The Shiny Squirrel:

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The Little Interview with SITE

I haven't been to Long Island City recently but I really might have to go there in the next few weekends to check out SITE. I am sure their collection in person is even more impressive then online, but I am not sure if that is possible.

SITE IMAGES

How did Site Design NYC come about?

SITE was a long, long time in the making. After working many years as an interior designer for bigger design firms, I started to get frustrated by so many things: the lack of control of the design process and the horrible treatment by clients mainly.

To see a custom designed piece, say a sofa or a custom woven rug, trashed by the client because of the most petty of reasons chips away at you after awhile. In the fall of '06 I started working on my business plan to make SITE a two part entity, a retail store where clients can see items before buying and an interior design service. SITE has been open now for a little over 2 years and I couldn't be happier. I've gotten to do some amazing design work, I custom make several items for the store that I design, and having a shop is really, the best ever.

What draws you to a collection or object?

I'm a huge, huge, huge color freak. The more saturated with color the better. I can't help myself. I also am drawn to really great form, and tend to focus my attention on really feminine feeling shapes.

SITE IMAGES

Who is the number one person you would like to collaborate with?

Lame, I know, but really soooo many people. I'm currently working with lots of great local artists to create custom lines @ SITE. The one I'm most excited about is The fantastic BKLYN based Brookadelphia who I'm designing custom 80's style charm necklaces with- cleaned up and modernized and all in shiny amazing mirror plexi.

Also, I'd love to design a space for an artist or resturant/cafe. I'd love to really use some inventive ideas in interior design- and that requires a really open minded client!

Currently Reading/ Watching anything?

I'm reading "Buyology" and my relentless stash of design magazines.

I love to watch LOST. I can't help myself!

Do you dream often and if so do you have recurring themes?

I dream all the time. I think that sometimes I should set my alarm for 5am, because on the rare occasion I wake up in the middle of the night, it is the time i start to fall into dream sleep again after being up that a flood of design ideas or ideas for the store come into my head!

REGISTER AT SITE

Are there any great blogs you are reading right now?

Here are some that I cannot get enough of that are fairly new to me. There are just soooo many amazing bloggers out there:

My love for you is a Stampede of Horses

Making it Lovely

More Ways to Waste Time

Absolutely Beautiful Things

And when I need a little design break (because sometimes i think i can never, ever see another chair or print or cute etsy find again) i turn to the very gay-lady centric, but oh so funny Dorothy Surrenders

April 30, 2009 in The Little Interview | Permalink | Comments (2)

Sissi Rossi

Sissi Rossi at La Garconne

April 30, 2009 in Fashion | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ink Posters

April 30, 2009 in Art | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Little Interview with Lizzy Stewart

I have been trying to work with Lizzy Stewart for a while now. I remember when i first started seeing her work pop up on numerous blogs I was completely smitten. I was delighted when she agreed to do the interview.

What is your background in art?
From about ten or eleven I decided that I wanted to be a painter. I totally couldn't see myself doing anything else. I obsessed over art at school and spent all of my free time painting in my bedroom and spilling acrylic all over the place. After school I moved to Edinburgh to start a fine art degree. Suddenly after a years of being convinced that painting was for me it just didn't seem to work. After a rather depressing year on the wrong course I switched over to illustration and all of a sudden everything fell into place! Thank goodness! I love illustration created narratives and how easy it is to digest and appreciate a good illustration . No one ever has to ask 'what is it?' or 'what's it about?' (which is a relief as that question usually leaves me stumped) illustration is so accessible and I think thats wonderful.

STUDIO

Are their any artists you would die to own their work?

Die? I have to die? Urgh ok. I would love to own an original piece by Carson Ellis (i have a print but its not quite the same) I love everything about her work, the line quality, the colours, the incredible stories she manages to tell in a single image, sigh. I never tire of looking at her stuff. But I think owning a piece by her is probably quite a realistic goal, not totally unfathomable I mean. I think if we're going for ultimate, desert island artwork then I would be pretty set for life if I had a piece by Stanley Donwood on my wall. I was (am) a massive radiohead fan in my teens and his artwork for the band really made me want to paint. I adore the linocut he did for Thom Yorke's 'The Eraser'. Can I have that please?

What is your favorite art period and why?

Oh no. I don't know. I guess it changes depending on what I'm working on. Right now I like medieval illustrations a lot, they're so awkward and stiff and the colour are always insanely cool. Oh and I'm currently secretly enjoying pre-raphaelite paintings, they're kind of gross, a bit sacharine and flawless and dreamy but I like drawing the women in them, with all the hair and the roman noses. OH and dutch still life painting, their pretty cool too.
All of it. I like all of art.

New Work

Who is the number one person you would like to collaborate with?

Oh..anyone really. Anyone. I love collaborating. I've done a fair bit of work with writers which is always awesome. Responding to texts is fun and it saves me the trauma of having to decide what to draw Of all the writers in the world I'd love to do something with Jonathan Safran Foer, that would be a bit of a dream. But in terms of artists...uh... maybe Maxwell Loren Holyoke Hirsch would be pretty bloody amazing. His work seems so instant and unlaboured.

Currently Reading/ Watching anything?

Reading 'The Fortress of Solitude' by Jonathan Lethem (so addictive) and also 'Death at Intervals' by Joe Saramago (i'm terrible for starting more than one book at a time and mainly watching (and loving) 30Rock.

What is your artistic process and how do you know when a piece of work is completed?

I faff about a lot. I'll do a lot of internet 'research' (lies! it's all blog reading) and listen to lots of music. Eventually with any luck I'm in a place where I actually want to draw and I feel enthused by my subject matter (I rely on music to get me to this point....a good song is failsafe way of firing up the imagination). There's nothing worse than forcing yourself to draw when you're not in the mood. Then I start scribbling away for a few hours, scan it, neaten it up, play with colour and things until it looks like something I might consider to show another living being. Recently I've been feeling guilty about all my photoshopping so I've been trying to do drawings that don't need rescuing digitally every single time. Its good. I'm learning to love the smudges and coffee stains.
As for things being complete? Often they never are. But most of the time if I'm sick of looking at it? Then its done.

New Work

Do you have dreams and if so do you have any recurring themes?

Yeah I guess so. I have a lot of 'being chased' dreams which usually stick in my mind the next day. Last night there was definitely some kind of monster, and a big house with lots of corridors and secret stairs, there were loads of people in the house running up and down across three floors trying to hide. I think that's it. Its funny how bits and pieces come back to you.

New Work