A couple weeks ago a contact of mine at the Columbus Dispatch touched base with me to ask about contacts with midcentury modern furnishings throughout thier homes. I had two contacts come to mind immediately, one of which being my father-in-law. Writer Kevin Joy did a fantastic job with the article and managed to extract a very serious and introspective comment out of Ted who tends to be most often interested in poking fun these days. His insight is inspiring and I wanted to share the article with you who may also be interested in this furniture and period in design history.

Simply stylish
‘Midcentury modern’ makes a comeback among furniture fanciers
By Kevin Joy
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

All the hype is a bit lost on Ted Granzow.

The Dayton native has been a fan since his days as an architect in New York in the 1950s, when Granzow worked on projects featuring bold interiors with Knoll furniture.

The adoration never faltered.

His Grandview Heights condo is stocked with brightly colored Bertoia chairs, an Eames lounger and a sleek dining room set, while his Downtown office is stocked with Brno chairs by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

For Granzow, the collection has always evoked emotion.

“This is an architectural approach — it’s timeless,” said Granzow, 75. “It makes you feel good.

“This is my life and blood and soul. It all goes with the furniture.”

{READ FULL ARTICLE HERE}

I just want to throw this out there and see if anyone with connections to COTA (or COTA themselves) are interested in the idea and want to run with it. As a member of UAArts.org I am challenged to find ways to raise funds for the arts; I also happen to be someone with a great love of public transit and realize increased ridership is the only way to bring better transit options to Central Ohio.

With that in mind I thought a great event would be something like this. All of the arts organizations (I’ve been told there are about 600) in Central Ohio sponsor artists to participate. An equivilant number of scale model COTA busses are distributed to the artists (think something along the size of 2 feet long - easily displayed and transported).

The artists paint these models in anyway they see fit with the understanding that the result has to be family friendly and flat - ie no art car type attachments that pose a service issue for actual busses. Once the artists have created their pieces then the art is transfered to the actual COTA busses. The effect being a higher attention to the busses and some beautiful art moving throughout the city day in and day out. Contests could take place to get people to try and get a picture of all of the different busses, etc. The visibility for COTA would be immense and this project should bring in tourists to see the busses.

The model busses then get auctioned off with the money going back to the arts organizations that sponsored the artist. This way these organizations can continue their mission of bringing public art to Central Ohio.

So what do you think?

• Bike Commuting in Columbus: Dispatch Releases Full Article on Car-Related Death of Tracey Corbin
  This article made me cry. Remember to slow down in your car, put your god damn cell phone down, stop eating you McDonald's and PAY ATTENTION! Your car is not a toy, an office or a dinner table - it is 1 ton (or more) of heavy machinery as capable of destroying life as a knife or sword. Let's all be more careful out there.
  (tags: bicycle accident columbus car death)
• WOSU - Christian Conservatives Want Politics in Church
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  (tags: religion taxes politics election "faith based initiatives")