The Wing fan is finally here!  It has proven to be so popular that it is hard to keep it in stock but finally the supply is catching up.

This amazing fan has so many good points – here are a few:

Energy Efficiency

This fan is highly efficient – it has an amazing energy efficiency ratio of 193 CFM/watt. This figure measures how much air movement the fan gets out of the electricity that it uses. This rating is much higher than most Energy Star fans which are about 70 – 90. The fan’s beautiful, sleek design and light, precision construction contribute to it’s ability to move a lot of air on a mere trickle of electricity. On high speed it moves 6000 CFM of air and uses only 31 watts. In addition, you can get the fan to blow at exactly the strength you want without wasting energy – it has six speeds in forward and reverse!

Award winning design

The striking, unique design of this fan really makes it special. If you like modern design or eclectic design, this fan can put that finishing touch on your decor.  This is a fan pared down to it’s essential elements – a motor with one simple, swooping, beautifully shaped covering that forms the blades and the motor housing. The shape and the lines are so elegant, sleek, natural, and harmonious that you will enjoy looking at this fan in your room even when you are not using it. The Wing fan has won the Good Design Award from the Chicago Athenaeum in 2010 and is nominated for the Designpreis Deutschland. These are highly regarded peer reviewed design awards; see our blog entries about our other award winning fan designs:

G2Art fans that have won the Good Design Award

Available in beautiful finishes

The Wing fan is available in silver, white, mahogany, maple, and distressed Koa. Depending on the mood you want to evoke and/or the design color note that you want to hit, one of these will be the right fit for you. The wood finishes are hand painted onto the fan and look beautiful, warm, and natural.

Ease of assembly

This fan is very easy to install. No blades to insert or balance! The fan comes in one long piece so that all you need to do is wire up the canopy, attach the downrod, attach the fan, and you are done.

Precision, cutting edge engineering

The Wing fan has been very carefully engineered to provide beauty, quality, and energy efficiency. A special process creates the “wing” and ensures that it is precisely balanced so that it runs smoothly and quietly. It is made of high quality engineered plastic. This means that the plastic is especially formulated for this purpose so that it can meet all of the engineering specifications of strength, temperature tolerance, durability, and weight that are required to perfectly fit the high functioning level of this fan. The surface of the fan is specially finished to be extremely smooth so that it looks beautiful and has minimal resistance to the air flow. The motor is a highly advanced, energy efficient 6 speed DC motor designed to quietly and efficiently power the fan for many years – it has a lifetime warranty. An all around high quality package!

Luxury looks and packaging

The Wing fan comes packed in a specially reinforced box with extensive protective packaging to make sure that it arrives to you in perfect shape. It is carefully wrapped in protective cloth like fine jewelry or leather goods. Special gloves are included to handle the fan without leaving fingerprints to mar the very smooth surface. When you receive your fan, and especially after you install it and use it, you will know that you have purchased something of high quality that is both truly beautiful and useful for your home. The Wing ceiling fan will enhance your experience and continue to do so for a long time.

To purchase the Wing ceiling fan, please visit our secure website:

www.g2art.com/prod/F823

Please feel free to email or call us if you have any questions or would rather order by phone – toll free 877 858-5333 or email info@g2art.com.

Specs – 52” from blade tip to blade tip, 6 speed motor in forward and reverse, comes standard with 6” downrod for 8 ½ to 10 foot ceilings, longer downrods are available for higher ceilings, comes standard with remote control, UL listed for indoor use, airflow 6000 CFM, energy usage: 31 watts on high speed, airflow efficiency is 193 CFM/Watt, lifetime warranty on motor, 1 year warranty on rest of fan. Available in silver, white, distressed Koa, maple, and mahogany finishes. Model number is F823.

Our customers have told us how much they love their Wing fans. They rave about the look, the ease, and how much air the fan moves.

If you have been looking for a ceiling fan and think that they all look terrible, we know that feeling, we have been there. That is what got Mark Gajewski, our designer, into designing ceiling fans – he couldn’t find one that he wanted to use in his home. In addition to the Wing ceiling fan, we have other modern, contemporary, and transitional ceiling fans for both indoor and indoor/outdoor use on our website. We also have a curated selection of lighting that we will be expanding over the next few months.

It is always satisfying to create something that is not just beautiful to look at or green or functional but is all of these things at once. We’re proud of the Wing ceiling fan and hope that you enjoy it as much as we do.

Less and More THE DESIGN ETHOS OF DIETER RAMS exhibition at SFMOMA from August 27, 2011 – February 20, 2012

http://www.sfmoma.org/exhib_events/exhibitions/434#ixzz1bvTFPxJH
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

I have been a fan of Dieter Rams for a while now and I am happy to report that he and his designs are now a subject of an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It is an event worthy of a special trip.

Less and More: a video interview with Dieter Rams
http://vimeo.com/7917568



Who is Dieter Rams?

An edited quote from Wallpaper magazine:
“It’s not an overstatement to say Dieter Rams is perhaps the most influential living industrial designer of modern times. His 500-strong output of electronic designs for Braun changed the language of appliance design as we know it today and his ‘Ten Principles’ of good design have become a mantra – a checklist and a rule book – for industrial designers the world over. With the same reductive efficiency he applied to his own designs, in ten simple commandments, Rams succinctly defined what design for a modern world should be.”

Vitsoe, a furniture company founded to produce Rams’ designs, has the following statement on their website:

Back in the early 1980s, Dieter Rams was becoming increasingly concerned by the state of the world around him – “an impenetrable confusion of forms, colours and noises.” Aware that he was a significant contributor to that world, he asked himself an important question: is my design good design?
As good design cannot be measured in a finite way he set about expressing the ten most important principles for what he considered was good design. (Sometimes they are referred as the ‘Ten commandments’.)

Here they are.

Good design:

is innovative
makes a product useful
is aesthetic
makes a product understandable
is unobtrusive
is honest
is long-lasting
is thorough down to the last detail
is environmentally friendly
is as little design as possible

That about sums it up for me, and very elegantly, too.

For more about Dieter Rams, please visit the following sites:

www.vitsoe.com

http://www.vitsoe.com/en/re/about/dieterrams

http://abduzeedo.com/design-history-diert-rams-less-better

My ceiling is only 8 feet – do I need a ceiling hugger fan?

This is a very common question that people ask when shopping for a ceiling fan.  The answer may surprise you – most ceiling fans are designed to be able to be used on 8 foot ceilings.  Of the fans that we have available on our website right now in October 2011, only one, the Flyte fan, is recommended for a minimum ceiling height greater than 8 feet (the Flyte is best on a minimum 8 foot 3 inch ceiling).  All of the rest can be used on an 8 foot ceiling.

If you thought that your design choices were limited to ceiling hugger fans due to having a space with an 8 foot ceiling, think again!  You can choose from all of the great designer fans on our website other than the Flyte fan.  These include the sculptural Artemis fan, the round six-bladed Cirque ceiling fan, the modern/retro Acero fan, the serene Airus fan, the classic San Francisco fan, the daring Wing fan, and many others.

The fans on our website have either integrated or removable light fixtures that are designed to blend into the fan body  (except for the Wing which is “lightless”).  There are no lights hanging down below the fan to elongate the fan and extend the length that the fans comes down from the ceiling.

In order for a fan to be considered to be OK to use on an 8 foot ceiling, the bottom of the blades of the fan must be 7 feet off the floor when the fan is installed.  The fan bodies themselves may extend slightly below the blades but will not affect the fan’s ability to be mounted on an 8 foot ceiling.

So, expand your horizons and exercise your freedom of choice regardless of your ceiling height!  You can use that beautiful designer fan that you really love after all…

Sometimes you walk around a show and find only a few booths of interest – for me it was the opposite here; almost every booth was truly of interest to me and only a very few were not. All of the kinds of designs and presentations that resonate with me were there – I felt so “at home”!

Dwell favorite Herman Miller was on the show floor.

This unique show combines modern design and earth saving solutions in a user-friendly, beautiful, and educational way. I have attended twice in the past three years and this year was the best show yet. It is great to see a show that focuses on attractive, well-designed and real solutions for living “at home in the modern world” which is the tagline for dwell magazine.

www.lrstudiofurniture.com

I had limited time so I focused on seeing the exhibitors and attending just a few of the talks of the most interest to me. I was sorry to have to pass up some of the exciting features of the show like the electric car and the local house tour. But, I was excited to see so many booths full of items that I actually liked and even coveted!

www.hollyrittenhouse.com

There was an interesting mix of retail stores, web stores, services, and manufacturers. There were booths on materials, on techniques, with furniture, lighting, appliances, home design, and many, many other things relating to the theme. The presentations were all of interest and included leading design and sustainability experts speaking on all aspects including production, marketing, the latest updates, breakthroughs, etc.

One of the highlights for me was the large area devoted to the highlights of Spanish design.

“This generation is very heterogeneous, and it includes, amongst others: Patricia Urquiola, Jaime Hayón, Curro Claret, Nacho Carbonell, Martin Azua… Juli Capella, the curator of the exhibition, has undertaken the task of research and has selected the most significant and interesting of a new generation of Spanish Designers. He has chosen 21 designers that are and will be key in next decades of the 21st Century.”

Seeing some of these masterpieces gave me a new perspective. There is room for all types of design and I applaud everyone who was brave enough to get their dreams into reality and put their ideas on display for all to see and critique.

After an important design history with such figures as Gaudí, Dalí, and 20th century masters as important as Ricard, Milá, Tusquets, Mariscal, the 21st Century has presented a new generation of Spanish designers that stand out just like Scandinavian, Italian and Dutch Design did in previous decades.

I was thrilled to see some exhibitors from our local San Luis Obispo, CA area there – George Garcia of Garcia Architecture + Design (www.garciaarchdesign.com), Laura Rittenhouse of Laura Rittenhouse Studio Furniture (www.lrstudiofurniture.com), her sister Holly Rittenhouse (from a bit further down the coast at www.hollyrittenhouse.com) and Jory Brigham Furniture (www.jorybrigham.com). It is great to discover that such talented people are producing great things right in your own backyard. We did know George because he has used our fans in some of his projects and also because we’ve seen his teriffic work around our area but we didn’t know of the other two craftspeople. We were very happy to meet them and to meet lots of other passionate, committed exhibitors at the other booths.

If you are interested in modern design, simplicity, reducing your impact on the earth, or just want to meet a great group of people and see lots of cool things, considering making plans to attend dwell on Design next June (www.dod.dwell.com).

I enjoyed seeing all of the variety and creativity on display this year. I find it exhilarating and affirming that people never stop creating new things and coming up with new ideas. It provides such a positive counternote to all of the bad news we hear every day and gives me reason to be hopeful.

Seeing and experiencing things that are not part of my everyday life gives me a new perspective and opens me up to be more accepting of the unfamiliar. That includes both the designs that I saw and the fun and challenge of routine tasks in another country. I enjoyed trying to communicate in a language that I don’t know and experiencing how far hand signals, facial expressions and body language can take you. Small differences can take on bigger proportions and on the other hand it is easy to see how much all people have in common.

The more designs I see and discuss with designers the more distinctions I have about what for me constitutes “good design”. I was encouraged to see some displays that emphasized green living but I wished that there had been more. I sat in more chairs that I would have thought was humanly possible in a given day. From that I was reminded that looks do not always predict comfort. Some were so beautiful that they almost seemed worth the compromise – sort of like when you buy beautiful but impossibly tight shoes and love seeing them in your closet but just don’t find an occasion to use them. It makes me wonder what happens to all of the things that we buy and don’t use, a problem that many in the world would love to have. After seeing so many new things, some of which seemed to me to be solutions to problems that don’t exist, I wonder about the use of producing more and more “things”. On the other hand, beauty definitely elevates our lives and I loved seeing elegant solutions to problems and the simplicity of some of the new designs. There are benefits involved that cannot be easily measured.

I was pleased to see many new ecologically friendly and recycled materials being used and that many designers are focusing on the life cycle of their product – can it be easily recycled?

It is hard for me to pick out the highlights but some of the ones that I remember were a great exhibit by Brazil about past and present architects and designers, a local optical store that had amazing eyeglass frames made entirely from one piece of beautifully grained wood, many exhibits that creatively used sound and light to make an impact, and an exhibit by Bambica with a shelving/storage system made of pieces of wood that you assemble that was as much fun as a toy to use.

I am grateful to all who put out their best for the show including all of the local businesses that hosted exhibits, the many hours that so many put into designing and bringing their products to life, and to the people who came to the show to give it a reason to exist. I’m so glad that there is a place where good design has a chance and that I was able to be there.

If you are interested in design, there are events all year long and some of them may be near you. The International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) is held in May in New York, dwell on Design is held in LA in June, there is 100% Design in London, and there are many more. I highly recommend attending to open up to new design.

Design-focused people are all familiar with Mr. Shulman’s iconic photograph of the Pierre Koenig Case Study House No. 22 in the Hollywood hills at sunset – the corner of the glass house taken from the outside looking in with the beautiful sunset and sparkling city of LA showing through the windows. The black and white photo shows the modern interiors with two women seemingly in conversation in the living room of this exotic and exciting house. For me, this photo captures the essence of the time, the 1950′s, and somehow makes it even more glamorous and mysteriously attractive. Julius Shulman’s images of modernist homes are so well constructed that they attracted me years ago before I was even interested in contemporary design. I used to imagine that one day I too would have a glass house, perhaps overlooking Los Angeles or a mountain scene, with just the minimum of well designed furniture to make it livable, and be wearing a stylish dress and conversing with my stylish friend. This of course, was miles away from my daily life of a mixture of bland “fancy” furniture styles with all kinds of figurines and photos on every side table.

The movie is a celebration of Mr. Shulman’s life and work. We are treated to extensive interviews with him and get to hear his views on many subjects including how he took the photos and his relationship with the architects. We go with him as he visits many of his very famous friends and associates and revisits the sites of many of his famous photographs of modernist homes designed by Richard Neutra, John Lautner, Frank Lloyd Wright, and others.

The film made me reflect on the relationship of artwork and the representation of artwork, in this case through photography. Mr. Shulman was a genius at capturing the essence of the artwork/architecture, in many cases going beyond capturing it to glamorizing it. He said in the film that he was lucky to have such great creations to work with. Looking at the photos is like experiencing the original creation on two levels for me – the architects vision/execution and the photographer/artist’s view of the original work. Both are very worthy of examination in this case in my opinion.

I was also very impressed with his joie d’vivre, his passion for life and his work, and his positive outlook. He was in his 90s when the film was made and had so much energy and so much wisdom to contribute! I appreciated the wide look at his life and work provided in the film.

So, if you like modernism, design, or just want to see a film that engages your mind and your artistic soul, see this film. Here is a link to the film’s website:

www.juliusshulmanfilm.com

The Artemis ceiling fan, with its flowing sculptural design, is now available in a new distressed Koa wood finish with a subtle gold sheen, the F803-DK at G Squared Art, www.g2art.com.  If you are looking for an exotic wood finish to add that special touch to your room, this is a great choice for you.

The distressed Koa wood finish Artemis fan would look great in a room with other exotic woods, a Hawaiian or tropical design theme, an eclectic look, or a minimal contemporary room as a beautiful accent.  It is an unusual and attractive finish that adds a warm and inviting note.  I can see it in a room with a big window with the setting sun casting a warm, golden hue over the whole room. 

The Artemis ceiling fan, F803, is a 58″ designer ceiling fan with 3 sculptural blades that wrap around the central part of the fan and have infinitely varying pitch to perfect the movement of air in a smooth, quiet manner.  It is quiet and powerful and owners love their fans. The Artemis comes with 3 1/2″ and 6″ downrods to fit ceilings of 8 to 9 1/2 feet and longer downrods are available for higher ceilings as well as a slope adapter for slopes up to 45 degrees.  You can use the fan with or without the included 100 watt halogen light as it also comes with a cap for non-light use. The wall control for 3 speeds, reverse, and infinite dimming for the light is included and a hand held remote is available.  The blades are made of aircraft quality polycarbonate and the Koa finish is hand-painted on the blades. The Artemis, designed by Mark Gajewski, won the Good Design Award from the Chicago Athenaeum in 2005 – you can read more about it here.

Koa wood comes from the Acacia Koa tree which is native to Hawaii.  It has a reddish cast and a beautiful, varied grain.  You will see it used for musical instruments like guitars – many decorative items are also made out of it such as bowls and vases. “Koa” means a brave, fearless warrior in the Hawaiian language.  That will inspire you every time you look at your Koa fan!  The Artemis fan has a subtle gold sheen added over the Koa that enhances the grain and adds to the attrative look.  The curved surfaces of the Artemis fan show off the highlights of the Koa wood perfectly.  

This finish adds to the incredible diversity of available finishes for the Artemis ceiling fan – now nine – including maple, mahogany, translucent, liquid nickel, white, red, black, and copper bronze translucent.  The new distressed Koa adds a wonderful exotic note to the designer’s palette that will be unique. 

So, if you long for a reminder of the gentle breezes of Hawaii or want to bring out the inner brave warrior, the distressed Koa finish Artemis ceiling fan is for you!

Our thoughts usually turn to ceiling fans when we are sitting in a stifling hot room on a scorching summer day thinking how great it would be to feel a breeze.  Somehow the thought of a breeze in a cold house in the winter seems to be a little crazy.

Think again!  When the heat is on, where does most of the hot air go?  It goes up to your ceiling and sits there while you get “cold feet” down below.  Wouldn’t it be great if you could bring down that warm air and use it to feel more toasty?

You can!  A ceiling fan will mix the air in the room so that the hot air will not just lazily hang out by the ceiling while you are freezing but it will gently waft it down toward you so you can actually feel that warm air for which you are paying so dearly.  To mix the air, you don’t need to have the fan on high where you will feel a breeze when you are underneath it.  You can just leave it on medium or low and it will gently circulate the air so that the warm air gets down to you and the cool air gets distributed evenly in the room instead of biting at your ankles.

Try this test – on a cold day, reach your hand up as high as you can over your head.  Do you feel how warm the air is up there?  Wouldn’t it be great to be able to use that warm air to warm you?

I actually use my fan more in the winter than in the summer because I live in a desert climate.  It gets quite cold at night in the winter and with higher ceilings that heat just pumps out all evening and night. The warm air never gets down to the level of the thermostat where we humans live to let the heater know that it is OK to stop burning those dollar bills for heat.

Honestly, it may sound nutty but I think of dollar bills flying through the air!  Not to mention the cost to our planet – our efforts to use fossil fuels for energy for physical work like motors and for heating is one of the major factors in destroying the balance of our planet and limiting our options for survival.

So using a fan in the winter just makes sense.  If you’ve been hesitating, put this information into the hopper and see if getting a fan will work for you.  Think of more comfort all year – feeling warmer in the winter as well as cooler in the summer!