Living

If you aren’t familiar with the iconic modern furniture company, Knoll International, then allow us to take you on a journey through a piece of design history with a local connection. The company was founded by Hans Knoll in 1938 in New York City, and after his death in 1955, his wife Florence Knoll took over as head of the company.  Florence Knoll was not just a business owner but a forward-thinking designer.

Last year was a great one for M!SA as we continued to highlight many different talented local people and projects!  Below are our top 5 most viewed articles of 2018!

If you are like us, you are more than likely a bit picky when it comes to gifts (for either others or yourself). M!SA has searched the city to find some great places to shop for the holidays to highlight those cool mod gifts that you love. Read on for our top picks for great local retail (in no particular rank or order) plus sales and special events! Remember to shop local this holiday season!

Pegy Brimhall is a local real estate developer. One may not think of a developer as being creative, but Brimhall is an exception to this stereotype. She attended the University of Texas at Austin to receive her bachelor's degree in Architecture and has won various awards for her design work. She started her career in urban infill development and worked on adapted re-use projects. She then was fortunate to work for architecture firms that focused on luxury flagships for clients like Marc Jacobs and resort projects with private developers.

SPONSORED:  Home trends are going green and clean, especially in San Antonio, and homeowners are becoming more educated regarding their impact on the environment. Some are applying this knowledge by building homes that are incorporating renewable energy methods such as solar or wind. They are also placing value on energy efficiency by installing energy-efficient appliances, LED lighting, double-paned windows, and foam insulation.

During Fiesta this year, we began to wonder who has the most modern fiesta medal in San Antonio? So we sent out a call to all San Antonio modernists

McCullough Avenue is a major thoroughfare into downtown San Antonio. As it intersects downtown, various entities that serve the surrounding community are found here such as healthcare, faith-based, nonprofits, and businesses.

It is said that you can tell a lot about a woman by her shoes. From fun and festive to sleek and modern, San Antonio’s Chef Lisa Astorga-Watel is a lot of both! Lisa was born in Santiago, Chile and in her young-adult life she eventually moved to Houston, Texas to be with family. As she began deciding her career path she realized that she wanted to make her passion her profession and was drawn to the fashion industry early on.

While San Antonio may not have as many modern homes as Austin, these beautifully streamlined structures are certainly on the rise!  Those helping to change that are design-build firms like ADAPT Architecture and Construction LLC. While ADAPT emphasizes that they are not dedicated solely to a modern aesthetic, they certainly know the craft and their portfolio-of-work tells the tale.

A new apartment complex recently opened up in Brooks City Base called The Kennedy, and as you can probably guess, it is named after the revered Kennedy that ran this great country in the mid-century.  Most of those involved in the building design and development were out of Dallas, and the leasing agency is based in Chicago/Austin, but the cool thing about this complex is what the leadership did with the artwork in the public spaces.  They went local!