RADAR / SCENE
#INSTACRUSH @sacredthistle
WHO: Sydney Peterson and Cornelia Peterson, the mother-daughter co-owners of Sacred Thistle, a floral design studio and retail boutique near Denver’s Capitol Hill district, manage this dreamy feed that captures their dark, wabi-sabi style. WHAT: Expect to see flowers—in sculptural arrangements and close-up shots—alongside new home accessories and even occasional hip-hop lyrics. As the duo describe, “We want it to feel dark, sexy and weird, like an art gallery of beautiful things.”
IN THEIR WORDS: “In person, flowers steal the show, but on camera it’s a whole new way of viewing them. If we’re skeptical of a design or have been looking at it for too long, we photograph it—and it’s as if we’re viewing it with a new set of eyes.”
BLUEPRINT DAIRY BLOCK
A new micro-neighborhood is coming to Denver’s Lower Downtown Historic District this spring with the opening of Dairy Block, a full city block on the former site of the Windsor Farm Dairy company. The reimagined block combines historic and new buildings— including a six-story office tower (below) and a 172-room hotel, The Maven—connected by an outdoor alley lined with retail shops, restaurants and installations by emerging Denver artists. Sage Hospitality’s fourth boutique hotel in the city, The Maven will feature creative direction from Brooklyn-based Crème/Jun Aizaki Architecture & Design and Denver-based Johnson Nathan Strohe. Loft-like guest rooms will be accented with raw rolled steel, beetle-kill wood and concrete, honoring LoDo’s ongoing transformation of industrial spaces into meaningful places for residents and visitors to enjoy. dairyblock.com
THE INSIDER LAURA MEDICUS
“Design doesn’t occur in a vacuum. It starts with a conversation,” says Laura Medicus, owner of Denver-based Laura Medicus Interiors. “More and more of my clients are new to Colorado, and they’re bringing with them style—and ideas about style— from other parts of the country.” The designer uses her blog, coloradonest.com, to continue those conversations, adding helpful how-tos and fascinating bits of industry history. “My aim is to inspire and educate but also to be entertaining,” she says. That sensibility extends to her residential designs— livable, interesting spaces in tune with the personalities of the people who inhabit them. “I like clients with a good sense of humor about life and design, and I like the stories they bring to a project,” Medicus says. “Design should be fun.” Here, she shares a few favorite sources for finding talking pieces. gildedinterior.com Local treasure trove: It’s important for a room to include a few things that are old or unusual. For those pieces, I adore checking out the Colorado Antique Gallery in Littleton. It’s in a strip mall sandwiched between car dealerships, and it’s crammed with delightful, confusing, tacky, stylish and wonderfully odd and beautiful things. For the art enthusiast: There are so many talented, hardworking, creative people in Colorado, and a walk through the Art District on Santa Fe on the first Friday of each month—when galleries are open later—is a great way to start discovering them. I also love the work my interiors photographer, Sara Yoder, is doing with her photos of Denver. Her work is at the Denver Art Society Cooperative right now, and I have a few of her photos in my home. And I’m a fan of the little pieces of art Heidi Annalise is painting right now—they are gorgeous landscape scenes on the inside covers of mint tins. Spring refresh: I’d like to find a striking antique doorknocker for my front door. I plan to scour the inventory at Eron Johnson Antiques and Grandpa Snazzy’s Hardware, both in Denver.
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WRITTEN AND PRODUCED BY CHRISTINE DEORIO
instacrush photos: courtesy sacred thistle. the insider photo: sara yoder. blueprint rendering: courtesy dairy block.
WHY: Initially a place to promote the floral-design business, the feed has become a space that offers inspiring ideas while inviting collaborations with other artists and creatives. “There is something so exciting about stumbling upon an account that just feeds your soul’s inspiration, and we strive to provide that,” say the pair.
DATE BOOK BRAD TOMECEK
In 2013, Brad Tomecek founded Denver’s Tomecek Studio Architecture with the goal of crafting spaces based on the sculpting of light, surface and material. His firm’s awardwinning portfolio includes a range of commercial, residential and public spaces, from the 21,000-square-foot Bierstadt Lagerhaus, Rackhouse Pub and C Squared Ciders in Denver to the 450-square-foot Mt. Sanitas Tiny House in Boulder. Though his firm’s work is often labeled as contemporary or modern, Tomecek says his team creates situationally responsive solutions that respect each client’s needs and location. “Our projects are unique, each with different forces and personalities,” he says, “so I would hope our signature aesthetic is distinction.” On this trip through his favorite Denver neighborhoods, Tomecek highlights some of the city’s most inspiring architecture. tomecekstudio.com 9 a.m. Start the day at the Wooden Spoon Café & Bakery with a latte and a blackberry-lemon scone or an egg sandwich on brioche. 10 a.m. Stop by the Tomecek Studio Architecture office to see a co-working space that was once an automotiverepair shop. On the way, enjoy the juxtaposition of old and new residences and storefronts along 32nd Avenue. 10:30 a.m. Walk to the Highland Bridge at 16th and Central streets, and cross to reach the REI flagship store, located in the 1901 Denver Tramway Powerhouse building. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, this late-Victorian structure is an amazing example of early 20th-century American Industrial architecture. Take a minute to appreciate the Richardsonian Romanesque elements in the masonry details and windows. 11:30 a.m. Traverse the pedestrian bridge over the South Platte River, and take the Cherry Creek Regional Trail to the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. Designed by David Adjaye, the museum minimizes boundaries between interior and exterior spaces and uses hidden skylights to bring natural light inside.
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12:30 p.m. Head to The Brown Palace Hotel for afternoon tea and a light lunch. The hotel exudes elegance with its Italian Renaissance style and palette of Colorado red granite, Arizona sandstone and onyx imported from Mexico. 2 p.m. Your next stop is the Clyfford Still Museum—a firm favorite. The upperlevel galleries, where a skylit concrete ceiling lattice delicately illuminates the work, are our top places to spend time. 3 p.m. Stop by RedLine, a nonprofit art center showcasing work from artists in residence, on your way to the River North Art District—where Studio 2b’s showroom, a renovated 1940s garage, is home to exquisite finds, from imported furniture to glass fireplaces. 5 p.m. Head to The Cooper Lounge at Union Station for drinks and stellar views. Try the Bernadette cocktail with chocolate truffles or the Coloradier cocktail with the Colorado Wagyu steak tartare. 6 p.m. End the day at Mercantile Dining & Provision. Order the Acquerello mushroom risotto or the butter-poached Colombia River sturgeon, and save room for the poached-pear mille-feuille or spiced Pavlova for dessert.
date book photos: top exterior, raul garcia; bottom, right rendering, design workshop; portrait and bottom, left exterior, courtesy tomecek studio architecture.
RADAR / SCENE