Journal
introduction
Introducing myself to people has always been an easy thing to do.
Speaking about my work has always been a passion for me.
Speaking about myself is always a challenge.
So, let's get the hard part out of the way.
A couple of years in aviation school, some electrical engineering and years of architecture studies led me to work
at an interior design firm. For some unexpected reason I felt driven to embrace a world I never planned to be part of. I can also speculate that it may have started during my teen years redecorating my bedroom and redecorating my parents home that it unknowingly sucked me in.
Writing in the journal will give me the time and comfort required to share my thoughts, ideas and predictions of the world I've spent the majority of my life in as a creator and an observer.
A career that surprisingly, not only taught me about interiors but also about furniture manufacturing and textile design, printing, food styling, photography, art, construction, engineering and so much more.
This "design world" and the drive to learn has afforded me many adventures, awareness and creative opportunities many dream of. Even through the difficult challenges of life, I have always considered myself one of the luckiest men in the world.
So therefore I begin a subjective adventure to find a suitable place to share the current work that YAMIR+ is producing, concepts I will imagine and selectively post topics from the worlds I draw inspiration from and possibly aspire towards.
Not a blog but maybe an extension of Instagram posts with more room for additional information.
We now inhabit a world that can only be compared to the industrial age. We have been and continue to exist in the reality that Richard Florida wrote about in his book "The rise of the creative class". The "creative class" continues to produce innovative tools at an exponential rate that influence and assist individuals in such industries like architecture, culinary, fashion, education, biotech and the medical field to mention but a few. The growing role of creativity in our economy also continues to have huge economic and sociological impact that is both good and bad.
I don't necessarily want to use this platform to analyze the creators or the observers too much. After all, they/we are also part of the "creative class" by participating in what we all create and the way we live.
My questing for beautiful things will continue throughout my life.
So my motive is to capture your attention, if only for a minute, and leave you
mentally pleasing imprints of beautiful things to ponder.
minimalist romantic
I was told by a best friend that I cook as if it's a still life!
So I made a meringue cake, styled it as I do, placed it on one of our table
and photographed it for you.
Eric Solan Photography
My friend is correct with his statement. I am one that does not work well with too many rules.
So I create environments for clients and even for my personal moments with more of a free artistic hand. I arrange things to create visual appeal but not in a obsessive grid formation.
The still life comment fits well since I enjoy the process of staging for the same reason a still life painting gives the artist freedom of expression by allowing the freedom to arrange the elements. While I'm always aware of my surroundings and places I visit and how environments affect people. I don't do this with judgement but to see if I can find the easiness of flow and harmony. It's not just the way I cook and arrange the items in the kitchen it's also the way I decorate and live my life. Always striving to find the most pleasing perspective.
The challenge has always been to subtract the right amount of items without stripping the character of the subject. Ones visual ability is the most important of the senses! Entering a beautiful room can stop a person and make them gasp in the same way a dessert can between the time it's presented and the first spoon full is enjoyed. The challenge for me is for the observer to experience something that both looks simple and effortless but once examined, truth be told, reveals it's complexity.
Self editing ones own work is one of the most difficult things to do. I've learned to just go with your instinct, that first feeling of awareness we all get at times. You must trust it and not over analyze it, for when you do, you failed the task.
Example when arranging flowers; instead of a vase with the flowers all standing straight and perfect, arranged in such a way you dare not touch and though it can look beautiful, it can also appear unrealistic and contrived. I subscribe to the more natural state when a few petals have fallen. When it shows the stages of time and the natural beauties of life itself. I enjoy living with such awareness but I also enjoy sharing it with people I love. Therefore, I'll purchase flowers 2-3 days before a dinner party so that flowers assimilate to the environment and fall into place. They now look natural and relaxed and might encourage your guest to do the same. I am a true believer that a little irregularity sets for the best characters. Striving to create with as few things for maximum impact has always been my intent.
Al though I kid myself in believing I can live in a minimalist contemporary home, it would simply be to empty and lonely for me. This is a challenge I have always encountered because I'm attracted and appreciate all sorts of things and styles. I've always been attracted to things that are new and old, rough and smooth, found or purchased, polished or weathered. Good and thoughtful design always needs to cross many disciplines to reap such results.
I also feel like I'm being held back with permanence, but appreciate more a sense of transience. As seasons change, so should our interior environments to variant degrees.
The closest I have reached to believing I could live in such a bare home would be in a Wabi-sabi inspired environment with it's imperfect edges set against all things functional. Wabi-sabi is a concept in traditional Japanese aesthetics constituting a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. It takes a special soul to exercise this practice in it's pure form. A practice for which I do not fully posses but continues to inspire me.
In our home, the lacquered white finish cube next to the velvety sofa not only doubles as a light source illuminating the room during evening hours but as the end table.
Accompanied by a large Indian cocktail table with it's aged finish, these three very different finishes work in harmony. This is my way of using as little furniture as possible without loosing comfort or over crowding a room.
The wood cocktail table started as a new teak dining table while I lived in Florida. It was far too new and did not have the character I thought it needed. One day I placed it inside our pool so that the chlorinated water would soak into the grain and expand the joints. After a few days in the water, it was allowed to sit out in the summer heat and sun to bleach and weather. The shiny teak was transformed into a frothy weathered drift wood like finish. The earthy tones and feel that was achieved still catches me by surprise.
Here in our NYC apartment, after using it as our dining table for a couple of years, we cut the legs off and made it our cocktail table. The legs can be reattached but are now used as legs for a small bench upholstered in a quilted hi-tech fabric.
I often fantasize about having a cabin in the woods and the opportunity to exercise a few more of the Wabi principles. Because I need the modern amenities like most of us are accustomed to, I would still love a steam room, sauna, hot tub. Oh!, I would not mind a fireplace or two or three! The minimalist in me would size it to a cozy and manageable space. The romantic in me would not have to plan flower purchases in advance. I would simply cut a bunch of wild flowers, wash them and place them in a plain container I have laying around. What a great place to also bake some more meringue cakes.
Don't be fooled by the many assumption that creating "anything" minimalistic is a simple practice by any means. There is nothing simple about simplicity, simplicity is complicated.
It's not about the subtraction of things but more of the balance, harmony, color, finish and comfort of what remains. When creating spaces, arranging my ingredients on a beautiful slab of aged marble or baking a simple meringue cake, I can truly say that creating the nuances needed to achieve simple elegance humbles me. So therefore I practice and practice hoping that when I get the cabin, I'll be ready!
beautiful ugly things
While viewing PRADA'S 2017 FW collection runway show, I was
wowwed to say the least. At first, I'm just captivated by the chaotic presentation of color.
Then I focused on how each outfit's patterns and textures were randomly placed.
Within seconds I was totally engulfed by these ugly things.
I tend to infuse certain splashes of color on neutral backgrounds in most of the environments I create. An apartment R6 I decorated in the Village came to mind when looking at one of the outfit's colors and the placement. One other visual came to mind, a contemporary painting by Marco Battaglini at Saatchi Gallery in London. Both compositions are degrees off the norm with their color and pattern placement. I don't consider either one of them ugly or messy, quite the opposite. It just confirms what I do when adding color to an interior space. I visualize the location of color the way a painter chooses the next brush stroke of color. We both want to achieve balance.
The elements from the contemporary photograph above the sofa anchors the room and creates depth. Colors from the photograph are chosen and placed on monochromatic surfaces and background by means of flowers, fabrics, and an occasional dish. The surfaces all have similar earth tones, so the relationship now is between the flowers, pillows and the art. Unfortunately, the balance is ruined when someone shows up dressed in a zebra print!
Battaglini's painting is off because he infused Pop Art into a classic renaissance style painting's mostly background, so it seams. He added elements that don't belong but yet are balanced and surprises the viewer. Color and scale are the focus, yet the interesting affect is with the background's untouchable raw texture and the depth it achieved.
The PRADA outfits combine colors, textures, scale, and patterns purposely without any set rule. It is clear that Miuccia's artistic intent continues to produce beautiful - ugly fashion.
I continue to draw immense inspiration from these beautiful messes.
Cheers to the nonconformist!