ABCD Design Sketch Book | milestones in life set the tone » Travel

BlogTour 2011 {video produced by Quintessence}

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:02:04 +0000

Over the weekend, Stacey launched BlogTour with Q from Quintessence on Vimeo. She may have forgotten her computer on the London-bound airplane, but she more than made up for it by producing this video that wrapped BlogTour up with a pretty orange bow. (And yes, Virgin Atlantic had her computer waiting for her at the airport when she was ready to fly home!)BlogTour2011 was the inaugural event of a collaboration between Modenus, the online design resource, with MMPI (Merchandise Mart Properties Inc.), the producers of the Architectural Digest Home Design Show and mydeco.com. The tour brought a select group of social media savvy US bloggers to the UK for the London Design Festival and will, in March of 2012, bring a group of bloggers from the UK to NYC for the Architectural Digest Home Show.

The mission of Blogtour is to further the understanding and awareness of design in the US, UK and Europe and support networking and information exchange between design bloggers, designers, artisans and manufacturers while providing more exposure for international design events.

Future events in 2012 are being planned for the Paris and Milan design shows.Did you miss the posts on ABCD Design about BlogTour? Day 1 Victoria and Albert Museum, Day 2 Poggenpohl, TENT, and Origin, Day 3 100% Design, Day 4 Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, Day 5 Decorex International, and a Thank You: BlogTour Sponsors

Blogtour 2011 {Thanks to Sponsors and Media Partners}

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 19:35:46 +0000

As you all know, I currently don’t take advertising on my website -that being said- given the generosity that the BlogTour sponsors and media partners have extended to the design bloggers that were invited on this trip, I’d like to dedicate this post to those who made our incredible adventure to the London Design Festival possible.First things first, I owe a huge thank you to Veronika at Modenus for asking ABCD Design to be a part of the inaugural BlogTour. Secondly, I want to thank Tim. I appreciate you guiding us throughout London and for supporting Veronika though the BlogTour planning process. It couldn’t have been an easy trip to organize, and I truly appreciate all the effort you two put into it. Blanco, (in service since 1925) creates luxury sinks, faucets and decorative accessories. Victoria and Albert Baths, is a collection packed with beautiful designs made from 100% Englishcast, a blend of volcanic limestone and high performance resins. The product is naturally white, and each tub is hand-finished by craftsmen. Samuel Heath sculpts faucet hardware from the world’s finest solid brass using traditional hand crafted skills. Wallunica designs digitally printed bespoke wallpapers giving every room your personal touch. Achica Living is a shopping source that goes behind the scenes to provide inspirational ideas, highlight must-have products, and also shares advice from industry experts. Spirit of Sports is an online gallery of fine art and gifts dedicated to moments of profound connection with our bodies and the world while participating in sport. The full site is due to launch this Winter.Du Verre Hardware is a leader in precision die cast hardware that is manufactured entirely from recycled aluminum. The pulls and hardware are an environmentally friendly choice for both the professional and consumer alike. Mix Magazine is the brain-child of Global Color Research, a UK based company that provides color forecasting and trend services to the design world. Poggenpohl cabinet manufacturer based in Herford, Germany, specializing in luxury kitchen cabinets. Poggenpohl is the oldest kitchen brand in the world and one of the leading international brand names in kitchen design. It’s known in more than 70 countries worldwide.MMPI, the organizers of the Architectural Digest Home Design Show. MyDeco.com, the leading design portal in the United Kingdom. The Conran Shop, Decorex, TENT London, London Design Festival, Design Junction, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, Barbara Chandler’s Love London, and Designers Block.Did you miss my earlier posts about BlogTour? Day 1 Victoria and Albert Museum, Day 2 Poggenpohl, TENT, and Origin, Day 3 100% Design, Day 4 Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, Day 5 Decorex International. Images in this post: My own, Modenus, sponsor websites listed above, and the last three are by Mollie Magill, Robin Baron’s Simplifying Fabulous social media expert.

Day 5: BlogTour 2011

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:50:35 +0000

Our fifth day of BlogTour started off with a whole lot of hurry up and wait. The group waited for some time to meet with Broosk Saib who designed the Decorex Espresso Bar. Unfortunately, Mr. Saib was never was able to join us, so we moved onto the Decorex Champagne Bar. It’s a beautifully rendered space designed by Martin Hulbert who told me that he would really like to break into the New York City interior design world.After our sip of champers, we were set free to roam the show. Decorex is incredibly luxe. I am delighted that we actually had time to wander on our own and take in some of the wonderful design that we may have missed in earlier shows due to a tight schedule. I decided to break apart from the rest of the designers and bloggers on BlogTour and do the show with my own agenda. I had our country house in mind as I wandered…I’ll make it easy for you to find them: Decorex International, Martin Hulbert Interior Design, A Place In The Garden, Johnstons of Elgin, Rapture and Wright, Charlotte James, House and Garden, Bronzino. As always: if you like an image on ABCD Design, simply click on it and be redirected to the site that sells the product. And last but not least, I am absolutely loving the designs of CTO Lighting. They may be my favorite find at Decorex. I also had a nice chat with the export manager Simon Dubey – who found me to be quite ‘funny’…After walking the show we met with interior designer Nicky Haslam. He’s an Englishman who’s known as quite a chameleon. The day we met to him, he gave us an ode to Ralph Lauren’s Double RL aesthetic. We didn’t have nearly enough time with him before we were wisked away to a design blogger tweet-up with some of our UK counterparts.Did you miss my earlier posts about BlogTour? Day 1 Victoria and Albert Museum, Day 2 Poggenpohl, TENT, and Origin, Day 3 100% Design, Day 4 Design Centre Chelsea Harbour. Images in this post: all by ABCD with exception of those of ABCD with interior designer Martin Hulbert at the Decorex International Champagne Bar which were shot by BlogTour attendees emjnj and Decorating Diva.

Day 4: BlogTour 2011

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 08:32:11 +0000

Today we went to the press and trade preview for Focus ’11 at Design Centre Chelsea Harbour. We had the morning free to do as we wished. Truth be told - I slept in – as I am having a devil of a time getting accustomed to the time change. It’s always like this for me. Somewhere around day five I get used to the time change and start to feel more like myself. Tomorrow will be my day, just in time to return back to the States on Tuesday. Figures, right?So I decided to make my way to the design center on my own. I got in a cab and he took me to the exhibition center in Canary Wharf. As we drove there, I DM’d my blogtour friends to get an exact address to be sure he was taking me the right place. Upon arrival, I was certain it was wrong. The cab driver asked four other different cabs, two police, and two security men if they knew where the design center was. No one knew of any permanent design centers in the area.I finally heard back from Michelle (@StudioM_) that the design center doesn’t have an official address, (wha???) but that it’s in Chelsea Harbor. THAT IS ABSOLUTELY CLEAR ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF LONDON! Ar-r-r-gh.Needless to say, I ended up being quite late to the design center and missed seeing both the V and A Baths and Samuel Heath showrooms. They are sponsors of BlogTour, and after checking out their websites, I very much wanted to see their products in real life.I didn’t get a whole lot of browsing in at the design center. I feel like every show and event we’ve gone to just hasn’t had enough time allotted to really absorb what it is I am seeing. I so appreciate the beautiful things we’ve whizzed by over the past 4 days. It would be nice to spend an entire day in each of these shows. Do I sound greedy?Did you miss my earlier posts about BlogTour? Day 1 Victoria and Albert Museum, Day 2 Poggenpohl, TENT, and Origin, Day 3 100% Design, Day 5 Decorex International - check them out! I’ll be back tomorrow with the 5th and final day of BlogTour news from Decorex International.

Day 3: BlogTour 2011

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 11:58:14 +0000

We started the day off at the 100% Design show. Our first stop was The Society of British Interior Design booth where we were graciously offered an enormous tray piled high with pain au chocolate. The Times Chief Revise Editor and Guardian of Grammatical Correctness, Dr. Richard Dixon was on hand to talk to us a bit about style while we nibbled on pastry.Next was the absolute highlight of our trip. We went to a seminar on color trend forecasting for 2012 and 2013 by Mix Magazine. They work on the trends two years in advance, and create all of their imagery to support their theories about what will be next. The sheer thought that goes into each color story is absolutely fascinating. The names for the ’12-’13 palettes are Ember, Bleep, Tender, and Shanty. Shall I tell you more?Each color story is named, colors are selected, and there is a feeling and textures that get the feel across. We’re already seeing bits and pieces of ’12/’13 trends seeping into the 100% Design show. As I mentioned before, there are four stories for 2012-2013.Shanty: Water, Aqua, Sand, Red, Shell Pink, Stone Grey, Blue-Green, Red.
Scale, Edgy, Weathered, Texture, Worn, Eroded, Run-Down, Maritime, Stormy.Tender: Turquoise, Pink, Pale Avocado, Aqua, Mandarin Orange, Pale Grey, Brass.
Aged, Worn with Love, Pretty, Full of History, Provenance. Embellishment, Layering.Bleep: Cherry, Yellow, Green, Lavender, Matte Navy (almost) Black, Royal Blue.
Tech as play. Joy, Happy, Fun, Pure, Joy. Matte/GlossEmber: Ash Grey, Gold, Caramel, Terracotta, Amber, Black.
Fire, Flame, Purification, Lava, Ombré, Elegant, Patina, Burnt, Regeneration.After the 100% Design Show, we headed to Design Junction for a meeting with a handful of UK design professionals. There was a panel where we discussed the differences between design in North America and the United Kingdom. One of the panelists was an interior and product designer named Lee Broom. He was kind enough to invite us to his studio in Shoreditch.Did you miss my earlier posts about BlogTour? Day 1 Victoria and Albert Museum, Day 2 Poggenpohl, TENT, and Origin, Day 4 Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, Day 5 Decorex International.