The luxury to Dwell

it has been too long since my last entry, but i was distracted with the official launch of my website and blog as well as dwell magazine's 4 days of 'dwell on design 08' in LA (DOD).

i was fortunate to be a part of DOD as a speaker and share my knowledge of sustainable interiors (see the dwell fan page). DOD appeared to be a huge success and offered inspiring presentations, cool and unique products, a focus on sustainble design, sold out home tours and fun parties. and the dwell staff behind the event are so nice and stylish! i really hope DOD returns to LA next year!

activities began last thursday with the first of 2 days of their conference with a party thursday evening at fordbrady downtown. they feature stylish and unique furniture, lighting and accessories among which includes this chair displayed in their exhibit booth. it's the garden boy stainless chair designed by angus hutcheson. it was displayed like a museum piece and looked so magnificent and sculputural, as if it were a piece of art, not just a functional piece of furniture.







on friday, i had the honor of speaking on a panel about sustainable interiors with lori dennis and mary cardaro. it was a wonderful session where we were able to explain why green design is so necessary and how to create a sustainable interior. in addition, we discussed that green design doesn't define a space, rather it is 1 component of a bigger picture. an environmentally friendly space means that it's efficient and healthy, but the space must also be beautiful, comfortable, and effective. we also emphasized the importance of evaluating a product or material based on its full life cycle, not just whether it has some recycled content.

friday night was the vip party at moca downtown with a great dj and beverages sponsored by izze and 360vodka. perhaps the coolest part of the party was the design tournament featuring LA's top rendering gurus. these designers were seated in a circle with large monitors above them so that party guests could watch their every move. it was fascinating to watch beautiful homes conceived right in front of your eyes!

another fun activity was a landscape design challenge sponsored by monrovia who also supplied the plants and trees throughout the 4 day event. i got to experience this first-hand as i was part of a team in the 1st round who won! we had 10 minutes to create a design using any number of plants supplied by monrovia and work within a small square area. our design was inspired by dwell of course and resulted in a minimal, asymmetrical design with a curved path running through it. as a prize, we received dwell tshirts and a monrovia plant of our choice! i proudly took home an arabian lilac.

in my next post, i will share a glimpse of more cool products from the exhibit.