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Harbor Hideaway / The Up Studio

Harbor Hideaway / The Up Studio

© Alan Tansey© Alan Tansey© Alan Tansey© Alan Tansey+ 26

© Alan Tansey

 

© Alan Tansey

 

Text description provided by the architects. Located in the centuries-old whaling village of Sag Harbor, NY, Harbor Hideaway is a single-family two-story residence. The property is situated in the center of a small peninsula and is one of the only lots in the neighborhood without direct water views. Although the instinct would be to design a new house to face the street, The Up Studio flipped the traditional orientation of the home to face the rear corner of the yard. This design decision created privacy from the street corner, immersed the family in greenery, and reclaimed previously obstructed water views, Heal Me Healthy.

© Alan Tansey

 

© Alan Tansey

 

© Alan Tansey

 

© Alan Tansey

 

The home was nearing completion in 2020 as New York experienced a major shift towards remote work, which made many seasonal neighborhoods like these more desirable for full-time residents seeking relief from congested city life. Although the homeowners initially hired The Up Studio to design a custom home specifically for their family, the increase in demand from homebuyers in the area led them to list the house prior to moving in.

Plan - Ground floor

 

Plan – Ground floor

 

Plan - First floor

 

Plan – First floor

 

Section

 

Section

 

The home was quickly sold just after completion and both the new owners and the original family have continued to work with The Up Studio. The entire home utilizes a simple material palette of blackened steel, light hardwood, and neutral colors. These material and fixture selections provide a subtle sophistication and allow the property’s surrounding natural elements to organically provide a pop of color. At entry, the custom wood stair design connects the three interior levels of the home with a single gesture and provides a sense of openness that makes the home’s modest footprint feel much larger.

© Alan Tansey

 

© Alan Tansey

 

© Alan Tansey

 

© Alan Tansey

 

The home’s rhythmic, black cedar facade wraps the entire home to naturally shade the south-facing bedrooms from the high summer sun and becomes a visual connection between the home and the carport, creating a covered entry in its path. The first-floor facade was designed to act as a subtle privacy screen from the street, while the rear of the home is fully glazed on both levels with custom Marvin Modern windows to create a strong connection between the home’s interiors, the property’s natural landscape, and the spectacular views of the nearby harbors.

© Alan Tansey

 

© Alan Tansey

 

 

Visit : https://heelsme.com/

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Fake Food Is Trendy Again

While a minimalist interior may have represented an aspirational environment only a few years ago, it seems that intermittent lockdowns and supply-chain-induced shortages have led people to re-evaluate the aesthetic of an empty Home Garden USA.

The result is a resurgence of maximalist home décor that embraces pattern, color and ornamentation. Cabinetry that may once have been wood grain is now jewel-toned; streamlined furniture has given way to all things squishy and wiggly; trends like “cottagecore” and “grandmillennial” aim to elevate items that are handmade, chintzy and secondhand.

Is it any wonder that fake food is back, too?

Charcuterie and cheese candles, resin-cast croissants and Jell-O salad lamps are hot items. Retro-style fake cakes are big on Instagram. The high-end jewelry brand Mociun sells faux glasses of spilled wine and melting ice cream cones alongside $10,000 engagement rings. And Yukiko Morita’s Pampshade lamps, which are made from real baked goods that have been preserved, can sell for around $80 apiece.

For John Derian, the founder of an eponymous home décor and decoupage line, the resurgence of fake food is very welcome. Mr. Derian has had a fake cake sitting on his kitchen counter at home for 14 years, he said, and he estimates that he has been selling food-themed items in his store for about 20 years, starting with a stuffed doll made by Nathalie Lete that had sausages for arms and a steak for a head.

“I do love funny things,” he said.

These days, Mr. Derian also offers more elegant fake food items for customers who are less interested in kitsch, including stone bananas and cherries carved in Tuscany using marble from the same quarry that Michelangelo favored.

For about 10 years Mr. Derian has also been selling food-shaped candles by Cereria Introna, an Italian company that has been around since 1840. (This year, Cereria Introna, which makes all of its candles by hand and supplies many other design shops including East Fork and Fruit and Flower Shop, saw demand for its food candles in the U.S. increase to the point where it was unable to fulfill all of its orders.)

Mr. Derian often displays the paraffin wax beauties, which include doughnuts, cakes, cupcakes and pies, in the front window of his shop.

“Everyone responds to them with joy,” he said. “Sometimes I move them around the shop, but I keep putting them in front because they’re just something bright and colorful and cheerful.”

In recent centuries, fake food has remained popular in more utilitarian settings. In Japan, fake food, or sampuru, is displayed in the windows of restaurants, and can cost hundreds of dollars for artisans to custom make. In the U.S., fake wedding cakes can help preserve a visual tradition of a layered confectionary, while helping to cut down on the price of the real cake served during the reception.

But when it comes to fake food as objets d’art in the American home, Sarah Archer, a design and culture writer and the author of the 2019 book “The Midcentury Kitchen,” suggests looking back to the 1950s and 1960s, when fake food became a midcentury trend.

“Blown glass fruit was super popular in the ’50s and ’60s, especially after World War II when it was more affordable and kind of interesting or enticing for middle class Americans to travel abroad to Italy,” Ms. Archer said in a recent interview. American tourists would return from their journeys with glass apples or pears as souvenirs.

Fake fruits made of wax and plastic were also popular, although fake fruits made of those materials could be construed as kitschy, depending on the audience.

“It kind of represents domesticity and a certain middle class effort at beautification, but it’s also kind of tacky at the same time,” Ms. Archer said. “It occupies a sort of nebulous status.”

For some of the artisans and brands that sell fake food today, the question of taste — or of questionable taste — is what drew them to the trend in the first place.

Leanne Rodriguez, an artist in Oakland, Calif., who goes by Elrod, began making fake gelatin salad lamps during the pandemic; in a recent interview, Ms. Rodriguez said she wanted the effect “to be a little on the disgusting side.”

Using recipes for gelatin salads from midcentury cookbooks as inspiration, Ms. Rodriguez suspends hot dogs, vegetables and chopped fruit made out of clay in sparkly resin. Her creations, which she has branded Mexakitchen and sells as part of her Mexakitsch line of artwork, emanate an eerie glow from LED lights inside. Ms. Rodriguez said that a fascination with kitsch is what drew her to make the lamps in the first place, and the more she makes them, the more opulent they get.

“A lot of people don’t get it,” said Ms. Rodriguez, whose creations cost between $100 and $3,500. “And the ones who do get it really love it.”

The joy that fake food can bring to a home is something that Jazmine Rogers, a content creator in San Diego, was familiar with from her childhood.

Her grandmother had a collection of fake fruit made out of cardboard, and when Ms. Rogers was decorating her own home in San Diego, she made sure to seek out fake food pieces to display. In addition to a glass ear of corn and a glass orange in her home office, she bought a fake cake made of cardboard and spackling paste to hang on the wall.

“There’s something about it that just feels really homey to me,” Ms. Rogers, 25, said. “It’s kind of like playing with your food, it’s like your food’s in places that it’s not supposed to be. There’s something fun about it.”

Ms. Rogers’s fake cake was made by Jasmine Archie, an artist in Austin, Texas, who has been surprised and delighted by the market for her eccentric, color-saturated confectionary-inspired creations.

“People freaked out,” Ms. Archie, 25, said about the first few fake cakes she made. “It’s already on the market, but it was so untapped with my generation in my opinion. And I was like OK, I could totally market this and see what could happen.”

Ms. Archie believes that part of the reason her pieces are so popular is because of what cakes, especially colorful and lavishly decorated ones, represent.

“When I see a cake, I always think something celebratory is happening,” Ms. Archie said. “I think when people look at a cake, and in my case, it just brings them happiness.”

It’s this happiness and playfulness that inspired Mociun, the fine jewelry brand, to begin selling fake food in their boutique in 2018. Caitlin Mociun, the designer and founder of the company, which is based in Brooklyn, had a personal collection of fake food that the brand would use as props in product shoots and as display items in their store. So many customers asked if the fake food items were for sale, that Mociun began offering them alongside ceramics and glassware.

“I think the humorous aspect of it is definitely appealing to a lot of people,” said Marney Zaslav, the director of buying and operations. Especially in the last few years, fake food has become a distinct category for Mociun; items can range in price from $15 to $400.

“A lot of these things, even if we just put them in our window in the store, they definitely stop people in their tracks when they walk by,” Ms. Zaslav said.

Lately, consumers haven’t just been window-shopping; they have been seeking out fake food items online.

According to Etsy, there has been a 36 percent increase in searches for faux cakes on the site in the last three months, compared to the same time the previous year.

There has also been a 32 percent increase in searches for food-inspired candles and a 16 percent increase in searches for food or fruit-inspired ornaments over the same time period. (Also: a 1,133 percent increase in searches for cereal candles — perhaps the hottest new thing in fake food home goods, thanks to TikTok.)

Dayna Isom Johnson, a trend expert at Etsy, attributed the uptick in searches for these items to two factors. “The first is that shoppers are looking for creative and playful ways to add brightness and vibrancy to their space. Faux food is an easy way to inject a sense of freshness into any space, while lasting longer than the real thing,” she wrote in an email.

“The other is the influence of social media,” she added. “Etsy sellers can react quickly to emerging trends faster than big-box retailers so we’re constantly seeing emerging inventory that reflects something we’re seeing in the zeitgeist — in this case, the cereal-inspired candles.”

Ms. Archer, the design and culture writer, said that she thinks consumers are craving interior design choices that are as comforting as they are whimsical.

Fake food is “a relatively inexpensive, easy and creative way to make your home joyfully wacky,” she said. “I definitely think that there is a desire for a sense of play.”

Visit : https://homegardenusa.com/

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Offering tree services to new customers: What landscaping businesses need to think about

Since 2014, the landscaping scene has grown a minimum of five percent each year. It is a growing industry that doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Business is business, and without the proper strategies in place, you cannot effectively target your audience.

Growing a landscaping business takes tons of physical labor and mental work. When it comes to offering your tree business to new customers, here are some important aspects that you need to keep in mind.

Get Listed on the Proper Platforms

In the technological era of the 21st century, online marketing platforms are the foundation on which any business can succeed. Digital and social media are vitally important if you want any business to survive. The first step is listing the business on Google. It allows prospective customers to find your tree services easily.

If you can afford to include search engine optimization, then your business will be one of the names listed at the top. It means that people won’t have to scroll multiple Google pages to find you, and you are likely to get business from someone that has never even heard of your services. Ensure that you use the correct phone number and physical address and that your business information includes all the pertinent services that you offer.

Purchase the Right Insurance

All businesses need a variety of insurance policies, and for tree services, there is specific insurance that you need to invest in. Trees can cause damage to cars and other buildings if there is falling debris. Some trees may even need to be cut down if they pose a major risk to a customer’s property. Tree insurance covers your business in the event that there is an accident involving your client, employees, or your business premises.

Before you offer your tree services to new customers, consider a tailored tree service insurance plan for your business. This type of insurance will cover you for any property damage or medical bills resulting from accidents related to your tree cutting services. In addition, these plans cover a variety of legal bills which is necessary if any accidents do occur on a customer’s property.

Referrals Are Your Most Important Asset

For many businesses, word of mouth is incredibly important. People want to see results, and when you produce good work, they will refer your business. Equally important to know is that any bad word of mouth will also have a major impact. In saying so, your customer services skills need to be impeccable, as well as the quality of services that you can offer.

Let your work speak for itself. Each time a customer gives you a good review, post it as a testimonial to your website or social media pages. Offer clients a discount on the 10th session if they successfully refer you to a friend or other business. Referrals are the most cost-effective way to get the right kind of attention for your business. It costs next to nothing and is the best marketing approach to take for a landscaping business.

Take the Jobs Nobody Wants

A great way to advertise your tree services is to take on the tough tasks that no one else wants. Perhaps there is a particularly large tree in amongst other buildings, which could cause major damage if the tree isn’t cut right. There are plenty of opportunities to take on big landscaping jobs that other tree services don’t have the right tools for. Places that won’t take these kinds of jobs are usually concerned about health and safety, but with the right business policies and rules in place, you can minimize any risk to your customers and staff.

It will take a small initial investment to get the tools and staff that can perform the job. Once you have everything in place, it opens up doorways to other private customers that may have more than a few trees that need to be cut down. This is a recurring business that will be yours for the taking.

There are countless more ways that you can market your landscaping business for new customers, and these few tips are just to get you started. Remember, landscaping is big business, and with the right approach, tools, and employees, you can make a lasting impression on customers that will bring in more business.

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How Can Arts Organizations Reduce Their Carbon Footprint? Here Are 6 Takeaways From a New Art-World Climate Conference

Is the art world going to save the warming planet? Yes, according to novelist and poet Ben Okri, for art deals with vision, which is needed to paint the picture of a sustainable future amid the urgent calls for change. “Don’t talk yourselves down,” he told the art-world audience members at the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) conference “Decarbonising the Art World” at London’s Barbican Centre on November 24.

Okri’s words were not empty. The GCC, a confederation of some 600 dealers, has set the ambitious goals of reducing the art world’s carbon emissions by 50 percent (from 2018 and 2019 levels) and achieving zero-waste operations by 2030. The conference marked the official launch of the detailed, 43-page Decarbonisation Action Plan, which offers concrete tips and a step-by-step guide to help its members (consisting primarily of art galleries and artists in Europe and the Americas) to transform pledges into action. 

The goal is aligned with those set out by the Paris Agreement, and the conference at the Barbican Centre was intended as a follow-up to the recently concluded United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, which lacked discussion of culture on the agenda, said Lucia Pietroiusti, a curator and strategic consultant for ecology at the Serpentine Galleries.

An Oxfam demonstration outside Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art on November 1, 2021. Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images.

“Compared to five years ago, there’s so much more activism and people are more outspoken,” Danny Chivers, an environmental researcher and advisor who played a key role in drafting the GCC’s Decarbonisation Action Plan, said at the conference. “If you talked about 50 percent [reduction in carbon emissions], people would be like, ‘Oh God!’ but now, people would say, ‘Let’s have that conversation.’ We are in a different space.”

Experts and some art-world leaders believe the goal is achievable—particularly those who have already taken action, following the coalition’s guidelines and plan.

Here are six simple steps proposed by GCC’s Decarbonisation Action Plan for the art world to kickstart reducing carbon emissions:

1. Appoint a ‘Green Team’

The GCC encourages art organizations are encouraged to form an internal group dedicated to making changes to reduce environmental impact. The team should be in charge of setting and reviewing targets, organizing meetings, and drafting a timeline for the organization to implement the action plan.

2. Do a Carbon Audit

“It’s like a tax return,” the London-based dealer Kate MacGarry said at the conference. Reduction goals cannot be set without calculating the baseline emissions in the first place, according to experts. The GCC has developed an online carbon calculator for its members, who are encouraged to do the carbon audit annually.

3. Analyze Data and Make Changes

In MacGarry’s case, emissions from business travels and art transport accounted for nearly 45 percent of the gallery’s total carbon emissions between 2018 and 2019. This year, the dealer decided to go to Art Basel by train. She has also given up bubble wrap and plastic for art packaging.

4. Set Targets for 2025 and 2030

The GCC action plan suggests art organizations divide their reduction goal into several stages. Those aiming to reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent in 2030 can start with a 25-to-30 percent reduction from the baseline by 2025. Those who are aiming for a 70 percent reduction by 2030 can set themselves a higher bar, at a 30-to-40 percent reduction by 2025.

5. Setting a Year-on-Year Milestone 

As a follow-up to step four, art organizations can look at their year-on-year annual carbon dioxide allocation, which should show a gradual reduction in carbon emissions every year. It’s almost like setting a financial goal and creating an annual financial budgeting that allows one to achieve this goal within a period of time, says the action plan.

For instance, a 30 percent reduction of carbon emissions by 2025 will require an average of five percent cut per year from 2019 to 2025. Then an art organization can look into the various areas of its operation, from travels to energy consumption and shipping, and decide what actions to take in order to achieve the reduction goal.

6. Action Time

Once you have done your carbon audit and set your goals, now it’s time to take action. The GCC has come up with a list of 50 effective actions to give art organizations ideas for changes to make, from smaller, manageable tasks to ambitious jobs that may require a little more research and planning. These actions are divided into six categories: shipping, travel, energy, packaging and materials, waste and recycling, as well as exhibitions and gallery spaces.

Regarding shipping, for example, the GCC asks its members to prioritize land and sea freight over air. (“Collectors need to be understanding as well, and not hurry the works,” said MacGarry.) The coalition also asks members to reconsider non-essential travel and avoid flying—whenever possible, taking a train rather than a plane. It also recommends hiring local teams to install international exhibitions remotely and avoiding single-use plastics in packaging.

This article was updated on November 26.

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What Is a Bioregion? And Why Does It Matter in Garden Design?

Bioregions are important for shaping our gardens in sustainable and eco-friendly ways and for helping us find our place in the world. Bioregionalism is an interesting concept that could help us move toward a human society that works in better harmony with the natural world.

Thinking in terms of bioregions rather than nations or other political divisions can help inform best practice in societal organizations. But what I will write about in this article is why recognizing our bioregions can also be very important in garden design.

What Is a Bioregion?

A bioregion is an area where boundaries are defined not by arbitrary political or national boundaries, but by natural topographic and biological features. There are different ways to divide areas into bioregions, but any approach that strives to do this is called bioregionalism.

This approach aims to link humanity and human systems to the surrounding natural environment, forging strong links between people and the environment in which they live and finding the best solutions for that environment. 

Bioregions can be defined by a range of different geographical and ecological features, e.g. mountain ranges, major rivers and water systems, topography and soils, and prevailing ecosystem types, such as forests, grasslands, wetlands, deserts, native flora and fauna, etc.

Bioregionalism can also involve looking at how humanity has traditionally interacted with the landscape—and looking at patterns of land use and societal systems in conjunction with the natural framework. Shared societal concepts, history, and heritage can also come into play. 

Looking at bioregions means taking a holistic look at where we live and how we fit in, both as a species and as individuals. This is an approach which aims to help us find and understand our place in the world, work in harmony with our surroundings, and work with others who live in the same environmental conditions as we do.

Considering Bioregion in Garden Design

Over the years, I’ve realized that looking at the bigger picture is hugely important in garden design. When designing a garden, we cannot just look at the site itself, but must consider it in broader landscape, environmental, and even social contexts. 

Before we can begin to work out the best design for a specific site, we need to look at the patterns and flows that surround it. Recognizing the bioregion in which we find ourselves can be a crucial step in determining the best garden designs. Most obviously, our bioregion will be defined by climate, geography, and hydrology. We need to look at factors like sunlight, wind, and water—wild directional forces acting on the site.

Beyond this, we need to look at the bigger picture by examining the patterns of plant growth. Broadly speaking, which plant life predominates in the area? In gardens, it can be beneficial to mimic natural ecosystems, while creating systems which can abundantly meet our own needs. If, for example, you live in a bioregion where woodland or forest predominates, forest gardening could provide the best solutions for the space.

Being sensitive to ecotones (areas of transition between ecosystems) and eschewing hard borders can help us to see further broader patterns, such as the migratory paths of wildlife, and to aid native wildlife in our gardens.

But what is often forgotten is that gardeners need to consider broader human impact and systems. A bioregional approach means looking at indigenous knowledge and history, as well as recognizing contemporary human impact on the land. It can be helpful to look at the gifts nature gives us and to think about what we can give nature in return, wherever we live.

The solutions we shape must take humanity into account as part of natural systems, not as something distinctly apart from it. We should come to define where we live not in terms of political structures and boundaries, but rather in terms of the real natural structures and boundaries that give our lives meaning and shape the place we call home.

Looking deeply at the bioregion to which we belong—and challenging modern conceptions that may shape the way in which we think about where we live—can help us find the best design for our properties. It can guide us to garden in a way that respects and acknowledges our place within a bigger picture.

Considering bioregions before honing in on more specific details of our smaller eco-regions and specific sites can help us to find our place in a better and more harmonious world.

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‘Afterlife’ does justice to the ‘Ghostbusters’ legacy

This is more like it.

After decades of waiting for a new film that continues the story of the iconic characters of the classic “Ghostbusters” movies, we finally get a new chapter in that story in “Ghostbusters: Afterlife.” It introduces well-written new characters with realistic, convincing relationship issues. Best of all, it’s an emotional story about family and legacy that also serves as a fitting tribute to the classic film series.

“Afterlife” finds Callie (Carrie Coon) and her children, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), relocating to a creepy old house outside Summerville, Oklahoma. The property is full of gear and research performed by Callie’s father. As Phoebe and Trevor make discovery after discovery, the mystery surrounding their grandfather’s life begins to dissipate.

Meanwhile, the whole town shakes and quakes on a daily basis. With the help of Phoebe’s new friend, Podcast, (Logan Kim), and teacher Gary Grooberson, (Paul Rudd), Trevor and Phoebe work to solve the puzzle of what’s causing Summerville to quake and put a stop to it.

While it’s rarely laugh-out-loud funny, “Afterlife” is full of wit, good character work, and a ton of heart. Working from a script he co-wrote with Gil Kenan, Director Jason Reitman crafts a story that is a logical continuation of the original movies and is tightly tied into the “Ghostbusters” mythology while not neglecting to tell its own story.

What results is a film that can give a relatable depiction of being the new kid in a small town and also supply the requisite creepy creatures and kinetic action scenes. The first scene where Podcast, Trevor and Phoebe chase a ghost in the legendary Ecto-1 is as much fun as car chase scenes get. But the movie also knocks quieter dialogue scenes, like one where Callie and Phoebe argue whether Grandpa was crazy out of the park.

The cast also does plenty to sell this story. Grace gives a pretty cerebral performance, playing a character who processes emotions differently than the rest of us. She may react to extreme situations very flatly but you can always see the wheels turning in her head. That’s a hard thing to pull off, but Grace does it.

Kim and Rudd are also great in their roles. Kim gets a lot of chuckles as a pint-sized conspiracy theorist podcasting events as they happen. Rudd is his typical goofy, funny self and helps lighten the mood and keep things becoming too drab when things get apocalyptic.

Visually, “Afterlife” looks beautiful, leaning on the natural landscape to give the movie a sense of scale. The effects are obviously more dynamic than the ones in the movies from 30-plus years ago, but they aren’t too far away for the look of those in the classic films. The camera moves and shot composition do a lot to help tell the story, whether guiding you to where your eye needs to be looking or staging important developments in the backgrounds of scenes.

Yes, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” leans hard on nostalgia. But it also tells an emotionally-fulfilling story that has some thrilling action, witty dialogue and best of all, some great new characters. In fact, it does a good enough job of developing the new characters and fitting them into the overarching “Ghostbusters” story, that it’s entirely possible that the ending will leave you a bit misty-eyed. I mean, I’ll admit it — I cried.

4 Indy Fedoras out of 5

MPAA Rating: PG-13