White on White Event

These little town blues, are melting away...We are back in Manhattan this week at the New York Design Center on Lexington Avenue! (Last week Rhonda and I were hosted at the D & D Building in New York City by Potterton Books and Country Swedish which we promise to cover in another blog post...great things are happening at both.)

The New York Design Center is home to the Swedish furniture company White on White which will be hosting a Swedish Country Interiors book signing and talk in their beautiful showroom. We had the pleasure to feature White on White founder Lena Kaplan's unique office retreat in our last book Swedish Interiors .

This is a photo from Swedish Interiors of Lena's office studio...we should all have a conference table so inviting! Her showrooms at White on White are of similar mood and design. We urge you all to come to the book signing event

this Wednesday, October 14 from 5 -7 p.m. to view the White on White showroom before Lena moves this month after her ten year store anniversary.

A force in the American Scandinavian Foundation and for all things culturally Nordic in Manhattan, Lena has turned her energies over the last few years towards a gallery in TriBeCa called More North.

The More North Gallery is just around the corner from Nobu on North Moore Street (yup. North Moore. More North. You will find it!). The gallery, opened by Lena with two other like-minded friends, is a veritable scandinavian oasis of light, cheer and good design. The focus here is on the Fine Arts with a rotating exhibit of major nordic painters and sculptors.

More North is currently exhibiting the work of Icelandic artist Hjortur Hjartarson from Oct 6 - Dec 6. "Heavily textural works evocative of Turner, Hjartarson's work is laden with precipitation. Each piece is composed of several layers of paint and glaze, inviting the viewer's impulse to scratch his/her way to the bottom layer in pursuit of uncovering secrets hidden beneath the surface. The landscapes possess an enchanting quality of organic decomposition. Several large scale and smaller canvases will be exhibited." For more information on Hjartarson go to http://www.morenorth.com/

The art gallery also carries decorative arts and a good selction of contemporary furniture. The upstairs gallery is punctuated by a dramatic staircase with birch trees seemingly growing through it. As designed by KOKO Architectural Design, you descend the stairs into a birch grove...

of carved out wooden panels. Utterly charming.

We think More North has one of the best playrooms in the city, too, with its wonderful selection of childrens furniture and toys!

Many thanks to Lena for having us to White on White this week and also to Marianne Thorsen, who's weekend retreat is profiled in our new book, for organzing this special event with White on White!

White on White, 200 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 212- 988-9194
(website temporarily out of service)

Rhonda and I look forward to seeing everyone at the Event!

E.