For the last several months Sean McGrath and his team at Blend88 have been working diligently on a new revised version of our company website, JudithMackin.ca

Today, we’re proud and honoured to reveal their design and functionality to the web.

Sean says “We focused on readability, navigation, user experience and engagement. We wanted content to be easy to find, easy to share and easy to consume all while following closely to Judith’s own design aesthetic.”

With the invaluable feedback from Jeff Roach of Sociallogical, my long time collaborator of all things social media, Sean and I were able to work with Jeff’s advice and make this site more user friendly and more social for everyone.

Jeff explains, ”the next phase is to work with Judith through Sociallogical to plan smart ways to connect with her clients using the features of the new site, smart in store integrations with social channels”.

Some new features include:

• a.)  Before & After residential and commercial interior designs.
• b.)  My columns:  Design Driven (Salon, Telegraph Journal) and  HGTV postings
• c.)  An Events page!
• and,
• d.)  TUCK STUDIO has expanded into various pages, making the  functionality more user friendly for the visitor, including a Brands page,  and a Gallery page where we can highlight through photo albums/instagrams some of our cherished visitors to our site (see anyone you recognize?)

Sean was a complete joy to work with.  Hire him, if he’s available.  With talent such as his and Matt”s (the other half of Blend 88) you may find you are on a waiting list.

Please sign up for updates on the site (you can’t miss it – Sean cleverly put a sign-up on almost every page!)

Thank you Sean, Matt and Jeff for the next ‘on-line’ chapter in the JudithMackin.ca site.

Prior to my recent visit to Copenhagen, Denmark, my most sustained exposure to all things Scandinavian, apart from years of Internet and magazine research on Scandinavian design, came courtesy of two seasons of Borgen. A celebrated Danish political TV series, Borgen is about a woman who becomes the first female prime minister of Denmark.

Top left: Gourmandiet (organic butcher/cafe); Höst (Nordic restaurant); Danish children pose for photo: Lighting installation at Illums Bolighus; Normann Copenhagen’s front window display featuring the Trojan Cow/Seletti designs. Photos: Judith Mackin

While I probably should have been paying closer attention to the subtitles, my focus tended to be drawn to the remarkable level of design featured on the show. Every interior featured iconic designs from Danish designers.

In the space of five minutes, you could find Verner Panton’s Flower Pot light, Poul Henningsen’s PH Artichoke light and even Hay’s Price Chair by Louise Campbell (now a permanent feature of the Museum of Modern Art’s furniture collection). For those of you who haven’t seen the show, I should probably stress that it’s not set among the lives of the rich and famous. Up until – and even after – the protagonist ascends to the highest political office in the country, she’s living a middle-class existence. And, for the purposes of comparison, it’s also worth noting that Canada has a higher median household income than Denmark.

I was therefore terribly curious once I landed in Copenhagen to see if high design would really constitute as common a feature of Danish life as Borgen had led me to believe.

Well, if anything, the show under-reported how immanent design is in Copenhagen. When I stepped off the plane, I stepped into a culture entirely committed to design.

In the course of our two-day stay, we visited about a dozen boutiques, restaurants and sundry other design destinations. What struck me most profoundly about Copenhagen – and for me, the experience was a genuine game-changer – was how natural and inevitable design has come to figure in its public and private life. This is democratic design – the recognition that design isn’t something you attach to living space as some sort of afterthought or accessory. Design has to be regarded as a central, foundational value, something woven through and informing every decision we make about how we go about making the spaces that ultimately make us who and what we are.

The Danes are a people that get it; their malls, subways, public libraries, airports and tourist attractions are viewed as opportunities to celebrate design. The result is a city all but devoid of big box outlets, aisles crammed with mass-produced ‘stuff’ whose principal charm is that it’s cheap. Over the entire course of my visit, I don’t think I saw one instance of what has become so common a feature of life in any given North American urban centre: an eyesore.

Copenhagen is a city that has somehow managed to embrace and celebrate its considerable heritage even while incorporating – and, not incidentally, serving as a principal engine of – the latest in modern design. Why? This will sound odd, I know, but I think it’s because the Danes have managed to make taste an expression of citizenship. Not in a competitive way, as a form of display, but out of a recognition that good taste is good for everyone, that it nourishes and enlivens the commonwealth. The Danes seem to take it as read that good design is good for the soul.

So, does New Brunswick have anything to learn from Copenhagen? I can think of a good place to start: on all new public building projects, begin with the very best architect you can afford, then engage the services of forward-thinking designers and decorators who understand not just the importance, but the necessity of proper design as a public good. The Danes demonstrate that design isn’t a luxury you attach to public space, it’s the very essence of public space.

Judith Mackin runs punch inside, an interior design company, and Tuck Studio, located at 40 Autumn St., Saint John: Follow Judith on twitter: @judithmackin, Tuck Studio on Twitter: @tuckstudio, or reach her by email: judith@judithmackin.ca.

Client: Element 5 Spa
Location: Market Square, Saint John New Brunswick
Scope: Interior Design makeover for the Lounge
Interior Design: PUNCH INSIDE | (Judith Mackin, Sarah Tapley)
Length of Project: One month; on time, on budget.
Reveal Photography: Kelly Lawson

Jenny Scott, owner of Element 5, wanted a lounge area makeover.  As she put it, the space was ‘tired’ and it needed freshening up, with a twist of modern.

Could I offer some suggestions?  she asked.  Yes please, we replied!

BEFORE:

Here’s the thing: it’s a relatively small space.  The lounge is the first, and the usually the last place the client experiences, so it’s a very important room.  It’s small (approx 150 sq ft) with challenging angles.  The problem with its current design is too much — and dated — furniture, lack of cohesion, insufficient lighting and, generally, too much clutter.

Photo: Judith Mackin

When clients first walk into the space they are greeted by a very tall, large piece of dark furniture dominating the space.

Photo: Judith Mackin

As you look around the space it’s clear that the sconce wall lighting isn’t working up to its full aesthetic potential.  There’s a lack of warmth and no feature lighting to draw the eye in.  The sofa and love seat are too large, and there’s something of a mish-mash on the walls.

Below is a full gallery of the ‘before’ pictures. As you can see there is a lot going on.  In other words, this little space was quite in need of its own makeover!

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What we did.

• We had to figure out a way to preserve the number of seats while making the space feel more airy.
• We had to change the dark walls and produce feature lighting that would be appropriate in a spa lounge.
• We couldn’t move any plumbing or electricity, which meant we had to work with the existing wall sconces and sink location.
• We needed to add warmth to the floor.
• The brand ‘Aveda‘ and the Element 5 logo appeared to have no relationship to this room.  We needed to ensure that the Aveda experience was part of this lounge.
• We were told that the clip boards were a tremendously important part of the functionality in that both clients and staff use them in high rotation to fill out forms.
• We were asked to keep the fireplace in the design.

Sarah and I worked together to complete the design.  Jenny signed off and below is the final design.

THE AFTER:

Photo: Kelly Lawson (click for high resolution viewing)

We lightened up the walls with ‘Oxford White’ paint by Benjamin Moore and created a warm ambience with two Trianon Lights (one grand, one petite) designed by Paula Arntzen, named after the palace of King Louis XIV.  It’s a lightweight chandelier made of post-consumer coated Tyvek. When lit, the Grand Trianon emits a soft checkerboard glow from behind its surface of folded slits.  Additionally we brought in an indoor/outdoor lounge ‘oatmeal’ mat from Chilewich to add warmth and texture to the hardwood floors.  Then we added two eco-composite pise stools (18 Karat) to serve a dual purpose – a table and extra seating for when large parties came in. The small loveseat (Gus* Modern Jane) and the three (one not pictured) Delano leather chairs (also Gus* Modern) are a perfect fit for the room; they’re all ‘seat’ and minimal ‘arms’.

All furnishings available through TUCK STUDIO.

Photo Submitted: - We chose two paint colors:  as mentioned, Oxford White for the main walls, and the one feature wall (seen below, and on the paint leading up to the fireplace and dandelion photography) is Overcoat both by Benjamin Moore.

Photo: Kelly Lawson

The large wooden hutch was removed and we designed the cabinet space below. The bench area holds up to two people.  (Cabinets by KING Construction).  We added a few minimal brushed nickel modern pieces to the wall to house the previous clutter.  (Magazine Rack and Picture rails by Gus* Modern, available through TUCK STUDIO.)   The shelves also displays Aveda products as well as the wines on offer.

Photo: Kelly Lawson

We situated another Gus* Modern Delano leather chair on this entrance wall, with an acrylic I-BEAM side table.  Using acrylic furniture is functional, yet almost disappears in the design in that it’s clear.

Remember the discussion around the large amount of requisite clipboards?  We added more picture rails for easy access while preserving a sense of continuity in the design.

Photo: Kelly Lawson

We wanted to incorporate the dandelion featured in Element 5′s logo into the lounge.  We sourced the photography and the pillows through Society6 - an on-line site used by hundreds of thousands of artists from around the world.  We simply used paint to color block the wall leading up the dandelion photography to create a visually interesting counterpoint, rather than just hanging the works on the wall.  The fireplace (as seen in the first AFTER picture) also has the paint underneath it so that the three are in harmony and balance.

Below is a full collection of the ‘after’ photo gallery.

A tremendous thank you to Jenny Scott and her team for being such a joy to work with.

If you haven’t been in to see the spa, do so!

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