Doux Nid [du ni] » Design Philosophy

Design Resolutions

melissa — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:10:01 +0000

Look at houses, workplaces, stores and gyms. Everything is designed. So much creative thought goes into our environments. From Gucci to Apple to Target, the way objects function and look is of critical importance in the 21st century. Good design has become good business. It differentiates companies. Separates them from the competition. Gives them an edge. Workers have job security, because creative capacity cannot be easily copied or outsourced to other countries. How do we develop our design sensibilities in the New Year? Think about visiting a design museum online to see examples of beautiful design. Collections can be accessed digitally. Plenty of inspiration for 2012. Start developing your eye for design today.

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Why?

melissa — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 02:01:56 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4

At an independtly organized TED event, Simon Sinek, author of “Start with Why“, spoke about how great leaders inspire action. He starts by writing three words on a flip chart: why, how, and what. Mr. Sinek goes on to state that people in leadership positions usually focus on what their organizations do and how they do it, two very important areas. Advertisements for those organizations usually echo the same focus. Here is the rub according to Sinek. What and how usually don’t inspire people to action. Sinek believes that why companies do what they do is really the essence of it all. Why is the larger vision and mission that touches people at their core, makes them jump out of bed and work their tails off, or makes them want to be first in line to buy new products even if it is pouring raining outside.

This video got me thinking. Should we only focus on why at work or when we purchase our favorite things? At Doux Nid, we believe creating a home is a chance to think about why in a very personal way. Why we do things at our core? Home is the perfect place to ask the biggest questions. It is a place to showcase and nurture our largest purpose, encourage our wildest dreams and anchor us to our deepest values. At Doux Nid, we definitely start with why at home.

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Coquillages

melissa — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 01:49:41 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2atw_XM-SKg

I love to use nailheads in all kinds of shapes and sizes small and big alike. They have been around forever in design circles tracing their origin back to the reign of Louis XIII. In modern times, nailheads can be used in a variety of ways from outlining upholstery to giving decorative distinction to walls. They come in all looks and finishes ultra modern to very traditional.

I recently decided to use them in a foyer to make a grand entrance. First, I outlined the walls using nailheads that come on a roll. Outlining unifies a space. Then, I created decorative panels on the wall using more of the nailheads. Since creating the panels. I have been brainstorming about what to put in the panels. Maybe a hand-painted motif using a stencil for the design and outlining the silhouette in coordinating nailheads? Maybe a design created with shells? I love shells. Shells have a long history of being used as decorative material from 18th century grottoes to garden pots to Victorian Valentines.

Over the summer, I visited Newcastle, Maine and picked up vintage corks that were used in the fishing industry. The floaters have a patina colored dark taupe to light brown that is just beautiful. In a moment of inspiration, I decided to use the cork and shells together. The corks would serve as medallions on the walls and the shells would be placed in a design around the cork.

The combination turned out to be smashing. Each decorative panel took about an hour to create. The install was easy. I did run into a few snags. One was the glue. I tried several different types from silicone adhesive to Elmer’s to a glue that claims to bond anything. I found that Crazy Glue worked the best. Take a look at the video to see the process. Enjoy!

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Home

melissa — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:46:51 +0000

In a recent article featured in the New York Times, I noticed a quote from Stephen Drucker, the former editor of House Beautiful. He stated that ” decorating always has two goals: comfort and display.” It got me thinking. Comfort and display are important, but at Doux Nid, we think that hearth and home can serve a much larger purpose too. If we take a thoughtful approach, home can promote healthy living, nurture creative and innovative thinking, remind us of our larger missions and visions, and celebrate ideas from around the globe. Truly inspired living starts at home.

Why?

Raw in Reykjavik

melissa — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:15:17 +0000

There is a boom with the number of online design publications that are available for readers. Some of my favorites are Lonny, High Gloss, Matchbook, and Rue. Recently, I was perusing an issue of Rue magazine, a San Francisco-based publication, and an article, on page 79, caught my eye. It features a home owned by the founders of the fashion label, Farmers Market. Farmers Market is known for celebrating the purity of raw materials and utilizing neutral colors echoing the shades of Iceland in winter. Their home embodies the same pure and unprocessed philosophy while also emphasizing family history by framing stories through hearth and home.

In the photos shown with the article, you really notice their love of raw textures like sheepskin, real antlers, seashells, and sisal. I love the jars filled with foodstuffs and the upholstery finished in linen, cotten, and silk. The unembellished beauty of the materials speaks for itself and provides a striking backdrop for family souvenirs. Even though their home is on the other side of the world from Doux Nid in Houston, the philosophy of celebrating raw textures and framing stories through home has a universal quality.

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Setting the Mood

melissa — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 02:18:02 +0000

In the July/August issue of Lonny Magazine, designer, Adam Strauss, explains how he created ambiance in his Los Angeles apartment. He likes to unify interiors through color, mix modern and mid-century pieces with traditional pieces, and accessorize in out-of-the-box ways. His helpful advice dovetails nicely with the Doux-Nid philosophy.

Unifying Through Color

Color is the easiest way to create mood in a room. Dark colors like the deep browns, charcoals, blues and black are backdrop colors that are neutral but dramatic. Think about blending your fabric tones, wood, and metal finishes too for a really unified look. One of my favorite fabrics to use to set the mood is mohair, fabric made from one of the oldest textile fibers. It is luxurious and durable. When it wears, it gives you the shabby chic of an English-country house.

Mixing Modern and Mid-Century Pieces with Traditional Pieces

Doux Nid loves to use juxtaposition. Mixing high-end with low-end, formal with informal, or rustic with sleek. It is all about keeping balance between elaborate pieces and those that have simple lines and tying the whole look together with color.

Accessorizing in Out-of-the-Box Ways

Once you know the design elements and principles, you can start breaking the rules. I love how Adam Strauss propped paintings on sofas and headboards instead of hanging them on walls. He also mounted a series of small charcoal drawings on antique mirrors. Very out-of-the-box. The charcoal drawings have more presence, and the mirrors bring light and sparkle to rich-colored walls.

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Visual Journals

melissa — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:13:21 +0000

Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest minds in history, left a prodigious legacy in science, architecture, sculpture, painting, engineering, music, and mathematics. During his lifetime he filled up 13,000 journal pages with designs for wings to shoes for walking on water. Let Leonardo inspire you. Turn up your creativity by keeping a visual journal. Record beautiful things, ideas, and inspirations that you see in your everyday life. Write, sketch or doodle. Glue photos from magazines. Whatever works for you. Start with loose-leaf paper secured with a fancy clip or invest in a bound journal made of buttery leather. Discover how keeping a visual journal refines and elevates your design sensibilities making them deeper and more complex.

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Self-Archaeology: Excavating Your Personal Style

melissa — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:00:58 +0000

“It’s on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly.” — Claude Monet

To create a home that nurtures and inspires, we have to dig beneath the surface. Exploring our personal archaeology, or Self-Archaeology, is challenging, but it is definitely worth the effort. Remembering where we have been helps us find our way in the future. To make the excavation process easier, try making a timeline to show how your personal style has changed over the years from your early twenties to the age that you are today. Above the timeline describe where you have lived. Below the line, describe or draw what you wore at that time and what was in your room, apartment, or home. Use magazine clippings and family photos too. Have fun with the process. It will provide clarity and help you make design decisions in the future.

Here is a video that I show when I lead the Self-Archaeology exercise during design retreats.

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Serious Play

melissa — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:40:30 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjwUn-aA0VY

At the 2008 Art Center Design Conference in Pasadena, California, Tim Brown, the CEO of IDEO, which is a firm specializing in design and innovation delivered a seminar entitled Serious Play. During his time on stage, Brown made a strong case for the critical connection between play and creativity. As kids, we are free to play. Taking risks without fear of judgement, exploring how ordinary objects can be used in fantastical ways, and seeing potential possibilities are what kids do everyday. Being a kid is being creative. Brown goes on to say that as adults we need to bring back play in the workplace to foster creativity. The key is to create environments based on trust that allow adults to explore divergent thinking through brainstorming to give full range to our ideas and to build environments that encourage thinking by doing, hands-on building, and role playing.

The ideas in Serious Play are exciting. The seminar got me thinking. Should we bring back play only in the workplace? What about home? Building fun environments based on trust to foster creativity in our personal lives could be very powerful. Just a little food for thought.

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Reverence

melissa — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 21:03:04 +0000

Living in the West, we are blessed with such material bounty even in hard economic times. Our standard of living is one of the highest in the world. Fabulous things in all shapes and sizes exist to satisfy our every want. Because the possibilities are so endless, our appetites for consuming become bottomless. Wanting more and more, we start losing our sense of reverence for life. The drive to fill our need to consume overtakes our sense of gratitude. Too busy acquiring and labeling, we start to look past the people and things in our lives until they disappear. The next acquisition takes all of our attention and focus. How do we stop taking people and things for granted? How do we come back into balance?

Home is a great way to start noticing the bounty in our lives again. Here are some of my favorite ways to practice reverence:

Start a gratitude journal. By writing down five things that we are grateful for each day, we focus more on abundance and less on lack in our lives. I think that it is a daily practice that could change our lives and fill that need to consume. Have fun picking a journal. I chose one that looks great on an accent table near my favorite chair.
At your next dinner party, think about putting inexpensive, little gifts at each place setting. It is a great way to practice gratitude and show appreciation, but it looks festive too. Friends love to take home party favors. Hunting for little treasures to give without breaking the bank is so much fun. Be creative.
Tie beautiful accent ribbons around favorite letters, postcards, and books that friends and family have given. Use these treasured piles on night stands, end tables, and bookshelves to enjoy every day. It is a decorative way to practice gratitude for the effort of others in our lives.

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