Dollhouses have come and go in many shapes and sizes - but most of them have been stuck in the last century or even before that.  The most popular styles were Victorian, Colonial or Classical.  The modern era has sadly been largely ignored.  Until now.

Modernistas and Minimalistas - rejoice!   Danish design house, Minimii, has recreated a very modern and minimal dollhouse that is a replica of the villa of famed designer, Arne Jacobsen.  The 1928 villa - stark white, spacious, and minimalist - is reproduced at 1:16 scale and ready to be furnished with matching modern furniture like Jacobsen’s Egg chair.

Its sprawling interior and minimalist white color make it friendly to many different design ideas and only limited to a child’s imagination.  For more information take a look at the Minimii site.

In our inaugural Design Challenge on the Sheffield Forum, we asked for a perfect autumnal color palette to inspire the decor of a room or an event space. We had some great submissions, but ultimately the most intriguing and well-conceived idea came from our winner Marinella Berthoud.

Marinella is a student in the Interior Design program. She created a wonderful palette that evolves from the lighter shades of summer to the richer colors of fall, and she chose an impressive set of furniture and accessories to illustrate how she would use the palette to inform a room design.

We are so pleased to have Marinella in our community, and were really impressed with her submission and positive attitude.  You can check out her design, along with all of the other submissions, right here.

Is all this color inspiring you? You ought to throw your own hat in the ring - we are taking entries for our November Design Challenge now!

The Vipp Collection at Design Within Reach

Ever since first laying eyes on a Vipp refuse can, I was in love. The Danish company’s cans are unmatched in their combination of aesthetic appeal with functionality - sharp lines and neutral colors with an easy-to-clean finish and a wide rubber foot pedal. It helps that they have been hand-constructed from quality materials since the company’s inception in 1939.

This month, Vipp is once again teaming up with DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS) and Design Within Reach for CAN IT!!!, an effort to raise awareness and funds. They have asked a group of significant artists, designers, entertainers, and celebrities to transform Vipp bins into art objects, with amazing, and amazingly varied, results.

The final bins are on display at the DWR Tools for Living Store at 142 Wooster Street in Manhattan until October 28th, and are available for advance bidding. On the 28th, the celebration gala and final auction hosted by DWR, Vipp, and DIFFA will take place at the DWR flagship store at 110 Greene Street, with proceeds going to DIFFA’s important work. Bidders will be invited to this otherwise private event.

I had a chance to visit the DWR Tools for Living store last night, and was truly impressed with the bins and the store (which I learned from delightful salesman Steve has only been open a little over a year). If you are in the area, I recommend a visit!

Here are some of my (somewhat biased) favorites:

Jes Gordon

Avi Adler and John Baldessari

David Rockwell

Cole Garett and Yves Behar

All images ©Vipp via If Its Hip, Its Here. More information and images are available there.

Time Out New York’s latest issue features an Interior Design theme.  The basic idea is that people are looking to either decorate their new apartments or redecorate their existing shelters, but most of them are on a budget.

Design on the Cheap features various articles about real New Yorkers who have managed to put together a few design ideas on a limited budget.  To view some of their ideas, and even steal them for your own home or apartment, check out the Time Out website.

Image from Time Out New York

In addition, the magazine is featuring 5 up and coming designers who are willing to gain real world experience by working for free.  Flip through the various designers as well as their concepts.  If you see anything you like, the email addresses to contact them and set up an appointment.  To check out the student designers, click here.

This Interior Design series is a great source of information for anyone, whether you live in New York or not.

The premier design center in New York, the D&D, has just started today their own blog called Go Design Go. The D&D building is 18 floors full of furniture, lighting, and accessories showrooms.

Their blog will reflect the latest product offerings as well as trends, events, and designer information.  Take a peek at Go Design Go.

Keith Johnson, buyer-at-large for Anthropologie, in Argentina in the Sundance Channel original series MAN SHOPS GLOBE

I have been a longtime fan of Anthropologie - though I can’t say I have actually purchased much there that wasn’t on sale, I can say that I have spent more than a few hours at a time browsing the store in a kind of retail reverie. Like ABC Carpet & Home, Anthropologie captures an artfully disheveled, precious, pretty aesthetic - and the store design and displays are as beautiful as the products they present.  Even mere passersby are enticed inwards by the famous window installations, which are at once decor and art.

As a fan, of course I am anticipating the premiere of “Man Shops Globe” on the Sundance Channel, a documentary-style show that follows Anthropologie buyer-at-large (what a job!) Keith Johnson as he travels the world in search of unique pieces and talented artisans. The show’s premiere party looked like good fun too - filled with beautiful objects and famous faces.

You can watch lots of clips and webisodes at the Sundance show website, and enjoy the charming promo below. Season premiere is October 7th.

How do we measure the passage of time? Digital numbers changing, hands on a clock turning, shadow on a sundial?

How about ink spilling forth from a bottle?

Get a load of this “Ink Calendar” by Oscar Diaz. He is really one of the most inventive, interesting designer/artists we’ve encountered lately. He’s in London.

Here is his own explanation of it, from his website:

“The ink is absorbed slowly, and the numbers in the calendar are “printed” daily. One a day, they are filled with ink until the end of the month. A calendar self-updated, which enhances the perception of time passing and not only signaling it.

The ink colors are based on a spectrum, which relate to a “color temperature scale”, each month having a color related to our perception of the weather on that month. The colors range from dark blue in December to, three shades of green in spring or oranges, red in the summer.

The scale for measuring the “color temperature” that I have used is a standard called ‘D65’ and corresponds roughly to a midday sun in Western / Northern Europe.

The “Ink Calendar” was developed for “Gradual “, an exhibition featuring works, which were evolving during the exhibition time at the London Design Festival 2007.”

See more of his very cool work here: http://www.oscar-diaz.net/

Has your morning routine become a snooze?  Does washing up at your old sink leave you all dried up?  Well, take a look at these beauties…sinks and vanities all dolled up and ready to command your attention.

Neo Metro takes the conical form and transforms it to this  steel beauty called the Metropolis.

What do you get when you mix wood and a waterfall?  You get the Slab sink from Stone Forest.  The pedestal base has a wavy outline and a glass bowl.

The Black Cubetto from Vitraform - a pedestal sink in the modernist tradition - is sculpted in cubes of black ice.  Take this, chill and serve with your martini.

Canadian Sheffield student Nicole Thompson has gotten some great press for her fledgling interior design business. The article, which appeared September 29 in the Corwall (Canada) Standard Freeholder, emphasizes Thompson’s interest in using principles of Asian philosophy in her designs. She says in the article that she became interested in the Chinese text the Tao Te Ching, and later decided to apply the principles expressed in it to interior design.

You can see the whole article here:

http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1773153

And you can visit her web site here:

http://www.tao-interiors.com/

In the world of online reviews, there are a lot of options out there.  People have more choices than ever before, and the internet has provided us with ways to compare products and companies easier than ever before.

Over at the Sheffield School, we pay attention to reviews of our products because that is what matters, the consumer experience.  If our students are not happy with the course that they are taking, we need to make it better.  At the same time, when we find positive reviews, we can hardly control our joy.

That is why we found this review over at Yelp, we were eager to share it.

Maria B. writes “Whenever I needed assistance or had any questions, they were always there to help me along the way.  I completed the course on my own time while raising two kids, and now practice interior design on a part time basis, earning extra money here and there.”

Maria took the Complete Course in Interior Design.

To read the full review, and maybe even add your own, click here.