Diane Keaton gets into the design game
June 23, 2011
By Steven Kurutz, Published June 23, 2011 in The New York Times
Diane Keaton still maintains a busy schedule as an actress, but in recent years the Oscar-winner has devoted considerable time to another area of interest: architecture and design. A serial house flipper, Ms. Keaton, 65, has bought several homes in her native Southern California and painstakingly renovated them before getting the itch to move on and repeat the process. The actress is also actively involved in architectural preservation (she is on the board of the Los Angeles Conservancy), and in 2007, she co-wrote “California Romantica” (Rizzoli), a book celebrating the Spanish and Mission-style architecture she loves.
Now Ms. Keaton is getting into the design game herself, with a tabletop collection called K by Keaton that she created for Bed, Bath & Beyond. The stoneware cups, bowls and plates, which are available online and in some stores now, have her trademark whimsy (some are stamped with the words “eat” or “bite”) and lack of pretension (prices start at about $5). But they also reflect Ms. Keaton’s latest obsession: the heartland. The “farm-y, landscape colors” she used, she told a reporter, were inspired by wheat, grass and bark.
Why did you decide to partner with Bed, Bath & Beyond?
Well, they were interested. Which is also pretty remarkable. As you know, I’m more of an entertainment person, but I have a real passion for design. It means a lot to me to have the opportunity to even try this.
Is the dishware inspired by anything in your own life?
I have a daughter who’s 15 and a son who’s 10. My life is such that I have these old dishes that I eat off with my kids. I’ve broken them, and all that.
What’s come of all this is I like sturdy. I want something I feel will last and has some weight to it and is very simple. Like, for example, I don’t understand why we don’t eat more food out of bowls. I could eat all of my meals out of bowls.
Click here to read the entire article.
Own a piece of architectural history
June 13, 2011
The Andrew B. & Maude Cooke House, a "hemicycle" beach house in Virginia Beach, Va., is one of 17 Frank Lloyd Wright designs currently on the market featured on SaveWright.org.
By Mary Umberger, Published in Inman News, June 6, 2011
The work of Frank Lloyd Wright tends to inspire almost slavish devotion from his admirers, many of whom undoubtedly dream of owning a home designed by the iconic architect.
Turns out, opportunities to buy Wright-designed homes are more plentiful than one might think, according to Janet Halstead, executive director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy in Chicago, a nonprofit that works to protect his designs from demolition.
One way to achieve that goal is to help sellers of Wright properties find buyers who will appreciate them and maintain and restore them, Halstead said. Toward that end, the conservancy has developed a service to help owners and their real estate agents market the properties through a page on its Web site,SaveWright.org.
At the moment, the conservancy’s “Wright on the Market” page has 17 Wright-designed properties listed (including one gasoline station). Read the entire article here.