ROMAN AND WILLIAMS NEWS

Holy hundred

2011-12-04T21:37:00.001-08:00

Somehow Roman and Williams was invited to the castle at the top of the dark mountain, for a meal with the worlds finest Architects and Designers, we give to - finest purveyors of finestness - the list!

View from our front door

2011-12-04T21:11:00.001-08:00

Whoever painted that cornice red is a god

Sights recorded at this Studio/Tomb of Architects place

2011-10-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

First I Saw this -
Ears, One in Carbon (Plumbago) and solid Brass. One lifted from another office, the other obviously stolen.
Then there are 2 paintings of what appear to be Power Poles, Horribly painted by an untrained amatuer.
Very dull and absolutely depressing. Most likely fabricated by the Alesch fool. Behind is some sort of encaustic painting, a remnant of a Danish Flag with "Sons of Bitches" writtten on the back in Danish. This was likely found abandoned in the trash, the work of a forgotten meaningless man. Adjacent is a block of wood with steel stamps of numbers, supposedly a gift from the Archeologist working on Practical magic. A man whose gift landed Alesch in some sort of jail temporarily. This is most likely a fabricated story. In fact "fabricated" seems to be a re-occurring theme here. In essence everything here is clearly fabricated by a dirty hand or stolen from the trash.

charrette (pronounced [shuh-ret])

2011-06-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

it's a little hush hush puppies over here at Roman and Williams, but we can say that we were in charrette mode with Bobby McAlpine a few days ago on a new project in Manhattan - super fun and thrilled to be working with someone who we think is one of the best Architects in the world. Its a short list for sure!

Check out his book and site HERE!

goose with a tired neck

2011-05-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

it was a long, warm weekend at the Noho Design District and now our McMasterpiece will be moving to Matter. Really Matter! Go see it on display!

"Snorker lamp"
"Heavy-ass shelf"
"table"
"WTF stool"

x

MATTER
405 BROOME STREET
NEW YORK, NY 10013
http://www.mattermatters.com/
TEL 212-343-2600
FAX 212-343-2610

HOURS:
MONDAY - SATURDAY: 12 - 7
SUNDAY: 12 - 6
OR BY APPOINTMENT

NEAREST SUBWAY:
6 TRAIN TO SPRING STREET
R TRAIN TO PRINCE STREET

RW @ McMasterpieces: Friday, May 13th - Monday, May 16th

2011-05-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

We'll show you a McMasterpiece!
Mark your calendar!
Friday, May 13th - Monday, May 16th
12PM - 7PM
The American Design Building at Great Jones Lumber
45 Great Jones Street

RW FRIDAYS = BIG STUFF

2011-04-29T10:42:00.000-07:00

Stuff: Live at Montreux 1976 [DVD]

LOTS OF BIG STUFF GOING ON!
THAT'S WHY WE USE CAPS
AND EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!
BIG STUFF ARRIVED TODAY.
SO MUCH STUFF TO SAY, DO, CARRY, BRING, FEEL, HEAR, WRITE, SO LITTLE TIME!
GOOD STUFF!
PUT IT ON A PALLET!

don't forget THE DUTCH!

2011-04-18T09:07:00.000-07:00

what better way to celebrate 4/20 than by checkin out THE DUTCH?
our sources report that "the restaurateurs* behind TriBeCa's well-loved Italian taverna Locanda Verde" new venture THE DUTCH: A Bar-Restaurant-Oyster Room designed by Roman and Williams will be opening it's doors to the public soon soon soon!!!

*Chef Andrew Carmellini, Luke Ostrom and Josh Pickard

131 Sullivan Street (Prince Street)
http://www.thedutchnyc.com/

click on Grub Street's First Look via our press page HERE

RW goes Francophone!

2011-04-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

learning french over here thanks to our recent press in French VOGUE & French AD...but still keepin it American with some FB news too...click on the PRESS!

Glitter Palais

2011-03-30T11:29:00.000-07:00

Glitter palais is an awesome blog done by Kristin Collins, Kristin was rocking Roman and Williams a few years back when are office was wee small, hand drafting, drawing, designing Goldies pad with us, talking. She is awesome. Here is something she wrote on her blog we love:

Something that really bores me is when I hear an unfavorable opinion about something that just hasn't been considered before. I think it's because I adore many things that stand out, even if it might, at first glance, appear ugly. I attribute my affection for things that at first seem hideous, for the 101 million times that I have changed my own mind after, at first, being a harsh judge. An open mind is a good mind, and Tony Duquette, perfectly exemplifies the notion that sometimes ugly, is simply unique, bizarre and long lastingly terrific. In the dining room that we are working in, we have huge, enormous, over scaled sconces that seemed ugly to me for so long, but now, I'm in love with them. They're over the top, and magnificent.

http://www.glitterpalais.com/

http://kristincollinsid.com/

mo sex! mo sex! mo sex!

2011-03-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

are we allowed to blog that without a parental warning?
well...if roman and williams had a rating it probably would be "R" for REAL!

have you ever wondered what a flat file for the Museum of Sex would look like?

here's a tease...

RW gets up in NoHo

2011-03-17T13:14:00.001-07:00

Thank you to all who participated in our tag sale, it was such a success that we decided to take it one step further on this fine spring day. Enjoy!

RW tag sale

2011-03-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

spring will spring soon and in honor of the change of seasons we've begun our spring cleaning with a tag sale (tag sale, get it??)

back band $86.00

$18.00/letter

trim board $42.00

wing wall $28.95

cash only.

check the itinerary

2011-03-04T12:42:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, last year, there was an idea for Roman and Williams to make a voyage to Asia and the South Pacific. One of the destinations was the Avalon located in Singapore's Crystal Pavilion, interior design created by Roman and Williams. Someday, we'll post some of the pictures from the trip in a little online slideshow.

just read it!

2011-03-01T13:53:00.001-08:00

Yep, we're in another book with some heavyhitters...
Now we just need an awesome intern to help us keep our library organized!

Here are the specs
Title:

Design Is How It Works: How the Smartest Companies Turn Products into Icons

Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover (July 29, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1591843227
ISBN-13: 978-1591843221
Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
Author: http://www.jaygreene.com/
From Jay Greene's website:

"It's not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
—Steve Jobs

There’s a new race in business to embrace “design thinking.” Yet for all the attention, most executives have no clue what to make of the recent buzz around design. It’s rarely the subject of business retreats. It’s not a metric that’s easily measurable. To many, design is simply a crap shoot.

Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews with executives such as Virgin Atlantic Chairman Richard Branson and Nike CEO Mark Parker, business journalist Jay Greene illuminates in a series of fascinating case studies of design-oriented companies—from OXO to Clif Bar to LEGO—that design isn’t merely about style and form. Those are important. But the heart of design is rethinking the way products and services work for customers in real life.

it's an honor

2011-02-26T17:25:00.000-08:00

having fun making a big mess over here working on this thing for the smithsonian...is that humble bragging??

luc sante for president!

2011-02-25T07:19:00.000-08:00

*image from Luc Sante Prefers ‘Linner’ to Brunch NYmag article

we love luc sante, we're revisiting a few of his works and praying that he may help us with our rizzoli monograph.

Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York

Kill All Your Darlings: Pieces, 1990-2005

The Factory of Facts

we like to buy books at strand or mcnally jackson.

here's another good article on luc from the believer magazine.

black sabbath thursday

2011-02-24T12:27:00.000-08:00

photo by: ted pushinsky

listening to black sabbath at the office today, channeling ozzy's dance moves working on big projects!

He was turned to steel
in the great magnetic field
When he travelled time
for the future of mankind!

That's Amore

2011-02-23T13:56:00.000-08:00

Reporting live from Roman and Williams!

PM here at RW2 put us on to KATIA & MAURICE KRAFFT

from wiki:
Katia Krafft (Mulhouse, 17 April 1942 – 3 June 1991) and her husband, Maurice Krafft (Guebwiller, 25 March 1946 – 3 June 1991) were French volcanologists who died in a pyroclastic flow on Mount Unzen, in Japan, on June 3, 1991. The Kraffts were known for being pioneers in filming, photographing and recording volcanoes, often getting within feet of lava flows. Their obituary appeared in the Bulletin of Volcanology, (vol. 54, pp 613–614).

cool book for the RW2 Library!

we put it on the fridge

2011-02-22T13:52:00.000-08:00

going to visit this place in DC to make the whole kingdom thing official.

"feels more 1970s Milan than 21st-century New York."

2011-02-22T07:50:00.000-08:00

feels more 1970s Milan than 21st-century New York - T Magazine on Kava quoted on Guest of a Guest

Two for One blogpost!

Kava Cafe: Roman And Williams Design At Its Height

And here's the link to the T Magazine post! T stands for NEW YORK TIMES...

Ristretto | First Look at the Kava Cafe

RW Book Club's inaugural post!

2011-02-22T07:33:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first Roman and Williams Book Club post!
Featuring Kurt B. Reighley's badass book United States of Americana: Backyard Chickens, Burlesque Beauties & Handmade Bitters - A Field Guide to the New American Roots Movement <-all good things!
Thank you Kurt for writing, and thank YOU for knowing how to read!

Read!

When we designed the Boom Boom Room - this is what we envisioned - not a nuts to butts club -but "Classical Crossover"! Great night! Great move!

2011-02-22T06:45:00.000-08:00

Sasha Lazard Wows Crowd, Including Andre Balazs, At Boom Boom Room

guestofaguest.com

RUM (room) MAGAZINE DENMARK - DUR ER DUM SOM EN STEN!

2011-02-22T06:39:00.000-08:00

"RUM mag from Denmark came over and took some pics. I got to wear my red hat and ignore the photographer so i'm pretty happy. The Danish are cool about stuff like that." -Stephen Alesch

RW Slogan # 234

2011-02-22T06:35:00.000-08:00

The King Of Disco!

RW Slogan # 234: Good ideas, but not like they haven't been thought of before.

Rw Slogan # 192

2011-02-22T06:31:00.000-08:00

Rw Slogan # 192: RW, Half Baked - Finish it yourself.

2 out of 15 is pretty good! Thanks Huffington AOL post!

2011-02-22T06:21:00.000-08:00

15 Hottest Hotel Lobbies in New York City

www.huffingtonpost.com

Rw: Half baked so you can finish it by your self!

2011-02-22T06:15:00.000-08:00

John Dory Oyster Bar at the Ace Hotel: Get the Look | Apartment Therapy New York

www.apartmenttherapy.com

RW slogan # 421

2011-02-22T06:11:00.000-08:00

RW slogan # 421: "Putting a wrench in the spokes of Rem Koolhaas' Unicycle".

Roman and Williams 1st Monograph

2011-02-14T12:36:00.000-08:00

These binders are a crucial part of the process of forming Roman and Williams first monograph!

To be published by Rizzoli 2012....

Employee of the Month

2011-02-11T08:09:00.000-08:00

Don’t you just love her black plastic glasses? <- thanks for sharing NG!

via The New Design Observer

Nancy Levinson

Architect Barbie

Tokyo update

2010-12-20T13:55:00.000-08:00

iPad doesn't allow it. Remember that if you decide to travel with an iPad. It doesn't have flash so Facebook and blogger aren't functional for uploading pics.

Our xmas card this year!

2010-12-06T20:59:00.001-08:00

Working on the restaurant The Dutch....it's gonna be nice

2010-11-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

Andrew Carmellini & The Dutch Link

Coming soon...The John Dory Oyster Bar at the ACE HOTEL

2010-11-08T17:36:00.000-08:00

New spot

2010-08-30T15:28:00.001-07:00

New spot for sweet snacks and bean juice. wear your best white suit and gold shoes and a pinky ring or we'll kick your ass.

GOOD DESIGN

2010-08-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

These turtles are lucky a design professional was not involved in the design of their habitat.
It was built by nature and habit. repeating an act over and over someplace one likes to be.
Designers and Architects and Design/builders typically interfere with that practice.

Really? Who designed the STANDARD HOTEL.

2010-07-27T12:18:00.001-07:00

WHO DESIGNED THE NEW YORK STANDARD HOTEL / A letter from Roman and Williams

There has been a persistent rumor flying around that suggests that Shawn Hausman actually designed the New York Standard Hotel. We have to ask: who is spreading this unfounded rumor and why? We want to get to the bottom of this and, we hope, nip it in the large deformed bud.

We, Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch of Roman and Williams, and our devoted and talented staff, worked for nearly five years to design nearly every detail of the interior architecture and interior design - including custom design of much of the furniture - of the Standard's 200,000 square feet. We have hundreds of sketches, renderings and construction drawings of our design work on the hotel. (The exception to this is the store, which was done by another outside design firm, and the recent roof deck, which was done internally by the Hotels AB staff with Shawn Hausman.)

Although a designer in his own right (who did the interiors of the first three Standard Hotels, two in LA and one in Miami), Shawn dropped in on only a few meetings over the five-year design process, never visited our offices or met with us privately, never put pen to paper on this project and never approved or corrected any sketch or working drawing. Therefore, he should not be given credit for the design. Hausman's own website does not say he designed the Standard! He was one of many people who sat in on these meetings - in his role as a consultant to Hotels AB - but ultimately the entire design was driven by us with our client, Andre Balazs.

We had many collaborators, in addition to our staff and our client, including Andre's design director Christine Gachot, the architects at Polshek Partnership, lighting designer Herve Descottes of L'Observatoire, and others who made contributions to the project. It is simply unjust to give recognition for the interior architecture, furniture designs and detailing of the hotel to this individual. One can simply just look at the first three Standards and compare them to the New York Standard; with the exception of the roof deck, there is just no commonality in the designs. (The common thread between all the properties is the great staffing, playful and provocative communication and creative interplay, which are the hallmarks of The Standard brand.)

We need to set the record straight so that credit is given where it is due. We at Roman and Williams are very proud of the work at the Standard. Its been very difficult for us and our staff to only be credited intermittently for our work, under some sort of "Really?" cloud, and yes "Really" we designed it (with apologies to Seth Meyers).

No one person holds a magic wand on a project like this. It was an intense and high-stakes undertaking in interior architecture and design, which required tremendous patience, talent, hard work, team work and persistence. The project, with all of its quirks, flamboyance, and playfulness, represents the intersection of our client's goals and our design intent, and is very dear to us. Roman and Williams - and many others - spent too much of our blood, sweat and tears designing the New York Standard to allow this rumor to perpetuate.

Thank you.

Robin Standefer, Stephen Alesch, and the staff of Roman and Williams

Summer Shenanigans from the Alesch Sea Ranch.

2010-07-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

Wish Lanterns - Montauk 4th of July from Rachelle Hruska on Vimeo.

The annual lighting of the infinite stream of illumination.

Humble pie

2010-06-23T18:06:00.000-07:00

I was eating some humble pie today then i read that i was a god.
At least in the eyes of an Art Dept at Metropolitan Home.
Potentially made up to sell FEBREZE.
Nevertheless, im running with it - as it was "written in print".
So pie is gone and moving on to eating
Super Novas and some Seas.
Now the SCHOPFUNG can really start.

RW RACE TEAM

2010-04-26T16:50:00.000-07:00

We had to go to Paris to choose a new car for our RACE TEAM.
Road Rally car hybid, probably going ASS.

Choosing is the start. Actually having a RACE TEAM is going to have to happen
in another lifetime. Planning ahead.

OYSTERAGE TEMPLE

2010-04-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

Here-in the great bivalve is to be consumed by MAN. Bow down to the creator of the pearl.
A space being wrought, open in late summer NYC. Preliminary study.

shoes and boots STORE

2010-03-10T12:03:00.001-08:00

We love shoes and booted hooves, and the relationship between pants and shoes. New Store COLE HAAN - in SOHO - Go check it out - my pix sucks and it photographs badly -Catering towards skinny pants hipsters with porn mustaches and melanie griffith "Working Girl" at the same time.

Roman and Williams to design line for Waterworks

2010-03-10T12:02:00.001-08:00

The integration of custom furnishings and objects has always been one hallmark (of many hallmark moments) of a Roman and Williams project. The firm has formally launched its product design division with a contract to design several new lines of fixtures for Waterworks, which will be part of the rebranding of this venerable American plumbing company. These designs will actually have hot and cold water pouring from them - actually into your home.
No more walking to the river collecting heavy buckets and heating it up on your stove! We are thinking of using "metal" as the material. Look to Roman and Williams to boldly drive you into the future with our protoforms and ingenuity!

Willow Hotel

2010-03-10T12:01:00.001-08:00

Roman and Williams has been selected to design a new hotel building for Willow Hotels on 57th Street, between 6th and 7thAvenues. This will be the firm’s second ground-up building, after 211 Elizabeth Street, their sort of well-received residential building in NoLiTa. Loved by everyone but Architects! This new 30-story building is being designed to bring a sense of being hit stiffly in the head with a medium density down pillow and buried by fruit gelees in the same moment. Super exciting. Its behemoth for us.

Glen-check Coto Tie for Ace Hotel

2010-03-03T14:38:00.000-08:00

Love those Ace Hotel uniforms. More photos at SwipeLife.
Better than a tiger print pantsuit.

Knitta Please at the Standard Hotel

2010-03-03T14:34:00.000-08:00

Knitta Please celebrates fashion week at the Standard Hotel.

knit slip bollard sleeves for protection from models and architect groupies colliding blackberry wrecks.

Paz de la Huerta and Juliana Balestin -Standard Hotel by Olivier Zahm

2010-03-03T14:26:00.000-08:00

sexy time for the slacker elite:

See the rest of the shoot at Purple Diary.

Terry Richardson at the Standard Hotel

2010-03-03T14:16:00.000-08:00

Be careful if you see this guy. he doesnt always wear pants. he' a pretty interesting guy, a lot of people really really like him a really huge amount for some secret reason thats not easily apparent.
via Purple Diary

Gravure Magazine - Consumed

2010-03-03T12:44:00.000-08:00

Consumed - A short film by by Bradley Young
Shot on the roof of the Standard Hotel, NYC
http://gravuremag.com/2009/11/consumed/

Via Gawker.com: "Consumed," a "fashion short" written and dirtected by Bradley Young—former photography director at Interview, GQ, Instyle, Talk and Radar—and shot on the roof of The Standard Hotel, features socialite and model Lydia Hearst looking her most bored. She vamps for the camera in various killer outfits and interesting tableaux while subway busker Luke Trumble croons "St. Louis Blues" in the background. At the end she straps on a jet pack and blasts straight into the hudson like haleys comet, its insane.

What's happening at the Ace Hotel?

2010-03-03T12:13:00.000-08:00

The Ace Hotel Blog -- Everything Will Be OK

News about what's going on at the Ace and in NYC.

Ace - Where Architects Arent!

Civilization by Marco Brambilla

2010-03-03T11:46:00.000-08:00

This is playing in the Standard Hotel elevators. Its a totally F'ed up pure stoner moment.

Jimmy Choo for H&M Photo Shoot at the Standard Hotel

2010-03-03T09:56:00.001-08:00

Jimmy Choo is so hot right now. These pics were taken before the place got beat up by hotties doing jello shots. cliqout jello shots.

PALLADIO AWARD

2010-02-01T12:45:00.000-08:00

www.palladioawards.com

Earth to Meekus: Our project 211 ELIZABETH ST just won a Palladio Award. Pretty exciting for us. I guess we go to Chicago in October to accept an award at the Traditional Building Show.

This site explains further.

http://www.palladioawards.com/
thats pretty heady stuff for the 3 people interested in classical architecture in the world.

Maybe now the developer will pay for the missing copper and steel chimney caps, corner column, light globes, proper penthouse renovation, refrigerator grills, solid gold finials, brick urns, eternal flame, bog oak water tower, underground tunnel to mamouns shwarma shack and helicopter pad.
Probably not though.

2010-01-13T14:40:00.000-08:00

The Interior Design Best of Year Awards are the preeminent design competition recognizing superior interior design projects and products in over 50 categories. Roman and Williams’ design for the Ace Hotel New York was selected as a winner out of more than 600 Project entries. This means Ace was the best I guess and everything else wasn't. That seems judgmental and unfair. Architects need to look into this.