Ito-ya and Gold Leaf Design Group

Ito-ya's Special Request

We love Japan. Darren's even run a marathon there. We also love Ito-ya. A magical store of paper, design, and stationery, Ito-Ya shares the same love we have for Charley Harper. For their new flagship store they wanted to create something truly special. They wanted something sleekly modern with an appreciation of the past. What better than a personalized clock featuring a glockenspiel and a one-of-a-kind Baffling Belly Charley Harper sculpture? 

We worked with Ito-ya and Seiko to upscale our Baffling Belly decorative sculpture. The originals are all hand-carved from a single piece of solid wood, but this one would have to do something the smaller models cannot do....move. This red-headed woodpecker had to turn its head and peck to mark the time. Drawings and specifications were exchanged and the model was delivered.

The next step was the movement construction and sound tests. Several materials with different resonances and tones were tested. The clapper's movement had to be synced up with the bird's movement...as you can see in these tests.

The result is a wonderful design that perfectly fits the aesthetic and feeling of Ito-Ya. We are so happy to be part of this project. Working closely with our customers to create unique pieces is one of our favorite things. And, of course, creating creatively design-forward decorative pieces is another. :-D 

If you're a retailer or interior designer, check out our Charley Harper collection or register on our site and browse all our offerings. 

Providing the unexpected

At Gold Leaf Design Group, we love to experiment and explore, creating something truly beautiful that fits the space and vision of our clients. A great example of that is the design we installed onsite at the Hilton Oakbrook Suites for Looney and Associates. An explosion of color and texture, this patchwork permanent botanical design creates an eye-catching and functional divider.

Happy 20th Birthday Gold Leaf!

May 19, 2014

Can it really be 20 years?  Although it seems like only yesterday, when we stop to look back, it is incredible to see all that we have accomplished.  Thank you to all of our friends and family, clients and customers, supporters and fans, staff past and present.  Our journey has been long (and often hard), but worth every minute.  Having you on this journey has made it possible and worthwhile.  Thanks.

We have had the opportunity to travel the globe, provide opportunities for individuals and communities, connect people to the natural world, remind us that in this fast-paced life, enhancing our environment adds an immeasurable quality to our daily lives.  Through our products, designs, and business practices, we strive to have a positive impact on the lives touched by Gold Leaf Design Group.

There are so many days walking into work, that Allan and I are in awe of all that has been accomplished.  Seeing employees that have been with us through thick and thin for 10 years, 15 years, 17 years.  Or our crew that has been with us over the last couple of years, propelling us out of the economic downturn ensuring a solid and strong future.  Or our clients, many that have been with us since the early days, sharing in our accomplishments and rooting for us along the way.  We are truly humbled by your encouragement and commitment to our success.  We do not take any of this for granted.  We are here today because of you, our Gold Leaf community. 

Thank you for an incredible, awe-inspiring, outrageous, unpredictable, lively, fun, stressful, exciting, hard, creative and unimaginable 20 years!  Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!! And, here's to 20 more!

Darren

Technical Difficulties

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Everyday Things…

We look for beauty everywhere we go and try to find ways to capture its essence. We cannot help but be enlivened by our environment; creativity really does come naturally™. Here are a few things that inspire us!

 

When looking at our Wall Play designs, does it not remind you of making a wish with a dandelion? 

How can you not be in awe of mosaics? With our Eclipse Bowl and a Venice Glass Mosaic.

The shear beauty of repetition of a single line. With Cy Twombly's untitled piece from 1973 and our Quill Table Sculpture. 

A play on light and shadow at the cemetery in Igualada and our Stainless Steel Polyhedrons.

We believe in the details at Gold Leaf – the human scale of design. And we look to the simplest of places to find our inspiration and create unforgettable pieces that can then define the spatial character of a place.

New Ideas: Stainless Steel Ball Sway in Blue Resin

In our catalog we show our Stainless Steel Ball Sway placed in a pond, among tall grass. It is beautiful and scenic, but the question begs to be asked “how can we achieve this aesthetic indoors?”. The Ball Sway seems at home placed in this pond, and now with the custom blue resin in a planter there is the illusion of them floating in water.

The final product for all our arrangements is a result of a process; a series of pieces that makes up the whole. For this arrangement featured, it was a sort of experiment. Our designers achieved the illusion of floating spears through collaboration with our in house fiber glass manufacturers. Once the Stainless Steel Ball Sway was arranged and secured in the planter, our fiber glass manufacturers went to work creating a custom blue color resin for this design.

"Gold Leaf Worked For Us!"

"We, at Inner Design Studio, wanted to share how your product was used as part of the recently completed Loma Linda University Medical Center in California. We were able to use your birch dividers in the main lobby and wanted to show you how your product helped us achieve a unique healthcare design.

Attached is a photo that shows how your product looks within this design. We are big Gold Leaf fans and want to show you how we put your dividers to use."



Westin Houston Memorial City

Gold Leaf recently completed artwork for the newly opened Westin Houston Memorial City hotel in Houston, Texas. It was designed with the assistance of Morris Architects. The panels, featuring our Wall Play and custom-painted with a silver nickel finish, were assembled in our design center in Chicago.



The piece, entitled "Memorial City Sky", was created by Gold Leaf Design Group's creative visionary, Allan Howze.

St. John's on The Lake

Gold Leaf just returned from Milwaukee, our neighbor to the North, after performing a custom installation at St. John's on the Lake, a retirement community located on the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan.

The installation features our dried branches with our original Wall Play, custom-colored specifically for this project. Gold Leaf worked with with the creative designers at Perkins Eastman in Chicago over the past few months to create these pieces as part of the properties' brand new expansion!



El Amazonas

Our trips to the Amazon Rainforest never cease to amaze us. We are on the never ending search for sustainable resources such as natural dyes, decorative pods and seeds, natural branches and indigenous handicrafts. Since our planet receives the majority of its oxygen from these forests, this is the heart and lungs of our world. Sadly, our research shows that 1.5 ACRES (the equivalent of ONE FOOTBALL FIELD) of Amazon Rainforest is destroyed EVERY SECOND!

We hope that our products bring people closer to our natural world, and serve as an elegant and gentle reminder of all that we have to lose.

On the Move

This year has been full of so many exciting developments. One new project that we are beginning today is the redesign of our website. Although our website has served us and our customers well, it has its shortcomings. Our new site will be state of the art, offer online ordering, be more intuitive and user friendly. We hope to launch the new site before the summer Gift Shows. Stay tuned! If you haven't looked at our online catalog recently, you will be in for a surprise. We have added 70 pages of items for this Spring. We have updated the format, to make the catalog easier and quicker to view. Our warehouse is full, with more merchandise arriving daily. We continue to add more products to enhance outdoor living. We have been travelling the world, creating even more new designs and entering new categories. Many will be unveiled on our new site and at the upcoming shows. As we approach our 17th anniversary, we thank you for your continued support! We think you will be quite happy to see what is on the horizon. Thanks.

Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and Gold Leaf Design Group partner to create “outside of the box” artforms and plant designs for the December 15, 2010 opening.

March 01, 2011

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - The much awaited luxury resort, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, contracted Gold Leaf Design Group of Chicago to design and manufacture “unexpected” offerings showcasing custom high end stainless steel, fiberglass, wood, permanent botanicals and mixed media artwork.

For almost one year, Gold Leaf worked on developing site specific details in internal feature areas which include East and West Valet, Hospitality Suites, Fitness Center, Sahra Spa and Hammam, Wicked Spoon Buffet, Employee Dining and High Limit. The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas approached the well known company, Gold Leaf, because of their attention to detail, their creativity and their reputation for well constructed elements.

Gold Leaf Design Group worked on-site as well as off-site in their 75,000 square foot, high ceiling facility. The company is capable of in-house woodworking, fiberglass, painting, foil leafing, sculpting and tree and plant building. Four internal recessed loading docks can accept 53’ semi-trailer/ containers while its production department can easily manufacture mass quantities of “one-of-a-kind” botanical and sculptural elements.

Later, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas became part of Marriott International’s Autograph Collection. Gold Leaf Design Group is a valued approved vendor for Marriott International presently working with seven of the Marriott corporate brands.

For additional information, please contact quotes@goldleafdesigngroup.com or contact any of our personable associates at 1.877.738.1790.