JANICE TJIOE

MAMA SAN, Bali, Indonesia

2011-12-06T13:29:00.000+07:00

During my two recent trips to Bali, walked back-and-forth nearby Kerobokan area and Jalan Oberoi, I found the new treasure for food lovers. A touch of more affordable and laid-back that run by the same company as the Sarong Restaurant. Part Shanghai Grand-Era, part Gatsby-era New York, part English gentleman's club, Mama San offers the new concept of restaurant, bar, lounge, wine shop, and cooking class! Yes, a cooking class for kids & adults!

The word Mama San is an old term denoting a woman in a supervisory role within South East Asian gentlemen's drinking establishments.

The unique purpose built warehouse interior blends vintage and retro eras, with tan leather oversized Chesterfield sofas, and vintage oriental side lit screens.

A range of black and white pictures showcasing food travels around Asia adorn one of the walls in the ground floor dining room.

The upper floor plan is an open plan -- accessing the terrace bar, cooking school, toilets, and a 1000-wine bottle retail room allowing customers to buy wine by the bottle or case.

Source: MAMA San

West Elm Pop-Up Store

2011-07-25T00:47:00.000+07:00

HOW TO MAXIMIZE RETAIL SPACE:

1. THINK OF YOUR SPACE AS A BOX: ALL SURFACES COULD BE A DISPLAY FLOOR.

2. CATEGORIZE SPACE THROUGH CLIENTS' NEEDS: BEDROOM, BATHROOM, ETC.

3. CATEGORIZE THE SPACE THROUGH SHAPES (THAT FORMS NOT ONLY IN PICTORIAL, BUT ALSO TEXTURE).

4. ALWAYS REMEMBER: IT'S THE VOLUME OF THE SPACE THAT YOU DESIGNED, NOT ONLY THE AREA -- I.E. MULTIFUNCTION WALL FOR STORAGE FROM FLOOR TO CEILING.

5. COLOR CODE!

6. MORE IS MORE! DON'T BE CALM IN DESIGNING RETAIL SPACES.

SOURCE: ARCHITECT DESIGN

The Anthropological Kitchen of Windsor Smith

2011-07-03T14:30:00.000+07:00

PALAZZO CHUPI, New York, Julian Schnabel's Home

2011-06-18T20:49:00.000+07:00

HOTEL BRUNELLESCHI, Firenze

2011-04-24T13:25:00.000+07:00

Firenze!

Florence in Italian which also means grandeur in designs, in every scale of space (according to my dictionary of design imagination).

Recycling Woods

2011-03-19T15:38:00.000+07:00

Source: Decorology

Vintage Feeling

2011-03-19T15:34:00.001+07:00

Source: Remodelista

Source: Decorology

2011-03-04T14:45:00.000+07:00

If my hometown; Jakarta, have this superb public library, I promise to go there every week. I believe that if the government wants to spend money on creating a clean, organized, and attractive library, the people will actually read books and get smarter! A good design can be a good encouragement for the young generations. Well, at least me!

Borrowing and returning books trough this "one-hole-storage" could be a good idea to reduce the queue lines.

Don't you feel smarter already?

Source: IIDA Smart Environtment Awards

CL3 ARCHITECTS LIMITED STUDIO, Hong Kong

2011-03-04T13:49:00.000+07:00

For young designers and/or architects who want to open their own business with limited budget, here's some ideas to inspire and motivate you all. Don't worry, sometimes money is not everything if we smart enough to re-use them wisely and attractively!

The use of old retail store doors is back to trend again with a little touch of effort: white paint! And don't you see that, the fish lantern that you can buy affordably in Hong Kong flea markets. It was originally for chinese festivals such as Chinese New Year, etc, only creative people will bring them in to decorate their offices.

Different styles of stools found in flea market can be pretty without any finishes. Don't afraid to combine them in a meeting table, or creative "table" area.

Ta da! Can you play ping pong? If you ever play ping pong, you'll recognized the blue table on the image above. In Hong Kong, most of people can play ping pong, it's their main sports! Most of the families in Hong Kong have ping pong table used as a sport area, as well as dining table. Oh well, maybe sometimes for working table?!

Source: IIDA Global Excellence Awards

Philip Gorrivan

2011-02-16T17:54:00.001+07:00

Source: Decorati

Craft Hip Hotel (Rooms), Palermo Viejo, Buenos Aires

2011-02-16T17:44:00.000+07:00

If you're on budget, but have lots of clothes that need space in the room, this could be a solution for that: A closide (closet/bedside)!

Maximilizing the function of small bedroom with an en-suite bedroom. Tadaa!!! Easy, cheap, and practical ...

Don't you just love this: a T-bed with extra storage underneath. Such a smart furniture!

Source: Craft Hotel

Craft Hip Hotel (Public Area), Palermo Viejo, Buenos Aires

2011-02-16T17:34:00.000+07:00

To me, just by looking the furniture choice and the building materials, this is a quite 'green' hotel despite of the wall paints. Just like the name, the hotel looks crafty by using recycle wood as wall panels, stairs, and even a coffee table made of wood cuts.

Oh, how I love these little details of paper-made keychains hanged in an open shelf. It's one of the great example to re-use old stuffs to create a pure and raw beauty.

Unused bottles can be pretty with a little touch of flowers. An idea for DIY project at home if you have limited budget!

Source: Craft Hotel

Lauren Santo Domingo's Home, New York

2011-02-15T21:49:00.000+07:00

The whole ambiance of warm and welcoming living room aimed for entertaining really does say something to me: a chic jungle-ish living space. Looking into the pink log wood stool that stood in a room with girrafe's skull on top of raw wood coffee table is like seeing a person dressing up with tailor-made suit wearing a pink oxford shoes. Is it ugly? Is it actually match? It's not important, what important is to have 'our soul' through this pink log wood stool in the room or wearing the pink oxford shoes. Dare to be eclectic is the new trend!

If I have a house of my own, I swear I will have this Lalanne hippo full bar! It's just humoric and functional. What could be better than having a piece of furniture that's really entertaining?!

An ideal space for boutique owners, magazine editors, or even every girl in this planet is actually: a closet room/ home office. Having all walls as built-in closets with tongue-in-cheek Marie Antoinette Petit Trianon makes life easier. When you want to your work, close all of the 'treasure' doors, but when you need to do dress-up session with girlies, re-function your desk as a vanity with a 'treasure' drawer underneath.

As a girl (or at least me), we need our own space, especially a bathroom with large counter top. I love large counter top with a tray full of my stuffs in it. It's easier to clean and of course easy to be found! Yes, to find the daily products. Often, we put our things in an enclosed area and usually they get forgotten by those pretty doors.

Finally, ending the story with General Mao's pop color paintings and tartan patterns on the sofa will encourage us to always dare to be different!

Source: Vogue

Hermès, 17 Rue de Sèvres, Paris

2010-12-22T12:17:00.000+07:00

Source: Yatzer

Windows at BERGDORF GOODMAN, New York

2010-12-21T00:44:00.000+07:00

Source: Lonny Magazine

BAROCOCO FUTURISM, Kohler Design Center, by Jonathan Adler

2010-12-01T09:21:00.000+07:00

Source: Kohler

CHANEL'S EAU PREMIERE

2010-12-01T07:09:00.000+07:00

Source: Cool Hunter

Le Royal Monceau, Raffles, Paris

2010-12-01T02:38:00.000+07:00

Source: Cool Hunter & Le Royal Monceau

HOTEL PALAZZO MANFREDI, Rome, Italy

2010-11-19T14:46:00.000+07:00

Source: Jetsetter

DINING BY DESIGN 2010, San Francisco

2010-11-19T14:34:00.000+07:00

Source: Private

WAIKIKI EDITION, Honolulu, Hawaii

2010-11-19T14:17:00.000+07:00

Source: Jetsetter

ANDRE CHEVRILLON, Marrakesh dans les Palmes

2010-11-02T16:28:00.000+07:00

'Without doubt, Morocco, with one or two kingdoms in Asia,

represents the last surviving example of a civilization of the ancient world.

One finds here customs, moral, and physical aspects of mankind

that are eternal, simply because they have never changed.

Constantly, watching a gesture of prayer or salutation,

a dance, a semi-naked beggar,

the way a tailor prepares his cloth,

a pilgrim following his donkey across the vast expanse of the bled,

or looking into the smoky shade of a mill

where occasional shafts of light pierce the tangle of beams,

we feel we have seen it all before ...

For all the differences of appearance

they recall to us the essential identity of mankind.

If such a world, which shares so deeply the spirit of the past,

had disappeared two thousand years ago,

we would have lost a certain understanding of the past

and of ourselves, for we could never have re-created it ...

But that it has survived until our times,

that we can see it, we can touch it, we can mix with its people,

is a miracle that never ceases to astonish.'

Source: Morocco Modern by Herbert YPMA

PIERRE LOTI, Morocco, 1889

2010-11-02T16:07:00.000+07:00

'No trees anywhere,

nothing but these carpets of flowers;

as far as the view extends,

incomparable patterns on the plain;

but the expression, "a carpet of flowers",

has been so abused in application to ordinary meadows

that it has lost the force needed for description here:

zones absolutely pink with large mallows;

marblings white as snow, which are masses of daisies;

streaks of magnificent yellow, which are trails of buttercups.

Never, in any garden, in any artificial English flower bed,

have I seen such a luxuriance of flowers,

such a packed grouping of the same kinds,

giving together such vivid colors.'

Source: Morocco Modern by Herbert YPMA

FORNASETTI HOME pt. 2, Milan

2010-11-01T14:27:00.000+07:00

Source: Fornasetti

FORNASETTI TEMA E VARIAZIONI

2010-11-01T13:55:00.000+07:00

Source: Fornasetti