George Perrou – Retro Modern Artist
George Perrou - retro modern art
I have had the opportunity to attend two of Portland artist George Perrou’s openings at the fabulous Elroy Art Space. The first show was his “Dreams of Eames” opening and just last weeks “Shipwrecks of Sparta” opening. Perrou’s work is inspired by mid century animation, colors, decor, art and life. Perrou’s method is unique in that he uses tape (as one time stencils) and a knife to create the sharp , overlapping lines on his canvases. The contrast of vibrant background colors with the sharp geometric images draws you in and gives one the overwhelming sense of nostalgia for the days when you spent endless hours in a different world with The Jetsons.
George Perrou - retro modern art
You can view more of Perrou’s work (and buy it) through the Elroy Art website.
Also, here is the OPB Oregon Art Beat feature on George Perrou.
George Perrou - retro modern art
Mid Century related posts/pages:
SW Contemporary Modern Home Feature
loads of natural light pouring in from the great wall of windows (and all over the Noguchi table)
I had the opportunity the other day to go and tour a late 70’s contemporary modern home that is for sale ($750k) in a quiet SW hills neighborhood. I love most things modern but a lot of times I cringe when I think of late 70’s early 80’s anything to do with homes because of the finish work we typically find in these homes. However, the owners of this contemporary modern have a great sense of style and design and the home itself is more of a well laid out canvas that has allowed them to imprint their great taste on it without making it feel or look awkward. The house flows seamlessly from room to room where each new room is more comfortable than the last. The house is situated high on a hill so the main living space (pictured above)and family room has forested mountain views as far as the eye can see that are very soothing while the huge rock encrusted fireplace gives you the cozy feel that you are in a comfy ski lodge, taking a break from the slopes.
cozy up in the Eames lounge chair in front of the fireplace and the view? yes please
custom Doug Fir front door (photo: Marisa Swenson)
Two huge custom Doug Fir grid doors invite you into a slate entryway where you can go either head to the living room that opens to the sky or take a left and go to a couple of bedrooms, office or up a flight of stairs to the landing and open hallway that overlooks the living room. The master suite is nice and separate from the rest of the home with a balcony that is so high up, it feels like you are on top of the world. The master bath/spa has a large soaking tub imported from England, teak cabinets, Pratt & Larsen (local company) sliced pebble walk in shower, and connected is a huge closet.
custom Euro spa bathroom with hidden toilet
The landscaping surrounding the house was done by a Kurisu trained professional landscape architect by the name of Sadafumi Uchiyama, who is currently the Garden Curator at the Portland Japanese Gardens.
Lesson learned: don’t ignore late 70’s modern, with a great design sense and quality finishes, they can make very warm, pleasant homes.
P.S. I also suggested that they make the furnishing negotiable since they have so many great pieces that make the house even more fascinating.
Click on map below to view RMLS listing:
SW contemporary modern home
Photos used with permission of listing broker.
Look Modern – Mid Century Modern Home Furnishing
Verner Panton chairs manufactured by Herman Miller in September, 1974, in vibrant orange molded plastic.
Danish Modern Living Room Set
convertible sofa bed by Hans Wegner (not sure how long that sale was going)
The other I day I was out and about picking up flyers from the printers, there were no parking spaces in the usual vicinity, so I had to park a couple of blocks away. I jumped out of the car and saw a small a-frame reader board that said “mid-century modern furniture” and had an arrow pointing up. I looked up and saw a door to a narrow staircase, so I decided to pop in to see what they had. What I expected to walk into was a 1,500 – 2,000 sq. ft. space with a couple of overpriced pieces that were more intended for an e-bay sale. What I walked into, after the couple of flights of stairs, was an 8,000 sq ft warehouse packed full (not uncomfortably) of amazing Danish mid century modern furniture in great/excellent condition. Rooms full of Eames chairs, mid century credenzas, sofas, it goes on for quite a while (and so could I). I was not completely shocked by the pricing, it was what I expect to see this type of furnishing in this type of condition, and when I was there they were having a 20% off of everything sale. I met one of the owners and they told me they had been there for awhile but are only open Fri. – Sun. (they actually do a lot of their business on-line), check their site for hours and stop by if you can, it is breathtaking.
Look Modern is located at:
800 SE Clay
Portland, OR 97214
Rejuvenation Event – Fixture Gallery Opening
Rejuvenation is hosting another fabulous event. This event will be held on Saturday, December 12th, from 1-5pm open house style. The event will be showcasing the library archive resource and fixture gallery space on the second floor of the Portland showroom (1100 Southeast Grand Avenue). Bo Sullivan, the resident Rejuvenation historian, will be giving short informal talks at 2:00pm, 3:00pm, and 4:00pm where he will share some of the history and original lights and catalogs that inspired our reproductions. Rejuvenation will also be giving us a sneak peek of their new, yet to be released, MCM hourglass light fixture!
Here is a sneak peek at my holiday wish list!
More about Rejuvenation and what they do:
The showroom is located at:
1100 Southeast Grand Avenue
Portland, OR 97214
Modern Home Calendar – George Nelson Bubble Light
The Bubble Light Calendar
- The Original Bubble Light Designed by George Nelson
Howard Miller Clock Company Advertisement
I am not paid to endorse this product, I just really like it.
Other Modern Home Posts:
Rejuvenation Inc.
Rejuvenation Inc. Warehouse - a well preserved 1930's warehouse
A couple of weeks ago, fellow blogger Atomic Indy featured his amazing hardware purchase from Rejuvenation for his MCM restoration project. It got me thinking how fortunate us Pacific Northwesterners are to have a showroom right down the street. Then it made me think how extra special us Portlanders are for having their main distribution warehouse also right down the street. So, after I let my brain rest from all of that thinking, I e-mailed their lovely Marketing Specialist, Nicole, to see if I could get a behind the scenes peek of how they make all of their fabulous hardware and lighting fixture magic, and she agreed (without too much arm twisting) to take me on a warehouse tour…..with their MCM fixture designer Tim (his actual job title is Industrial Designer)! In addition to the tour getting scheduled, Nicole invited me to one of their lecture events appropriately titled, “Fixture Fascination: The Art of Lighting Reproduction – American lighting styles 1870-1970″. If you ever have an opportunity to attend any of the Rejuvenation events, it is well worth your time. They are highly educational, you get to meet other enthusiasts, and they have great food and wine.
I arrived on Thursday morning at the Rejuvenation warehouse armed with Saint Cupcakes (bribery tools) and my Nikon, extremely excited to get a behind the scenes peek at this amazing companies design to development process. The current warehouse is Rejuvenations 5th location since they started their business in 1977. It is located in a beautiful 1932 building that, in proper Rejuvenation fashion, has been well preserved with sustainable features. To get to the offices, I climbed the spiral staircase encased on one side by floor-to-ceiling glass block windows. At the top of the stairs I was greeted by the friendly receptionist and Nicole peeked her head out of her office, greeted me and led me to the design office to meet Tim. After a round of introductions, Tim described to me how the creative process happens for the design team. A lot of the inspiration for fixtures comes from existing vintage salvage pieces, research (internet, vintage catalogs), client suggestions, or old homes that contain original fixtures. Next, we stepped out into the 87,000 square foot warehouse that had tons of natural light pouring in from huge windows located close to the ceiling. We stopped in to a section of the warehouse where the prototypes for the new designs are created. This is where I got a sneak peek of one of the versions of a brand new mid century light fixture coming out in a couple of weeks. I was able to observe, and am amazed, at how hands on each part of the fixture creation process is. All of the parts are shipped to them separately, the finishes are carefully produced, some are sandblasted, some are exposed to different levels of oxidation to get the right color, some get buffed. There are examples of all of the different finishes hanging on the wall for each piece to be checked to ensure they are all the same color and texture so that all of your fixtures match. Once the finishes are just right, the fixtures are assembled, wired, checked to make sure they will work correctly, then carefully packed into boxes. After watching this assembly process, I was then escorted by my wonderful hosts to a slightly smaller warehouse room where they house all of the vintage salvage fixtures. There were a handful of employees restoring, preserving each piece by hand. In this section of the warehouse, there are storage shelves that are packed full of vintage lighting globes, and tons of very interesting vintage pieces. I could have spent a lot of time in that room drooling over all of the fixtures. Then, as we wrapped up the tour we stopped by the loading dock where there was pallet upon pallet of boxed up fixtures waiting to go to their clients homes.
stairs to the Rejuvenation offices - (if I worked here, I would request that my desk be located right here)
inside the warehouse - bright with natural light
shiny MCM fixtures waiting to be assembled
The history of Rejuvenation Inc. is fascinating. The original 900 sq.ft. store and concept was spawned out of the owners love of historic preservation and public demand for vintage fixtures. Historical preservation is a concept that Americans are starting to identify as important from both a historic and sustainable standpoint. Rejuvenation has been putting this concept into practice for over 32 years along with their encouragement to others to “restore” rather than “re-do”.
Rejuvenation has a 38,000 sq. ft. showroom in Portland, Oregon located at 1100 SE Grand and a 6,000 sq.ft. Seattle showroom located at 2910 First Avenue S.
Additional resources:
Arcalus Period Design is located inside of the Portland showroom. The owner, Bo Sullivan, is a historian and an independent design consultant. Bo has compiled and manages for Rejuvenation Inc., an exhaustive library of reference materials for homes from most time periods so that you can make appropriate restoration choices.
More Posts on Rejuvenation:
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