Gold Leaf in Interior Design Magazine Spring Market Tabloid

We look forward to the Market Tabloids (both Spring and Fall) from Interior Design Magazine. They are showcases of some of the most interesting and evocative decor out there, so of course we're always pleased when we appear in its pages. For this year's Spring issue, you can find us in:

Fabric / Wallcovering for our Twister Fabrics (part of Muse Modern™)
Outdoor with our Love and Me benches (also Muse Modern)
and a whole page in Furniture!

Pick up your copy today.

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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.

Congratulations Beth Krupa Interiors

We keep close connections to our customers. We build relationships that span the years and many of them become friends as well. That's one of the reasons we love going to trade shows like the recent High point Market, it is a chance to reconnect and catch up. All of that goes into how excited we were to hear that Beth Krupa Interiors had won an award from the Interior Design Society. Beth is based in Connecticut, but has local connections...having gone to school at Loyola University Chicago...making us doubly excited.

We had a small part to play in this success, as she used our Cladded Brass Chest as one of the pieces but as you all know it isn't just having great stuff...it is how you use it! And Beth is fabulous. Congratulations!

State Dinners and Accolades

It started with a registration request on our website. The company name was unknown to us, the email address arcane. We tried to find them on the internet, but didn't find anything. So...we dropped the applicant an email to get more info.

We received a phone call...."This is Hedieh Ghaffarian. I'm the Chief Floral Designer for the White House and I'm putting together the designs for a State Dinner. I saw your Stainless Steel orbs in Atlanta and loved them."

Kevin, our webmaster, almost dropped the phone. "When do you need them?"

The answer, of course, was right away. The state dinner in question was for Prime Minister Trudeau and it was quickly approaching. We got Ms. Ghaffarian her orbs and she worked magic with them. You can see them in THIS PHOTO on the right side of Michelle Obama and Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau.

Not quite as exciting, but still very gratifying, our Gabriel Pendant Lights have been getting a lot of attention. First in the High Point Market TWITTER CHAT (which also included our INLAY STONE collection). Then in Hospitality Design and enLIGHTenment magazines.

We're very excited. You can check these out and more when we get to High Point in just a few weeks!

Sharing the #gldgLOVE

We recently joined Twitter and to celebrate, we decided to have a little contest. People from around the country tweeted us photos of their favorite Gold Leaf items...while at the High Point, in their stores, in their client's homes. We were so excited to see them. You folks are awesome and are doing great stuff!

We put the entries into a hat and pulled our winners.

10% discount on their next Order
- Baltimore Design Group
- Absolute Design Interiors
- Reside Home
- Kristen Petro Interiors
- Four Corners Home

Charley Harper Birds go to
- Home on the Harbor
- Kendrac Kole Interiors
- R Johnston Interiors
- San Francisco Design
- Karen Kole Designs
- Details Home Boutique
- Jessie D'Angelo Studio
- Sklar Furnishings
- Finnesterre

Thanks to all who participated and keep sending those photos in!

Big in Japan

As many of you know, Darren runs. For fun. It's true! He's been in multiple marathons where he runs not just for the challenge, but also raising money for worthy institutions like Test Positive Awareness Network. For the more indolent amongst us (like me) it seems a bit crazy...especially when I see him in our neighborhood on the weekends running past to stay in fighting form...but I'm sure it contributes to his boundless energy.

Darren is now going international! He and Allan are currently on their way to Tokyo, Japan for the 2015 Tokyo Marathon. The Tokyo Marathon started in 2007 and is an international marathon with 36,000 runners through the heart of Tokyo. Last year there were well over a million onlookers cheering on the runners. This video gives a sense of the event. It is thrilling.

Allan will also be participating! Not in the full marathon, but the day before in the International Friendship Run. This is a fun-run event with some cultural sight seeing and Japanese hospitality. Just the thing for someone who wants to get caught up in the sights and sounds of Tokyo with thousands of other like-minded individuals. Hopefully we'll get some great photos from him.

We're very proud of Darren and he's very excited to be participating. If you'd like to track his marathon time, you can start on Saturday at 6:10pm central. You can track his bib number (E81253) at the marathon website (you might not need the E). We'll get some photos of the race up when we can!

Love for Wall Play

As we are designers/manufacturers/wholesalers...we are a step removed from the final customer of our products. We hear from store owners and interior designers that *their* customers love this or that, but we often do not get to hear directly from people who have the day-to-day experience with them. Of course that makes the times we *do* hear from people all the more special.

Sara wrote us about our gold 'Seed' Wall Play™. Her family's home had been featured in Austin Texas arts and culture magazine Tribeza. She took that opportunity to let us know what she thought of our modular little sculptures...

I randomly came across the wall play products and knew they were perfect for our space. We didn't want a painting but we wanted something with texture. The seeds are perfect and they were so easy to install. We walk by them every day and smile. I just love them.

Thank you for making such a cool product. I do boring technical work all day and I'm always so impressed with other peoples' creativity.

Keep creating!
Sara

Check out the article in the October issue of Tribeza. It starts on page 56. Their home is new construction but looks lived in...it offers high design but is child friendly. A great example of playful sophistication...something we can get behind 100%.

Running for a Good Cause

Gold Leaf's (co-)Big Kahuna will be running the Chicago Marathon again this year. It is his tenth Chicago Marathon!  As many of you already know, he runs to support a local AIDS services organization.  For the third year running (ha!) he is raising money for Test Positive Aware Network (TPAN).  Our fundraising is very grassroots - this is not a large organized charity, Darren is the only person running the marathon for this organization, every penny raised goes directly to the services that TPAN provides.

Here's Darren: 

Over the 3 years that I have been volunteering with TPAN, I continue to be inspired by the difference they make in our community.  We have been working closely with local officials to bring education and counseling to the west side of Chicago.  This is the area where Gold Leaf is located, and it is a very underserved, underfunded area.

Please consider supporting us as we work to enhance our community. 100% of all donations go directly to AIDS education, counseling, testing and outreach. TPAN's mission is to empower everyone living with or at risk of HIV/AIDS to live open, healthy and productive lives.

To make a donation and support Darren's run, please visit his Marathon Page.

Travelling with Gold Leaf

Summer is here, though you would not know it by the weather. It has been struggling to reach 70 degrees for the last couple of weeks, but now we are seeing some warmth. I suppose we'll be missing the cool weather in August after our eleventy-billionth 90+ day. In thinking about summer, we think about travel. Gold Leaf Design Group's creations can be found the world over...

Looking for some place warm and languid? For the Westin Grand Cayman Seven Mile Beach Resort, we created a custom wall installation for their beachside dining space. Or maybe a historic Italian village complete with crypts and caves is more your taste? Chicago architect Patrizio Fradiani created a whimsical Wall Play™ installation as part of the spectacular Domus Civita. If either location would like me to come in as a "consultant" to inspect the work, I'm sure I could be convinced.

Gold Leaf in Las Vegas

We are in Las Vegas at the HD Expo (Booth 4161...stop by if you are around!). After some challenges in set-up we're excited to be meeting people and showing off some of our unique artifacts, custom work, and some experiments that yielded some fun results.

Of course, it isn't all work. We have to step out to eat...sometimes. We visited the Steampunk-influenced RX Boiler Room at Mandalay Bay and look what we found there...our Mirrored Animal Trophies. They look great.

Gold Leaf on Michigan Avenue

Spring has finally sprung, though it seems like it has turned into summer, at least for today. Hopefully it cools back down a bit so that we can enjoy mild weather and walk along the Lake. Or maybe Michigan Avenue where Gold Leafer (and recent mom) Jess found our Wire Circle Balls. They were included as part of the work of McFarlane Douglass and Companies. Thanks for making our walks lovely guys.

Gold Leaf Design in Eagle Pass Texas

JCJ Architecture was called upon to design a new full-service destination hotel for the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino. Inspired by the scenic location along the Rio Grande, the design for the hotel called for the use of vivid colors and textural contrast throughout. Bringing out the most subtle blends and contrasting colors representing the very fabric of Texas nature. Gold Leaf Design group answered this call with “Sun-Kissed” dyed redwood partitions reminiscent of fiery Texas sunsets.

It is a great example of what we mean when we say we are inspired by nature. We take what we see around us and accentuate and play with it. Natural gradation in plants, from growth and the rebirth of spring inspired us to think of other colors and other materials that it might be applied to. What if it is purple? Or the colors of the Texas sunset? How can we make it striking and unique? How can we take the the natural and giving it our own twist?

Sometimes, of course, just bringing the beauty of nature indoors and presenting it just so is exactly what is needed. But the creativity of combining the man-made and the natural is quite exciting to us.

Gold Leaf Design in Washington D.C.

What do you get when you take nearly 100 tree branches and combine them with almost 1000 pounds of glass beads? A series of striking designs. See for yourself!

We have always loved combining the natural with the man made. We don't view it as improving on nature, but rather accentuating its beauty. Gold Leaf Design Group was asked to create one of our signature pieces for planters in the Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda MD, right outside Washington DC. Premier Plantscapes wanted something luxurious and elegant and natural to compliment the upscale redesign of the mall.

We first started beading trees several years ago and it has proved to be very popular, inspiring both interior designers and imitators alike. This particular design called for nearly 100 large Manzanita branches with about 2/3 of them to be covered in glass beads. It required a lot of coordination even from the start as we needed to source from several vendors to keep individual prices down.

We started by bringing in the branches and inspecting them for cracks and suitability. We sort them into branches to be beaded and those to stay natural and then trim and shape them. Each beaded tree had about 2500 glass beads so we needed to make sure the ones selected were free of cracking and would be strong enough to support the weight.

Each bead was hand-placed onto the branches. Nearly 1000 pounds of glass beads total. The job didn't stop there, we also needed to carefully pack and crate each piece for shipment to Washington. Fortunately we've had a lot of experience in making trouble-free shipping and installation.

A lot of thought, planning and work go into our custom pieces like this one, but the result, I think you'll agree, looks gorgeous and looks great in our customer's planters and the environment they've created. Making each piece consistent, but not cookie-cutter...working with both natural and man-made materials...ensuring the long-term beauty of each piece. That is the kind of challenge we thrive on.

Even in the Courthouse...

You can't escape Gold Leaf Design Group. We continue to pop up in the most unexpected of places. After dodging / delaying my summons a couple of times (I had a catalog to put together), I finally fulfilled my civic obligation and made my way to the Cook County Courthouse in Maywood...on the snowiest day we'd had in a couple of hours. (It has been very snowy...maybe you've noticed?)

I on the far northeast side of Chicago. Google maps said it would take 35 minutes to get in with no traffic. I tripled that time, giving myself over an hour and a half...and still I was late. I was not the latest to arrive. I think everyone was forgiving.

After receiving the waiting room instructions and unpacking my computer to do a bit of work I spied the Victoria magazine. "Oh," I thought "we were to be in that. Hmmm...I don't think I ever saw the actual publication...what are the odds that...."

And there we were.

It makes the 4 hour round trip journey + sitting in a jury room for 7 hours worth it.
Almost.

Sort of.

Where on Earth is Gold Leaf?

Gold Leaf Design Group can be found all over the world, in the most unexpected places. Recently, our intrepid Reps Tom and Shelley Carl journeyed to the rocky cold shores of inhospitable Hawaii. Here's their report...

Aloha, we brought 10 catalogs ( had to carry an extra suitcase just for catalogs, etc) along with us and probably needed about 20, so these photos show all we have left of Gold Leaf...

Let's take a look at the photos...

Yep. Looks pretty darn inhospitable. Hope the hardship wasn't too much for you both! We'll see you in Las Vegas.