Niamh Barry

Niamh Barry was born in Dublin, Ireland, where she still works and lives. Barry creates unique light sculptures predominantly in bronze and LED. As one of only eight international artists selected to showcase innovative lighting designs in London’s Luxcraft in 2011, Barry is recognized as an early adopter and innovator in the use of LED technology. We originally encountered Niamh’s stunning, sculptural LED fixtures at the FOG Design + Art show in San Francisco and were blown away! The polished brass fixtures are the perfect jewelry for your modern home.

John Pomp Studios

With an attentive eye for beauty and an unwavering discipline for craft, John Pomp has spent over 20 years perfecting the art of making glass. Classically trained in the Murano glass tradition, but inspired by the organic imperfections found in nature, John’s furniture and lighting pieces reflect the sophistication and beauty of a true artist.

We love John’s beautiful, organically shaped modern lighting – his designs have just the right balance of wabi-sabi (perfectly imperfect) and contemporary forms. Simple, elegant and never overly-designed, his collection is one of our go-tos. All of John Pomps fixtures are designed and fabricated in his 65,000 square foot studio in Philadelphia.

Alison Berger Glassworks

Born in Dallas, Texas, Alison Berger has been blowing glass since the age of fifteen. Berger fuses nature and architecture to create unique, iconic pieces. She received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and then continued her studies at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture. Each piece is hand blown, annealed for two to three days, and then hand-finished and, in some cases, hand-etched. Her innovative work is in the permanent collection of the Corning Museum of Glass and has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. You can find Alison’s work at Holly Hunt, where her collaboration has spanned twenty years.

Bec Brittain

Bec Brittain founded her studio in Brooklyn in 2011, designing and producing the critically-acclaimed SHY light – a geometric, modern LED fixture that embraces negative space. All of her designs are made in New York using a variety of techniques and a network of local fabricators and artisans, and every piece is assembled by hand in the studio under Bec’s supervision. We recently installed a SHY fixture in the kids hangout room in our Jackson Square project – check it out here!

Jeremy Maxwell Wintrebert

Jeremy Maxwell Wintrebert is an acclaimed glassblower who creates contemporary works made of glass and brass, intended for professionals and lovers of fine handmade objects and luxury decoration, both in France and around the world. Jeremy’s creations are all freehand-blown, without the use of a mold. Elegant, sensual, often colorful and always luminous, they combine tradition and modernity. We could image these ethereal, delicate Cloud fixtures in a grand foyer or a formal dining room.

The post 5 Lighting Designers You Need to Know appeared first on Niche Interiors.

Our team is currently embracing the challenge of designing two very different homes – a casual, family-friendly vacation home in Sonoma and a sophisticated, luxe historic estate in Southern California. This is the perfect opportunity to provide a glimpse into our creative process, specifically the initial stage of conceptual design where the direction for a home really starts to take shape.

SONOMA VACATION HOME :: INITIAL GREAT ROOM CONCEPT

After finalizing furniture layouts, a customized look book for a project is created which features a mix of rooms showing various design styles. After reviewing our client’s in-depth feedback on these images, our designers will take notes and meet as a team to discuss the overall style for a home which includes furniture shapes, color schemes, textures, and material palettes. We pull together fabrics and finishes to illustrate our vision and create photo realistic renderings to help clients visualize how a room will come together. During the design presentation our client provided helpful feedback on the living room rendering and we were able to make a few minor tweaks to the design to better reflect her vision for the space.

Our latest Wine Country vacation home is located in Sonoma (pictured above); with double height ceilings and ample natural light this home is going to be the perfect place for our client to escape on weekends. We opted for a mix of contemporary furniture and lighting (No kitschy farmhouse here) and textural fabrics with pops of salmon and navy for this fun-loving modern family.

HISTORIC ESTATE :: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Southern California is calling our name! Not only is this our first project over 15,000 square feet, it is also our first historic home designed by a renowned architect. This grande 1920’s estate has multiple buildings throughout the 10 acre property, with a dignified and formal main house with spacious galleries leading to incredible garden views. We have just started sinking our teeth into this incredible project, and are utilizing quick furniture vignettes in Photoshop to convey design intent for each room. It’s a very useful way to see how items in a space work together before starting on photo realistic renderings.

In the formal living room, vintage pieces sit alongside works by contemporary designers to create an elevated, collected feel. After the design concepts are refined and perfected, we will present multiple furniture options to a client and then move on to layering in pattern, color and texture with fabric and finish selections. Upholstery fabrics, rug colors, window treatment fabrics, paint colors, metal and wood finishes are reviewed together to ensure cohesiveness and to make any final adjustments before placing orders.

We look forward to sharing the progress for both of these homes over the next few months. Be sure to follow along on Instagram for the latest updates!

The post A Peek Inside Our Design Process appeared first on Niche Interiors.

A curved Vladimir Kagan sofa takes center stage in the formal living room, which features a carved wool rug and mid-century inspired velvet armchairs. The oversized artwork by Melissa Dickenson is from K Imperial Fine Art.

We hope you enjoy a peek inside this colorful home! The Niche team is wishing you all a wonderful holiday season and hope that you are able to safely share your spaces with family during these uncertain times.

We transformed the formal living room niches into a bar with custom mirrors and cabinets perfect for storing bottles and glassware. Our playful color story continues in these niches with custom geometric mirrors in blue, grey, and copper tones. We styled this space with smoked glass barware and brass accents to tie in with the coffee table.

The kids “hangout room” is right off of the living room – perfectly situated for easy parental check-ins!  A custom modular sofa can be separated to provide flexible seating arrangements for board games, watching movies or to make way for dance parties! A custom geometric silk and wool rug grounds the space and adds an unexpected pop of blush.

Another modern hangout downstairs offers a more private space for the kids and their friends to jam out to their favorite music. Custom built-ins span the back wall which also feature a small-scale patterned wallpaper. The white oak built-ins provide ample storage space for board games, music equipment and a record collection. Artwork by Martin Javier Palottini adds a graphic, playful punch. Be sure to check out this entire San Francisco home on our Work page!

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

“I loved working with Jennifer, Lynn and the entire Niche team. Goes without saying that they are highly talented, top-notch designers. Our place has been transformed! In addition to their design expertise, they excel at project management and execution. They made the entire process super easy, transparent and efficient. I had complete trust in them to stay on top of all the details and keep me updated throughout the project. Great listeners, professional, always responsive and fun to work with. Couldn’t be happier!”

– Ranee L., San Francisco Client

The post Family-friendly San Francisco Home appeared first on Niche Interiors.

Next up in our Showroom Spotlight series – an interview with Erik Hughes and Geoffrey De Sousa, the owners of the acclaimed De Sousa Hughes Showroom in the San Francisco Design Center. De Sousa is our first stop for top notch contemporary furniture and lighting – representing lines such as Christian Liaigre, Caste, Kimberly Denman and John Pomp. Read on to learn about Erik and Geoff’s inspiration and their debut collections for 2019!

What prompted you to open your showroom?
Geoff and I opened De Sousa Hughes in 1999, after working together for several years with the great Agnes Bourne. We had a vision for a multi-line showroom that was modern and extremely well-edited, and that honored craftsmanship. Those are still our core design values, and its more exciting than ever to collaborate with the next generation of designers and makers.

What’s coming up in 2019?
We’re celebrating our 20th anniversary next year, so it’s been a great moment to reflect on our history, and the future! One of the most inspiring and fulfilling aspects of our work is discovering and developing new talents. We’ll be debuting several artful new collections this year, including new fabrics from James Malone, new wallcoverings from Fliepaper, PAULpaper, and Clay McLaurin, and we’re beyond excited to be launching Tibor, the collections of visionary midcentury textile designer Tibor Reich.

What is it about a brand or designer that excites you?
We are so inspired by innovative use of materials, quality materials and finishes, from woodworking to glassblowing to bronze casting to weaving. For example, next year we will debut the collection of Alexander Purcell Rodrigues, whose work marries traditional craftsmanship and cutting-edge design in sculptural furnishings. We’re proud to be his first US showroom.

What’s the best advice anyone has ever given to you?
Trust your instincts!

Describe your showroom in three words.
Edited, modern, inspirational

Name three new furniture pieces that you are particularly excited about…
[1] We love Caste Design’s Boneau Dining Table, which is so sculptural and reflects the hand workmanship of traditional craft.

[2] The clean lines, edited use of materials, and quality details of Troscan’s Lars Chairs make them a favorite.

[3] Link Outdoor’s Adams Tables are fresh and versatile–great for use indoors or out.

What do you love about the design community in San Francisco?
The friendships, openness and mutual support. Beyond their wealth of talent, designers here have such an enormous commitment to causes, and are so supportive of local craft.

You can visit the De Sousa Hughes Showroom at 2 Henry Adams Street, Suite 320.

The post Showroom Spotlight: De Sousa Hughes appeared first on Niche Interiors.

One of our first stops was El Nacional, described to us as Barcelona’s version of the Ferry Building. This collection of restaurants serves a variety of foods from the Iberian Peninsula in an amazing building from the 1880’s. A feast for the eyes and the belly!

We stayed in El Born and spent hours just wandering the streets of the Gothic Quarter. I couldn’t walk more than a few blocks without seeing a pattern, texture, or pair of antique doors that I just HAD to photograph! And yes, this exasperated my impatient five year old son.

Antoni Gaudí’s Sagrada Família basilica was hands-down one of the most incredible architectural tours of my life. It’s impossible to put into words, so head to our Instagram page and watch the ‘Inside Look’ video!

We ended our stay at the Cotton House Hotel, a 19th century Neoclassical building that once served as the headquarters of the Cotton Textile Foundation. A thoughtful restoration by acclaimed interior designer Lázaro Rosa-Violán successfully blends old-world with modern luxury. I guarantee you will not be able to put your camera down!

The post Finding Inspiration in Barcelona appeared first on Niche Interiors.

Founded in 2004 and based in Kansas City, all wallpapers and fabrics are created locally by a team of artists who are classically trained in the fine arts field. Porter, an award winning painter whose artwork hangs in galleries and celebrity homes, and Cochran, a designer with an eye for detail, quickly found a common bond; they were looking to capture and create something totally new for the design world.

Their collaboration has resulted in an innovative way of making wallpaper and fabric, relying on an intuitive creative process. We love that all of their creations are completely customizable, from the non-toxic, water-based ink color to the scale and orientation of their patterns.

Their Japanese papers have been made by the same family in a small mountain village for over 1300 years. The main source of water for the paper making process is a fresh water river that flows through the town providing abundant plant life for the pulp material.

Check out the entire collection here. Enjoy!

The post Inside Look: Porter Teleo Wallpaper appeared first on Niche Interiors.

Say ‘Hello’ to these trends for 2017!

Handmade Ceramics // This is currently an obsession that’s taken over our entire office! With so many talented local ceramicists it’s hard not to start a collection. Two of our go-to makers are Erin McGuiness and Gerhard Ceramics.

Muted Palettes & Pastels // Keep an eye out for watercolor-inspired, tonal palettes with muted accents in blush, taupes, and powdery blues. Mix these hues with white and soft neutrals.

Greenery // We’re loving all things green indoors – think beyond succulents to ferns, cactus, leafy branches and indoor trees. Plants add instant life to a space with the added bonus of improving indoor air quality!

Say ‘Goodbye’ to these passing trends!

Brass Bonanza. It’s time for spaces with ALL brass to fade away. Instead, try mixing it sparingly with other metal finishes such as bronze, copper, black or natural steel.

Formulaic Bohemian. Your Instagram and Pinterest feeds are likely full of these bright spaces with textural wall hangings, baskets galore, Moroccan rugs and eclectic textiles. While we love a bohemian nod, this trend has gone too far!

Edison Bulbs. Been there, done that! Opt for clear round globes instead of old school Edisons for a more contemporary look.

Did we miss something? We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

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