Bliss, it's out there

A circa 1970 shot of the impeccable Pauline Trigère, whose seven decades-long career in fashion kept her busy until the age of 93, when she passed away in 2002. The photograph, it should be added, was taken by Arthur Leipzig (b. 1918), whose been working since the 1940s.



"Find a job you like and you add five days to every week."
-H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Behind the Glass Walls

Philip Johnson, Glass House, New Canaan, Connecticut, 2000
Annie Leibovitz, from A Photographer's Life (Random House, 2006)


On April 30, 2007, the National Trust for Historic Preservation's newest historic site, the Philip Johnson Glass House, will open to the public for preview tours. The house, its surrounding buildings, and 47-acre grounds embody architect Johnson’s modernist experimentation with forms and materials.


Paul Warchol, 2006


Limited-capacity tours will continue until mid-June, when the house will begin full operations following a grand opening ribbon-cutting on June 21, 2007. A gala picnic—featuring the Merce Cunningham Dance Company restaging their 1967 performance—will take place two days later, on June 23, 2007. The event will celebrate the house’s storied past as it inaugurates its new phase as a premier destination to be immersed in modernism.


Paul Warchol, 2006



www.nationaltrust.org

In the 'Antique Manner'

Fredrik Mattson, The Black Chair, 2007
Manufactured by Blå Station in Åhus, Sweden


From the tomb of Tutankaman, to the most fashionable early-19th century homes, to the 1950s designs of T.H. Robsjohn Gibbings... no chair has been more widely reproduced than the klismos. Mattson's designs, available in a variety of colors, reaffirm Sweden's long association with Neoclassicism but give the klismos form a decidedly modern profile.


www.blastation.se

A New Flight of Spanish Steps

The west façade of the Prado museum in Madrid.



As if Spain's embracing of heavier runway models wasn't reason enough to celebrate the country, they can now also be cheered for making a significant step toward helping the global environment, thanks largely to greener-construction requirements established by the Ministry of Culture in 2005.

This month the Rainforest Alliance announced that the extension of the Prado, Spain's largest art museum, will be the first major Spanish building project to purchase the bulk of its lumber from sustainable sources. The Alliance confirmed that more than half of the wood used throughout the project was certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, a non-profit organization devoted to encouraging the responsible management of the world’s forests.


Planks of sustainable cedar await their role in the new building.



The Prado's extension, which incorporates exhibition spaces, conservation studios, an assembly hall, conference room and administrative offices, was built by UTE El Prado, a temporary union of Dragados S.A. and Constructora San Jose S.A., two local building firms now recognized for leading the green-woods movement in Spain. FSC-approved timber used in the project includes oak flooring, birch plywood and yellow pine wall paneling and ceilings, and beech door frames.

David Hadley, SmartWood Regional Coordinator for the Rainforest Alliance, said, "This sends a strong signal to all major building projects in Spain, and Europe, that sourcing certified sustainable timber is not just possible, but should be a basic requirement. We urge all Spanish public administrations, from national to municipal level, to introduce sustainable timber procurement policies to ensure all future public building projects require certified, sustainable timber and build on the great achievements of UTE El Prado."



For more information, please visit:
Rainforest Alliance: www.ra.org
Forest Stewardship Council: www.fscus.org
Prado museum: www.museoprado.mcu.es

Go Canada!

Last month, the Canadian federal government approved $5 million in seed money (to be given over the next two years) to officially establish a National Trust. Rather alarming that they didn't already have one, but we'll focus on the positive.

The newly formed trust will be based on Britain's model, and protect heritage lands, buildings and national treasures. It is the most significant arts initiative to take place in decades, and the trust is expected to work closely with the Heritage Canada Foundation, the country's main preservation charity, established in 1973. In the words of its founder, the Honourable Jean Chrétien, "Maturity may be recognized in a nation when its people take thought for their past: take thought... in the dynamic sense of knowing the past as a key to understanding the present and future."

The Canadian National Trust will need to rely heavily upon donations and contributions, but its establishment alone is already a major victory. With its national holiday, Canada Day, fast approaching on July 1st, Canadians should rightly feel a surge of national pride. And open their chequebooks, accordingly.