Dwell on Design 2014

This is the first opportunity we’ve had to attend the Dwell on Design show in LA since 2010. Wow, has it grown!

There were a number of international exhibitors including the the US contingent. What really struck us was how a common theme amongst the product that we saw, was the ability for customization to suit the client’s needs. There has been a realization that people want to be able to express themselves through every aspect of their lives and homes, not just through their choice of paint, but through their furniture and even their fixtures.

Whether this is a function of such a wide variety of housing types: detached houses, compact prefab houses, a greater proliferation of condos, or a ‘breaking out’ of the suburban cookie cutter box that so many Boomers grew up in, who knows? But we like it.

Here are some the exhibits that we explored:

Of course, as it is Dwell, they had several modular homes on display. The ability to pack in tremendous functionality into a small space was impressive. These homes though constrained, offered good size bedrooms, efficient kitchens with all of the bells and whistles and comfy living areas. The use of high ceilings, lots of glass and great decks definitely made the modulars seem even bigger that the actual footprint. And of course, they could all be customized. One example was from the Canadian company Sustain:  www.sustain.ca

An iconic American design, the Airstream could easily be anyone/everyone’s temporary home on the go. The company Airstream 2 Go not only rents out their custom campers which are hooked up to a Yukon Denali for your road trip, they will also organize a custom itinerary and even mark your park and activity reservations for you. Dwell certainly covered every aspect of the concept of ‘home’.

And of course we stopped in at our absolute favourite lighting company ever: Koncept and had a great chat with the Ng brothers about a couple of their current prototype designs, the Mosso Pro and the Lady 7. We also sang the praises of the 2 newest additions the Gravy and the Mr. n.

For those of us who live in rental accommodations and aren’t able to repaint, a great way to temporarily customize their space is through the use of these amazing removable wall decals. When we saw these at the show, I said to Blair that they were just like ones that I was admiring in a little neighbourhood shop Barcelona this spring. The gentleman that you see below turned around and said “That is my store!!”

What a small world it is… MyVinilo has beautiful cool graphics, not just the usual positive affirmation styles that you see everywhere.