LRW Design Blog

A visit to the old town of NIMES

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:29:30 +0000

Back in Lascours, we spent a day walking around the old part of Nimes. Some fascinating old buildings and one or two old shop fronts that seem to have missed the modern touch,fortunately! The market, although modern, is stuffed full of wonderful food, spices and olive oils. A place that is a must to visit in Nimes (apart from the Roman Temple and Amphitheatre) is the Musee Du Vieux. This museum shows mostly very beautiful 17th century textiles and wonderful local pottery. Apart from that it shows the history of Denim. For those who might not have known the word denim comes from De Nimes. It comes from the natural blue dye that was used on all old French work clothes and then imported to the US .Denim originated in Genoa and became “Jeans” after “Genes” the French word for Genoa.

A wonderful paint and art store next to the market

Drawers of colour in the paint store

and bottles of colour!

plus sacks of powdered colour

The interior of Patisserie Courtois in 8 Place Du Marche

Another photo of the 1850 Patisserie

In the Nimes Market

Olives in the market

The olive oil stall in the market

closed shop with interesting type

Beautiful facade in the old section of Nimes

From the Denim Museum !

EASTER IN FRANCE

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:26:33 +0000

7th of April and a drive down to Lascours (between Ales and Nimes) missed the antique markets this but had lunch in a beautiful house in Ners with friends then a drive to the Languedoc for a 69th birthday of a very old college friend Rodney Kinsman and his wife Lisa, who is an incredible cook! The 69th birthday friend is a very well known furniture designer who owns OMK Design.

The house is stunning. They converted it over 2 years 2 years ago. A very good time was had by all. David Pocknell (Designer) and his wife Sally plus photographer Harry Peccinotti and his French wife Genevieve. Harry was the photographer of all the Pirelli calendars.

Friends House in Ners

Lunch in Ners

The Kinsman's house in the Languedoc

The Interior

Trying to get onto the WiFi !

Rodney Kinsman & Harry Peccinotti at the lunch table

The new Easter chicks!

The perfect lunch Omelette !

LONDON TO BRIGHTON

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:43:52 +0000

On the 1st of April (yes i know) i took my 1928 Austin 7 (owned since 1959)on an “Austins to Brighton” rally. The day started,for me,at 6am with a drive from Kensington to Purley where the rally started at 8am.By the start around 350 old Austin 7s and different Austins were raring to go! As this was the 90th year of the A7 it was a very special occasion. The route took us through small villages and tiny back roads so it felt like 50 years ago. Before Brighton was reached you had the choice of climbing Ditchling Beacon, on the South Downs,or going an easier way without the very steep hill. I chose the hill and made it. There were cars stopped and steaming away but they made it in the end. A very good day but very tiring as the concentration is max. with an old car that hardly has any brakes!

My Austin 7 Chummy

A very beautiful newly restored A7 Special at the finish

A 1932 A7 delivery van arriving at Brighton marina

An A7 special with a fabric body

A 1928 saloon with fabric body

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park

admin — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 19:28:41 +0000

When we arrived back in the UK we were very privileged to be invited to the opening of the MIRO exhibition at The Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The park was established in 1971 and must be one of the most exciting attractions of art anywhere in the world. It is set in 500 acres of wonderful countryside. It is 2 minutes off the M1 motorway near Wakefield,in fact Wakefield is the nearest station. It shows work by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth,Jaume Plensa, Antony Gormley and many others.
The Miro is quite fantastic with many works from all over the world from galleries and private collections.
It is on from 17th March 2012 to 6th of January 2013. It is an absolute must!

Aview looking down to the main gallery at YSP showing Miro Sculptures

Some of the MIRO'S outside at the YSP

A very imposing MIRO in the walled garden

A few extra pictures from Washington

admin — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 19:08:25 +0000

Scenes you will know!

Washington Monument with the sun behind

Washington monument with the sun on it

The interior of Dean & Delucca in Georgetown. A great Deli!

All the Magnolias were in bloom in March!

The DIA Art Foundation

admin — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 18:58:40 +0000

Just before we came back to the UK we drove upstate New York to see the most amazing Art Gallery ever.
It’s in a place called Beacon on the side of the Hudson River. The Gallery is an ex print factory owned by Nabisco.
It is simply enormous! Each section of the gallery must be around10 to15000 sq.ft. It is a must see if in New York. It can be reached by train. The Richard Serra’s in the semi basement are jaw dropping and must weigh around 20tons each. the walls drawn by Sol LeWitt are also wonderful and need to be looked at for some time.

One of the galleries in DIA. Paintings by Imi Knoebel

Another gallery at DIA

Light sculptures by Dan Flavin

Washington & The Udvar-Hazy Centre

admin — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:21:02 +0000

The centre of Washington is very interesting. In a way it’s a bit like a film set as most of us have seen it many times on film. Buildings like the Capitol Building, The FBI building and of course the White House. THe Union Railway Station, by the way, is simply magnificent and well worth a visit. We were there for just one night as i really wanted to see the “Steven F. Udar-Hazy Centre” which is part of the Air and Space museum of the Smithsonian. The Udvar-Hazy is out of Washington near to Dulles airport ( you can get there by going on the airport bus then changing to a shuttle which takes you to the museum.For anyone interested in aircraft it is a must,even if you are not it is still fascinating. It is HUGE! and full of very rare aircraft from every era including space rockets.

The Norththrop Flying Wing from the 1940s

The Northrop logo. (This is the reason for me going there)

An early French rudder

One of the early 'earocars' designed after WW2 for a booming economy.

The nose of B29 "Enola Gay" which dropped the first A bomb

A racing plane with rather wonderful decoration

A rather nice pilots bag from WW1

A view through the museum

admin — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:46:28 +0000

If you ever need “Carhartt’s” then the only place to go in New York is Dave’s New York on 581 Ave Of The Americas. (6th Ave.) Just a thought! From Dave’s we went for a walk along the ‘High Line’. The High Line is a must on a visit to New York. It’s the old elevated railway in the old meat packing district,now very fashionable. Instead of demolishing the line it has been turned into an elevated walkway of about 2 to 3 miles. It’s really terrific as when you walk along it looking at the flowers and grasses that have been planted by volunteers you also get a great view of New York. The railway was the most wonderful idea in it’s day as it delivered and collected goods from the insides of all the factory’s along it’s route. I can’t help thinking that maybe sometime in the future it will all come back!

The High Line

Part of the old railway showing a blocked of building

Part of the High Line showing a 70s hotel over it.

A view from the High Line

A poster above where we parked!

and an ad for Jamaica!

March 2012. New York/Washington DC

admin — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:05:57 +0000

New York early March to stay with very old friends on East 78th street in a wonderful ‘minimum’ Brown Stone. Weather great, clear sky’s and warmish. day 1 we visited an incredible foodstore/deli called “EATALY” (www.eataly.com. 200 5th ave) Eataly has taken over the entire ground floor/Foyer of this building,the landlords must be very happy! (Pentagram is 3 minutes away, they might have had somthing to do with the graphics?)

One of the entrances to :EATALY"

Part of the interior of 'EATALY'

The Bar in 'EATALY'

A sign in 'EATALY'

Sam Windett Show

admin — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 20:52:20 +0000

Sam is exhibiting at the Independent Art Fair, 8 – 11 March, 548 West 22nd Street, NY 10011.
His gallery The Approach is showing Sam’s new work White on White along with sculptor Magali Reus.