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OCTOBER 17 AT CENTRO: AN EVENING WITH ROCIO ROMERO TO BENEFIT GALLERY 210

You might recognize Rocio Romero’s pre-fabricated LV Home from the cover of Dwell magazine (November 2006), the New Yorker, or any of countless other publications. It is perhaps the most well-known and successful modern pre-fab house available, and it comes from Romero’s farm in Perryville, MO. Centro will be hosting a reception to benefit Gallery 210 on Friday, October 17, in celebration of their upcoming exhibition of the designer's work, and Romero will be the star of the evening. If you would like to attend but do not yet have tickets, please contact the gallery at 314.516.5976, as soon as possible. Although an RSVP was requested by October 7, it may still be possible for us to accommodate you. If you are already on the list, we look forward to seeing you on the 17th!

The EcoSmart Fire is an Australian innovation, new to the US market, that brings indoor fire into the 21st century by offering greater efficiency, convenience, and design flexibility than has ever been possible before. An environmentally friendly, open fireplace that requires no chimney or venting of any kind, no wood, and no utility connection, EcoSmart is fueled by clean-burning denatured alcohol. No matter where you live, EcoSmart fireplaces allow you to bring big, bright fire into your home, without the mess of wood, ashes, and smoke, and with no heat lost to the outdoors. With a wide range of different fire solutions, EcoSmart offers a fireplace for virtually every type of space. Freestanding fireplaces  with clean modern lines can become the highlight of your living area, and then, like a piece of furniture, they can be taken with you when you move. Stainless steel inserts for new construction or renovation allow for greater integration. Grate units can be placed in existing fireplaces, even if the flue has been sealed. Additionally, the EcoSmart burner unit, the heart of every EcoSmart fireplace, can be purchased by itself for highly specialized custom projects. Beginning next week, several EcoSmart fireplaces will be on display at Centro—making St. Louis modern since 1988, and now making St. Louis think about fire in a totally new way.

ClassiCon is known to most as the manufacturer of classic Eileen Grey designs from the 1920s and 30s. Though they remain rigorously committed to preserving the spirit of these now-historic pieces, they also champion contemporary works by leading designers such as Konstantin Grcic and Alfredo Häberli. Shunning superficial novelty and ever-changing trends and fads, ClassiCon endeavors only to produce designs which have timeless appeal. Konstantin Grcic’s Orcus desk , designed in 1995, would probably have seemed as appropriate at the Bauhaus in 1929 as it does at Centro today. His Diana tables, designed in 2002, express a refined, cutting-edge aesthetic that seems decidedly 21st century, yet they are strikingly reminiscent of the Dutch De Stijl movement of the 1920s. These and other examples of the ClassiCon collection are now on display at Centro. We are happy to be the exclusive source for this German manufacturer's designs in St. Louis.

Though the Pulitzer Foundation’s highly successful Dan Flavin exhibition has closed, there is still time to see The Light Project, a series of outdoor installations involving light, in areas surrounding the Pulitzer Foundation and the Contemporary Art Museum. Chorus , the work by Rainer Kehres & Sebastian Hungerer at Spring Avenue Church, is certainly the most visible, but each piece, on its own, is deserving of a visit. The works are best seen in the evening or at night, perhaps on the way home from a concert in Grand Center, or after our fundraiser on Friday, October 17, the project’s final day.

All of the artworks are easily seen from the car (be sure to check out the map), but are best appreciated on foot. This is especially true of the untitled work by Jason Peters , which entices visitors to walk under and through the piece. One of the most exciting results of The Light Project is evident when drivers passing by on Spring Ave. slow down to stop and stare and get out of their cars, captivated by the glowing colors that hover over the ruined church. Some of them might decide to visit one of the neighborhood’s museums for the first time. Similarly, people who drive in to see the project might find themselves walking around in this part of the city for the first time. These installations represent the best of public art: its capacity to reach people in ways that they weren’t expecting, to open minds and expand perspectives.
 

Centro would like to congratulate this year’s winners of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) / St. Louis Chapter design awards. We are pleased to have underwritten the publication of the 2008 book, A Year of Design, available for purchase at the AIA St. Louis bookstore located at 911 Washington Avenue, Suite 100.