Today being Friday the 13th, it is perhaps not so surprising that there were some hick-ups at this the first day of the first annual CA Boom Festival. A few oversights and a little bit of miscommunication affected the day, but for now we will focus on what we saw today. We will post a review of the event on Monday once the fat lady has sung.
Despite the problems, overall we had a good time today at CA Boom. We took some time to check out many of the exhibitors and to listen to a few of the scheduled architect speakers.
Reference: CA Boom Opens! (L+L)
Reference: CA Boom: A Festival of Contemporary Design (L+L)
Link: CA Boom
Below are lots of pictures showing just some of what we saw today:
Tom Stout & Maria Kane - Stout Landscape Design
We were impressed with the bold use of plant material in their exhibition display and especially liked their container gardens. Maria Kane (pictured center) told us of her potted perennial arrangements that can last for years.
Sprout a Couch by Greg Tate - Ready Made
Modern Outdoor
Some nice lounge chairs from Modern Outdoor that we hadn't seen before.
Mebel Furniture
We enjoyed talking with Agna, the director of marketing for Mebel, and learning about the furniture and the company. Their beautiful furniture is the work of two brothers-in-law, one an architect the other a craftsman.
Em Collaborative Studio
Cool translucent resin and opaque fiberglass furniture and light fixtures.
Vioski
Beautifully designed furniture, lighting, carpets and accessories.
Silho (left) & Reeve T. Schley Furniture (right)
Silho is a showroom featuring the exquisite work of Michelle Johnson and Jason Martin. The work of Reeve T. Schley is playful and varied using a broad range of materials and techniques.
Modular Dwellings - MD 100 Shed
Edgar Blazona being interviewed inside one of his modular structures, and a detail of the exterior finish (right).
Steven Ehrlich, Architect
A lack of light control prevented clear viewing of Steven Ehrlich's slides (to which he expressed his frustration) but he provided an interesting talk none-the-less. He spoke about living sustainable in association with our environment and provided cultural examples, comparisons and contrasts. Talking about architecture in California he explained that Schindler's Kings Road House was "the 'big boom' in California modernism." He advocated for higher density as well saying that "urban infill housing is one of the most exciting things happening today."
We were unable to participate in the home tours today (for reasons we will outline in our event recap Monday) so we took matters into our own hands. Inspired by Steven Ehrlich's talk (and hungry for a bite off premises) we took a quick drive into nearby Venice where we happened upon Steven's own home which he had talked about during his presentation.
The "Fireside Chat" was scheduled to be with big gun architects Eric Owen Moss (director of SCI-Arc) and Thom Mayne, but the late running schedule would have bumped Futung Cheng, so the discussion became a threesome. The conversation meandered around politics, working at different scales and what it meant to each designer to express themselves through their work. To sum it up simplistically: Mayne spoke a lot about "exposing himself" through his work while Moss repeated that he wanted to work on "an enormous scale." Sounds kinda funny put like that. ;-)
