James Ensor
Skeletons Warming Themselves
1888
Belgium
17th of November 2011
Ben Roberts’ series of photographs titled ‘Occupied Spaces’ documents some of the communal and private spaces that have been set up outside St. Paul’s Cathedral in central London by protestors representing the global Occupy movement.
(via Junk Culture)
9th of November 2011
Interior of the Larkin Administration Building, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1904 (demolished in 1950).
Look at this office. Innovative for the time, yes. But do you think anything creative was ever produced in this space? No way!
Fun fact: Wright designed some of the desks so that the chairs were immovable - just screwed right onto the desk. Talk about being chained to your work. Those people could have used access to a yoga dungeon for sure.
For some really great Larkin ephemera click HERE
Chillspacing: How to Have the Coolest and Most Creative Office in the World
As part of my 2011 Lotus Awards hosting duties, I recently visited top ad agency Rethink to put my cool/creative workplace theories to the “IRL” test, and lead a guided video tour outlining some dynamic action items for anyone who wants to transform their own office or workplace into the trans-media creative live-work-play biosphere of their dreams, with Bon Iver Muzak and everything!
Attention corporate/contract/commercial interior designers/architects: This is a very important video. I would probably take notes, because he drops a lot of pretty radical terminology and design concepts you might not be familiar with. YET.
1st of November 2011
Have I posted enough dollhouse pictures today? Yes? Great! Here’s one more.
Lucky for you I think I’m done blogging for the day.
These are some of my miniature chairs before I wrapped them up. They went downtown last night.
I’m just posting this in case anyone ever needs to buy me a present and isn’t sure what to get. You can give me a miniature chair. Any kind. Anytime. Even if it’s not my birthday or Christmas or whatever and you just felt like buying me a gift. I will always accept mini chairs.
I’m good on rush seat ladderbacks though. Just FYI.
That is all, carry on.
I think these are my favorite windows of the dollhouse
MOAR STAIRS I MADE!
They’re kind of janky still, need some adjustments. I made these inside of an hour, maybe? Not including dry time. But still. They’ll do for now. For now, as in, something really cool and exciting is happening with the dollhouse next month and let’s just leave it at that. (Hint: it has nothing to do with this. Way better.)
So I finally installed window treatments in here! I made them myself, and as I do not sew, these are kind of an achievement for me. All the fabric (including the upholstered pelmet box) is from Scalamandré, and the curtain tiebacks are from Mood.
Also - My roommate totally Rococo-revived my little white piano. Wait till you see the fireplace mantel she worked on, too.
Again - this photo was taken at night with only a floor lamp. We do what we can.
Here’s a better picture of the whole room. and more details:
The dollhouse now has stairs! The black stone staircase was original to the house from when I was a kid, except now it’s been covered in about 5 layers of paint.
The white stairs I made from scratch and it’s definitely to my advantage that no one will actually ever walk on them. The handrail and balusters and whatever that bottom piece is called are made of dollhouse moldings. The steps are these thin pieces of wood from the kids craft section at Michael’s that come in a bag - they’re called like, SHAPES or something. You have to look e v e r y w h e r e when you are sourcing dollhouse materials.
The ceiling grate I found on sale in the beads section of Michael’s. Now, I’m not a jewelry maker by any means but I tried and tried and could not see this piece hanging from a necklace, or even as earrings - could you? It’s just so obviously a miniature air vent.
The window treatment I am not 100% done with - I thought that five feet of ball chain from the hardware store would be enough, but I think I need another few feet to get the best effect - the chains hang about 5” long, and I left them uneven for now. I strung them through a thick piece of tape - you pluck a hole in the tape with a thumbtack and thread them through. Despite my nimble fingers, after threading like, the second one, I was in pain. I persisted through the rest, but am not looking forward to completing it. For the pelmet box, I cut this jewelry box in half.
Is the lighting terrible in this photo? I can’t really tell. The photo was taken late last night, with just a floor lamp shining through the front of the house. I miss having time to shoot dollhouse photos during daylight hours, but I do enjoy having a full time job, so this is how it goes. What do you think?
I just love the paper I used on the ceiling in this room. It always gets overlooked compared to the awesome egg carton rock wall. The staircase is obviously completely out of focus here but I covered it in Krylon Make It Stone.
31st of October 2011
Dollhouse Roof Garden - In Progress
I finally spent some time updating the dollhouse this weekend! Here’s the latest in my roof garden. This space was completely naked as of Friday afternoon. Now, nothing in this setup is really permanent except for the wall and floor coverings. I still need to make and install actual trellis on the walls, and make planters out of a pair of fluted Ionic columns - they are going to be dripping with ivy - I just need to find some tiny ivy. The plan for this space is “floral explosion”.
28th of October 2011
I LOVE LUCITE
So I went to the International Fine Art & Antique Dealers Show this week, and my absolute favorite things were… made of acrylics… in the 1970s.
I found that interesting, considering this fair showcases everything from antiquities to Fabergé, to rare books, to lovely bronzes, to 18th century furniture, to mid-century Modern chairs, to fabulous Art Deco room screens, to vintage Cartier jewels, to botanical prints, to scrimshaw, to some pretty incredible porcelain. Because every year I attend, I seem to spend most of my time much farther in the past - closely examining the inlaid gems on 17th century casegoods, admiring 18th century shell figurines, or at the very latest (1920s), wishing I owned a Bauhaus tea set.
But to me, these super sexy seventies objects stood out the most. In my perfect design fantasy land, these pieces are what I’d take home:
Charles Hollis Jones
Pair of Lucite chairs
California, 1970
H: 30.25” L: 26.75” W: 21”
Tambaran Gallery
If you are unfamiliar with the work of Charles Hollis Jones, this page will show you everything you need to know. I want an Edison lamp. What would you pick? A daybed on a lighted base? I thought so.
Marie-Claude de Fouquières
Amber-colored fractal resin oval dining table above a pair of X-form steel supports
France, 1970
H: 29.75” W: 98” D: 50.5”
H.M. Luther
“This table is illustrated in the October, 2008 French Edition of Architectual Digest in the dining room of Yves Gastou. Marie-Claude de Fouquières’ career making stylish pieces sought after by clients ranging from royalty to top designers began in 1969 and ceased in 1977. The wife of an industrial plastics producer, de Fouquières made her first table out of necessity - she was unable to find any tables that suited her tastes. Experimenting with polyester resins, her designs became renowned for their distinctive colors and textures. De Fouquières created pieces for among others the Emir of Qatar, David de Rothschild, and David Hicks.” [source]
THIS. PIECE. This piece! Photos do not do it justice. I actually went back to look at it again a few days after I first saw it. What a showstopper. There was a constant flux of people hovering over it. I had never heard of the designer before, though I’m fairly certain I’ve had fleeting glances of her work in shelter magazines before. You can view more of de Fouquières work at 1stDibs. I was fortunate to chat with an H.M. Luther representative at the show, and he informed me of an article (excerpted below) on de Fouquières and another French designer I hadn’t known of, Maria Pergay. Lady designers kick ass (it’s true). And super sexy seventies furniture is back in a big way. I’m ready for a full on revival, but I don’t think my budget is. Prices and demand for sophisticated, one-of-a-kind pieces like these are definitely on the rise.
From W Magazine, April 2006
So there you have it. Basically, I want to live in a very expensive plastic house one day. Also, I’m going to need whoever to invent that time machine soonest.
Happy weekend. Love, E
Dining table images courtesy H.M. Luther and ArtNet
Marc Bankowsky
Pieds de bouc (Goat footed)
Round stool upholstered in muslin with patinated bronze legs
Height: 18 ½ in. / Diameter: 15 in.
Available on 1stDibs from Maison Gérard
It’s as if the dining table and chairs I grew up with was shrunken down to 1:12 scale and then put on eBay with a Buy It Now or Best Offer option.
25th of October 2011
Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell
Interior: The Orange Blind
Oil on canvas
Circa 1927
111.8 x 86.4 cm
Glasgow Museums, Art Gallery and Museum, Kelvingrove. Hamilton Bequest 1928.
This autumn the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art launched the first in an annual series of exhibitions devoted to the Scottish Colourists. The Scottish Colourist Series: FCB Cadell is the first major retrospective of his work to be held in a public gallery in almost seventy years and brings together almost 80 paintings, from collections across the UK, many of which have rarely, if ever, been shown in public before.
Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883-1937) is one of the four artists popularly known as ‘The Scottish Colourists’, along with S. J. Peploe, J. D. Fergusson and G. L. Hunter. Cadell’s work is perhaps the most elegant of the four: he is renowned for his stylish portrayals of Edinburgh New Town interiors and the sophisticated society that occupied them; equally celebrated are his vibrantly coloured, daringly simplified still-lives of the 1920s, and his evocative landscapes of the island of Iona. — ArtDaily
(Source: BBC)
