August & September Press Round up

Two months in one! August and September were exciting and, as always, busy months at Wolf PR. We welcomed two new employees Lauren Glazer and Drew Zeiba. We also added another great client, Action Method whose colorful notebooks are perfect for organizing ideas and inspiring productivity.

Claste – Editor at Large

In August, Katy B. Olsen interviewed one of Claste’s founding partners, Quinlan Osborne, for a feature in Editor at Large. In the interview Quinlan described Montreal’s small design community where everyone knows one another. Over several years Quinlan and the other two founding partners, Martin Poitras and Philip Hazan, collaborated on projects and traveled together to international design fairs before founding Claste. The trio continued to collaborate in their home city, “when we decided to start looking for manufacturers it was obvious to us that all the talent we needed was right here in our own backyard it just needed a little convincing that what we were asking them to do was really just a variation of what they had always done for us, plus they already understood our obsession with details and perfection from years of working together,” described Quinlin. After only six months since their launch in May, Quinlin looks forward to expanding their collection and continuing to build relationships in the design community

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Robert Hessler at Still House – New York Spaces

Known as one of the most thoughtfully curated boutiques on the Lower East Side, Still House features the work of early and mid-career designers and artists. Robert Helsser’s understated yet warm ceramic vessels fit perfectly into Still House’s mix of minimal and organic work. In September New York Spaces featured Hessler’s ceramics in “Flawless Perfection.” Describing Hessler’s work editor Nicole Haddad writes, “[his] hand-thrown, one-of-a-kind porcelain vessels are the result of 22 years of trial and error, exploration of shape and color, chemistry, and improvisation.” Even after 22 years Hessler is still delighted and often surprised with final results, explaining “there are always elements you can’t entirely control, the beauty lies in the imperfections and in the joy and excitement of discovery.”

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Claste – Interior Design Homes

“Two architects and a sales exec walk into a studio…” is the opening sentence in “A Delicate Balance,” a full-page article in the September issue of Interior Design Homes, which presented the work of Claste. But don’t let the first sentence or the apparent simplicity of Claste’s work fool you; Interior Design Homes’ editor describes how the first collection, Tension, was conceived “as a give-and-take between fragility and stability” and “constructed from a deliberately narrow range of materials.” The article includes Claste’s classic photos of their work resting on a snow-covered field or perched on a frozen lake…did we mention they are Canadian?

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ZigZagZurich – Interior Design Homes

In the spirit of the end of summer, which we always hate to see go, Interior Design homes featured the collaboration between ZigZagZurich and Sunny Todd Prints. Aptly titled wildest dreams, the article included colorful top-down photos of unmade beds that look like they were plucked straight out of a chic but fun beach house, each bed adorned with a different striped or polka-a-dot pattern. And, yes, we have imagined the beautiful pillow fights.

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Action Method – Fast Company Design

With almost ten years in the business Action Method notebooks have stood the test of time, particularly with artists and designers. Each page of the Action Method notebook is graphically divided into four categories: action steps, focus points, back burner, and general notations. In “A New Notebook for the Multi-Tasking Generation” Fast Co Design introduced the Reduced Action Book, “a monochromatic, branding-free take on the original, colorful notebook” launched by Ghostly. Ghostly founder Sam Valenti IV describes the creation of the updated notebook, “we wanted to see how far the design could be reduced while maintaining what is exceptional about the product: the materials and their intention.” How very Dieter Rams of them!

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July Press Round Up

We admit that we are a little late on the July press round up (sigh, it’s already September)! So without further wait…
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TL magazine highlighted Claste for their “New Brand Alert” feature. The piece showcases the studio’s first collection, Tension, and the editor Rab Messina describes why that moniker is so well suited to the work, saying it’s “basically as a game of tension between technical craftsmanship and artistry, glass and stone, lightness and sturdiness, fragility and stability.” The featured work includes a quartzite chair and pedestal console that appear to float on triangle bases, clear glass and pink onyx lounge chairs and bench, and a table lamp in pale green onyx. Discussing the creation of these unique pieces, founders Philip Hazan, Quinlan Osborne and Martin Poitras note,“we are fairly certain that this process of adhering stone to glass is the first time anyone has ever used this procedure.”
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In episode thirty-six of the Design Milk produced podcast Clever, Kikkerland’s founder Jan van der Lande tells the story of the company and his own journey, which started with an offbeat American mother raising sons in a rural area of the Netherlands. This now twenty-five year old company got of the ground after Jan moved to New York and began importing handcrafted products from the Neatherlands, which he then packed in his satchel and biked to shops around the city. Now available in stores across the globe and online, Kikkerland still produces all its products and is steadfast in its dedication to the lighthearted and quirky side of design. In the podcast, Jan describes an one of his biggest “ah ha” moments, when he was sourcing parts in China and a potential partner only filled orders of 200,000 or more (a full shipping container)! Never shy to a challenge, they placed the order and the huge-scale Kikkerland we know today set course.
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Most well known for their gem-like lighting, design pair Gabriel Scott also makes simple yet still decidedly architectural coffee, side, and dining tables. Their Tensegrity coffee table was included in Interior Design’s article “8 Sleek New Tables With Angular Bases.” Handmade in their Montreal Studio, the table is constructed with two principal materials, a ½” tempered smoked-grey glass top and satin copper finish base and fittings.
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June Press Round Up

With warming New York temperatures and beautiful sunny days, June was an exciting and busy month at WolfPR. Our clients graced the summer-focused features in titles like in Oprah magazine, Country Living, Real Simple, and Bon Appétit, to name a few. Below you’ll find three particularly exiting pieces of print press from June.

4Spaces – Interior Design Mag, cover

WORK! Cover Girl! 4Spaces stands out among the textile industry, and is known for coupling traditional weaving techniques with alternative materials to create unique textiles, including cork, plastic fantastic, velvets, jacquards, sheers, satins, and micro-suetes. Flipping through the pages of Interior Design Magazine’s summer 2017 issue, it was clear that the editors couldn’t get enough of 4Spaces’ work, which was featured on the cover and in three features. On the cover and as the opening page to the Smoking Hot  editorial feature 4Spaces’ ultraviolet candy foil-printed polyester fabric appeared twice, as a surface covering and reflected in the bulbous curves of a blown glass bowl. Turning the page, a second stunning blown glass piece was framed by Liz Collins’s Feria cellulose-polyester wallpaper—its thin graphic lines distorted along the reflective surface. 4Spaces’ ultraviolet candy foil-printed polyester fabric was additionally featured in “jewel-tone gems – fashionable options, from foil to velvet,” which highlighted nine textiles and wall coverings.

We’re not finished yet! Finally, creative director’s  Michele Rondelli’s ceiling mounted mantra beads were highlighted as the standout item. These unique hand created pendants “add kaleidoscopic verve to any vertical space: Hung in front of a window, they will refract sunlight, projecting rainbow hues across the room.” The mantra jewels are individually hand made with resin and then knotted into pendants.

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ZigZagZurich – Domino

At the helm of innovative Italian textile company 4Spaces and its lifestyle brand ZigZagZurich, Michele Rondelli is known for his keen sense of color and space. Rondelli’s architecture and design background shows in the simple and graphic Ginza Cotten Throw, which he designed for ZigZagZurich. Available in four color combinations this bold throw was highlighted in Domino’s Summer 2017 “feel good” issue. Photographed by Marcus Nilson, Rondelli’s bright blue and yellow combination was featured as the full-page backdrop for the summer blanket article -“Nice Throw – Think of an outdoor blanket as your own little patch of paradise: Unfurl, kick back, and soak up summer.”

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Gabriel Scott – Surface

Issue 139 of Surface Magazine, June/July 2017, included Luman Lust, a seven-page article showcasing twenty-one elegant and innovative light fixtures from designers around the world. As editor Lily Wan describes, the featured pieces “animate the room and tease the imagination.” Featured in a half-page image, Gabriel Scott’s Myriad chandelier was selected by Surface to be part of this diverse and cutting edge group. Noting the unique characteristics of the Myriad chandelier, Wan writes, “[it] recalls natural forms, like branches or bioluminescent organisms, as much as it does fine jewelry.”

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May Press Round Up

At Wolf PR, we are always excited to see May come, the anticipation of pop-up installations, launch parties, closing parties, lacquered disco parties, sound bath parties… and the Javits center filled with exciting design work from around the world. However, now that design “week” has slyly taken over the whole month, with exhaustion we welcomed the first of June. Wolf PR hit the ground running in May adding a great new client; Montreal based Claste, whose inaugural collection Tension debuted at ICFF against the backdrop of a white fur wall.

Claste in Wallpaper*

Post ICFF 2017, Wallpaper* published a distinctly home-focused review of design week recounting the residential, intimate, and interior nature of much of the work. In contrast to this largely comfy and nostalgic vibe, Julie Baumgardner highlighted Claste’s lounge chairs How Fragile This Lovewriting: “Newcomer from Montreal, Claste debuted at ICFF a seriously sexy line of ‘pure material’ chairs in glass and pink onyx that gave a ‘slight sense of unease’, tells studio co-founder Philip Hazan.” We were thrilled by the great reception of Claste’s minimal and architectural collection, which was also featured in ICFF reviews by Sight Unseen, Apartment Therapy, and Homedit.

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Kikkerland in Entrepreneur Magazine

Always testing the edge of what’s new, quirky home-goods design giant Kikkerland has sponsored a student design challenge since 2009. The June 2017 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine featured a full-page article on Kikkerland’s 2016 challenge. The article title fits last year’s outcome, where the results were just as much of a challenge for Kikkerland founder Jan van der Lande as the design call was for participating Rhode Island School of Design students – “Cast a Wider Net for Great Ideas…But Don’t be Afraid to Embrace the Bland Ones.” The winning project, a highly functional cord organizer, selected by partner retailer the Container Store didn’t embody the offbeat sense of humor Kikkerland is know for. But as Entrepreneur editor, Stephanie Schomer noted, Cable Loft’s huge retail success gave van der Lande pause; bland ideas can be great ideas too.

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Gabriel Scott in Design Milk

Design team Gabriel Scott’s major inspirations – architecture and jewelry design – were artfully merged in their two new collections Myraid  and Briolette, unveiled at Salone in Milan. In May Design Milk published an image rich piece that featured close up photographs highlighting the gem-like facets and connections reminiscent of jewelry settings embodied in Gabriel Scott’s two newest collections.

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April Press Round Up

Since 2012 the Press page at wolf-pr.com has been filling up with a continuous feed of features on our client’s great work, but we admit that our blog has been, well, a bit left out. Excited to bring you a more in depth review of our work and clients exciting projects, products, collaborations, and creations we are initiating a monthly press round up. We hope you enjoy!

Kikkerland in SNAP

For their 25th anniversary, Kikkerland a design company known for its clever, well designed household items, collaborated with designer David Weeks to create SquareBear. Inspired by his son’s toy action figures and always looking for new design mediums, Weeks set out to craft a line of wooden toy animals. Passionate about showcasing designers and skilled in large-scale production, Kikkerland’s founder Jan van der Lande was the ideal manufacturing partner for SquareBear. Marked by a full-page image of the tiny wooden bear, this exciting collaboration was featured in the March/April 2017 issue of architectural trade publication SNAP.

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ZigZagZurich in Fast Company Design

Industrial designer George Sowden is a granddaddy of Memphis and is still holding court in the design world. ZigZagZurich, founded by Sonwden and artist Nathalie Du Pasquier, is at the front of the Memphis revival, bringing bold graphics to home textiles. In April, Fast Company Design featured ZigZagZurich’s new CoopDS line. Punctuated by photos of graphic black-and-white blankets, quotes by Sonwden describe the sprit of Memphis, “a defining moment in late 20th-century design.” For Fast Co editor Diana Budds this collection is perfect for Memphis enthusiasts, who aren’t quite ready for pink and green polka dots.

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Julia Haney Montanez in the Wall Street Journal

Julia is a good friend of Wolf PR and all around design maven. She produces and curates the MADE section Architectural Digest’s annual design show, writes for publications like the Los Angles Times, and contributes to Homepolish as a designer and editor. In April, the Wall Street Journal asked designers to “recall their craziest childhood decorating experiments.” Julia, who now renovates and styles chic New York Apartments, recalls steeling her mothers CD collection to create a DIY life-size disco ball wall treatment in her bedroom. Every great designer has to start somewhere, right?

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