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Jean-Michel Frank. The James Dean of interior design.
Jean-Michel Frank lived fast and died young. He was a self-trained interior designer based in Paris and Argentina from 1932 to 1941 whose...
tipsy modernist
Feb 28, 20212 min read
Paul Revere Williams. Pioneering Black Architect
Although he was practicing architecture in the twenties and thirties and even won an AIA Award of Merit in 1939, Paul R.Williams is not...
tipsy modernist
Feb 17, 20215 min read
Margarethe Schutte-Lihotzky. Pioneer. Architect. Spy.
Margarete Schutte-Lizhotsky. Pioneer. Architect. Spy. Eighty years ago today architect Margarete Schutte-Lihotzky was arrested by the...
tipsy modernist
Jan 22, 20216 min read
Adolf Loos Architect.Dandy.Provocateur.
He is perhaps most well known for his manifesto Ornament and Crime, which paved the way for modernism. Although he is considered a...
tipsy modernist
Dec 9, 20205 min read
Esther McCoy-"the Mother of Us All"
Before Reyner Banham, Mike Davis and Joan Didion there was Esther McCoy. Banham himself said that “No one can write about architecture in...
tipsy modernist
Nov 18, 20203 min read
The Four Seasons- birthplace of the power lunch
Philip Johnson may not have invented the power lunch, but he certainly was responsible for its home; The Four Seasons restaurant in...
tipsy modernist
Nov 5, 20203 min read
Amaza Lee Meredith. African American. Architect. Lesbian. AMAZING
You could easily mistake the building above for one of the modernist villas in Vienna’s famous Werkbundseidlung, but in fact it's in...
tipsy modernist
Oct 5, 20203 min read
Lilly Reich. Designer. Architect. Hero.
Never heard of Lilly Reich before? Neither had I before researching this blog, so shame on me. Lilly was the only woman included in...
tipsy modernist
Sep 23, 20204 min read
Casa Malaparte-one of the great architectural enigmas of the 20th C.
Casa Malaparte, the scene stealer from Godard's famous film "Mepris" is considered one of the most beautiful buildings of the 20th...
tipsy modernist
Aug 20, 20204 min read
The making of an iconic photo
This iconic photo from 1929, of Charlotte Perriand relaxing in the chaise longue that she, Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, collaborated...
tipsy modernist
Jul 22, 20203 min read
The French 75- the perfect way to toast the stylishly fierce spirit of Charlotte Perriand
Charlotte Perriand's effervescent personality belied her steely determination and prodigious talent. In similar fashion to the French...
tipsy modernist
Jul 14, 20203 min read
Charlotte Perriand. Designer. Socialist. Pioneer
photo of Charlotte Perriand from Cassina.com Although Charlotte Perriand is most well known for her collaborations with Le Corbusier, she...
tipsy modernist
Jul 3, 20206 min read
Junzo Sakakura - Japanese. Architect. Innovator. Poet.
The Fountainhead was full of sh*t. Contrary to the book and popular mythology, large scale architectural projects are never the product...
tipsy modernist
Jun 24, 20203 min read
Queer bauhaus-part 2: Ladies' Choice
Despite more stringent admission requirements than their male peers (1) and being forced into specific studios, women of the bauhaus...
tipsy modernist
Jun 17, 20204 min read
Queer bauhaus: Hiding in Plain Sight
It seems incredible that Elizabeth Otto's fascinating new book is the first book to address lgbtq at the bauhaus. Because the book is so...
tipsy modernist
Jun 11, 20204 min read
Ise Gropius aka Mrs. bauhaus
Born in in 1899, she was Ilse Frank when she met Walter Gropius in 1923 at a lecture about the bauhaus, just days before she was...
tipsy modernist
May 28, 20203 min read
TAC- The Architects Collaborative
Their mission was simple : ”to remake the world”. (1) While it is often assumed that Gropius was the founding partner of TAC, in fact it...
tipsy modernist
May 20, 20204 min read
The Gropius House- modernist icon
“As to my practice, when I built my first house in the U.S.A.—which was my own—I made it a point to absorb into my own conception those...
tipsy modernist
May 15, 20203 min read
Walter Gropius-the Godfather of modernism
If the bauhaus was the birthplace of modernism, then Walter Gropius was its father. As the director of the bauhaus from 1919-1928, many...
tipsy modernist
May 12, 20203 min read
The bauhaus- birthplace of modernism
Did you ever wonder where the trend of not using capital letters came from? This typographical style was invented at the bauhaus by...
tipsy modernist
May 8, 20203 min read
Obsession, Betrayal, Jealousy and Modernism
The Modernists Guide to Cocktails is a meeting place for fans of modernism who love a good cocktail along with gossip about architecture's most notorious scandals. Conversely,it's also a site for cocktail lovers who happen to be design curious. It takes an unvarnished look at modernism via social histories, juicy anecdotes, and the favorite cocktails of the founders of modernism. And let's face it we all need a strong drink these days...
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