Reduction by Design

A bridge, a canal, a sky.



We probably see a thousand raw master strokes of design daily: The way a building meets the sky, the way a cluster of streetlights, wires, and telephone towers meet, how an orange bridge meets a blue sky and still water. The challenge is clearing away the surrounding noise and finding the purer signal.



The art of design is both a matter of collection and subtraction and the resonant harmony in-between.



Often the answer is the simple one; Simple it may be, but not unconscious.



Chaos will find us soon enough. For now, let's just enjoy the quiet.

The Allure of Blunt Forces

It's where dark meets light, hard meets soft, and density meets sparsity; that place where oppositional forces create an alluring energy. Blame human consciousness: In our non-zenlike moments our minds tend toward a continuous whorl of tension. Such is creature life on earth. This may explain why we're so often drawn to blunt polar forces, whether in fashion, in a room, a chair, or a jungle.









































Humans crave order and yet we don't trust it. This could explain why great design is often found to be that which pushes order closer to the edge.























The graceful chair, edged in lace, standing before the industrial-like rivets and stainless wall cover. The dark-stained matte hardwood floor snuggles easily with billowing drapes and a lamp shade's dangling appendages.





















The libertine chaos of the rain forest is smoothed with the minimalist geometry of modern Shangri-La.












Sweet dreams to be found beneath a cave's coarse canopy. A rage of raw stone is softened with forced right angles and the sweep of white linen. All around the delicate aroma of aged Mother Earth and the quietude of her belly: Bliss.

In case you missed this, the LA Times recently did a feature on a designer you may've heard of.
















We'd also like to thank the Times for two other stories on Sean and Knibb Design from 2009: Sean Knibb's paint box; Landscape Designer Sean Knibb likes nature's ideas