Crossing Boundaries - The Travel Experience -

I just received this press release and I had to share it with you. Designer Vicente Wolf brings Crossing Boundaries to LIFE.

Vicente Wolf

Travel to Thailand with Vicente Wolf and learn to see through the eyes of this iconic interior designer.

Have you always dreamt of learning to bring global cultures into your home? Do you long to travel and explore the play of composition, scale, color, contrast and light as they are perceived by people living in a world unknown to us? Want to be inspired by these cultures and learn to see your space as a reflection of a global human spirit?

Over the last 30 years, this has been the basis of Vicente Wolf’s work as an interior designer. In October 2009, Vicente will take ten inquisitive travelers with him to explore Thailand and discover the nuances of scale and color that Vicente has come to know exist only there. On this first of a series of international trips, he will share his global vision of design in a uniquely experiential way – guests will be able to see and touch all that he does in real time and experience how the elements outlined in Vicente’s second book, Crossing Boundaries, are represented in the places that he visits, watching it come to life in the items selected in the markets of the world.

Thai Temple - photo by iccaworld

But it’s about more than just traveling to an exotic destination with one of the world’s favorite designers. Vicente is offering a full-circle opportunity that starts with the option of an in-home consultation prior to the trip for him to analyze the space and ascertain what opportunities can be found in the travels. With this visit setting the stage for what’s to come, Wolf will guide guests, once abroad, first to see the global context of where they are by visiting sites personally selected by the designer, and then assist them as they shop the wonderful markets with expert input to ensure that they bring the world into their home – on a personal basis. Once the goods arrive, Vicente will make a second trip to the guest’s home to assist in their placement so that the items can fully represent the guest’s education.

Interiors by Vicente Wolf

Author of two books, Learning to See (Artisan, 2002) and Crossing Boundaries: A Global Vision of Design (Monacelli Press, 2006), Vicente Wolf is most passionate about empowering others. The decision to bring the Crossing Boundaries experience to life is a natural procession for this sincere teacher, who lectures annually at Parsons and other interior design schools and, as public speaker, regularly enthralls audiences with experiences gained across the globe.

AVAILABLE HERE

The cost of traveling with Vicente is $15,000 per person, which includes one-on-one time with the designer, but excludes the cost of travel for Vicente to visit each guest’s home and all travel accommodation and fees for guests. Travel arrangements will be handled by Sterling Brownell Travel and in Thailand, luxury tour operators Abercrombie and Kent will take care of guests.

To learn more about this opportunity, please contact travel@vicentewolf.com

Or visit

www.vicentewolftravel.com

MEADE DESIGN GROUP - THE BLOG. Copyright 2007-2011

Eye Candy of the Week

Product: Vicente Wolf Blog
Designer: Vicente Wolf
Material: 1110100010101000101010 ... html
Content: Design topics, culture and every day life
Yummy Factor: Wolf-a-licious !

This week's eye candy is a little less tangible, you can't put it in your home or buy it online but this free eye candy can definitely inspire you to do something new and different in your home. I would like to think of this eye candy of being more like a box of chocolates where its filled with all kinds of different treats instead of our usual singular lollipop or chocolate bar. In this case the treats are posts on various topics of design, culture and every day life, and the box is Vicente Wolf's new and enlightening blog.

I invite you to visit and spread the word about this exciting blog found at:

VICENTE WOLF'S BLOG

On May 28, 2008 I had the opportunity to do an interview with Vicente Wolf for Meade Design Group - The Blog. I found the experience to be very interesting and I got a real sense of his personality. Vicente seems very genuine and intelligent but he still has a great sense of humor.

If you would like to read the interview please follow the link below.

IN CONVERSATION WITH VICENTE WOLF

MEADE DESIGN GROUP - THE BLOG. Copyright 2007-2011

In Conversation with Preston Bailey

Preston Bailey - Flower Couturier

Iván Meade - What was your first experience with design?

Preston Bailey - My first experience was when I was desperate for a job and my best friend Interior Designer Vicente Wolf suggested I do flowers for some of his clients. I began doing weekly floral arrangements and discovered I really enjoyed it and could do it well. I am self taught so I made plenty of mistakes along the way.

Orchid box

Iván - Who or what has influenced you?

Preston - Nature has been my biggest inspiration if you look at my designs you can see how I try to bring the abundance of nature indoors. I am also lucky enough to travel quite a bit for work and seeing the world really opens your eyes. It is impossible not to be inspired by all the different cultures and landscapes around the world.

Two 25ft (7.6m) peacock sculptures created from flowers by designer Preston Bailey,
stand proudly as part of the Spring Renaissance Event

Iván - How would you describe your sense of style?

Preston - Transforming. I like going into spaces and completely transforming them so much that people don’t even recognize the space.

Melissa Rivers - Wedding

Iván - What is your design process?

Preston - I meet with my clients first for a couple of hours to really understand their vision and likes and more importantly dislikes, then from that meeting I draw up some ideas and send them to my clients. Usually we get the go from there then at this point we create to scale a piece of what the event is going to like and bring them in to see it in person. I don’t like my clients to be surprised the day of the event.

Wedding Arrangement

Iván - Do you have a specific design philosophy or mantra?

Preston - More is better

Flower arrangement in the Caribbean

Iván - Name 5 things you can’t do without...

Preston - My iphone, my journal, my man, my free time, and my music

Flower arrangement in the Caribbean

Iván - How important are trends to you? What is big in your line of work right now? What do you see coming?

Preston - Trends are important to a certain extent for instance fashion is very important because whatever you are seeing on the runway now you know those are the colors people are going to be wanting in 6 months. Jewel tones are coming in more and more in events. I don’t follow event trends because my clients are very specific with what they want and don’t usually come to me with no ideas.

Wedding Arrangement

Iván - What is your favourite flower to work with?

Preston - Orchids, they are very elegant and very hearty

Orchids

Iván - What do you consider to be your greatest strength and weakness?

Preston - Being over the top to both

Wedding Arrangement

Iván - Where would you advise budget conscious clients to invest the majority of their money for the most impact?

Preston - I ask them to figure out what is most important to them for their event it could be the food, the music, the décor, or the after party. I tell them to put the largest chunk towards there.

Dog Topiary

Iván - What would you say is the most important element of any event?

Preston - Lighting! People always forget about it. It really can make or break an event

Iván - What is the strangest request you have received from a client?

Preston - To create a 25 foot floral dinosaur – I love those requests

Tea Party

Iván - What project or piece are you most proud of?

Preston - I can’t even begin to try to pick one out. Too many

Iván - You already create beautiful interiors for temporary events, do you have any plans to progress to interior design and make your designs more permanent?

Preston - Yes we are working on something right now but for now it is shhhhh

Chicks

Iván - You have a great friendship and working relationship with designer Vicente Wolf, what is it like working together and how do your styles complement each other when planning an event?

Preston - Vicente and I have been best friends for years so we completely understand and respect each other. His designs are very clean and classic where mine are abundant and possibly over the top- but somehow we make them work together in harmony.

Tabletop Garden

Iván - You have become a celebrity yourself, a writer, planner, floral designer, public speaker, television host, model and boutique owner. Have you ever been star-struck by any of your clients?

Preston - I always am!

Iván - You have already produced a stunning body of work at an early age; what would you like your legacy to be?

Preston - The early age of almost 60! I have been in this business for over 28 years and to tell you the truth I haven’t even begun so right now I cannot answer this question.

Preston Bailey

Preston Bailey Bio

Preston Bailey was born and raised in the verdant, tropical paradise of Panamá, so it’s little wonder that he is world renowned for his innate sense of style, inspired by the vibrant colors, organic shapes, and lush natural abundance of his homeland.

Preston moved to New York City in 1968 at the age of 19 and began his career in the design world as a fashion model, eventually opening a men’s clothing boutique.

Necessity is the mother of invention: when his store closed in 1980, Preston was in need of a job. His best friend, interior designer Vicente Wolf, suggested that Preston create floral arrangements for the homes of his Park Avenue clients.

This was the modest beginning of Preston’s stellar career as a floral couturier. After several years of building his reputation not only as a brilliant designer, but also for delivering exceptional service to his wellheeled clientele, Preston had the good fortune of meeting Joan Rivers, who has been his mentor & angel eversince. Joan asked him to design and produce her daughter Melissa’s wedding. This extravaganza exploded Preston onto the press circuit and celebrity event designer world.

After 27 years in business, Preston Bailey has become especially renowned for his ability to completely transform raw, ordinary spaces into sumptuous, theatrical environments, translating his clients’ fantasies into awe-inspiring reality.

Preston’s one-of-a-kind events, which include the most extravagant weddings and galas for Royal families across the globe, have earned him a reputation as the world’s preeminent event designer. He has attracted such clients as Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Uma Thurman, Joan Rivers, Donna Karan, Liza Minnelli, Matt Lauer, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas, Laurence Fishburne, Emmitt Smith, and Bill Cosby.

Preston Bailey’s signature style combines exuberant and harmonious color palettes, sensuous textures, shapes that are both architectural and organic, and modern adaptations of traditional elements to excite the senses in profound ways. Inspired by the simple beauty of the natural world, Preston is known for taking small, simple elements, changing them, reshaping them and repeating them on many layers to create grand, spectacular dramatic statements.

Preston has written three bestselling books, Design for Entertaining, Fantasy Weddings, and his latest, Inspirations.

He is currently working on his fourth book, scheduled to be released in 2008. In addition to his many public speaking engagements, Preston’s numerous television appearances include The Oprah Winfrey Show, Martha Stewart, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, Extra, CBS’s The Early Show, and The Today Show.

In July 2006 he starred in his own show, “Preston Bailey: Mr. Fabulous” which aired on the oh! Oxygen network and was the network’s highest rated program to date. Preston is also on the Advisory Board of Modern Bride Magazine. In 2005, through a partnership with Sandals Resorts, the largest operator of luxury, all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean, Preston designed four signature wedding collections, available exclusively to Sandals guests, which include beautifully designed wedding settings and décor, bridal flowers, and elegant keepsakes.

Via his 2006 partnership with 1-800-FLOWERS.com, a leading multi-channel retailer, Preston's exquisite, floral creations are now easily accessible to customers everywhere.

To see more work of Preston Bailey please visit:

www.prestonbailey.com
www.prestonbailey.blogspot.com

MEADE DESIGN GROUP - THE BLOG. Copyright 2007-2011

Eye Candy of the Week

Product: Long Neck Vessels
Designer: Vicente Wolf
Material: White Marble
Description: A collection of Indian custom marble vessels
Variety: Available
Website: VW Home
In Conversation with Vicente Wolf
Yummy Factor: yum yum !

MEADE DESIGN GROUP - THE BLOG. Copyright 2007-2011

In Conversation with Vicente Wolf

Vicente Wolf

In the world of design, Vicente Wolf has been at the top for 30 years. From the spacious light-filled loft in New York City, where his company is headquartered, Wolf and his staff build on his passion for design that’s guided by integrity and simplicity. He maintains this focus throughout his many creative endeavors: photography, art collection, furniture design and global travel.



Wolf’s portfolio offers a snapshot of the ultimate American aesthetic, from multinational conglomerates to private homes, from hotels to restaurants.





VW Home is the luxury retail outlet where Wolf displays his own collection of sterling silver flatware, antique furniture, accessories and bedlinens that he handpicks while traveling the globe. Also at the store is upholstery, lighting, fabrics, wallpaper mirrors and his own line of furniture, designed by Wolf for the showroom.



Partnerships with other luxury brands include:





* Furniture collections for Carson’s, Casa Bique, Hendredon, Neidermaier, and Ralph Pucci

* Lighting for Tyndale and Sirmos

* Rugs for Doris Leslie Blau and Tufenkian Carpets

* Flatware collections for Sasaki

* Tabletop and bedlinens for the L·S Collection

* Crystal, china and stemware for Steuben

* Vicente Wolf’s Latitude collection of crystal vases, bowls and candle holders with Baccarat exclusively for Neiman Marcus was launched in fall of 2007



House Beautiful named Vicente Wolf one of the 10 most influential designers in the United States, and Interior Design Magazine inducted Wolf in its Designer Hall of Fame. He was selected as one of the top 100 designers in both Metropolitan Home’s "Design 100" and Architectural Digest’s "AD 100". Wolf is also the publisher or two books, Learning to See and Crossing Boundaries: A Global Vision of Design, that focuses on the many design inspirations found throughout the world – through the eyes of a traveler. He is currently planning his third book for launch in 2009.



Iván Meade - What is the best moment of your day?



Vicente Wolf - When I’m able to become a ‘vegetable’ at home at the end of the day…but due to my schedule I’m only able to do this once a week.

photo courtesy of Vicente Wolf

Iván - What books do you have on your bedside table?



Vicente - I’m reading “American Fashion: The Life and Lines of Adrian, Mainbocher, McCardell, Norell, and Trigere” right now and always favor biographies as I like the learning process about how people become who they are, as opposed to fiction which is just…fiction.

photo courtesy by Vicente Wolf

Iván - What was your first experience with design?



Vicente - As a kid redecorating my parent’s living room while they were away on a trip.

photo courtesy of Vicente Wolf

Iván - Who would you like to design something for?



Vicente - Harrison Ford. (Laughs) Really? It doesn’t matter who they are. The ideal client is one that allows you to do the best possible creative job; one who has strong powers of visualization and a common vision with me.

photo courtesy of Vicente Wolf

Iván - I read that you really enjoy traveling and use your own photography for inspiration, how does this affect the outcome of your designs?

Vicente - I think it is a subliminal inspiration, not a literal one. Any time that I can expand my vision or see things in a different way, it already alters my creative work.

photo courtesy of Vicente Wolf

Iván - From your travels which part of the world did you find the most inspiring?

Vicente - Both the Far East and the Middle East are incredibly inspiring.

Iván - There is an image of you as a child in your first book where you are sitting in your mother’s living room, the room is perfectly designed. How do you think growing up in this environment has affected your style?

Vicente - I don't think much. My mother had the same furniture in different houses until I left Cuba at the age of 15 and only until I looked at the pictures again did I realize how elegant the space was... Though I am now copying some of those furniture pieces in two jobs I'm working on.

Photo courtesy of Vicente Wolf

Iván - What project has given you the most satisfaction?

Vicente - The one that is over. (Laughs) With old age satisfaction becomes a very fleeting thing. It’s only in the instant of creating - a piece in progress at the upholsterer, or seeing an architectural detail coming to life – that I am really satisfied. I’d rather focus on that than on trying to find satisfaction in a whole job. Because the individual aspects can all turn on you at the blink of an eye. So focusing on the moment, and whatever that moment is, is the best thing for me.

photo courtesy of Vicente Wolf

Iván - What do you consider to be your greatest strength and weakness?

Vicente -

Strength: Power of visualization

Weakness: Not much patience

photo courtesy of Vicente Wolf

Iván - Is there any designer and/or architect from the past, you appreciate a lot?

Vicente - There are so many, but David Hicks comes to mind first.

Iván - and those still working?

Vicente - It would have to be Philippe Starck.

photo courtesy of Vicente Wolf

Iván - What are you excited about right now in the world of design?



Vicente - I think that the global political and economic situation is overshadowing anything that really is coming down the pipe in a design perspective. The sense of green is no longer a luxury, but a necessity; I really don’t feel that there is that much breaking ground at the moment. It never does when things are tough. During tough times we tend to look to the past to feel more comfortable and secure.



Iván - What is your newest venture in design?



Vicente - We’re working on five hotels and this summer sees the launch of the latest items in my furniture collection. Another fun venture for me is working with my good friend Preston Bailey on creating amazing destination weddings around the world.



Iván - Lastly, you have already created a stunning body of work with many mediums and styles, what would you like your legacy to be?



Vicente - He tried.

To see more of Vicente Wolf stunning body of work please visit

http://vicentewolfassociates.com

http://vicentewolfblog.com/

Vicente Wolf Fabrics by Kravet

Vicente Wolf Area Rugs by Tufenkian Carpets

Vicente Wolf (Neiman Markus) by Baccarat

Vicente Wolf (Traditional Home) by Baccarat

www.baccarat.com

MEADE DESIGN GROUP - THE BLOG. Copyright 2007-2011