While Eames Demetrios is probably best known for being the grandson of Charles Eames, for those that know him, there's much more to him than a good bloodline. Not only is Eames one of the nicest guys I've met, he has the same creativity and talent of his grandfather. But this geographer at large focuses this creativity in a very different way. Enter the parallel universe of Kcymaerxthaere.  So what is Kcymaerxthaere? You just need to watch this video to get it. 

Done? 

Good. Now that we are on the same page, let me introduce you to the latest Kcy project. Please DON'T connect the dots. An activity book to compliment the disputedlikeness.com website. Again, just watch the video.

Get it? Good. Now, who can you think of that needs a stocking stuffer? Help support this latest adventure by buying a book (or 4!) on indiegogo. 

Please DON'T connect the dots activity book. $12

I've been fighting the wallet overload for a long time. I keep my wallet in my front pocket, and it's constantly a battle to try and keep it as slim as possible. Problem is there are just too many cards I "need" to carry. That's why I'm so excited about Coin. It's seriously one of the most genius ideas I've heard in a long time. One card that carries all the info of all your cards. Don't get it? Just watch the video, and preorder yours now.

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 

Many of my regular readers may be wondering what the heck I've been up to. It's been a harried past couple of months, full of big life changes. Now that things are starting to slow down I'm ready to give an update.  

First off, I'm now officially an Austinite! There was a pretty short list of places I would leave SLC for, and Austin was one of them. So is it as awesome as everyone says it is? Yep. Pretty much. That is if you are into the whole delicious food, amazing bars, great people, sort of thing. I've been charging through all the hot spots and finding my favorites. It's a long list.

Second, after 10 years in healthcare I'm finally following my dreams and getting into real estate. As of last week, I'm officially a licensed real estate agent in the state of Texas. Yeee haaaaww! I plan on specializing in modern and mid century modern homes in the Austin area, so if you know someone looking to buy or sell send them my way.  

Ohh, and last but not least, I got a cat. His name is Talisker.  

East Side King food truck

Franklin BBQ

A glass of Talisker.

A cat named Talisker. 

​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.* ​

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!

One thing is for sure. There is no such thing as too many good looking bottle openers. So here is another one to add to your "want" list. Designed by Bec Brittain and available through Sight Unseen, the Penta Hex bottle opener is everything a good bottle opener should be; gorgeous and functional. Get your before it's too late.​

​Penta Hex Bottle Opener $48.

​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?​

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

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?

Like architecture? Like movies? The fine folks over at Arch Daily recently put up a list of the top 30 architecture movies to add to you "must see" list. While many of them have to be purchased, there are a few select ones that you can watch for free online, including the fantastic Eames: The Architect and the Painter. Who's seen it?  What did you think about it? 

ArchDaily : 30 Architecture Docs to watch in 2013

It's no secret that we love Neo Utility here on Grassrootsmodern, so obviously we're excited to see them on fab today. Maybe it's time to get those gorgeous Miller Goodman set's you've had your eye on…

Neo Utility on Fab

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 

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.

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.

 

• DesignerLuca TrazziCareWipe body with a soft damp cloth.
• Brandilly
• MaterialStainless Steel, Tempered Glass
• ColorSilver, White
• Weight11 lbs

$249  Illy Y1.1 iperEspresso machine and Capresso Frother

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

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

LetsMakeMedia

JOEJOEBUILTIT from LetsMakeMedia on Vimeo.

I'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. 

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. 

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.