Journal
December
This time of year revolves around consuming. With short days and longer nights the best way to spend time with your loved ones always seems to lead back to food. But beyond the actual act of sharing a meal with our near and dear there are moments before and after that are important too. Paying attention to how we prepare a meal or the time after plays with our senses as much as smelling a fresh baked tart. So this December the team at Prospect Refuge talks about how we digest all the moments of a meal.
Isn’t it strange that I can share a piece of my childhood with you?
When we gather for holidays most of our attention is turned toward food…
The Japanese gave us umami now they are also giving us— kukomi…
Place a linen over your head and place the whole bird in your mouth…
November
This time of year is naturally reflective. We give thanks freely and the cool outside air encourages us inward - to be with loved ones and to seek warmth. It’s these moments that we realize yet another year has passed, evident in the wear on our favorite sweaters being pulled out of the winter closet and the sounds of a hissing steam radiator. Its these moments where change is perceptible to our senses that truly mark time, not the ones on our clocks.
The moment wine goes into the bottle it may look like its done evolving but it isn’t…
A well loved sweater, our smile lines, a much used door knob. These items are amongst the many that carry the weight of time…
October
Prospect and refuge. Ever wonder where our name comes from? It is a concept rich with natural wonder and its motivation to our interior spaces. Through symbolic survival instinct and capacity to observe and engage we arrive at the concept of prospect and refuge. Below we play with the senses that make up prospect and refuge. This fall we are launching our new website and getting closer to completing our new location that imbues what it means for us to create.
September
As a New Year approaches, so too does the completion of our new studio home in Tangletown, South Minneapolis! Its never easy to close a chapter, but with that bittersweet emotion which sometimes accompanies change, its time to say ‘audieu’ to our first home in Northeast. We are so excited for more space to grow our team and the opportunity to feature furnishings, lighting, objects and art from some of our favorite makers — near and far — as well as a sprinkling of vintage rugs and antiques that are near and dear to our hearts. We are looking forward to crafting a one-of-a-kind experience for both our design clients and those of you looking for beautiful objects.
Follow us on Instagram for more updates in the coming weeks as well as announcements as we approach opening day and special events.
August
We all have a preference for a certain color. It may remind you of a memory or even a feeling. It is storied that Yves Klein was lying on his back at the Côte d'Azur while he was gifted the idea of painting cobalt blue. But what if you can't see? Can you feel color? A blind person once told me that her favorite color was green, because she liked the way it sounds. May we all enjoy the complexity and simplicity of color.
Don't you want to dive in? That was part of the inspiration of Yves Klein the maker of International Klein Blue.
July
By the time it is July we have seen barren trees go from a pile of twigs to an abundant holder of leaves—transformation surrounds us. Transformation is a continual process that relies on one thing existing to aid another in its journey. In July, we examine the moment that nature and humans come face to face with on another to transform humble pieces of nature into objects of desire.
As my eyes set on the imposing David, I was drawn to the seemingly flawless complexion…
Have you ever stood at the edge of the sea with the Earth's brine washing over you? She can be calm, wild or free…
Beauty does not always equal goodness. As seducing as a colorful flower may be it can also surprise you just how off it can be…
Tell em to take my bare walls down / my cement abutments / their parties thereof / and clause of claws…
June
The Wu Xing, the 5 phases of life. A fivefold conceptual scheme to include the paradigm of the mutual generation of all our lives—Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. How many materials can we say truly touch our lives? Our experience with the world is elemental so in June we explore the creation cycle element—Wood.
"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"…
'Elegant, delicate, and perfumed' are not typical adjectives one would use to describe wood…
I once brought a piece of wood to a carpenter, asking him if he could identify the species…
May
At Prospect Refuge Studio we gain a great deal of creative energy through exploration of analogous aesthetic fields…
At Prospect Refuge Studio we gain a great deal of creative energy through exploration of analogous aesthetic fields. We imagine what we want to reconstitute and bring it into the present by way of collective inquiry and association. It sometimes starts with a type of music or maybe a place, a piece of furniture, or just a whim. Storytelling is our goal. The creation of a connection or a reference, that perfect moment, helps guide our design and bring it to holistic fruition. This spring we turned that process upon ourselves and embarked on the journey of developing a studio scent. This particular scent started with a single image...
April
Our senses are a catalyst for how we consume our life. And although five are talked about the most, the auxiliary senses define how we live. This month, as we embark on designs for an upcoming capsule furniture collection with GATHER Table Co. we explore the fringe senses and how we interact with design- and thus the world.
March
From Winter to Spring, and Summer to Fall these recurrent transitions complete one another. To see the sun set later is to know Spring and with each sunset we fall back later and later till she moves in a circle back home again. For March, Prospect Refuge examines cause and effects; The principle of causation through Ponti's "endless refractions".
February
“After all, well, moon is a polka dot, sun is a polka dot, and then, the earth where we live is also a polka dot.”…
In the late spring Georgia O'Keefe and resident chef, Margaret Wood would walk together…
Avoid ambivalence and surround yourself with the feeling of self assurance. These people and things have left impressions on us that endures the ephemera of everyday life. In the month of February dive with us, into the depths of reaction and define it through these illustrious examples. Read about Rothko's colors, Yayoi Kusama's strength in fragility, and other champions of influence.
I discovered John Pawson in a naïve, impressionable phase of my late teens. I had little predispositions of what was deemed 'good' or 'bad' in terms of architecture and taste…
In the unreason of a rainy midnight
France blooms along the windows
Of my sleepy bathysphere,
And runs to seed, in a luxuriance of curious lights…
Fruit de mer, has earned an auspicious place on our dinner table and hearts. Famed by some, disregard by others and endorsed by one, Giacomo Girolamo Casanova…
In a world of fast fashion lifestyle conglomerates, heritage becomes even more of a luxury…
Neolithic to Modern. The amphora is being spotted outside luxury retreats and inside residential homes world wide…
January
In the darkest months of the year we reach for light, warmth, and refuge. Our winter time is inherently monastic and links us to the rhythm of the Earth's brevity. Follow us on our visual journey of collected ideals, creatures of the sea, and discover a poem from a 20th century Monk.