León León

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I've never heard of a French-Mexican furniture company before, but if this is really a thing, and it's as good as the designs by León León, count me a huge fan. 
 

León León was started in Mexico City in 2011 and draws inspiration from the classic Acapulco chair. The collection includes furniture, lighting and some fantastic bright pillows. The designs are heavily influenced by color and pattern, and each piece is handmade and has a wonderful modern / folk feeling. Alexander Girard would be proud.

León León 

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A new (temporary) home.

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​I've had no shortage of huge life changing events in my life in the last 6 months, almost all of which I've neglected to share online. First, and most important, I'm getting married (yay!) in June. Second, I'm moving to Austin (what!!) in July. I'm hoping I'll get around to sharing the backstory about everything eventually and how absolutely elated I am with the way my life is going. For now, just know I'm happy and living the life I've always wanted. 

Thrown in with all these life events came the announcement that our lease in the house my girlfriend and I were renting was up, and our landlord wasn't letting us renew. That left us essentially homeless for the last 2 1/2 months we'd be in SLC. Luckily we were able to get a very short term lease in Patrick Lofts, where I was living before I moved in with my girlfriend. I suppose it's fitting that the place we met is the place we'll be in when we leave SLC. 

After a flurry of moving and giving things away we did manage to get settled into the new place. Above is a teaser shot of our fancy new (1964) Milo Baughman sofa we picked up for $600, and some of our art. The 13' ceiling and huge curved wall are perfect for wall hanging art.*

DJ Dance Party this Sat!

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Locals, join me and my little family and friends this Saturday for a fantastic DJ Dance Party. ​

A kids DJ Dance party that is, complete with craft projects inside an awesome renovated airstream, hot dogs for the kids, and BYOB for the parents. Seriously, can you think of a better way to spend time with the family on a Saturday evening? ​

If you have kids in SLC and you don't know about The Creative Capsule, you are missing out. Really.​

​Get you tickets to Saturday's event here. I've already got mine. See you there!

Aark Watches

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​Watches are dangerous. Sort of like bags, shoes, bottle openers and so many other things that I just want to collect for no apparent reason at all. Aark watches appear to be extra bad, because I want one of each of them. While they do have quite a few very classic looking ones that I really wouldn't mind having, my eye was particularly drawn to these more playful colors. 

Aark Collective

Which is your favorite?​

Clam Chair

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Argh, I'm so over winter already. In fact I think my hatred of cold may have hit a new level today when I actually put a hand warmer in my pocket before leaving for work. While mother nature continues to deliver up cold weather and snow storms, I like to daydream of warm days on the patio. 

Yesterday I came across this gorgeous Clam Chair on The Potted Store. After a little bit of digging around, it sounds like they were originally designed by John B Salterini. The originals can be quite expensive, but these new ones seem very reasonable at $295 each. They are available in orange, a lovely pale green and brown. 

Clam Chair $295 from The Potted Store

My Chelsea Sofa gets a new life

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Remember that Chelsea Sofa that Fashion for Home sent me a few years ago to review? Well, even back then I was a bit worried about how well the fabric would hold up to the abuse of two kids and my admittedly negligent self. It only took two years, and this sub $1,000 was looking pretty grimy. The lower cushion had acquired some stains that I was unable to get out, so last night on a whim I grabbed an old orange wool blanket I had picked up for $20 and recovered it. I was surprised how well it came out considering #1 I stitched it all by hand, #2 I was fairly occupied catching up on Walking Dead. Who knows how well the orange will hold up. In the meantime, it looks like I may need to rethink my pillow colors.

What do you think?

Kickstarter : RX Made

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As you know I like to feature up and coming companies that are making quality beautiful products. RX Made manages to pull that off with ease, and adds to the list of accomplishments by locally sourcing the majority of their material, and even heavily utilizing reclaimed good in their products. 

Born out of a Chicago based non profit called Rebuild Exchange, RX Made pairs local job program trainees with the design expertise of Chicago based Strand Design. The end product is an attractive group of products ranging from bottle openers to benches. 

It's clear that RX Made is doing good things and making a difference, and you can make a difference too by supporting them. They are launching their products on Kickstarter as we speak. You can help them out for as little as $1or for $25 you can get the handsome bottle opener above. Check out some of their other goods below, then head over to Kickstarter to watch their video and pitch in.

RX Made on Kickstarter 

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On Sale! Daily deals curated

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Ok, I admit it. I've been sort of slacking around here lately. My life if busy, and rapidly changing. While I hope to eventually get back into the normal groove I have decided to add a new feature to Grassrootsmodern. Here's why.

When I originally started the website it was to share resources for affordable modern furniture and other goodies. That's because back then there was very little available online or elsewhere as a resource. Now modern is everywhere. Really. It's amazing to see how much it has become mainstreamed in the last 5 years. The good news is that it makes it much easier to find, and more affordable. It also unfortunately makes Grassrootsmodern a little less relevant. 

In the meantime, my passion has shifted from "affordable" to "valuable". That doesn't mean expensive necessarily, but it is a departure from the short term perspective of value. Now, I'm more interested in supporting craftsman I'm passionate about, and saving up to buy things I'll have my entire life. 

All this is not to say I don't like a good deal. In fact I love a bargain. Thats probably why I am signed up for WAY too many daily deal sights. If you are like me, and you are overwhelmed by all of them, I've got your back. I recently added a "On Sale!" section to the sight (button on the top of the page) where I will feature some of my favorite daily picks from all the great deals I find online. 

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Fab : Y1.1 iperEspresso set

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It's been a while since I have been really really tempted to splurge on a sale from one of the sample sites. Today Fab has the Illy Y1.1 iperEspresso machine on sale. For those of you that like a good espresso or expresso based drink, but are not up to the challenge of learning to make your own, this is perfect. These pod based instant espresso machines have come a long way recently and generally get excellent reviews. Plus this one is absolutely gorgeous. GORGEOUS. 

As an asides, for my loyal readers, there is a new section on the site that features my daily sale pick. Check the "On Sale!" button at the top of the page. More info coming soon…

More Details 

Machine makes espresso and cappuccino with illy iperEspresso capsules. Additional features: programable coffee volume, auto-stop, power saver mode, auto decalcification. Set also includes the Capresso Frother. Y 1.1 machine measures L 9.45" W 9.45" H 10.83". Frother capacity is 8oz for frothing and 12oz for heating without frothing.

 
  • Luca TrazziWipe body with a soft damp cloth.
  • illy
  • Stainless Steel, Tempered Glass
  • Silver, White
  • 11 lbs

 

$249  Illy Y1.1 iperEspresso machine and Capresso Frother

himmeli brass mobile

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It's no secret I have been excited about brass lately, nor is it a secret that I'm sort of obsessed with geometric shapes, so it should be obvious that I like these brass mobiles from AMradio. This himmeli brass mobile is made from brass tubing and white string. Apparently it's based on a Finnish tradition. I'm just going to assume that tradition is being awesome, because that it was those Finns manage to do best. This 7 x 7 x 15 mobile is a great deal for $67. Other sizes and materials are available too and prices range from $45 - $170.  Also, make sure you check out the rest of the goodies AMradio has for sale…

himmeli brass mobile $67

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Joe Joe Built It

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I'm always on the lookout for great modern furniture built by small shop in the USA. The latest to hit my radar is Joe Joe Built It. They've got all sorts of FSC certified modern wood goodies, all at very reasonable prices considering what goes into making them.  Speaking of which, check out the video by LetsMakeMedia after the jump that shows a little of the process. 

Joe Joe Built It

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JOEJOEBUILTIT from LetsMakeMedia on Vimeo.

Nice Modernists

Ron GreenI've said it before, and I'll say it again. One of the absolutely most rewarding things about starting this little blog has been the opportunities it has given me to meet some truly amazing people and do some truly amazing things. Point in case. I wrote an article in this months Dwell magazine about my good friend and amazing shop owner Ron Green of The Green Ant. Dwell magazine used to do a regular feature every month about a "Nice Modernist". If it wasn't for a whole bunch of nice modernists, I would never have gotten this great opportunity.

Looking back, it's interesting to see the chain of events that lead up to this opportunity. It started a year ago when Corian was nice enough to fly me back to Chicago to see a new collaboration that they were doing with DIRTT. I wrote about it here

 

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Amanda Dameron image via Inhabitat

While I was in Chicago I had the opportunity to meet the now Editor in Chief of Dwell magazine Amanda Dameron. At the time I knew she worked for Dwell but had no idea she was next in line for the top editorial position. I met her after a few beers, and I'm pretty sure my first words to her were something along the lines of "You work for Dwell? I've got a bone to pick with you." Over the next few hours she was nice enough to let me rant about how I thought that Dwell was unfairly pushing prefab as an affordable modern housing solution, how Dwell has turned its back on the Fruit Bowl Manifesto, and how they screwed over their online community when they axed their original forums. The nice thing about stepping out from behind your computer and having real conversations with real people is that it makes it much easier to see both sides of the issue.

By the end of the night she had me convinced that Allison Arieff (former Editor in Chief of Dwell) pushing prefab was no different than John Entenza pushing case study houses, and that Dwell was just as focused on the little guy today as it ever was. One thing in particular that she said really stuck in my head. She referred to Dwell as "scrappy". It's easy to think of Dwell as a giant powerhouse and poke fun of it, but the reality is it really is made up of a small group of passionate employees. Sure they aren't perfect, but they try. 

 

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Later that year when Dwell was in Salt Lake City for Sundance I had the opportunity of showing the lovely Aaron Brit and Alex Polier around town. I took them to some of my favorite local places like The Green Ant, Beckett and Robb, Eva's, the new Natural History Museum of Utah and even the wacky Gilgal sculpture garden (shown above). I assume that they were suitably impressed by The Green Ant that they contacted me in the spring of 2012 and asked me to do an interview with Ron. 

The rest is as they say, history. 

Please excuse me while I pay some bills...