Shop it
The 19th Annual Modernism show comes to Winnetka Saturday and Nov. 9, and with it, 50 dealers from around the country and their best examples of Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Post-War Modernism, Retro and other Modern periods. From Chicago, look for exhibitors such as Aaron Galleries, John Toomey Gallery and Rita Bucheit. From elsewhere: Art Moderne (Tampa, Fla.), Route 66 (Chatham, N.Y.), and The Robin Cook Collection (Athens, Texas).
Admission: $15 for two days. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 9. Winnetka Community House, 620 Lincoln Ave., Winnetka. 847-446-0537, winnetkamodernism.com.
— Shaila Wunderlich
Attend it
The fourth annual Holy Family Catholic Academy Housewalk includes a Home Floral Expo on Thursday and a housewalk on Friday. Autumn and holiday decorating techniques will be on display and for sale, while five holiday-decorated homes — including a 10,000-square-foot custom home built in 2005 and a Williamsburg Colonial — will be featured.
Cost: $20 (expo); $30 (housewalk); $40 (both); proceeds benefit Holy Family Catholic Academy. Hours: 4 to 8 p.m. (expo); 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. (housewalk). Home Floral Expo takes place at Holy Family Catholic Academy, 2515 Palatine Rd., Inverness. Housewalk tickets and maps also available at the academy. 847-382-1700 or 847-907-3461 hfcaholidayhousewalk .com.
— Shaila Wunderlich
Attend it
Toast to creative table design and contribute to a good cause with DIFFA’s Dining by Design 2008 event, Thursday through Saturday. The annual event puts to the test the entertaining expertise of design professionals and supports the fight against AIDS. This year’s Dining by Design welcomes 46 designers, including Chicago’s Kara Mann, plus David Rockwell and Vivienne Tam, both of New York. Each designer outfits a 10-by-10-foot space to fit at least 10 diners.
Admission: $100 Thursday (includes cocktail party and silent auction); $10 Friday; $25 Saturday (includes wine tasting and appetizers). Hours: 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday; 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The Merchandise Mart, Kinzie and Wells Streets, 8th floor. 312-644-6412. diffachicago .org.
— Shaila Wunderlich
Shop it
Last day to take advantage of IKEA’s two-day sales-tax break. In honor of IKEA’s 10-year presence in the Chicago market, the store is paying the sales tax for customers on all items (except food) at its Bolingbrook and Schaumburg stores. Schaumburg is also extending its hours to 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday [Nov. 2].
1800 E. McConnor Pkwy., Schaumburg, 847-969-9700; 750 E. Boughton Rd., Bolingbrook, 630-972-7900.
— Shaila Wunderlich
Shop it
Though normally open only to the design trade, The Merchandise Mart showrooms will open their doors to one and all Friday and Saturday — and mark down goods by as much as 75 percent. Participating showrooms include Baker Knapp & Tubbs, Anacara Co., Niedermaier, Henredon and Michaelian & Kohlberg.
Kinzie and Wells Streets, floors 6, 15, 16, 17 and 18. 800-677-6278. merchandise martdesigncenter.com.
— Shaila Wunderlich
Watch it
This season of Top Design (Bravo’s interior design throwdown show) has been emminently watchable, thanks to contestants with cred (accomplished working designers, a set designer from “Sex and the City” and a former style editor for Martha Stewart Living), uber-designer Kelly Wearstler’s ever-changing hair, India Hicks’ hilariously wooden hosting and a dash of drama with the early departure of one contestant and a hint of squabbling between the superstar judges. Catch the big finale at 9 p.m. Wednesday to see the remaining three designers decorate a house from top to bottom. One will win the $100,000 prize and a spread in Elle Decor. Haven’t been watching? Catch up on the quick with show recaps at bravotv.com.
— Cindy Dampier
Celebrate it
Looking all dapper and distinguished in the Big Apple recently was Evanston-based industrial designer Charles Harrison. He won the prestigious Lifetime Achievement award from the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, which conferred the awards in late October. It was “absolutely special,” says the 77-year old designer who accepted his honor from Martha Stewart and was accompanied in New York by his son, Charley Harrison, 41, a composer, educator and musician in Los Angeles.
Harrison spent three decades, starting in 1961, as an in-house product designer with Sears, Roebuck & Co., where he later would be named chief designer and create an incredible range of 750 products for the home.
In addition to his family, Harrison thanked “my professors and employers, Henry Glass, Joe Palma [both professors at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago in the early 1950s], Ed Klein, Bob Podall [both Chicago industrial designers with their own firms in the mid-20th Century] and Carl Bjorncrantz [then-manager of industrial design at Sears, Roebuck & Co.].” They “provided a place for me to develop and practice my craft in a time in America when including people of color was uncommon,” Harrison said.
Harrison said education is his passion “at this time in my journey.” He currently teaches product design at Columbia College Chicago and at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago.
— Karen Klages
See it
Find quilts, wall hangings, fabrics, beadwork, clothing and other works from the North Suburban NeedleArts Guild, Illinois Quilters Inc. and the Weavers Guild of the North Shore at “The Fine Art of Fiber,” Friday, Saturday and Nov. 9 at the Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Rd., Glencoe. The show of more than 150 pieces is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m each day, with a special preview from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday. There also will be boutiques selling quilts, gifts and wearable art. Alexandra “Sandy” Schweitzer, a quilt appraiser from Crystal Lake, will give a lecture, “A to Z: Bits & Pieces from the Appraiser’s Scrap Basket” at 1:30 p.m. Friday. Parking is $15.
Call 847-835-5440 or see chicagobotanic.org.
— Beth Botts
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swunderlich@tribune.com; kklages@tribune.com; bmahany@tribune.com; ebotts@tribune.com
