Art of Kinetik

Design inspirations can come from many art forms. It’s nice to look at different types of beauty to freshen things up. It's also fun to learn about different types of design. 

When someone describes their vision for a home, words that you'll hear are aesthetic, timeless, balance...

Photos from Art of Kinetik



Art of Kinetik is based in Belgrade, Serbia, where research and development, including the design, naval architecture and engineering is being done to create a new class of luxury yachts ranging from 10 to 30 meters long. The yachts are made of mahogany, teak, stainless steel and leather to create floating pieces of art.

Source

It was hard to find much information about the company, since most of the press they’ve received is in French-, Italian-, and Russian-printed publications. But these pictures are worth a thousands words. These yatchs are best appreciated through visualization.

However, I did find a press release that talks about their use of wood in the creations.

Why wood? One can talk about wood for hours. Wood is ultimately a material that is beautiful, noble and timeless. When it comes to boats, wood has numerous technological, functional , structural and aesthetic qualities that none other can match. Structurally, wood is a material that has a very good weight to strength ratio. It naturally does not fatigue over time like metals. Wood also naturally absorbs sounds and vibrations, so it provides a uniquely comfortable and luxurious ride. Finally for us wanting to make floating pieces of art, wood being a timeless material was the only natural choice. 

The company was formed at the end of 2007 with private funding by four friends, the oldest being 42. They saw an opening into the market--and happened to be wealthy enough to invest in-- modern styled wooden yachts. The yachts aren’t just for looks either. Each one has 2 Rolls Royce jets that reach speed of 45 knots and each yacht requires 8-10 months to build from the time of purchase.

The thing is, in order to even see these boats in real life, you'd have to be in the Mediterranean, or have quick access there. These babies can be found in Port Montenegro, next to the Adriatic sea where European and Russian billionaires are purchasing homes.

Montenegro, with a population of about 670,000, is a country roughly the size of Connecticut that achieved independence only in 2006. With its boundless mountains that drop straight into the Adriatic, Montenegro is, as Lord Byron once declared, very much the “most beautiful merging of land and sea.”

A "Hedonist", the yacht's name, being shipped to the Adriatic Sea

Adriatic Sea

And the guy who heads up the company, Art of Kinetik? Boris Ivanovic…

Yes, sometimes it’s good to see something unexpected…






-T

History Brush up on Mid-Century Modern Design- George Nakashima

George Nakashima (a Japanese American woodworker/architect) is, hands-down, one of my favorite names from the Mid-Century Circa. His unique furniture is famous for its use of large slab wood pieces with smooth tops and natural wood edges.  

George Nakashima graduated with a Bachelor’s in Architecture from University of Washington and his Master’s in architecture from M.I.T. by 1930. Although he started out as an architectural designer for larger scale projects, he later secured his passion on a much smaller scale with furniture.  

At the beginning of WWII, he opened a furniture workshop in Seattle with his wife but this was put on hold because they were interned in a camp like many Japanese Americans during the war. It was during this time that he was trained on salvaged wood by a master Japanese carpenter which sparked his interest in the unfinished, organic wood look.

“In dealing with solid wood almost each piece becomes a personal problem and the nature of each slab is used to its fullest capacity.”

-George Nakashima

 

George Nakashima often fixed cracks or filled voids using butterfly joints.

A close-up of Nakashima's signature butterfly joints.

In 1943, he and his wife resettled in Pennsylvania where he set up shop again. His shop employed some of the world’s finest craftsmen who devoted their time to Nakashima and his ideas, some of who still work in his studio today. Even though Nakashima passed away in 1990 at age 85, his work and his studio still live on through his daughter, Mira Nakashima-Yarnall.  

Some of his major commissions are listed below:

• 200 furnishings for Nelson Rockefeller’s home in New York

• Interiors for Columbia University

• The Church of Christ the King in Katsura, Kyoto

• The International Paper Corporation

• Monastery of Christ in the Desert as well as the Alters of Peace

• Series of furniture for Knoll

A plethora of Nakashima-inspired pieces...

 

 

Toodles,

Amy B.

New Project for The Deco Blog team

We wanted to introduce a new project we’ll be working on over the next few months. An owner of a mid-century modern furniture consignment store in Dallas has asked us to help repaint and organize his space.


This is what it looks like today:

To do list:

• Choose interior paint colors
• Paint booth walls
• Select furniture from 3500+ sq ft of space to design booths and
• Upload photos for you to see.

So far, this is what we know.


We’ll be playing with warm and dark wood furniture, chrome, and glass. We’ll look for complementary colors like cool grays, interesting deep browns and steely grays. Modern homes often have white painted walls with floor to ceiling windows, but we’ll have to take into consideration the warehouse’s artificial light, which will read differently. We want to choose a grays that read gray and cool, not dingy. And clean whites, that won't look creamy….or apartment beige-y.


Eventually, the floors will be stained to be a dark glossy cement.


We’ll be picking up these colors for starters:

Benjamin Moore, Edgecomb Gray (http://blossominteriors.com/blog photo credit)

Benjamin Moore, Linen White (http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ photo credit)

Sherwin-Williams, Conservative Gray (http://www.traditionalhome.com/images/img_newhousenewkitchen_l2.jpg photo credit)

We also like

• Benjamin Moore, Stone Harbor
• Sherwin-Williams, Gilbraltar
• Benjamin Moore, Cliffside Gray

On a side-note, how come I can't find more photos of specific colors if everyone is crediting their photos? What's the scoop on that?