Home Room: Bouroullec Textile Field, PETA and porn, 2012 colors

Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, PETA, Pergo and other notes from a lunchtime desk clearing:

Bouroullecs' Textile Field: French designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec teamed with the company Kvadrat to create the 100-foot-long Textile Field, above, inside the Raphael Cartoons Gallery of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The designers' statement: "We conceived an expansive, colored foam and textile piece with gentle inclinations to produce a sensual field on which to comfortably lounge while meditating on the surrounding Raphael Cartoons. ... No efforts, no apprehension just contemplation." The installation will remain in place until Sunday. Nice time-lapse video on the Kvadrat Textile Field website. More photos toward the end of this post.

PETA goes porno: "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), whose controversial campaigns draw criticism from women's rights groups, said it hopes to publicize veganism through a mix of pornography and graphic footage of animal suffering," according to a Reuters story by Ray Sanchez. The piece adds: "PETA has filed paperwork to launch its pornography site when the controversial new .xxx domain becomes active in early December. While many nonprofits and corporations are scrambling to protect their website names from being hijacked by a pornographer slapping on a .xxx domain, PETA is embracing the new domain as just another way to conduct business." Full story.

Don't tell PETA, but: Pergo staged a demonstration that included an elephant, right, and male wrestlers in women's shoes to prove that the company's XP flooring "can stand up to just about everything." In a fashion contest of bow tie versus high heels, we give the sartorial edge to the elephant. (Another photo toward the end of the post.)

A little less wild: Behr, paint of choice at the Home Depot, released four 2012 "design themes," color palettes that purport to provide inspiration in the coming year. The description for Safari Escape: "Exotic and posh accents include copper, iridescent tile, mirrored surfaces, shells, African artifacts and animal prints."

Animals, part 4: Gessato offered its reminder than the Gaia & Gino Fishscape fishbowl, right, is scheduled to begin shipping Oct. 5. Gessato's price: $139.

Baronial Bloomberg: The New York Times has a piece Tuesday about the homes of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Apparently, the mayor may guard his private life, "swearing reporters secrecy before granting access to his homes," but photos of two "Old World and lavish" residences still popped up for public consumption on the website of his decorator, Jamie Drake. (Sorry, pictures have since been taken down.)

Bath covers: Duravit has introduced new covers for the bath. Lay out four of them side by side and the tub becomes a padded seat. Stack two and you've got a stool for a foot bath. Or deploy just one when you are in the tub, and you've got a table for your book or wine.

More photos ...

Home Room: Prouvé Raw, 2012 color forecast, Pets on Furniture

Prouvé Raw, 2012 color forecasting, "Carrot City" and other notes from the principal's desk this morning:

Prouvé Raw: Vitra premiered Prouvé Raw, a collaboration with the clothing brand G-Star Raw. Says the publicity machine: "G-Star, the Prouvé family and Vitra have worked on giving some of Jean Prouvé's best known designs a fresh and contemporary look and feel, while re-discovering some of Prouvé's less known designs." Photos above. Credit: Vitra.

2012, the year of blue: Benjamin Moore released its 2012 color forecast, which says "blue will be big in 2012 as the population seeks out a sense of calm, trust, and the tried-and-true." Smug note of self-congratulation: In early 2011, when so many were hailing Pantone's choice of pink as the color of the year, we noted a shifting tide toward blue. Of all the hues highlighted in Benjamin Moore's 2012 color forecast, let me go out on a limb and say I'm most drawn to a gray called Sharkskin. Will we be feeling a bit gray next year? (Sharkskin photo below.)

Home office: In a new survey from the American Institute of Architects, members report that the "specialty room" most requested by clients is (drum roll): the home office. Shocking, thinks the reader taking work home every night. The Home office blew away outdoor living rooms, mudrooms, home theaters and exercise rooms. 

Pet portraits: Modernica, maker of Eames shell chairs and George Nelson bubble lamps, declared its third Pets on Furniture photo winner. The most brilliant contest in the history of retailing?

"Carrot City": Next week the Monacelli Press is scheduled to release "Carrot City: Creating Places for Urban Architecture" by Mark Gorgolewski, June Komisar and Joe Nasr. The pitch: "40 projects, created by designers from the United States and around the world, that explore innovative approaches to making space for urban food production."