Search

Friday Five with Nina Hans of Woodsmithe

This week’s Friday Five looks at Nina Hans, the art director of L.A.-based design build firm WoodSmithe, which specializes in creating retail/merchandising environments like window displays, trade show booths, and pop-up shops. Some of their projects have included a showroom for the Levis XX collection, a vintage-style window for Converse, furniture and interior design for restaurants in downtown LA and New York City, and displays for indie jewelry companies. With accounts like these, it’s no wonder the team looks like they have fun. Let’s see where Hans finds inspiration.

1. DesignWorkLife.com
This is my absolute favorite blog! It’s a graphic design blog that features curated, new work daily. Every morning I get excited to open my computer to see what it has to share with the interweb.

2. David Derksen Copper Pendents
I love how the repetitious forms of folded copper create a unique finished product. By using very few simple shapes of two-dimensional copper, a complex form is achieved. Because of this form, when the light hits the pendant at different angles, it gives the illusion of various tones of copper.


Quilt made by Helen Hutten, pattern designed by Vicky Fleming. Photo by Rebecca Haas.

3. Hawaiian Quilts
The graphic patterns on Hawaiian quilts date back to the early 1800s and have evolved very little since then. The main change has been the technique and fabric offerings. I’m currently working on some prints with these quilts as my main inspiration.

4. Rainforests
I grew up in the rainforest in Hilo, Hawaii. Hilo is currently ranked the third wettest city in our country. The luscious, tropical plants are my main inspiration for my new loft, which is located  in downtown LA. My husband and I are right next to the flower district, which makes it convenient to shop for fresh, beautiful, tropical plants.

5. Kitchen Island
I’m obsessed with the use of material on this kitchen island. I’m so accustomed to seeing wood as the top surface of furniture, but this design reverses that idea, and I love it. By using the wood as structure, it allows for a unique display of the rift-sawn wood. The natural beauty juxtaposed with the high gloss magenta counter top shines in the space.

Marni Elyse Katz is a Contributing Editor at Design Milk. She lives in Boston where she contributes regularly to local publications and writes her own interior design blog, StyleCarrot.