Metro Retro Potter: Jonathan Adler

I spent some time at the bookstore today, it's my home-away-from-home and favorite place to go when I am stressed.  I grabbed this book by Jonathan Adler and read it almost all the way through. He is hilarious. And his pottery, textiles, and decorating style all are fantastic as well.

I had read his partner Simon Doonan's book a few years back and loved it, I recommend hunting down a copy if you can. His forward to the book gives the credit for their long and happy relationship to Jonathan's sense of style and their living with beautiful surroundings! How sweet!

Anyway. Back to Jonathan.

 You can lay on a couch like that, if you're the one who designed it.

I've seen his work at stores and on design blogs before, and a few pieces at a now-defunct store in uptown Minneapolis. I always thought that his style was a little too...um.....'Metro' for my tastes, but after going through his book and reading his observations on style, kitsch, and the use of color, I'm an Adler advocate!

Why should your surroundings be dull and lifeless? He uses one or two fantastic colors along with black (or brown) and white, to bring in pattern both visual and actual. Repeated geometric or biomorphic shapes in co-ordinating colors create harmony. Check out his interior designs by using the arrows at the bottom of the photos. He's an advocate of wallpaper that looks to come straight out of an Austen Powers movie, and he makes it work.

You could get lost in his website for hours. It's got tons of inspiring color combinations, and of course you can purchase his work. You get to know what he's like in person, with a super funny question and answer section. Too bad Frank Lloyd Wright didn't live long enough to have his own Q&A....

Anyway.

I really dig the handmade quality of the work, from the hand-loomed pillows to the hand-made ceramics. He apparently has his pottery made for him in Peru by a group called "Aid to Artisans" .

 Owl ornament? How cute!!!!

My next trip to Chicago will include a stop at his store, and I think that I'm just going to have to save my pennies for this rug. The only question now, is, black or brown?

December 31, 2006

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About: I'm obsessed with making the world a prettier place. I make my living as a production...

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