Dwell Mar-12

Slow Home It’s been said that the magpie is one of the most accomplished nest builders in the bird kingdom. She works painstakingly slow, roving to collect material and build her rather large—by avian standards—home. Once the walls are constructed to the magpie’s liking, the creature shores the foundation with bits of mud and at last fashions a tidy dome on top as protection from neighborhood marauders. This can only be described as a very successful architectural program: a well-insulated and sensitively rendered structure, constructed of locally sourced materials, and aptly suited to the needs of the resident. This idea of the gradual assemblage of home has reverberated in my mind throughout the process of building this issue, which is devoted to doing more with less (or, in other words,…

Every issue of Dwell gets the full cover-to-cover treatment at our place. We particularly enjoyed the Smaller & Smarter issue (November 2011). Our unconscious, overconsuming world needs more of Dwell. As practicing advocates of “less is more,” we appreciate your showcasing forward-thinking people happily living in small spaces. Bravo for your consistently brilliant coverage of intelligent design for the conscious consumer. You’ve shown yet again how restraint and good taste go hand in hand. Melissa and Gerry Burlington, Ontario As a former property manager, I read your article on evicting deadbeat tenants (“An Introduction to Renting,” November 2011) with great interest. I occasionally expedited the process of getting a tenant to vacate by negotiating a one-time payment in exchange for surrender of the premises. Offering $1,000–$1,500 (or more, depending) can…

Hollis Bennett Hollis Bennett traveled back to his birthplace of Knoxville, Tennessee, to photograph the Ghost Houses project (“Spirit of the South,” p. 62) on the city’s north side. Seeing this part of town renewing itself was quite a treat for Bennett, especially when he discovered that one of the tenants was an old friend. In between shots he was able to catch up with him and reestablish a grasp and pulse on his old town. “All in all, a great fall weekend in East Tennessee,” he says. Winifred Bird Freelance journalist Winifred Bird called Yuko Shibata at her home office in Tokyo to chat about the supercool live/work space Shibata designed for herself (“Simple Division,” p. 74). Bird, who was in her own unexciting home office in Nagano, had…

Moons Over Miami Sited just across from a massive convention center holding miles of contemporary works, Design Miami is the reserved little brother to the bombastic art-world juggernaut that is Art Basel Miami Beach. The entrance was marked by a gazebo by the show’s Designer of the Year, David Adjaye. Inside, wide gaps between the floor slats made navigation in precipitous high heels—a common sartorial choice among patrons—a spectator sport unto itself. Within Design Miami, booths offered vintage furniture, bespoke jewelry, artisans sewing scraps of Fendi leather, and more. Though it only took a short while to traverse, the space was still chockablock with design-world cameos, like Bjarke Ingels, who offered an LED installation, and the white-jumpsuited Karim Rashid. A. Established & Sons The London studio released a familiar-looking limited-edition…

Whether he was designing a collection of table settings or a fleet of airplanes, Alexander Girard, above all, sought to destroy monotony. Playful and exuberant, Girard’s signature treatment of form and color suffused his creations, from restaurant interiors to intricately crafted textiles. In their exhaustively compiled and sensitively rendered book, Alexander Girard, Todd Oldham and Kiera Coffee offer a substantial, satisfying tribute to a designer who invigorated everything he touched. A. The 672-page tome, $200, Ammo Books B. La Fonda del Sol Restaurant in New York C. Dinnerware for Georg Jensen, 1956 D. A small sampling of Girard’s fonts…

Timber Table by Gus Design, $235 unicahome.com Ripple Side Table by Blu Dot, $199 bludot.com Owen Steel End Table by Schoolhouse Electric, $199 schoolhouseelectric.com Faceted Mirror Table by West Elm, $199 westelm.com Stump by Kalon Studios, $85 branchhome.com Acrylic Drink Table by CB2, $179 cb2.com Balloona Side Table by Natalie Kruch, $225 thefutureperfect.com DLM Side Table by Hay, $245 shophorne.com Trollsta Tray Table by Ikea, $100 ikea.com…