Craig-Olsen Inc.: showroom

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Furniture Follows Fashion

We had a very exciting weekend at our furniture and design showroom on La Brea as we proudly hosted the 2011 fall line for LA fashion designer, ANTHONY FRANCO.

Anthony Franco - Fashion Designer, Craig Olsen & Kendra Kay - Interior Designers

The showroom floor was cleared out to make way for the 400 plus guests and media that attended the event, minus a few fashion forward seating vignettes of course!

The show opened with a stunning Winter White Cashmere Tux.

This chair, an original design of mine was inspired by the classic 40's Klismo's chair and mimics the strength and flow of this pants suit.

What I love about Anthony Franco's clothing designs is the details and the journey each piece takes you on. When you see his clothing you know this is somebody who has power, style and confidence.

When I'm designing a piece of furniture or a complete space I adhere to that very same philosophy...

Anthony Franco gives us something different, exciting and whimsical in every design he creates. For example the cashmere sweater pants (Tony, send me a pair - size small of course!)

Layers of texture create the room, and create the man.

Bold style and design in fashion and interiors go hand-in-hand, if you see it on the runway one season, you're sitting on it the next!

Something Strong...

Something Bold...

Something Sexy...

Creates a successful silhouette in interiors and fashion design.

BRAVO, Anthony Franco!!

To see more press on the show check out the Los Angeles Times blog or google Anthony Franco 2011 Fashion Event.

Special thanks to Henri Myers from EM Productions and one of my favorite photographers Brian To for photographing the event!

Craig Olsen

130 N La Brea

Los Angeles, CA 90036

323.677.2111

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Here's an Idea to Unlock Your "Inner Designer"

As the host of an interior design showroom I’m frequently asked questions regarding my own personal design style, clients often ask “How’d YOU do it?”

Aesthetically speaking you could say I’m complicated. I consider my home to be an experimental pallet of rooms where I can try out new design ideas.

I live in a 1926 Spanish Mediterranean home in Los Angeles. Never having been one to leave anything untouched, I started researching what a Spanish Mediterranean should look like and was completely inspired when I came across the book The Orient in Western Art by Gerard Georges Lemared.

My jaw dropped open when I came across the painting The Tiger Hunt by Peter Paul Rubins. I fell in love with the rich colors and the power this painting evoked, hopefully you can see the similarities in my room, if not I suppose you should go on reading a blog about cooking, lol.

In this space I chose sapphire blues, golden yellows and oranges. Transforming my space into the direction of French Morroccan I was also inspired by a 200 year-old historical block print French Zuber wallpaper (shown framed in the photo below.)

In my dining room, which I consider to be a work in progress, I have a piece of this wallpaper framed and it’s called Hindustan. In the dining room I plan to add mirrors on either side of the Zuber, and possibly install sconces, which would be mounted on the mirrors. I’m also contemplating adding striped wallpaper in the dining area as well, any feedback is more than welcome!

Homes are meant to be a work in progress and as new trends come forth, it’s perfectly OK to see if they would work with your budget and your existing furnishings. Besides, it’s a lot of fun to change things around until you are satisfied. Feel free to unlock you inner designer.