Our first day at Modernism Week started out at Koffi. The weather was beautiful and we relaxed outside. Hidden behind Koffi and Just Fabulous is a nice area with trees and grass and lots of places to sit called The Corridor. We discovered this little mecca on our first trip to Palm Springs and we spend part of everyday there. We love it! We were shopping in Just Fabulous when we were told that there was a Palm Springs Modernism Show at the Convention Center. We had just enough time to race over there and had only 40 minutes to browse around before our Modern Garden Tour. The Modernism Show was a gathering of vintage furniture, art and jewellery. We wished we had more time to look around but it was the last day, so we took in as much as possible. We found some impressive modern furniture and the art was beautiful. As an added bonus, there was an array of gorgeous vintage automobiles outside the convention center. Sunny weather and vintage automobiles….great combination!

One of the other must-do’s was the Expo Tent and Prefab Showcase.

The Expo Tent showcased a modern mix of products and furnishings for your home, including Blu Dot and Urbio. Both lines we carry in our store and on our website. Also, our friend Chris from Just Modern was showcasing some of the great products he sells in his store. When you are in Palm Springs, please visit Just Modern. We dare you not to buy anything!

Sustain MiniHome by Altius Architects was a great addition. This energy efficient, modern prefab is really amazing. It has a small carbon footprint as well as being compact. Our prefab addition at our store was designed by Altius Architects and was one of the first built by them. We love it and had it built especially for showcasing Blu Dot Furniture. We hope you enjoyed this blog series on our trip to Modernism Week in Palm Springs.

A great example of the amazing art at the Modernism show at the Convention Center.

I really loved this piece by Eyvind Earle. It was $16,000. I bought 2 boxes of his cards instead.

This vintage dresser just wouldn’t fit in my suitcase.

We loved the art in Palm Springs. We saw wonderful pieces like this one even displayed on the outside of homes.

Vintage cars in Palm Springs! Love it!

Amazing cat sculptures outside the Expo Tent.

Sustain MiniHome by Altius Architects. More info at sustain.ca

Relaxing at The Corridor.

Two words – nice ride!

The Frey House II Tour is one of the most sought after house tours during Modernism Week. We were very excited to be able to get tickets to see this house.

The description of Frey House II Tour from https://www.modernismweek.com :

“A perennial favorite, the Frey House II seems to grow out naturally from the craggy rocks of the San Jacinto mountain overlooking Palm Springs.  Architect Albert Frey spent years measuring the movement of the sun and the contours of the rocks before he selected the site for his modernism home.  Widely praised as a landmark example of desert modernism,  the Frey House tours nearly always sell out in October.”

The Frey House II is located on a private gated road up on the mountains overlooking Palm Springs. On the way up to the house you go through a beautifully designed gate that instead of swinging horizontally, swings vertically thus saving space as the driveway is very narrow. As we got close to the house, a male roadrunner ran/flew across the driveway in front of us. We were all delighted to see one of these beautiful birds in person.

The construction on the house began in 1963. The original house was 800 square feet and was designed using every inch of that 800 square feet. Frey used built-in seating, cabinets and dining/work surface. The highlight of the house is the massive rock that existed on the property and which Frey built the house around.  Frey expanded the house by 400 square feet in 1972 to add a guest room. Colour is everywhere in this house from the yellow curtains to the turquoise blue of the kitchen cabinets to the blue of the pool and the sky. The pool seems almost to be suspended over the amazing views of Palm Springs. If you ever get a chance to get tickets to this house, we highly recommend it.

The beautiful exterior of the Frey House. photo from www.janeldesign.blogspot.com

The interior and breath taking view from Frey House II. photo from www.shelmosk.com

Pool at Frey House II

Isn’t the massive rock by the bed amazing? photo from www.limitemagazine.com

We love the built ins Frey used in this house.

Beautiful view of Palm Springs.

Another view from Frey House II.

Anyone for a dip?

This is the third blog in a series we are doing about our visit to Modernism Week. Stay tuned for more.