you can use our cleaner that we have developed with Crypton.

You also have a furniture line.
This is a new addition and we really did it as a service for Interior Designers. We picked classic Jean-Michel Frank pieces that were super simple, super clean; what we call ‘a canvas for our leathers’. So it goes back to “This is a Chair”. You take the basic club chair and every product you put on it makes the chair look different. If you put it in red Python it looks one way, if you put it in yellow Ostrich, or Metallic it looks another way.

So you said you use classic Jean-Michel Frank pieces.
He was Ann Frank’s uncle. He emigrated from Paris to Argentina to escape the Germans. He finally went back to New York when it was safe and did a beautiful apartment for the Rockefeller's and decided that design was dead and jumped off a building with no patents on his work or designs. We found the world’s greatest restorer of his pieces based in Massachusetts who had 30 years of catalogued restoration of his furniture. We had him make us models to the exact specs of the original Jean-Michel Frank pieces. We have 10 pieces in our line. The Upright Chair is an Iconic piece by Jean-Michel Frank - he invented the club chair. We also do a parsons table. He (Jean-Michel Frank) did the Parsons table when he was at Parson’s. It’s not very well documented, but that is what we have learnt.
Upright Chair
X-tra Bench
Parsons Table

The following are a few of the Interior Designers that use Edelman leathers in their work. Photos from the Edelman web-site.

Vincente Wolf Shrunken Buffalo

Orlando Diaz-Azcuy Royal Hide

Emma Jane Pilkington House and Garden Nov2005 Royal Hide

House Beautiful March 2003 Bunny Williams Royal Suede

Robert Passal House and Garden Oct 2005 Royal Hide

Steven Gambrell His own home Elle Decor March 2005 Cavellini European Hair on Cowhide

Diamond Baratta Elle Decor Custom Royal Hide

Vantullis Interiors Cavellini Exotic Cow Rug

Blogging Statistics

Franki of Life in a Venti cup is off to Vegas for the "Blog World Expo". Imagine a convention devoted entirely to Blogging. And if that is not enough I was amazed to read these statics on the convention's web-site.......

• Over 12 million American adults currently maintain a blog.
• More than 147 million Americans use the Internet.
• Over 57 million Americans read blogs.
• 1.7 million American adults list making money as one of the reasons they blog.
• 89% of companies surveyed say they think blogs will be more important in the next five years.
• 9% of Internet users say they have created blogs .
• 6% of the entire US adult population has created a blog .
• Technorati is currently tracking over 70 million blogs .
• over 120 thousand blogs are created every day .
• There are over 1.4 million new blog posts every day .
• 22 of the 100 most popular websites in the world are blogs .
• 37% of blog readers began reading blogs in 2005 or 2006 .
• 51% of blog readers shop online .
• Blog readers average 23 hours online each week .
  
  The statistic that really captured my attention is that "blog readers average 23 hours online each week". Wow. What do you think of these statistics, and do you think that Blogging is here to stay??
  
  Photo Patricia Gray

My Marrakesh

My good blogging friend Maryam who writes the delightful blog My Marrakesh is 1 of 10 finalists in the 2007 Annual Weblog Awards. Please check out her beautiful and inspiring blog about all things "Marrakesh".... and please find your way to click here and vote for her Blog " My Marrakesh".

I plan to visit Maryam's little piece of heaven for my birthday next year and hopefully stay with them in their guesthouse Peacock Pavilions which is under construction. It is a magnificent labor of love!!! They have just planted 200 white rose bushes on the land surrounding this guest house which is set on acres of Olive orchard in Marrakesh. Heaven!!!

Good luck to you Maryam.

PS Katie has also done a posting for Maryam today. Check it out here

Most Influential Blogs

I must tell all of you who haven't had a chance to visit this Blog: Cote de Texas written by Joni what you are missing. Joni is an Interior Designer living in Texas and writes the most robust, interesting, informative and well researched posts. She continues to amaze me with the depth and breadth of her research. I find myself re-visiting and re-reading her posts and always learn something new with each visit to her site. As well Joni is friendly and charming and always has a good comment to share.

Some of my favourite posts of hers are:

Vermeer and Camera Obscura I was fascinated by this post and the theory postulated on the use of the Camera Obscura by Great Artists. I learnt something new and my interest is piqued to read more on the subject because of this post.

Round Top , Texas
An excellent round-up of photos of the famous Round Top market that is held in Texas twice yearly. This post makes me want to go there next year.



Farrow and Ball
A great review of the new Farrow and Ball book as seen through Joni's eyes.

Paris in Houston Part 1
At the same time that I go to the Round Top market I want to visit this store in Houston that Joni takes us on a tour of. She has the great ability to make you feel like you are right there with her looking at all the treasures.

Living with Dogs and Slipcovers
This has to be the best resource that Joni has compiled on slipcovers that I have ever come across. I love the casual elegance of slipcovers, so this post was especially appealing to me. Don't you love the picture of this Lab all comfy in his (or hers) slipcovered chair

My Design: Family Room Joni walks us through her design process for her own Family Room. I would love to visit her and sit in this room. It is charming, comfortable and totally liveable, exactly what a family room should be. And the last picture on this post is of a bowl of pictures that Joni keeps on her coffee table. A perfect way to get those photos off the computer and get everyone looking at them and reminiscing.


Joni's latest post Most Influential Blogs - Her Picks:

My pick to be added to this impressive list is:


My thanks to you Joni for all your hard work and research. I am continually inspired by you!!!