Friday Favorites 5/9/2014

Kyle Hoepner, Editor-in-Chief

I happened to be in the Roche Bobois showroom in downtown Boston this week to check out some of their new lines that were unveiled in Europe earlier in the year. A number of sleek, low-slung, immaculately detailed sofas were on offer—all quite beautiful and just what I had anticipated seeing. Then my eye, caught by a far-off glitter over in the corner, alighted on these half-organic, half-industrial forms.

Photo courtesy of Roche Bobois

The new Iron Tree tables, designed for Roche Bobois by Wood & Cane, are hand-wrapped in stainless-steel cord over the course of several days to create an effect that—especially in person—is quite captivating. (By coincidence, today is the first day of their U.S. “10 Days of Temptation” promotion, featuring special offers on their new collections—not the worst reason to stop in and see what might captivate you. New England locations are in Boston and Natick, Massachusetts. Click here for address information.)

Paula M. Bodah, Senior Editor

Melinda Cox, of the Providence company Balanced Design, dreams up fun, graphic pillows, rugs, totes, and to-the-trade fabrics. Many of her designs are inspired by midcentury artists like Rothko and Calder, and everything is manufactured in the U.S. (much of it in New England mills). These pillows of linen with felt appliqués make me happy.

Photographs courtesy of Balanced Design

Cheryl Katz, Contributing Editor

Charles James: Beyond Fashion opened yesterday at the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute, newly renovated and renamed the Anna Wintour Costume Center. The show will feature about 75 of James’s designs. His glorious color palette, the drape and fold of his fabrics, and his sense of proportion and scale—as evidenced in this 1948 Cecil Beaton photograph—are sure to inspire.

Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art