From Emeco's press release, "Chris Redfern, the British architect who worked along side Mr. Sottsass for the past 12 years as his design associate at Sottsass Associati recalls, “Ettore always had orange cushions fixed onto his navy chairs at home in Milan and our idea started there. We wanted to make the new chair soft, friendly and of course colorful.”

Of course colorful, like Sottsass's iconic cherry-red Olivetti typewriter and his designs for the Memphis group, like the Casablanca sideboard. Both are on display in the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Collab Gallery.

Emeco also provides this wonderfully chivalrous object-analysis from Sottsass, circa 1976: “A chair must be really important as an object, because my mother always told me to offer my chair to a lady."

Prices are $385 for the standard stacking chair to $1595 for the hand-polished swivel chair.

There's a sneak peek of my very own apartment up today at Design*Sponge, thanks to Kevin at Design Philadelphia, who's guest-blogging this week. He has shown some truly inspirational interiors in the last few days, from fantastical Adam Wallcavage and his octopus chandelier to Something's Hiding In Here's woodsy loft.

While I do not have the design skills of these talented Philadelphians, I do highly appreciate them and their work, both here on my blog and in my home! Click here for the full flickr album with more pics of my place.

This is the computer room, where Amy and her staff design new artwork and embroideries. Check out a short video of their design process here.

A wall 'o trends for summer '08:

The gigantic suitcase full of swatches that Printfresh's salesperson lugs around to apparel companies' offices in NYC two or three days a week.

Amy also sources vintage prints like the one below at flea markets and sells them as fodder for inspiration to apparel companies.

I was impressed by the ingenuity that went into this DIY table at the studio. It was found as a discarded wooden slab and transformed by using lace as a stencil. Materials: lace, white and pink paint, IKEA legs, and a piece of glass.

A patterned wall in the studio's "messy room," where all the sewing and screenprinting is done:

The studio's mascot, a dachsund-chihuahua mix named Joey.

Start saving your pennies or just pre-order the catalog: Louis Kahn's Esherick House in Chestnut Hill, finished in 1961, is up for auction in May. The kitchen was custom-built by Wharton Esherick, uncle of Margaret, who commissioned the home from Kahn. If you've never visited the Wharton Esherick Museum in Malvern (written about by yours truly here), go now. It's amazing, and it won't cost you $2.3 million dollars (the estimate for the Escherick House).

Baby: I'm wearing the Sprouts onesie designed by Philadelphia artist Jim Houser whose work was shown last January at super-chic Colette Gallery in Paris. Sprout also comes in tees for men and women and is one of many designs that are brand-new from Philly label, Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.
Me: And the leg-warmers?
Baby: Gah.

[photo from Art in the Age]

Spool opened last week on the 1900 block of South. It's the sister shop to Loop and has the same minimal-cozy vibe and the same focus on beautiful, modern materials. Above are pics from their selection of Amy Butler's newest collection, "Midwest Modern."

[pics from Spool's blog]

Kevin Derrick from the blog, Design Philadelphia, is guest-blogging this week on Design*Sponge, the mother of all design blogs. This morning he posted a sneak peek of his apartment (see above pic). Bookmark the guestblog, as he'll be posting Philly sneak peeks all week!

[photo by Kevin Derrick and borrowed from DP and D*S]

Both projects are by designer Julianna Holowka. The wallpaper is sourced from Colonial Wallcoverings, 707 East Passyunk Ave; 215-351-9300.

As part of the AIGA's Greenstock series, sustainability consultant Marc Alt from Marc Alt+Partners and from Domino mag is giving a talk on sustainability and design tomorrow night at the Philadelphia Ethical Society. Click here for more info.

It reminds me of this coverlet, "Lit de pulls pour chambre froide," by French designer Babeth Rambault made of old sweaters, available from FR66 for 1150€. You can see it in situ in the Christian Lacroix-decorated apartment, "La Suite Elle Decoration vue par Christian Lacroix" at Paris's Cite´de l'architecture et du patrimonie museum. The Lacroix suite will be there through 2008. (This pic is not from that exhibit.)