16 Feb Fab Five Favs with Blane Charles
Follow Blane Charles, creative force behind Blane Charles Design Consulting, as he explores the Tucker Robbins Showroom and picks today’s Fab Five Favs!
BCDC & Tucker Robbins Showroom share a passion for being conduits of support to artisans who use the power of their talents for positive transformations of the local communities in which they live, our society, and the world at large.
It’s always a joy visiting Tucker Robbins Showroom where you immediately find yourself immersed in the cultures of far away exotic lands. On this visit I was welcomed by Zarif’s “Peace Coat” celebrating the artisan women of Afghanistan.
My one and only burning question for Ambassador Tucker on this visit was what keeps his flame of creativity and collaboration burning after 30 years?
“I build cultural bridges to remote people!” states Tucker Robbins. ” Once NY designers fall in love with the materials, techniques and designs those communities thrive. I have seen peace and prosperity rise in areas that were torn by war. The effect both abroad and at home is very satisfying, addictive as NY becomes more and more an international hub of creativity. I rejoice and want to do more connecting, bridging and designing.”
Here are my “Fab Five Favs!” celebrating Ambassadors of Peace & Culture through Design.
Produced in Kabul, the Zarif collection “provides a platform where traditional, high-quality craftsmanship is a source of economic opportunity and personal fulfillment.” Naturally dyed fabrics are sourced from what was formerly know as the “Silk Roads,” Afghanistan and Central Asia. Ultimately Zolaykha is an ambassador opening our eyes to the rich cultural heritage of Afghanistan and its people.
“Necklaces give to a woman the importance and nobility she deserves.” – Giuliana
It was “love at first sight” when I first viewed Giuliana’s Inform Collection. For over 20 years Giuliana, in collaboration with many of the worlds prestigious design houses, has utilized her Italian finger tips as tools to artistically translate her international discoveries, spiritual awakening, and her passion for life itself. In 1995 she launched GM Collections, her own line of jewelry and interior accents.
TR Interiors
Tucker’s designs are infused with a potpourri of cultural artistry and history. Each piece is rich with ethnic diversity which is celebrated through the beauty it showcases.
C Form Alto is a solid concrete top, delicately balanced on our neo-wave sewn straw-braid base. Natural concrete and choice of three colors of hand dyed braid, from our selection of 25 straw colors.
The Feather Headdress, also called a Tyn, is worn at royal court affairs by the chiefs, senior dignitaries, prominent officials and important dancers of Cameroon. Sewn into a raffia base covered in material, the headdress is an explosion of feathers adding texture and color anywhere it is needed.
Porcelain Spider’s Nest Reinterpreted in Peruvian porcelain from the royal family of the Bamun tribe in Cameroon, the pattern speaks of their creation story where it was the female spider who wove the web which caught creation. Assisted by Aid to Artisans and funded by USAID money, Tucker helped found the porcelain workshop that produces his pieces as a way to give the people of Peru meaningful, fulfilling jobs to dispel the strife of civil war.
A BIG THANK YOU to Zachary Cento for his assistance with putting the finishing touches on this feature.
Photos courtesy of:
Giuliana Michelotti for GM Collections
Lorenzo Tugnoli for Zarif
Tucker Robbins Unlimited Inc
About Blane Charles:
Founder + President
Blane Charles Design Consulting (BCDC)
“Why just wear a diamond, when you can be one!”
[email protected]
No Comments