Modernism Week 2020

March 4, 2020

Amidst Minnesota experiencing the coldest week of the year, Kayla and I had the absolute pleasure of escaping winter to go to Palm Springs, California, sponsored by Ferguson and JennAir. We had the best weekend away in the sun, learning about the new JennAir Rise and Noir lines, and digging deep into modern design inspiration during Modernism Week. Modernism Week is an annual celebration to foster appreciation of midcentury design and architecture, as well as contemporary innovations to continue education, preservation and sustainability of modern living in Palm Springs.

Being in a new environment and climate allowed us to enjoy not just the warm weather, but another way of life. Kayla did a Weekend in Palm Springs recap of where we stayed, what we ate, saw, and did. I’m going to dive into the reason we were lucky enough to be there: to learn about products we can bring into our clients’ homes.

JennAir

JennAir appliances are high-end luxury with approachable price points, technologically advanced, customizable craftsmanship, and straight up sexy. Yes, I am publicly calling these appliances sexy! Each piece is so well thought out from their wall oven’s simplistic digital cooking displays, textured handle details, flat tine cooking racks, interchangeable finishes and obsidian interiors. The interiors of their refrigeration units are unique to the industry for using glass and metal shelving with only 3% plastic. As a sustainability conscious designer this fact really perked my ears up. Throughout Modernism Week, JennAir showcased their Noir and Rise lines – progressively sleek, professional grade appliances to fit all of your needs to create a truly custom kitchen.

One evening we attended the JennAir “Make a Statement” event at the breathtaking Ware Estate. The event showcased JennAir appliances, including a limited addition acid dipped range that creates a beautiful patina affect. If you have a cool $30,000 range budget, one of the only 50 created could be yours!

Ferguson

Ferguson has been an amazing partner to us. Their customer service and support is top notch to make our jobs easier to provide high quality products to our clients. Ferguson carries an expansive variety of brands to help us find the right products for every type of project. We’re thankful for their team who brought us on the Palm Springs trip to teach us more about products we don’t have the chance to interact with every day. This helps us become more knowledgable to make the best product recommendations for each project.

Brizo

Brizo is another brand that offers elevated design and innovative features at a friendly price point. We’ve specified Brizo plumbing fixtures for recent projects, including bathroom renovations for phase II of #WestbrookRoad. Brizo has a fixture style for everybody: contemporary, traditional, industrial, customizable, etc. in a variety of finish options. I love the mix of materials and textures they use on their products. Their innovations list keeps growing to accommodate the modern homeowner, including touch-free systems and temperature controls.

Palm Springs Design + Architecture

The way of living is very different in the desert than it is in homeland Minnesota, obviously. Touring Palm Springs homes was one of my favorite parts of the trip because they were designed with a stunning mix of vibrancy and simplicity and outdoor living was top priority. The use of color and patterns were paired with timeless lines and architecture. One of our favorite details driving through Palm Springs was the front doors on all the houses. It’s a whole thing! There is a book called Doors of Palm Springs and a plethora of dedicated Instagram accounts and hashtags to give you all the inspiration for your front door refresh, #doorsofpalmsprings #palmspringsdoortour. Almost all the doors are painted a fresh bright color, while the exterior remains a shade of white or light neutral colors.

In short, I definitely plan on visiting Palm Springs again and again. The weather was perfect, the setting is idyllic, and Modernism Week was such a joy with wonderful company from the Minnesota design build industry, Ferguson and JennAir.

Some recent projects our Design Build team we think you might like:

Arden Avenue Westbrook RoadGoodrich Modern Tudor

-Katie Miller and Jkath Team

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#modernismweek #palmsprings #guggenheimhouse #midcenturymodern #midcenturydesign #palmspringsliving