The Design Flirt: We craft too

Come into HD Buttercup on any given day and besides finding new pieces that probably weren’t here yesterday, look out for random acts of creativity throughout the store. We encourage our merchandisers to have fun with their displays whether that means hanging a sofa from the ceiling, piling dining room chairs atop one another reminiscent of the Leaning Tower of Pisa or re-purposing shipping pallets as showpieces on which to display furniture.

To Jonas Bergkuist, who came to us from Opening Ceremony (and before that Sweden, Paris and New York), that means getting crafty. With a shoestring budget of $20 or less, we're in awe of what he comes up with for our showroom. Here are a few of our current favorites.
 

To accentuate this richly textured modern glam vignette, Jonas sought a more graphic background. As you'll see, his signature is adding something organic to everything he does, so in this example he painted a mural of trees in metallics and black, fusing nature with bling.  He began by penciling the shapes freehand and then painted over them in a modern expressionist style.

For this vignette, Jonas purchased inexpensive ivory cotton fabric, cut it into 3" wide strips and hung them with staples from the top of the wall, letting them drape down to the floor for a textured dimensional wallpaper that softens the room. We especially love how the walls seamlessly transition into makeshift curtains that have been pulled back to create a dramatic entrance.

To contrast the gloss and perfection of a grouping of white urns, Jonas added an organic sculptural element using fabric, wire and tape. We caught Jonas in the act of this project, so keep reading for the inside scoop on how he did it.

1. Cut 1" wide strips of fabric. Don't worry about loose threads or being too precise. According Jonas, what makes this interesting are the imperfections.

2. Tape the first part of the strip to the wire to hold it in place. Cover the tape by wrapping the fabric around the area where it's showing.

3. Continue to wrap the fabric around the wire, layering it as you go.

4. When you get to the end of the strip of fabric, tape it to the wire and repeat the process with the next strip of fabric.

5. Bend the wire as you go, scupting it in various directions and connecting it to objects within the setting.