I could not simply click Like on Facebook when I saw the video of the Awards luncheon at the White House. I had to pass it along for you to see these cutting edge winners in ten design categories.

The best in American design has been honoured at the annual National Design Awards. The selection process is quite unique in that the award candidates are actually nominated by a national committee of 2,500 design professionals. Each of these candidates must have a minimum of 7 years' professional experience and awards are given for a realised body of work rather than for a specific project.

My favorite winners were the U.S. Green Building Council  in the Corporate and Institutional Achievement and William Sofield for Interior Design.

The Corporate and Institutional Achievement recognizes a corporation that uses design as a strategic tool of its mission and exhibits ingenuity and insight in helping to advance the relationship between design and quality of life in the United States. Through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings, the U.S. Green Building Council promotes a sustainable future for the United States and for the world.

Since it was founded in 1993, the not-for-profit organization has developed a variety of programs and services, including the LEED green-building-certification program, a process that rates the design, construction, and operation of buildings. Currently, USGBC comprises eighty local affiliates, more than 17,000 member companies and organizations, and more than 140,000 LEED professional credential holders. US Green Builder Council

The Interior Design Award is given to an individual or firm for exceptional and exemplary work in domestic, corporate, cultural or interior design. Known for his unique take on modernism, William Sofield believes that design must not only look good but live well. His holistic approach,grounded on craft and materials, creates highly original, compelling, and welcoming spaces. He founded Studio Sofield in 1996 as an interdisciplinary design collective, integrating landscape, residential, retail, corporate, hospitality, and furniture design. Sofield’s projects have included more than 900 retail boutiques around the world for Tom Ford, Bottega Veneta, Yves St. Laurent, and Gucci as well as the SoHo Grand Hotel in New York.

It’s summer time and the living is HOT everywhere. So it must be time to find the cooling comfort of water. Relaxing around cool waters does not mean having to sacrifice style or comfort as we can see from these innovative outdoor applications of Tableaux ®faux iron.

An outdoor fountain located in Texas enjoys a decorative wrought iron touch around it, emphasizing Spanish Colonial or Tuscan styling consistent with the home’s interior. By simply ordering Tableaux Exterior grade, rather than Tableaux Standard,  your piece will withstand humid conditions and rain showers.

Style and comfort in outdoor living can mean houseboats regally outfitted to float along your favorite waterway.

Thoroughbred Houseboats (www.tbboats.com), raises the bar about what is possible in a recreational boat. This upscale dream machine offers elegance and easy living with Tableaux featured throughout the cabin. See the photo of Tableaux ceiling treatment Thoroughbred designers added to this year’s show boat.

Not it’s not a trick question and Christmas is not just around the corner. The kind of magic I’m thinking about this morning is the magic of illusion.

Being all grown up means giving up illusions and seeing things the way they really are.  Right?

Wrong!  – I can hear designers protesting, “But that’s my entire job to create environments  that evoke historic and cultural ambience, drama, romance or other illusory experiences.

I think illusions are here to stay for people. We may tire of an illusion and get rid of that one, but another one pops into its place. I mean, if we say we love nothing more than an uncluttered, simple  environment that is in itself creating an illusion of contrived order. Matter is in constant movement which is the opposite of a fixed, reliable order of things.

So, maybe magic is ability to transform one illusion into another, one of our choosing and one that fully delights us.

I like this definition of magic because it I get to be a participant in lots of magic going on. Every Tableaux® order that goes out the door is a piece of someone’s dream, someone’s illusion under construction. Nothing proves this more than seeing your Before and After photos. Magic making at its best! Callus to see how your interiors can benefit from Tableaux faux iron.