A Japanese toy designer took a discarded tin can and hammered it into the shape of a U.S. Army jeep in 1945. Crudely painted by hand, and powered by nothing more than an elastic band, the inches-long jeep by Matsuz Kosuge spawned a miniature automotive industry. This and other examples of buriki, as they are called, are being featured in an exhibition at the Japan Society Gallery opening today (through August 16). "Replicating the automotive styling of Detroit's 'golden age' down to the tiniest fin, these pint-sized vehicles helped repurpose Japan's manufacturing sector from munitions to peacetime production," says Joe Earle, Director, Japan Society Gallery. "They also salved a pent-up thirst for glamour and beauty in the then impoverished country, as well as in the newly affluent United States." The 70 tin-toy vehicles on view range from small, rudimentary examples made in the fledgling phase of Japan's postwar toy industry--beginning with a bottle-green Cadillac sedan stamped "Made in Occupied Japan"--to later, elaborate models made for the high-end American market. The latter often sport a combination of battery-powered lights, electric (as opposed to friction or clockwork) motors, remote controls, chrome trim, and retractable parts. Not all of the featured automotive models are sedans: convertibles, station wagons, delivery wagons, buses, trailers, and racing cars are included, as are the "show" cars that so captured the imagination of the American public in the 1950s and 1960s. A handful of jets, helicopters, and speedboats are featured to help provide a sense of the variety of products created by the tin-toy industry in Japan during these years, as well. Among the "concept" or "show" cars on view are a 10-inch-long Pontiac Club de Mer, modeled after a prototype inspired by contemporary aircraft construction; the Firebird II Turbine car, designed by GM's chief designer Harley Earl in 1956; and the 1955 Ford Lincoln Futura, which never made it into production, but achieved immortality as the model for the Batmobile in the Batman television series of the 1960s. Many of the featured tin toys retain their original packaging, including one 1959 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner convertible whose cardboard box, on view in the exhibition, touts, "amazing pushbutton automatic top-forward-reverse and steering." Also on view is a blowup of a 1951 board game depicting Japanese children riding every type of American conveyance, including a Jeep and a Cadillac sedan and boxes depicting prosperous families, blessed with ample leisure time, speeding through America's "great outdoors." Early manufacturers of buriki (derived from "blik," Dutch for "tin toy") often had to rely on photographs to style their models, for few American cars and automotive reference materials could be found in Japan in the post-war years. Says Joe Earle: "In those early years, more than half of the metal toys made in Japan went overseas--helping to pay for vital imports such as rice as well as meeting a severe shortage of toys in the U.S." A 96-page, fully illustrated catalogue by Earle, who is also the curator, provides an historical and cultural context for Japanese tin-toy vehicles and documents the 70 works in the exhibition. Published by Japan Society and distributed by Yale University Press. Buriki: Japanese Tin Toys from the Golden Age of the American Automobile, The Yoku Tanaka Collection will be available at the Japan Society Shop and in bookstores nationwide. Are you born to be wild? See the raciest of the buriki on exhibit and get a hit of Steppenwolf on Design Commotion's home page.

by Saxon Henry For those who claim there’s nothing new under the sun, a perusal of the youngest participants in this year’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) proves that a new generation brings with it fresh ideas. In this particular case, it was college sophomores from Philadelphia University who took to material experimentation, and an emotionalization of materials and design like experienced pros.

 The project began when Grace Jeffers, the corporate muse for Wilsonart®, approached professor Josh Owen, whose students would be required to create artifacts reflecting the culture of the corporation using the company’s laminate. After Jeffers lectured the students about the history of laminate, Owen and teaching partner Jason Lempieri guided over twenty students through a month of material experimentation. Once they understood the peculiarities of the laminate—after heating it, bending it, twisting it, freezing it and painting it, they made maquettes of designs they wanted to explore, continuing to fine tune their ideas until they were satisfied that what they’d created was structurally sound (each chair had to support a 400-pound person) and aesthetically on-point. The chairs also had to reflect the student’s perceptions of Wilsonart’s place in American history and his or her aesthetic bent. “Our job as teachers was to help them find consistency in their thinking,” says Lempieri. “A good design professor’s task is to ask the right questions that inspire students to reach into themselves and discover what’s innately theirs.” The students were also charged with constructing the chairs themselves. Wilsonart normally brings one product from each year’s competition to the fair, but the designs were so outstanding this year that the company brought the winner and five runners up to ICFF. “The breadth of creativity, depth of context and high caliber of craft were among the top I’ve seen,” explains Jeffers. “Remember, these are sophomores in college and the results were stunning!”  Aodh O’Donnell, who was the winner of the competition with his Armadillo Chair, used the company’s sample chips to clad a buxom seat. “I wanted to use the shingle effect of the chip to achieve texture,” he says. “You usually only see the product on a flat surface and I wanted to draw attention to it in a different way.” His “celebration” of the chip struck me as important in one other aspect: he used something that most people would toss into the trash once they’ve finished with it. Jeffrey Steel took the chip to task as well, creating his Array Chair, which glorifies the chip chain. “I have always been drawn to math in my education,” he says. “I played with the chip chain, tossing it to see what patterns emerged, and created a chair that reads like an accidental pattern but is really very well studied.”  As Steel points out, it appears that the chips are floating, but they are anchored strongly in order to achieve the strength that was required. “Watching the progress of the chair emerging as I built it was an amazing experience,” says Steel. “When it was finished, I just sat and stared at it for a while because it was the manifestation of all I had hoped it would be and more.”  Julianne Magliaro was in attendance with her Imperial Chair, the inspiration for which came from two sources—one ancient and one modern. “I was inspired by the Qing Dynasty’s Imperial Rector’s Chair for its proportions and I created the lattice work by mapping all of the distributors of Wilsonart products. Margliaro’s original maquette was an interplay of colors celebrating stained glass, but Owen and Lempieri encouraged her to dig deeper to make her design more dynamic. Their advice was dead-on, as the resulting white/black interplay, interrupted by only one solid shape in red, stands up to the most sophisticated designs to come out of the most prestigious design houses.     Geoff Quinter’s Diner Chair exemplifies 50’s era Americana. “I love the aesthetics of the simple Formica table of that period and the streamline appeal of the diner stool,” he says. “I took those visceral images and bent them into a chair that recalls both, which are iconic pieces of Americana.”            Dan Worthers created the Xpress Chair to represent Wilsonart’s dynamic manufacturing process. “It’s a very big chair because I wanted to illustrate how much they’ve grown,” he says. “I considered the colors carefully, selecting the three that the company first produced.” Worthers was inspired to embrace every facet of this process of experimentation equally: “My heart is in being the generalist in industrial design—it’s all about the exploration!” Alyward Omoding was not in attendance, but his Makuu “Pride” Chair was, which Lempieri explained was a celebration of the student’s African heritage. “It pushes the limits of the material and uses it to create an intricate surface of woven construction,” Omoding wrote in his statement about his product. “The chair creates a carpet-like texture that transforms into a chair.”   Seeing young college students taking this project so seriously is a heartening forecast for the future of design. What struck me about the chairs in person is that I could envision  each one of them ensconced in the home of a limited edition or one-off furniture collector or in a furniture gallery—fully at ease among experimental pieces by Marc Newson, Ron Arad and the Campana Brothers. This article was originally written for The Curated Object. Students from Virginia Tech were sporting their prototypical designs at the show. More on DesignCommotion.

  by Saxon Henry Miami Beach-based realtor Gary Hennes has a genius for eclecticism that makes any interior space he occupies standout. His home on the beach is a light-filled space full of treasures that he has collected over the years with an eye to quality and a knack for snagging pieces for a steal. “I love beautiful objects,” he says. “I’ve always loved form.” At his own admission, Hennes gets it honest, as his mother made an art of making an eclectic home “read” like a highly sophisticated environment where grown-ups lived and kids learned the discipline of nesting in style. “For mom, everything was about presentation, even when she cooked,” he explains. This penchant for packaging had its foibles. “More than once, I came home from school and the whole house was rearranged!” he quips. The lessons in eclecticism began when his mother inherited cherished family heirlooms, which the late mid-century-style home they occupied didn’t welcome easily. A young Hennes watched as she made everything relate seamlessly. “I don’t think your eye plays tricks on you when you see environments that work and those that don’t work,” he says. “You have to trust your sense of style and let it guide you.” The stylish environment he has created in his own home is all the more surprising given his ability to ferret out items with pedigree at a fraction of the weighty cost many collectors plunk down for vintage furniture. “I definitely like what most people would call ‘the find,’” he explains, “but creating successful interiors is as much about editing as it is about what is contained in each space.”  Recently, Hennes turned his attention to his office by incorporating a walled-off double-height volume adjacent to the original one-story space and adding architecturally interesting detailing. Then he brought vintage finds into the spaces to lend the rooms cosmopolitan warmth. For those who think any renovation is highly costly, he accomplished the update on a reasonable budget. Hennes sees the office as an extension of his residence, and he notes that since he spends more time at work than at home, he saw the importance of making the intimately-scaled space as personable as possible. “This was an opportunity for me to be expressive,” he says. “I’m a good observer and I enjoy using the ideas I’ve gleaned in my own spaces.” His advice for someone wanting to collect: “Have fun with the hunt. The satisfaction is in finding things that speak to you.” Don’t be afraid to experiment, either, he says. “I sometimes see interiors I’ve created a couple of years after the fact and I think, ‘OMG’!” This is normal, he believes, as perspectives shift over time and a sense of style is an ever-evolving process. Patience is also a crowning virtue when searching for good-looking furnishings. “For the evolving person, collecting and nesting are ongoing pursuits,” he explains. “These activities are never finished until the day you die.” Lastly, use your instincts when you see a piece of furniture, an accessory or a piece of art that speaks to you. “I’ve brought things home that I had no idea where they would fit,” he remarks. “It’s why I have a garage, which is where things go until I know exactly where they go!” When it comes to favorite designers, he prefers to emulate people who have lived design rather than those who have studied it. “I live in a glass house so everything is seen from the outside,” he says. “As soon as I pull my car into the driveway, my home and everything in it welcomes me. That, to me, is the sign of a well designed, highly personal space.”  One classic Hennes anecdote is a good one to take away in terms of thinking through purchases before you put the money on the table, even if the price is a steal. “When the owners were selling off the contents of the Revere Hotel because Gianni Versace was demolishing it to make room for his pool,” he explains. “I bought the sectional sofa that had been in the lobby. It was white vinyl and filled with soot. I don’t know how many bottles of Windex I went through trying to get it clean!” Had he taken the time to “kick the tires,” so to speak, that sectional might have been someone else’s prize. “That was one hell of an uncomfortable sofa!” In the world according to Hennes, this is all in a life’s work. “I live to learn,” he says. “If you love where you’re living, changing your spaces an infinite number of times isn’t unsettling, it’s incredibly satisfying. As a matter of fact, talking about this is making me want to go home and rearrange my furniture tonight!” See other images of Hennes' office here.

    by Saxon Henry

The path from industrial engineer to perfumer may not seem a likely one on the surface, but for YeYe Fragrances’ co-founder Ernesto Sanchez-Bujanda, the mathematical aspects of his education as an engineer are perfectly aligned with his ability to create sensual home fragrances. When he speaks of base notes, heart notes and top notes—the stages of evaporation, and the nine essential oils that intermingle to create each fragrance, the analytical side of creating olfactory delights emerges.

What may be less obvious to the untrained nose is Sanchez-Bujanda’s commitment to quality. “I only use essential oils, even though they are one-thousand percent more expensive than synthetics,” he explains, adding that even some essential oils are better than others. “The trick is to know from what part of the world to find the best sandalwood and from where to order the finest jasmine, for example. I only buy vanilla from Madagascar because of its quality.”

Sanchez-Bujanda, a native of Venezuela, moved to New York City at the age of twenty-one to become a makeup artist. Tiring of the frenetic pace, he moved to Miami Beach in 2005 to open a high-end perfumery that sold hard-to-find European lines. “My life-partner, Ryan York, inspired me to take the next step,” he explains. “We decided to create home fragrances first.”

There are two YeYe collections: basic and complex. Basic fragrances include White Garden, Bosque Imperial and Orrant. The complex scents are Opulence, Phantom and Paradox. Within each collection, there are candles, diffusers and votives, called Pandora. The complex collection also includes natural resin-crystal potpourri.

York, who is vice president of YeYe, designed the packaging—elegantly detailed eggplant and earthy brown canisters, and playfully wrapped votives in chartreuse. “We wanted the diffusers to have an old apothecary feel to them, but one that has a clean touch of the modern,” says Sanchez-Bujanda. Bamboo sticks for the diffusers and the seal on the diffusers themselves are artfully wrapped in leather cord, and rectangular plates that hold the potpourri are handmade in Thailand from palm wood. A diffuser will last from three to four months, depending upon the temperature, and candles will burn for about sixty hours. The natural wax candles range in price from $45 to $55 and the diffusers from $78 to $94. A pound of the potpourri sells for $54, the palm-wood trays run $30 and the votives, which are available in all six fragrances, cost $15.

For a full list of retailers, visit the Design Commotion blog.

by Saxon Henry

In her introduction to THAD HAYES: The Tailored Interior, Evelyn Lauder says of Hayes’ skill, “Thad Hayes can make a home fit into its own skin, not into his skin.” A perusal of the 21 interiors in the book proves Hayes’ long-standing client’s point, as the string of residences and retreats range from a pied-à-terre at the Pierre Hotel in New York to the Lauder’s Georgian vacation home in Palm Beach and a Tudor Revival in Texas.

Whether the designer is creating a backdrop for a contemporary art collector in New York City or Leonard Lauder’s collection of art deco posters in Palm Beach, his dexterity in working across styles and periods is apparent. His own Greenwich Village townhouse is among my favorites, as the interiors have a breathless quality to them. This is owed in part, perhaps, to the fact that Hayes had modernist architect Mies van der Rohe in mind when he introduced certain elements, or possibly to his affection for Japanese architecture. “I wanted our house to embrace and fulfill all the romantic notions we have around the idea of ‘home’: the welcoming of friends, cooking, children’s chatter, sitting around a hearth,” Hayes explains. “That was really my expectation.”

For his client’s interiors, he envisions environments that are equally personal, and it’s likely a result of his attentiveness during a project, as described in the introduction by critic Charles Gandee in which he quotes Hayes as saying, “I don’t delegate. I direct everything. I’m in every meeting with every client; I go to every job site. I go to the upholsterer. I know every pillow fabric…every detail.” This attention to detail leads to rooms that reflect “repose, clarity, and restraint,” says one client, but Hayes’ restraint is anything but spare.

One of the strengths of the beautifully photographed book is that it shows the designer’s dexterity and range: a New Jersey Craftsman, a modernist summerhouse in the Hamptons and a gentile home in Baton Rouge were given identities that shrug off any evidence of having been “designed.” In the acknowledgements, Hayes himself writes, “In my line of work it is easy to begin believing one is laboring for one’s art.” Hayes’ art has such a delicately powerful quality to it that even the natural light seems to tiptoe into the rooms, unwilling to allow its harshness to interrupt the quiet beauty that has been achieved. 

     by Saxon Henry    

Forty years ago from May 26^th to June 2^nd, John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged their infamous bed-in at The Fairmont Queen Elizabeth in Montreal. The peaceful protest instantly grabbed worldwide media interest, not surprising since John and Yoko spoke to over 150 journalists every day during the weeklong bed-in. In the US, 350 radio stations carried reports that relayed the actions of the peaceniks, determined as they were to beam their protests against the war in Vietnam to every corner of the world.

In hindsight, one of the highlights of the event was John Lennon's June 1st composition of Give Peace A Chance (original video shot in the suite). He wrote the song off-the-cuff, converting the suite into a recording studio under the direction of André Perry. Some 50 people—including Tommy Smothers, Dr. Timothy and Petula Clark—contributed to the recording of the song, which was immediately broadcast worldwide.

For the duration of the event, John had all the furniture removed from the suite and placed in the hall because he wanted to make room for visitors, media and his entourage (not recommended for your stay in the suite). He took the mattress from the bedroom and placed it on the floor in the living room, and taped posters to the walls with messages of peace. Once he had composed Give Peace A Chance, he had the lyrics written and posted on the walls near the bed so others could sing along during the recording. He also posted two boards with “Hair Peace” and “Bed Peace” in the windows behind the bed for all to see.

 The hotel records show that thousands of guests have stayed in what is now called the John Lennon Suite over the years. Though it has been refurbished several times since 1969 and the furnishings from that era are long gone, some guests report that there remains a palpable mystical aura in the room. The suite’s updated décor includes memorabilia—press articles, framed gold records of Give Peace A Chance with music and lyrics, and color and black and white photographs of the couple taken during the event.

The urbane feel of the hotel’s interiors seems to contradict the fact that one of the world’s most famous protests took place in the locale in1969. Lest we all forget that we are still struggling in conflicts overseas, Yoko has collaborated with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts  to stage the exhibition “Imagine: John & Yoko’s Pacifist Anthem,” which will be on view from April 2 to June 21 (2009), and will hold various documents, works of arts, records, sound-reels and photographs that relate to the bed-in.

   The hotel has an Imagine Package through June 21, which includes a one-night stay; one CD featuring Give Peace a Chance; breakfast in bed for two or buffet breakfast in Le Montréalais restaurant and a copy of the lyrics of Give Peace a Chance. 

Given the war-weary context we endure these days, maybe remembering John’s and Yoko’s urgent message for peace will be as beneficial as a good night’s sleep in a luxury hotel suite. Imagine that…

       by Saxon Henry    

Before voluptuous breasts and shapely bottoms were the norm, Barbie's curvaceous figure made many of us green with jealousy. Now, I find out that I have something else to envy: her house in Malibu. Not the small, plastic digs with a handle we filled with her frilly clothes and pointy shoes as children, but real live interiors, 3,500 square feet of them, designed by  Jonathan Adler.

The home, you see, is a life-sized interpretation of that fussed over pint-sized Dream House, bringing to life all the fantasy and fashion that personifies the shapely doll: elements such as skirted, corseted, lace-up “dress” chairs; a chandelier made of Barbie hair; a closet filled with thousands of pink shoes; a sunburst mirror made from 65 Barbie dolls (above the fireplace); pieces from the Barbie Loves Jonathan Adler™ home décor collection (launching nationwide in September 2009); and a garage that includes a real Barbie Volkswagen New Beetle (all pink with a motorized, pop up vanity in the trunk).

The house also features a Barbie Museum, which houses dozens of dolls and art pieces such as Barbie paintings by Andy Warhol. “Of all my work, bringing to life Barbie’s famous Malibu Dream House has been one of the most fun design projects yet,” says Adler. "Barbie was a dream client because she doesn't have a husband to rein in the fantasy or tone down the glamour."

Barbie’s outrageously pink birthday party, a star-studded soiree that showcased the residence for the first time, was designed by event-planner-to-the-stars Colin Cowie. It included more than 45 celebrities walking the pink carpet (get a load of Heidi Klum fondling Barbie's stash of pink stilettos), music by DJ AM, specialty cocktails such as the Barbie “Doll-icious” and “Strawberry Blonde,” custom floral centerpieces shaped as stilettos heels and a “plastic fantastic” theme infused throughout the night. Other details: 1,800 pairs of Barbie sized sunglasses, 3,500 pairs of Barbie shoes and 3,500 Barbie handbags filled custom designed Lucite tables. Along with centerpieces made up of 3,000 pink roses were 146 pounds of pink candy and 1,030 pounds of ice, which were used to create an ice sculpture of a birthday cake.

 “We’re bringing the entire idea of Barbie alive – how she eats, how she decorates, how she lives, and certainly how she entertains,” says Cowie.  “Barbie is a great client – she has great style, she loves the details, she enjoys her bling and she has tons of amazing imagery for inspiration – you’ll see lots of pink, shine, her famed black-and-white zebra print and always a few Barbie surprises.”

   by Saxon Henry

Stephanie Odegard knew early on that she wanted to create a business model championing socially responsible ideals. It was in 1980, after a 5-year Peace Corps assignment in Fiji, that she made the commitment to help talented artisans who were largely oppressed. “I was about to leave Fiji when I walked into a showroom built by our craftspeople,” she explains. “Everyone was there—sitting on grass mats, the men bare-chested with traditional dress and women in sarongs, and they had made a traditional feast in my honor with roasted chickens and suckling pigs and dishes wrapped in coconut leaves.”

Odegard was astonished, as this was a very important feast normally prepared only for very important people and almost always reserved for natives to the land. “It was incredibly moving to realize that they had prepared this traditional feast in my honor,” she says. “It was the first time I truly realized the impact their work could have on people’s lives.”

After Fiji, her desire to help others led her to Nepal and India where artisans worked in dire conditions and child labor was the norm. She helped Nepalese weavers design carpets that would be marketable in the west, and she founded Odegard, Inc., to offer the plush rugs to discerning interior designers. In India, she contracted with local stone carvers to produce accessories, ornately carved fireplace mantles and pavilions.

Since that time, the founding member of RugMark, which monitors manufacturers to help prevent child labor, has had great success in changing working conditions for the better. “There are now more people working, the standards of living have been raised, schools have been created within factories, and a great number of children have been educated through RugMark schools,” she remarks. “Our suppliers have created clean water standards in facilities and they have installed the only smoke free boiler in the industry in Nepal.”

Odegard has recently taken her activism a step further by switching her finances from a traditional banking arrangement to RSF Social Finance, an organization that divides interest monies between deserving companies doing good in the world. “It is important to me that we are dealing with socially responsible organizations in so far as possible in our interactions,” she says. “Knowing our interest money is going to socially responsible green and fair trade companies as well as non-profit organizations, rounds out my goals for becoming more and more the world citizen I wish to be.” Running a company that champions green ideals and corporate social responsibility (CSR) is incredibly challenging, especially where dealing with the financial arena is concerned. “The people working in these areas are usually less interested in corporate social responsibility and are more interested in the bottom line,” she says. “They tend to create covenants that are difficult to maintain, and to keep the focus on both social and fiscal responsibility is always a challenge.” Odegard’s goals for the future include continuing to defeat negative forces at work in the poor communities from which she gleans her wares. “We often have to work with self interested and political labor unions that use extortionist techniques, which prevent us from providing quality, appropriate working environments,” she explains. “Implementing certification strategies and inspection processes are sometimes difficult because local officials are often not interested in raising the standards of the poor. We are up against this all the time.”

   by Saxon Henry There is no one answer to this question: there are as many as there are personalities under the sun. I've plumbed the minds of Philippe Starck, Andreas Reichert and Karim Rashid, and each had a remarkably personal point of view. Reichert says, "I love it when a project is ready to go into production and when I have a really good feeling about the design – this really warms my heart. This usually happens in the unspectacular and pragmatic surroundings of a factory, which makes the situation all the more distinct and special." Starck claims, "Anyone can build a building that protects people from heat, sun and cold. What I am determined to do is to make a stage where people can be sexier and more brilliant, a place where they can awake smarter." And Rashid declares, "I am inspired by every project I have worked on, by every city I have traveled to, by every book I have read, by every art show I have seen, by every song I have heard, and by every smell, taste, sight, sound, and feeling.” The list of other visionaries who have influenced Rashid is long and diverse, ranging from Andy Warhol and David Bowie to DJ’s Felix da Housecat and Grandmaster Flash. Film directors Stanley Kubrick and Francis Ford Coppola are on his list, as are Saarinen, Niemeyer and Noguchi.

See the wanderings of these mythic minds at my blog on FastCompany.com. For other design stories, visit DesignCommotion.

 Swatch It!                                                                                            

                                                                      by Saxon Henry

Due in part to visionaries like David Serrano and Robert Wilson, who have been offering furniture in any color that Benjamin Moore produces through their shop Downtown in Los Angeles for the past 11 years, furniture has become bolder and more beautiful. With his imagination as his guide, Serrano pioneered a process that seals the furniture after it’s painted, protecting it and bringing it a lacquered gleam. A fine artist who grew up in a small town in the Mexican desert, which is renowned for its lavender and purple sunsets, he developed a fascination for color early on and has nurtured it his entire life.

“The first piece of furniture I painted was an apple green coffee table, which I matched to a Banana Republic shopping bag,” he says. “My partner said, ‘You’re crazy; no one will buy this!’” A young designer named Kelly Wearstler, who was just beginning her career at the time, snapped it up, beginning a long collaborative relationship with Serrano that has produced a kaleidoscopic array of furniture for her projects.

The trend migrated to South Florida, and Christopher Raessler of the RGR Design Group began offering furnishings in any Benjamin Moore color about seven years ago. He works with several companies in Miami that paint the furniture and then treat it with a strong, glistening finish.

“We use Benjamin Moore colors and we can also mix custom colors,” Raessler remarks. “The finish is not technically lacquer, which requires a long process that takes many weeks to achieve. I call our finish the 21^st-century lacquering method because we’re much too impatient now to wait too long for furniture!”

This 21^st-century finish is achieved with modern products rather than traditional techniques. Serrano’s sealant was originally made for use on automobiles. “It’s extremely durable,” he remarks. “Photosynthesis can yellow traditional lacquers, which is a great concern for those living in climates like South Florida’s where there is so much light. The finish we’ve created will not yellow and it is cleaned with a damp cloth.”

If you are a do-it-yourselfer, a word of caution from Carl Minchew, the director of product development at Benjamin Moore: “You can’t use our paint, which is meant for walls and trim, on furniture and expect it to be durable without the special coatings that these companies have created.” 

Serrano concurs that it is the sealant they use that makes the furniture resilient and the colors so lush. It’s the expansive range of color choices that they can offer clients that Raessler enjoys. “Never before have we been able to provide so many choices in furniture colors,” he remarks. “The fact that the lacquering enlivens the colors and brings sophistication to each piece is a bonus.”

About his fearless color choices for furniture, Serrano quips, “Color has never done anything bad to me, so I’m not afraid of it! The newest hue I’m perfecting is one I’ve matched to a dry chicken bone—have you ever noticed how many tonal gradations there are in a chicken bone that has been beautifully bleached by the sun?”

For other similar design stories, visit DesignCommotion...