beyond my expectations… A little over a month ago I was documenting the last Dwell with Dignity project for the blog and founder, Lisa Robinson, her partner, Kim Turner and I were standing in the hallway talking about the length of time it would take to reach all of the residences. We began to discuss the public areas as a way to bring some of the DWD joy to all who live in these buildings. Kim and Lisa informed me that there was a plan for the hallways to frame inspirational quotes. I immediately piped up and said that I would be happy to pull a bunch of designers (who love type) to pull this together — and thus Deck the Halls was born. It’s been a busy last few weeks so thank goodness for Sara Stoner and Rachel Castor who served as co-chairs for this event and really made this whole thing happen - a super special hooray to these special gals.

Yesterday we installed 3 buildings, 6 hallways, 12 walls and 48 pieces of art. 12 AMAZING design teams brought their work, drills, hammers and hands to Deck the Halls. The basic gist was 4 frames and a hollow core door to be used as a canvas, keep the art simple and cheery…what we got back was art that was inspirational to all of us.

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Artwork above and main photo provided by one of two groups of in house designers from Fossil. Designers from Fossil range graphic from fashion designers. They pushed the hollow core door way beyond art to truly a multilevel installation using various sizes of needlepoint circles, several great fabrics and felt cutouts.

The two above were done by the second Fossil group. This was unbelievable…trees through the seasons, applied to panels on the hollow core door. Each tree was unique in color, style, execution. This particular detail is just stunning, made from all leather scraps and sewn.

Co-chairs Sara and Rachel, of Hillebrand Cory knocked it out of the ballpark. When they brought out there piece my jaw dropped. They were inspired by Anthropologie and of course, their quote - “I’m not afraid of storms for I’m learning how to sail my ship” Louisa May Alcott. These ladies bought books on “mad men of the sea” and gorgeous papers and went to town. Hundreds of handcut pieces and hours of work went into this pieces. It’s stunning.

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Tim Childress of Kendall Creative brought a whole different dimension to his piece. Tim also cut out tons of amazing papers and created a very cool textural surface for his hollow core door using several black textured papers. BUT the coolest part of the Kendall piece is the journey of the swirl that goes throughout all five components. Fun and uplifting and beautifully executed.

Matchbox Studio has an amazing knack for color, composition, and a vast knowledge and exquisite taste for illustration and their final product was outstanding. From the little sparkle on their door to the hand cut type and birds…it was really tremendous.

Noshii, is someone I’m just enamored with. I’m sorry to say these photos don’t do her pieces justice –the lighting is challenging so I apologize. Noshii is an artist that I will post more about very soon but to not let the cat out of the bag, she loves to sew things so all of the lines in her frames are SEWN over her gorgeous watercolor work. So lovely and interesting.

These are a couple of pieces from Range and first of all the type is uber cool. The color pallette is bright and uplifting but what you can’t see in these photos is the execution. They look like they are silkscreened but they experimented with several passes through their printer to get this effect.

Super creative Neiman Marcus in house art director, Larry Oliver, introduced a great variation to the rest of the group by using some fashion photography. Even the way the type is printed on mylar and taped is very groovy and different.

The team at the young and vibrant studio of Switch Creative brought their fresh approach to design to their art today as well. Everything I see from them is hip so it’s no wonder that their art feels simple but progressive. They covered their door with batting and fabric and made a huge beautifully sewn wave.

Oh bee things… must you continually taunt us with your talents? Truly great final art and thank you for generously sharing your time and gifted abilities. Their door consisted of pieces of wood and brightly painted door knobs were attached to create their 3-dimensional door. L-O-V-E the bird house.

Above is yours truly, SWOON, the studio — layered chalk, paint and oil sticks were used to create the door art. Classic typography :)

Caliber Creative, very cool layers of paint and colors with the wood of the door showing through.

A partial group photo at the end of the afternoon with hot cocoa and hammers still in hand.