INSPIRED BY: FRAMA, COPENHAGEN

Frama Showroom, Copenhagen.

Frama's free-standing kitchen.

St. Paul's Apotek, home of Frama, Copenhagen

Frama CPH: crafting elegant, innovative, and classic forms

This week we are taking a good long look at the inspiring work of Copenhagen design house Frama.

Specializing in minimalist forms with a classical aesthetic, Frama is turning out some of the Scandinavian design world's most coveted stoneware, furniture, lights, and custom-built kitchens.

Located in Copenhagen's historic Nyboder neighborhood, the Frama showroom and offices occupy the lovingly preserved St. Paul's Apotek (a pharmacy from the 1800's that has saved much of its original woodwork and architectural elements, see above at right). Much of the Frama studio is painted in 'St. Paul's Blue,' their custom brand color, created in partnership with Jotun paint makers.

One of Frama's most exciting and ambitious innovations is their new line of custom-built kitchen designs (see above left). Unlike traditional kitchens, a Frama Kitchen is a completely free standing unit and is not permanently mounted to floor or walls. The Frama Kitchen's steel frame and steel box drawers are more like pieces of furniture within the kitchen environment than the traditionally built 'in-storage' style kitchen. 

In addition to their drool-inducing custom kitchens, the current Frama Collection contains furniture, accessories and lighting made from a variety of high-quality, high-character materials, including cork, wood, marble and metals. With their impecable eye for clean, modernist aesthetics and their appreciation of timeless materials, Frama is not only a 'brand to watch,' they are also a design house whose approach to creativity and craftsmanship are certain to inspire us at The Hudson Company for a long time to come.

See more from the Frama Collection here.

The 90 degree wall light by Frama.

Aj Otto Stoneware by Frama.

Frama Studio, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Photos courtesy of Frama and Kinfolk.

This Just In: Reclaimed Heart Pine from the Iconic Belleview-Biltmore Hotel

An undated postcard of The Belleview-Biltmore Resort and Spa. The Hotel's original, iconic red roof was later replaced with green roofing.

Built by railroad magnate Henry Plant in 1897, this photo shows the hotel during it's early years.

Aerial view of the Belleview-Biltmore taken after it was closed in 2009.

Details of The Bellevue-Biltmore Hotel in disrepair.

Abandoned hotel lobby, 

Abandoned hotel interior.

The Rise and Fall of "The White Queen of The Gulf"

Once known as 'The White Queen of the Gulf,' the historic Belleview-Biltmore Resort and Spa was, for over 100 years, one of Florida's most celebrated vacation destinations - an iconic symbol of the golden age of American entrepreneurship, travel, and optimism. 

Built in 1897 by railroad giant Henry Bradley Plant, the Belleview-Biltmore was a massive feat of resort architecture, crafted in a Queen Anne and Shingle style. Constructed of native Florida pine, the hotel also featured hand-crafted Tiffany Glass. Eager to increase Florida's tourism and railroad use, the Bellevue-Biltmore was, 'often billed as the largest occupied wooden structure in the world.' Mr. Plant even had special rail service to deliver guests directly to the Belleview's front doors (see above, the image second from the top). In 1979, the hotel was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

According to a 2015 profile on the last days of the hotel by The Tampa Bay Times, the Belleview-Biltmore hosted a wide range of impressive celebrities and dignitaries over the past eleven decades, including "Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford...Margaret Thatcher and Barack Obama." In April of 1976, Bob Dylan and his band played two concerts inside the hotel's Starlight Ballroom.

But, despite visits by numerous notables, in the decades after WWII, this grand old resort faded significantly - due in large part to the construction of countless newer, beachfront resorts up and down both of Florida's coasts. In recent years, and after a lengthy debate between preservationists, local officials, and developers, it was decided that the majority of the crumbling hotel would be demolished to make way for new condominiums and townhouses.

Luckily, 36,000 square feet of the Belleview-Biltmore Hotel is being saved. A portion of Mr. Plant's original 1897 hotel is being relocated locally, and renovated into a boutique hotel. The 'new Belleview-Biltmore' will feature a restored 21st-century version of the hotel's original lobby, grand living spaces, 33 guest rooms, and ice-cream parlour. You can watch a video of the project's developer Mike Cheezem walking through the vision for this restored portion of the hotel here.

CAREFULLY RECLAIMING 100-YEAR-OLD HEART PINE FLOORING, JOISTS, AND BEAMS - PIECE BY PIECE

Meanwhile, the demolition of the 820,000 square feet portion of the hotel's structure is being done with precision, piece by piece, "taking the time to salvage 118-year-old heart pine floors, stained glass skylights and wrought iron stairway railings."

Currently, The Hudson Company is taking part in the enormous and careful demolition of this historic architectural treasure. Rather than being added to the waste stream, The Hudson Company is redirecting the Biltmore's still valuable and sustainable wood architectural materials to our mill in Pine Plains, NY. Once reclaimed, this inventory of high-character, high-quality, century-old wood will be custom milled into elements for new construction and design projects. 

Below you can see photos of the process of reclaiming tens of thousands of board feet of century-old heart pine floors, paneling, beams, columns, and other wooden elements. 

Stay tuned to www.thehudsonco.com.news for more updates on this reclamation preoject and about Reclaimed Heart Pine.

Click here to learn more about The Hudson Company's Reclamation Process.

The Belleview-Biltmore during deconstruction, 2015 -2016.

Beautiful, 100-year-old  'Dade' Heart Pine, reclaimed from The Belleview-Biltmore Hotel, Florida.

Introducing Our New 'Ready To Ship' Product Line

INSPIRED BY: HOME STORIES design shop

Sophie and Paul Yanacopoulos-Gross have created something truly inspiring with their stunning, Brooklyn design boutique Home Stories - a space that feels both timeless and modern.

With strong international influences, Sophie and Paul's style blends a mixture of time periods and geographical styles into a harmonious aesthetic - utilizing a strict color palette that is anything but boring. And from their time living together in the countryside, the couple has developed a finely-tuned eye for simple, calm and natural materials, textures, and patterns.

In 2013, Paul and Sophie moved from Switzerland to New York where they renovated their 148 Montague Street space. In addition to a thoughtful selection of interior and personal items, Home Stories also offers custom services such as cabinetry and shelving design. Examples of their custom work can be seen in the Home Stories showroom, where their custom solutions help display the shop's linens, ceramics and smaller furniture items. 

This combination of well-traveled inspiration, simplicity, and quality craftsmanship are qualities that always inspires us here at The Hudson Company. And it's not hard to see how Paul and Sophie's curated collection of goods and services is becoming such an influential force in the Brooklyn design scene. 

Visit the Home Stories Shop at 148 Montague St, Brooklyn, NY 11201, United States.

INSPIRED BY: Designer MONICA Förster

Monica Förster is an industrial, furniture and object designer from Sweden. Her range of collaborations cover Volvo, Alessi, Whirlpool and many in between. She has received awards and acknowledgements almost every year since 2004 including Elle Decoration's Designer of the Year 2015. 

One of Monica's most recent designs is a set of tables used as side or coffee tables to compliment her line of seating for Danish brand Erik Jorgensen. The thin line wooden frame from the seating range is echoed in these new tables that support an oval top made or either stained wood or solid granite. 

Above is a family or candle holders Monica designed for Cosentino Group and made of a stone material called Dekton.

"The idea for this family of outdoor torches in two sizes has been to play with shadow and light," Förster explains. "The result is a sculptural torch holder full of poetic feeling."

Retreat is modular, flexible sofa system Monica created in 2015 for furniture producer Fogia. With the intent to design something timeless and above trends this series allows the user to combine single seats, corner seats, with wide or narrow chaise lounges. 

““I sometimes say that I’m not interested in form, but that may not be entirely true. What I mean is simply that the idea behind each project is more important. When the idea is set I focus on shape, color and detail.””

— Monica Förster

A series of trays and candle holders celebrating the importance of candle light in Scandinavian culture made out of Dekton, the same material Monica used in the sculptural candle holders shown above. 

Keep up to date with Monica Förster's work or peer at completed projects by visiting her website and Instagram.

This Just In: Reclaimed White Oak Beams from Western PA Ham Curing Shed

This Just In: Reclaimed, Hand Cut White Oak Beams sourced by The Hudson Company from a Western Pennsylvania ham curing shed.

The above pictures show off a beautiful batch of recently recovered Reclaimed Oak Beams, sourced by The Hudson Company from a Western Pennsylvania ham curing shed. These White Oak 4" x 6" and 3" x 9" beams are imbued with a rich, historic aged patina - and feature some of the nicest colors and textures we have ever seen in reclaimed wooden beams. You will notice in the above detail photos, that the ends of the 3" x 9"s were hand cut with an axe (no chainsaw marks!).

Whoever is lucky enough to snag these beams will have no problem utilizing them into their next design project as accent rafters, mantles, shelves or furniture.

Email info@thehudsonco.com to learn more about these specific White Oak Beams or to get a quote for the whole batch. Or, click here to learn more about The Hudson Company's line of Reclaimed Wood Beams and Joists.
 

 

Product In Focus: Reclaimed White Oak Flooring

Private residence featuring Reclaimed White Oak [New Face] Flooring, Central Park West, NYC.

Private residence featuring Reclaimed White Oak [New Face] Flooring, Central Park West, NYC.

Reclaimed White Oak [Bare Finish, Herringbone] at Rag & Bone Boutique, Bloomingdales, NYC.

Rec. White Oak [NF, Bare Finish, Prime]

Rec. White Oak [NF, Barley Finish, Prime]

As you can see above, The Hudson Company's family of Reclaimed White Oak floors are available in several finishes, color tones, plank widths, and with a variety of other spec. options. Closely associated with strength, endurance, style, and quality, Oak has been en vogue for as long as wood has been used in architecture, design, furniture making, and woodcraft. At The Hudson Company, one of our greatest passions is helping architects, designers, and builders incorporate these timeless Oak wood floors into innovative installations that meet the practical and aesthetic needs of their 21st century clients and customers.

Sourcing Reclaimed White Oak Flooring: 

Typically, our Reclaimed White Oak floors are sourced from the structural members of historic American barns or decommissioned warehouses and industrial buildings. Reclaimed Oak floors offer designers a wide spectrum of inherent and desirable aesthetic qualities, including: knots, sap wood, cathedral grain, and 'tiger striping.' Additionally, many of our Reclaimed White Oak floor planks and timbers include unique traces of historical milling, including: saw kerfs, ferrous stains, nail holes, checking, and scarring.

Flooring Specifications: 

For our Reclaimed White Oak [New Face, Barley Finish, Prime Grade] Flooring: 3/4" x 4-6" x 2-12'. Tongue & Groove. End Matched. New Face. Solid or Engineered. Shown pre-finished in Barley. Also available unfinished

For our Reclaimed White Oak [New Face, Bare Finish, Prime Grade] Flooring: Specifications: 3/4" x 4 or 6" x 2-10'. Tongue & Groove. End Matched. Micro-Beveled. New Face. Solid or Engineered. Shown pre-finished in Bare. Also available unfinished.

*Do you need Reclaimed White Oak Flooring milled to meet custom specs or with a custom finish? Contact us today to speak with a member of The Hudson Company Team to discuss how we can help find a custom solution for your design project needs.

Inspired By: California Craftswoman Aleksandra Zee

Photo by Trinette Reed for Huck Magazine.

This week, we are featuring the inspiring work of Oakland based artist and woodworker Aleksandra Zee. Zee's stunning, reclaimed wood mosaics first came to our attention via her impressive Instagram feed, which led us to her growing portfolio of large and small-scale wooden wall hangings.

Trained in the fine arts, Ms. Zee is deeply inspired by the desert landscapes of the American Southwest and by Native American handicrafts and textiles. She has described her work as, 'recreating Navajo blankets out of wood.'

Speaking to Huck Magazine in 2014, Ms. Zee described her passion for working with reclaimed wood materials:

"I believe in working with a material that inspires you. For me, reclaimed wood has a history and I want to add to that history and give it a new life: rustic, worn, warm, and reminiscent. I love that transformation process. First I choose the lumber I am going to use. Then I separate it into colour palettes. Then I lay out a rough pattern, play around with it a bit, and when it’s perfect I nail it down. After the pattern is created I seal the piece and go to town with a sander."

We are excited to see where Ms. Zee's inspiration and passion for reclaimed materials take her in 2016.  

You can learn about Aleksandra Zee and her work at her site. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are from aleksandrazee.com.

Aleksandra Zee for the Buchanan Hotel, San Francisco. Photo by Laure Joliet.

Hudson Company Reclaimed Heart Pine Floors on Architizer.com

Hudson Company Reclaimed Heart Pine [Chalk Finish] featured on Architizer.com

We were thrilled last week, when The Hudson Company's Reclaimed Heart Pine [Chalk Finish] floors were featured on Architizer.com as one of their featured 'Products of the Day.'

The timing of Architizer's feature on Reclaimed Heart Pine [Chalk Finish] seems especially apropos as we approach the first anniversary of the opening of New York's new Whitney Museum of American Art - a large-scale installation in which The Hudson Company provided over 60,000 square feet of wide plank, Heart Pine floors. To meet the custom design needs for the new Whitney project, The Hudson Company collaborated with the architectural teams at The Renzo Piano Design Workshop and Cooper Robertson Architects throughout 2013 and 2014. At the time of the Museum's opening, Jerry Saltz of New York Magazine described the Whitney's interiors and floors as, 'open, simple, Shaker-like; the wide-plank pine floors are perfect.' 

But whether installed on a massive scale (a la the new Whitney Museum) or used in a more intimate, residential application, there is just something special about these particular Reclaimed Wood flooring.

About Reclaimed Heart Pine [Chalk Finish]

Part of what make's our Reclaimed Heart Pine so special is its unique origin story. 

For the past two centuries, Longleaf Heart Pine was a predominant standing timber across a large span of the eastern seaboard. Its prevalence and unique properties made it the most widely utilized timber in American construction. 

Today, our Reclaimed Heart Pine flooring are sourced from abandoned or de-commissioned factories and warehouses located around the Hudson River Valley, some of which were constructed during the Industrial Revolution. You can learn more about The Hudson Company's reclamation process in our three part series 'Crafting The Whitney Floors.'

Product Specs:

Hudson Company Reclaimed Heart Pine [Chalk Finish] floors are available at dimensions of 3/4" x 4-8" x 2-12'. Tongue & Groove. End Matched. Shown pre-finished in Chalk. Floors are also available unfinished.

Click here to learn more or quote Reclaimed Heart Pine for your next project.

Inspired By: Lighting Designer Tom Rossau

This week, we are 'Inspired By' the rising Danish craftsman and designer Tom Rossau, whose imaginative, sculptural lights are impossible not to marvel at. With their bending, twisting, and inter-weaving handmade forms, Rossau's signature Pendant Lights are, understandably, showing up in more and more thoughtfully designed spaces (and on more and more envious design blogs). 

The man behind these distinctively intricate lights is Copenhagen-based Tom Rossau, a 40-something maker who is self-admittedly obsessed with light and shadow. Since 2004, Rossau has been crafting his intricate lights from malleable wood veneers such as birch. The combination of natural materials bent into delightful and surprising forms is what sets a Rossau light apart. Below you can see photos of Tom at work in his Copenhagen studio.

As a Scandinavian, Rossau has an intimate knowledge of the dramatic changes in light throughout the calendar year, and the corresponding effects these changes have on interior spaces and people's moods. With this context in mind, it's no wonder why Rossau's lamps are celebrated for both their artistic forms as well as their practical function. The experimentality and diversity in Tom's work is clearly a result of the designer's deep reserves of creative energy and curiosity, "I will never be finished making lamps." 

We certainly hope that's true.

Read more about Tom's stroy here. See the whole line of Tom Rossau lights here.