OUT AND ABOUT: MADELINE WEINRIB OPENING AT SFDC

Madeline Weinrib with Paul Vincent Wiseman Photo - Drew Altizer Photography

An opening party was held at Madeline Weinrib‘s new showroom at the San Francisco Design Center‘s Galleria on Thursday, April 3. Several members of the TWG staff attended, including Brenda Mickel, Paul Wiseman, and James Hunter.

Design Principal Brenda Mickel Photo - Drew Altizer Photography

Weinrib is known for a sophisticated style that is at once timeless and modern. The showroom carries her collections of heirloom quality carpets and artfully conceived textiles, accessories, and home accents. In an interview with Diane Dorrans Saeks, Weinrib shares that she has wanted her designs to be contemporary, yet reference the traditional fabrics from which many of her ideas were drawn: "If it were a really strong design, it would work well in other environments. Great design should have flexibility. Using traditional motifs that have been simplified and pared to their essence has allowed me to achieve this duality."

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OUT AND ABOUT: JAY JEFFERS BOOK LAUNCH

TWG Design Principal James Hunter with Jay Jeffers

San Francisco-based interior designer Jay Jeffers celebrated the release of his new book, Jay Jeffers: Collected Cool (Rizzoli), and many of The Wiseman Group staff were in attendance. The launch party was held Thursday, March 27 at the new pop-up accessories shop Cavalier@Coup located inside Coup d’Etat. By all reports, the event was a big success...

Jay Jeffers

Jay Jeffers signing copies of his book

Carrie Swing of TWG and Kaylee Witworth

Samantha Schiff (TWG Assistant Designer), Kalyee Whitworth, and Kelsey Mazzotta (TWG Assistant Designer)

Suzanna Allen (former Personal Assistant to Paul Wiseman) and Kevin Peters (TWG CEO and CFO)

Kevin Peters with designer Scot Meacham Wood

Sadie Darsie, Chase Roberson, Shannon Jue (of TWG) and Debbie Gray of De Sousa Hughes Showroom

James Hunter and John Toya of Ike Kligerman Barkley Architects enjoy a moment with other party attendees

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IN THE NEWS: C HOME MAGAZINE FEATURES ELEGANT TWG PROPERTY

Be sure to grab a copy of C Home magazine (Spring 2014). Diane Dorrans Saeks has written an article about a lovely Tudor home with interiors designed by The Wiseman Group. The attention to detail in this Bay Area home is exquisite and brings out the best of its interior architecture.

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FIELD TRIP: WASHINGTON, DC

Images from the Van Gogh Repetitions exhibit at The Phillips Collection Source - The Philips Collection

Design principal Brenda Mickel recently took a trip to the East Coast to visit family in the Washington, DC area. While there she made two cultural outings which were especially enjoyable: one to The Phillips Collection and the other to the Dumbarton Oaks estate.

The Phillips Collection opened to the public in 1921 in Washington’s Dupont Circle neighborhood. It is considered the first museum of modern art in America. Paintings by Renoir and Rothko, Bonnard and O'Keeffe, van Gogh and Diebenkorn are among the many stunning impressionist and modern works that fill the museum. Extensive new galleries adjoin the former home of its founder, Duncan Phillips. The collection continues to develop with selective new acquisitions, many by contemporary artists. 

Brenda was quite fortunate to visit while a special exhibit, Van Gogh Repetitions, was hung. Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) created numerous versions of some of his most famous subjects. "The first exhibition in Phillips Collection history devoted to the artist, Van Gogh Repetitions goes beneath the surface of some of his best-known paintings to examine how and why he repeated certain compositions during his 10-year career, inviting viewers to look more closely than ever before at van Gogh’s celebrated works." (Source - The Phillip's Collection)

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection is located in Georgetown, an area Brenda knows well and loves. Administered by the Trustees for Harvard University. It supports research and learning internationally in Byzantine, Garden and Landscape, and Pre-Columbian studies through fellowships and internships, meetings, and exhibitions. Visitors can stroll the historic gardens, tour the world-class museum collection of art, and attend lectures and concerts in the music room.

Dumbarton Oaks estate Photo - Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection

Music Room at Dumbarton Oaks estate Photo - Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection

In 1920, after a long and careful search, Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss found their ideal country house and garden within Washington, DC. They purchased a fifty-three-acre property, described as an old-fashioned house standing in rather neglected grounds, at the highest point of Georgetown. Within a year the Blisses hired landscape gardener Beatrix Farrand to design the gardens. Working in happy and close collaboration for almost thirty years, Mildred Bliss and Beatrix Farrand planned every garden detail, each terrace, bench, urn, and border.

Since that time, other architects working with Mildred Bliss, most notably Ruth Havey and Alden Hopkins, changed certain elements of the Farrand design. The gardens have also changed in function. In 1940, Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss gave the upper sixteen acres to Harvard University to establish a research institute for Byzantine studies, Pre-Columbian studies, and studies in the history of gardens and landscape architecture. They gave the lower, more naturalistic twenty-seven acres to the United States government to be made into a public park. An additional ten acres was sold to build the Danish Embassy. (Source: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection)

Garden at Dumbarton Oaks, designed by Beatrix Farrand Photo - Karl Gercens

Garden at Dumbarton Oaks, designed by Beatrix Farrand Photo - Fine Gardening

Brenda was intrigued by the 1960 Pre-Columbian Pavilion. It's architectural style is distinctly mid-century modern, contrasting sharply with the Georgian and french Neoclassical architectural features of the rest of the estate.

Perspectival rendering of the Pre-Columbian Pavilion, designed by architect Philip Johnson Artwork - Peter Jacoby

Pre-Columbian Pavilion Photo - Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection

Exposure to such wonderful art, architecture, and gardens is a high priority for The Wiseman Group staff. Brenda returned to work in San Francisco energized and inspired by her trip to Washington, DC.

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BLOG AUTHOR

Kirsten Honeyman was asked to join TWG's team as a writer and consultant after posting an article about Paul Vincent Wiseman's mediterranean garden on her lifestyle blog, La Dolce Vita California.  She now writes the firm's blog, TWG : Design Journal. 

Feel free to contact Kirsten at: 

designjournal@wisemangroup.com