Lulu deKwiatkowski

what is your idea of perfect design happiness? WHEN I SEE COLORS AND SHAPES THAT ALL WORK TOGETHER IN HARMONY, MUCH SO THAT I WANT TO POSSESS THEM OR MAKE THEM PART OF ME, LIKE BUTTER MELTING ON TOAST.

what is your greatest fear in design? A RULER, STRUCTURE, TOO MUCH PERFECTION.

which historical design figure do you most identify with? GAUGUIN.

which living designer do you most admire? JEFFREY BILHUBER.

what profession other than design would you like to attempt? SWIM COMPETITION.

what is your greatest design extravagance? MY HANDWRITTEN BOOK OF COLLAGES ABOUT MY LIFE, LULU.

when and where were you happiest with your design? WHEN I WAS DOING MY BOOK LULU.

what do you consider your greatest achievement in design? MY BOOK, LULU…SORRY TO BE REDUNDANT.

if you died and came back as another designer or design object, who or what do you think it would be? BEETHOVEN WITH HEARING.

what specific design related talent are you lacking that you would you most like to have? OLD MASTERS.

what is your most treasured design related possession? A BRIGHT PINK ANTIQUE INDIAN TEXTILE THAT MY BROTHER GAVE ME FOR MY MARRIAGE.

what do you regard as the lowest depths of misery in design? FAKE OR DRIED FLOWERS.

what curse word do you most frequently use? SHIT.

what is your favorite design related word? COOL.

what is your least favorite design related word? CHIC.

what turns you on in design? GOOD USE OF COLOR, INCLUDING NEUTRALS AND ORGANIC HUES.

what turns you off in design? BAD COLOR COMBOS.

what is your motto in design? KEEP SMILING AND IT WILL COME TO YOU!

//IMAGE CREDITS | All images provided by Lulu deKwiatkowski. Lulu's headshot taken by Amanda Marsalis.

ABOUT PROUST ON DESIGN | Answered by our design icons, these must-ask questions come from a 19th century parlor game made popular by Marcel Proust, the French novelist, essayist & critic. Proust believed the direct questions and honest responses that they elicited revealed the true nature of the individual. For this column, we have put a design related spin on the traditional questions. While this method has been used by many journalists throughout the years, we were primarily inspired by The Proust Questionnaire, which appears monthly on the back page of one of our all time favorite magazines, Vanity Fair (also Krista’s alma mater). Read all of the previous Proust on Design questionnaires here.

No. 28

Yesterday got away from us and so we were remiss in sharing our Palette post of the week. But the calm of the weekend has set in and we finally had a moment to get this soft and serene grouping of fabrics up for you.

Lately, we've been admiring really feminine hues like this conch shade of taupey pink. Mary McDonald's Chinois Palais in Blush Conch was the inspiration for this grouping. It stands alone (check out the full repeat below - it's stunning) and doesn't need much else so we merely layered in some simple, textural fabrics from Holland & Sherry and Rosemary Hallgarten. Perfection.

RIGHT | Chinois Palais in Blush Conch by Mary McDonald from Schumacher (#175040) TOP LEFT | Alona in Rice from Holland & Sherry (#DE12139) BOTTOM LEFT | Alpaca Boucle in Oatmeal from Rosemary Hallgarten (#FT376)

Wishing you a wonderful and relaxing weekend.

Role Models: Alexander McQueen + Minä Perhonen

FASHION | Alexander McQueen + FABRIC | Minä Perhonen

No. 27

MAIN | Puff in Lapis & Berry from carletonV (#429065) TOP RIGHT | Vintage in Sand from Larsen (#8852-01) MIDDLE RIGHT | Barmillion from Fermoie (#L-002)

We had a bit of a subliminal dragon theme going on while we were out and about in LA on our recent BlogTourLA adventure (btw, you can check out all of our BlogTour fun here). It seemed that every which way we looked we found another little dragon-inspired something-or-other. And it all started when we saw this crazy beautiful new carletonV print, aptly named Puff. We're quite fond of Puff and wanted to also show you this image of him below, since he himself wasn't included in the memo we received and used above. Isn't he darling?

So what do you think, would you put dragons in your interior space... or better yet, have you already? Tell us of your love or hate of this mythical fire-breathing beast. We have a feeling that most people fall pretty firmly in one camp or another on this topic.

Shaggy, Baby!

Madeline Weinrib has a shaggylicious new line of shag carpets, baby... and they are oh-so-good.

Zoe Shag | Grey & Natural Ombre

Austin Shag | Natural & Black

The luxurious line of rugs was inspired by Madeline's own drawings, with creamy hues, graphic lines and rich textures. For more Madeline inspiration, check out our recent Proust on Design interview with her.

Kuba Cloth Inspired Hardware

We think it's pretty cool when we see design inspiration coming from textiles and so when we came across Du Verre Hardware's Kuba collection by Clodagh when we were in Los Angeles for BlogTourLA, we were instantly smitten.

You may already know about our deep appreciation of Kuba Cloth from our recent Provenance post on the topic, but if you haven't already seen it please check it out here. It's brimming with Kuba goodness & inspiration, and remains one of our favorite posts to-date!

So tell us, what are you loving lately that was inspired by Kuba Cloth?

Role Models: Hunter Bell + Elizabeth Benefield

FASHION | Gramarcy Dress by Hunter Bell + FABRIC | Lyme in Foil by Elizabeth Benefield

Goccia, 'The Drop'

We were blown away by the simple, understated beauty of the Gessi line which we were first introduced to at the West Edge Design Fair in LA when we were there for BlogTourLA.

In particular, the new Goccia collection had us in awe. Inspired by the shape of a single water drop, the line was conceived by Italian designer and sculptor Prospero Rasulo who speaks so beautifully in this video about how the concept for Goccia was developed out of respect for water and the environment...

[pro-player width='620' height='500' type='video' image='http://www.clothandkind.com/blog/media/2013/11/video-preview-image.jpg']http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCsrMWWM0CQ#action=share[/pro-player[/pro-player[/pro-player]

Goccia, which translates to 'the drop' was not only physically designed out of respect for our environment but also functions with conservation in mind. All Goccia faucets are equipped with a technology allowing for a 50% water savings without compromising functionality.

Form and function. Now that gets us super excited!

To view the full line of Gessi products, be sure to check out their site. 'The drop', after all, is a mere drop in the bucket of their many gorgeous and highly functional products. We're officially 'in amore'.

A Rising Star

OMG, OMG! Our insanely talented & awesome intern, Andrew Lam, has been dubbed a rising star by Lonny and we couldn't possibly agree more! Andrew recently whipped out this wonderfully artistic rendering of Tami's living room, proof of his sick skills. But, y'all - this is only the tip of his iceberg, let us just tell you.

Here's what Lonny had to say... "Look out world! Cloth & Kind intern and University of Georgia textile student Andrew Lam is the talent behind this brilliant rendering of designer Tami Ramsay's living room—as seen in our October issue."

We're such proud mamma bears at this moment! A huge congrats to you, Andrew. We are so very fortunate to have you on our team.

Christopher Farr

what is your idea of perfect design happiness? THE ULINE CATALOGUE.

what is your greatest fear in design? OVER DESIGN.

 which historical design figure do you most identify with? CARLO MOLLINO.

which living designer do you most admire? PAOLA NAVONE.

what profession other than design would you like to attempt? STEEPLEJACK. A CRAFTSMAN WHO SCALES LARGE BUILDINGS.

what is your greatest design extravagance? BOOKS.

when and where were you happiest with your design? ST LUKE'S COLLEGE OXFORD LIBRARY CARPET (8' X 57').

what do you consider your greatest achievement in design? ALWAYS WILLING TO TAKE RISKS.

if you died and came back as another designer or design object, who or what do you think it would be? A STANLEY AIRCRAFT ALUMINUM STAPLE GUN.

what specific design related talent are you lacking that you would you most like to have? MODESTY.

what is your most treasured design related possession? THE NUMBER ONE EDITION OF GENTRY MAGAZINE. NO 1 WINTER 1951. TWO DOLLARS.

what do you regard as the lowest depths of misery in design? BRAVO TELEVISION.

what curse word do you most frequently use? BOLLOCKS.

what is your favorite design related word? WELL BEHAVED.

what is your least favorite design related word? WELL BEHAVED.

what turns you on in design? COHERENCE.

what turns you off in design? INCOHERENCE.

//

ABOUT PROUST ON DESIGN | Answered by our design icons, these must-ask questions come from a 19th century parlor game made popular by Marcel Proust, the French novelist, essayist & critic. Proust believed the direct questions and honest responses that they elicited revealed the true nature of the individual. For this column, we have put a design related spin on the traditional questions. While this method has been used by many journalists throughout the years, we were primarily inspired by The Proust Questionnaire, which appears monthly on the back page of one of our all time favorite magazines, Vanity Fair (also Krista’s alma mater). Read all of the previous Proust on Design questionnaires here.