Vladimir Kagan

Award-winning furniture designer and nominee for a Luxist Readers' Choice Award for Decor, Vladimir Kagan, has collaborated with mannequin artist and sculptor Ralph Pucci, on a limited edition fiberglass chair that is both functional and a work of art.

The endeavor initiated during a simple conversation between Kagan and Pucci who were examining sketches of Kagan's 1950's era designs. Though never produced, the sketches were of pieces in a variety of materials, including fiberglass.

Kagan had long wanted to create a plastic chair, as his designs were so ideally suited for the medium. When Pucci saw Kagan's sketches, his realized his sculptor and mannequin workshop was equipped to produce the concept. Pucci also felt the project was very current because of an exhibit of noted Israeli designer Ron Arad's carbon fiber armchairs at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Kagan designed a new chair and produced a miniature clay model of it. Shortly thereafter, he and Pucci started to build a full-scale mockup in clay.

For Kagan, working with a pliable material was a totally liberating experience. For Pucci, it made common sense to utilize the facilities of his mannequin workroom and create something new and different, all in keeping with his thoughts of moving forward.

The result is the fiberglass collection in a limited edition of 100 now on view at the Ralph Pucci Showroom in New York, the Los Angeles Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, Ca., and the J. Bachelor DCOTA Design Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The chairs have been produced in foundry black, foundry grey and white ($9,000 each) as well as clear ($15,000 each).

The successful collaboration gave birth to a new collection of limited edition sculptures by Kagan which were produced and sculptured by Pucci at the Ralph Pucci workroom. The sculptures will be introduced at the Ralph Pucci showroom in New York in December. The chairs will also be on display following a lecture by Pucci and Kagan at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum at 2 East 91st Street in New York on October 29, 2009.

Vladimir Kagan Designs is a nominee for a Luxist Award for the best in furniture.

Vladimir Kagan is renowned around the globe for his modern furniture designs with a career that has spanned over sixty years. He started designing in 1946 and by the early fifties, his innovative sculptured designs created a new look in American furniture. Today, his sparkling creations are on the cutting edge of the 21st century. His designs are spearheading creative designs for hotels, furniture, textiles and home furnishings. The New York Times described Kagan as "one of the most important furniture designers of the 20th century. Furniture designed by him in the forties, fifties and sixties have become icons of Modernity and an obligatory reference to every designer. He is the creative grandfather of a whole new generation of designers."

Connoisseurs and museums are avidly collecting his designs today. Kagan's furniture is in private collections worldwide. His prize-winning designs have been published in books and magazines internationally and are in the permanent collections of the V&A London, the Vitra Design Museum and Die Neue Samlung in Germany as well as in the most prominent museums in the United States. Corporate enterprises from BMW to LVMH, Helena Rubenstein, NBC television and many more, specified Kagan furniture for their corporate headquarters, exhibits and events.

Kagan pieces are handmade in the United States by master craftsmen and meticulously constructed of sculpted wood with hand rubbed finishes, hand-tied springs, horsehair filling and custom formed foam on hardwood frames. This is the furniture collected by those who cherish and appreciate exceptional design and quality.

Vladimir Kagan Classic Collection can be found at Ralph Pucci International showrooms in New York and Los Angeles. The Classic Collection is a limited edition of authentic recreations of Mr. Kagan's original designs custom made in the United States. Other showrooms that feature Kagan designs include Arkitektura in San Francisco, Haute Living in Chicago and J Batchelor Showroom, among others.

In 2008, Vladimir Kagan launched his newest venture, The Vladimir Kagan Couture Collection, a showroom to Designers and Architects at 200 Lexington Avenue, New York. The collection is an amalgamation of his designs from the 50s to the 21st century, custom manufactured in the United States. The showroom will feature exclusive fabrics and leathers, art exhibits and vintage Kagan furniture.

From the LA Times Hot Properties:
--Philanthropist and art collector Audrey Irmas has reduced the price on her Holmby Hills mansion, shown above, from $25 million to $16.9 million. The property website for the architectural masterpiece is here.
--Beck has dropped the price on two homes he has for sale, one in Malibu and one in Los Angeles. We'll be checking them out as our estates of the day.
--Interior designer extraordinaire Waldo Fernandez has placed his exquisitely decorated Beverly Hills home on the market for $10.995 million. The listing is here.
--Latin music superstar Jenni Rivera has bought a home in Encino, California for $3.3 million.

From the Real Estalker:
--NASCAR driver Elliot Sadler has put his four-bedroom home in Mooresville, North Carolina on the market for $4.5 million. The listing is here.
--Famous photographer David LaChapelle has put his Hollywood Hills hideaway on the market for $1.55 million. It is listed at looking for backup. We previously covered his former NYC apartment as an estate of the day.
--Fantasia Barrino has saved her North Carolina house from foreclosure.
--America Ferrera has listed a home she owns in the Hollywood Hills for $1.685 million. The listing is here.
--Actor Nick Turturro has put his Tarzana, California home on the market for $1.25 million. The listing is here.
--Television writers and producers Gabrielle Stanton and Harry Werksman have put their Hollywood Hills home on the market for $1.88 million. The listing is here.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--A Pasadena, California home belonging to the estate of the late televangelist Dr. Gene Scott is on the market for $17.5 million. The listing is here.
Romance novelist Leigh Court and her husband, rock 'n' roll tour director-producer Timm Woolley, have re-listed their house and 11.9-acre estate in Malibu, Calif. for $2.799 million. The listing is here.
--Animator and animated TV show producer Gabor Csupo has put his four-bedroom oceanfront house in Honolulu on the market for $5.5 million.
--Rchard Dreyfuss has sold a Carlsbad, California house at a loss, selling it for $1.025 million after buying it a little over two years earlier for $1.25 million.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Fashion designer Christian Lacroix is selling his Paris apartment for €2 million, or about $2.6 million.
--Tennis player Tatiana Golovin has put her Miami condominium up for sale for $1.298 million. The three-bedroom apartment is in Three Tequesta Point, a 2001 46-story tower on Brickell Key, a triangular island on Biscayne Bay in downtown Miami. The listing is here.
--In Greenwich, Conn., Windemere, a 1895 home that Hollywood used for the movie "The Good Shepherd" is for sale for $12 million, recently cut from $13.25 million when the house was listed in September. The listing is here.

From the Miami Herald:
--Dwayne Wade's house is now down to $4.599 million. It was listed at $8.9 million when it was our estate of the day in 2007.