Monday, November 7, 2011
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Poetic Interiors we love
| Some gorgeous use of special "reclamations of love" and vintage "finds" to create fantastic modern unique style . |
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Find found and love this Article by Tali Krakowsy :V&A 2009 Telling Tales:Fantasy and Fear
The V&A's "Telling Tales: Fantasy and Fear in Contemporary Design" fantasizes, parodies, twists, turns, reflects, winks and giggles. It does it all through infusing furniture with storytelling. By Tali Krakowsky
BY: TALI KRAKOWSKY, PUBLISHED: OCT 06, 2009
Telling Tales: Fantasy and Fear in Contemporary Design explores recent trends among European designers that blur the boundaries between art and design, fantasy and parody.
The exhibit is beautiful and playful, but what struck me most was how much narrative and humor can be embedded in an inanimate object. It's intriguing to think about and reminds me again of the nascent potential that lies in infusing physical environments with the digital.
It's not that I don't love furniture that just sits still and still makes me giggle. Instead, these objects remind me that stories are not just for books and films, and that humor is difficult to achieve and lovely to experience.
Here is a selection of some of my favorite furniture pieces. 
Princess Chair by Tord Boontje
This fairy tale chair is sculpted around the fantasy of Cinderella at the ball: effervescent, elegant, light and fanciful.
Robber Baron cabinet by Studio Job
This polished bronze cabinet is inspired by a 17th century armoire by Andre-Charles Boulle and the twist comes in the shape of an explosive hole in the center.
Else Cow Bench by Julia Lohmann
To help us bridge the gap between living animals and materials, Lohmann created a hand-sculpted leather couch upholstered with a single cow hide in the shape of a cow.
Cinderella Table by Jeroen Verhoeven
Inspired by 17th and 18th century archetypal shapes of tables he found in the library of the Stedlijk Museum in Amsterdam, this piece of furniture was fabricated by a mass production CNC (computer numerically controlled) cutting machine, in combination with hand-finishing. This gives a new spin to crafts and human intervention.
Sculpt wardrobe by Maarten Baas
This seemingly melting wardrobe pretends to be carved from a single massive tree trunk but was, in fact, made from sheet steel that has been verneered.
And my favorite:
The Lathe Chairs by Sebastian Brajkovic
Brajkovic's fantastical twisted chairs are compositionally inspired by the Vortex Paintings of contemporary artist David Salle and formally mimic 17th century furniture. Corrupted by modern technology, they spin and distort while still maintaining their traditional feel.
Imagine now these things being brought to life and becoming kinetic...
When embedded into our physical world, the power of the digital can be so potent.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Lost and Found in a Paris Apartment
Parisian flat containing €2.1 million painting lay untouched for 70 years
For 70 years the Parisian apartment had been left uninhabited, under lock and key, the rent faithfully paid but no hint of what was inside
By Henry Samuel in Paris
Published: 7:49PM, 04 Oct 2010
Published: 7:49PM, 04 Oct 2010
Mrs de Florian, a ‘demimondaine’ never returned to her Paris flat after the war and died at the age of 91 in 2010.
Behind the door, under a thick layer of dusk lay a treasure trove of turn-of-the-century objects including a painting by the 19th century Italian artist Giovanni Boldini.
The woman who owned the flat had left for the south of France before the Second World War and never returned.
But when she died recently aged 91, experts were tasked with drawing up an inventory of her possessions and homed in on the flat near the Trinité church in Paris between the Pigalle red light district and Opera.
Entering the untouched, cobweb-filled flat in Paris’ 9th arrondissement, one expert said it was like stumbling into the castle of Sleeping Beauty, where time had stood still since 1900.
“There was a smell of old dust,” said Olivier Choppin-Janvry, who made the discovery. Walking under high wooden ceilings, past an old wood stove and stone sink in the kitchen, he spotted a stuffed ostrich and a Mickey Mouse toy dating from before the war, as well as an exquisite dressing table.
Photo: GETTY
But he said his heart missed a beat when he caught sight of a stunning tableau of a woman in a pink muslin evening dress.
The painting was by Boldini and the subject a beautiful Frenchwoman who turned out to be the artist’s former muse and whose granddaughter it was who had left the flat uninhabited for more than half a century.
Giovanni Boldini
The muse was Marthe de Florian, an actress with a long list of ardent admirers, whose fervent love letters she kept wrapped neatly in ribbon and were still on the premises. Among the admirers was the 72nd prime minister of France, George Clemenceau, but also Boldini.
The expert had a hunch the painting was by Boldini, but could find no record of the painting. “No reference book dedicated to Boldini mentioned the tableau, which was never exhibited,” said Marc Ottavi, the art specialist he consulted about the work.
When Mr Choppin-Janvry found a visiting card with a scribbled love note from Boldini, he knew he had struck gold. “We had the link and I was sure at that moment that it was indeed a very fine Boldini”.
He finally found a reference to the work in a book by the artist’s widow, which said it was painted in 1898 when Miss de Florian was 24.
The starting price for the painting was €300,000 but it rocketed as ten bidders vyed for the historic work. Finally it went under the hammer for €2.1 million, a world record for the artist.
“It was a magic moment. One could see that the buyer loved the painting; he paid the price of passion,” said Mr Ottavi.
Paris Apartment Found- after being closed for 70 years....
Small Paris apartment- found after being closed up for 70 years-- like a little Parisian Time Capsule
getty images
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