Interiors: An eclectic mix of details in this Industrial Loft

Vintage is a nicer word for old and used.
Industrial is a nicer word for old and rusty… sometimes.
Mix these with the other accoutrements of modern living and you get Eclectic.

I wouldn’t describe homes with a style that is more vintage or industrial as lovely. Simply because lovely things are light, bright and clean to me.

That is not to say I do not admire homes with an industrial or vintage vibe, throbbing with an appreciation of reclaimed items of some historicity. It’s just that when not done well, it is easy to come across as tacky, gloomy, dusty and maybe a tad grimy. But that’s just me and my OCD penchant for cleanliness and comfort :P

Having said all this, here is an Industrial Loft house with impact. Lots and lots of details to entrance the eyes.

What I liked best though are the custom bi-fold sliding doors that frame an almost picture perfect bedroom (would be picture perfect without that plastic storage box sitting in the corner there).

   

You can see the rest of the house on Apartment Therapy.

Interiors: Pure white furnishings to accentuate display items and accent furniture

Simple monotone furniture and furnishings downplay these functional items and draw one’s eye to the decorative items like the pair of crafted chairs. I like how the straight lines of the display case and sofas set up a simple counterpoint that accentuates the timelessness of traditional wood furniture with its ornate details.

  

The sheer vertical height of the display space in this house surely will delight the eyes when filled with books and articles of visual interest. Meanwhile, just the sheer whiteness and emptiness of it gives one a sense of restfulness and also a strange sense of expectancy.

I like to imagine this house must surely belong to an owner, a collector of wondrous oddities ;)

via http://www.homeandstyle.com.sg/index.php/luxury-living/126-spaced-out

Lighting: Home of Lighting Designer Marjorie Skouras

Apartment Therapy offered us a peek into what seemed like a veritable menagerie of feathers, taxidermy specimens and yes, lighting this month in this house tour of Marjorie Skouras home.

What amused me further amidst all the quixotic artefacts Skouras had in her home was a little bit of Chinese-inspired lighting with a lamp base with a countenance similar to the Chinese deity – Guanyin.

 

Guanyin is the bodhisattva associated with compassion as venerated by East Asian Buddhists, usually as a female. The name Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin which means "Observing the Sounds (or Cries) of the World".
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanyin

In Chinese Buddhism, Guan Yim/ Guan Yin/Kuan Yim/ Kuan Yin is synonymous with the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, the pinnacle of mercy, compassion, kindness and love.
- http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/Chinese_Customs/Guan_Yin.htm

There is a strange clash of western, eastern religious and domestic artefacts over here which creates a visual dissonance and interest.

But if I were to choose, I would say my favourite lights would be Skouras’ Honeycomb Lanterns. I love the swirling effect on the glass and the hexagon light reflections that bloom on the ceiling. Skouras has this in different glass options.

  

More pictures of Marjorie Skouras’ lights and chandeliers in-situ at http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/a-look-inside-the-home-of-lighting-designer-marjorie-skourashouse-tour-169672

If you share the same aesthetics but have economy concerns, Urban Outfitters does have similar alternatives (some more, some less similar) at more affordable prices. But just doesn’t seem to beat the real thing when you are looking at the finishing, shape and details.

Marjorie Skouras lights vs UO lights

  

Like this article? See other Chinese-figurine/deity infused lighting in Lighting: The Dramatic Whiteness of Exploding Dinner Ware

Sculpture: Yoshimasa Tsuchiya’s quiescent wood sculptures

At first glance, Yoshimasa TSUCHIYA’s work appeared to me to be a fine example of the imaginary leap one takes in the process of digital compositing. But before I mislead you, let me clarify that Yoshimasa Tsuchiya is a sculptor that works with wood, not a digital artist.

Anyway, this Goldfish Sculpture was an earlier work.

Move forward to 2009/10, and one finds Yoshimasa Tsuchiya has given the whimsy a delicate palette of soft hues that I find very delightful in its airiness and faerie quality. 

Yoshimasa Tsuchiya’s collection appear to comprise a fair stable of mythical horse/deer-like creatures. Very pure, stable and quiescent. I would love to see them IRL one day.

  

Yoshimasa Tsuchiya’s site includes a picture page on the “making” process and more of his work of course.

Artist site http://yoshimasa-tsuchiya.net/
Via http://bblinks.blogspot.com/2011/03/yoshimasa-tsuchiya.html

Sources:
- http://www.dailyicon.net/2008/11/goldfish-sculpture-by-yoshimasa-tsuchiya/ 
- http://percentone.com/?p=43
- http://www.superyouth.org/yoshimasa-tsuchiya/
- http://howadorrible.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/yoshimasa-tsuchiya-wood-carvings/

Garden: Is this a Hydrangea flower bud?

I started taking care of a couple of plants a few months back. One of the plants, a hydrangea has been putting out leaves and more leaves and I wondered if it would ever flower. I may be wrong but I am hopeful that this is a hydrangea bud. :)

Interiors: Einstein’s Office

Here’s a glimpse of Einstein’s office, taken mere hours after Einstein died, Princeton, New Jersey, April 1955, published on LIFE.

Source: life.time.com via Little on Pinterest

 

The accompanying photo story tells a pretty interesting tale of how only one person, a LIFE photographer, managed to capture photos of the day Einstein died and how those photos were never released.

I found the first and the last photo most interesting.

Read more or view the photos at: http://life.time.com/history/the-day-einstein-died-a-life-photographers-story/#ixzz1sS8qwaTK

Interiors: Quiet and Reflective Vintage Oriental Apartment

A mix of lighting, warm brown, grey, white and neutrals colour palette create an incredibly soothing and contemplative vibe in this 3-bedroom apartment that doesn’t grow tired.

 

There is a generous use of pretty traditional-looking oriental furniture in the space, yet the apartment does still feel modern and fresh. Have to credit the use of hard edges, geometric shapes and straight lines that give the rooms a crispness that the soft curves of traditional furniture cannot provide.

More pictures on http://sglivingpod.com/home-decor/home-and-decor/modern-oriental-fusion/

Photography: 2012 Pulitzer Prizes

Source: g1.globo.com via Gilberto on Pinterest

 

Agence France-Presse has won its first Pulitzer Prize, with Afghan photographer Massoud Hossaini scooping up the honour in breaking news photography.

Hossaini, 30, was awarded the most prestigious US journalism prize for his "heartbreaking image of a girl crying in fear after a suicide bomber's attack at a crowded shrine in Kabul," the Pulitzer committee said Monday. Rest of article here.

The same photo also won prices in Pictures of the Year International and World Press Photo.

The central figure to these photos, Tanara Akbari, the girl in the green dress, has walked with a limp since the blast. On the day of the blast, seven members of her extended family died, including a young cousin. Tanara Akbari told AFP in a recent interview that she hoped to return to school soon. She wants to be a teacher when she grows up. More about Tanara Akbari.

Prize for feature photography was awarded to Craig F. Walker of The Denver Post, for his compassionate chronicle of an honorably discharged veteran, home from Iraq and struggling with a severe case of post-traumatic stress, images that enable viewers to better grasp a national issue. His pictures here.

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American (Hungarian-born) publisher Joseph Pulitzer in 1917 and is administered by Columbia University in New York City. Prizes are awarded yearly in twenty-one categories. In twenty of these, each winner receives a certificate and a US$10,000 cash award. The winner in the public service category of the journalism competition is awarded a gold medal, which always goes to a newspaper, although an individual may be named in the citation. - wikipedia

Lighting: The Dramatic Whiteness of Exploding Dinner Ware

In this showpiece home of a 1848 Gramercy Park townhouse in New York City (which by the way lights up like an industrial-inspired lamp among all the other brick walls around it doesn’t it?), …

… a white lamp caught my eye amongst all that flashiness. And no, you can’t see it through the window here. Honestly, how do you get any privacy in this house??

Porca Miseria

This is the first time I’ve come across Ingo Maurer's iconic 1994 lamp 'Porca Miseria'. Named after a cuss word AND definitely meant for the dining table, this lamp certainly adds an instant tempestuous dynamism to an otherwise very white, very still environment.

The close up reveals more surprise. The lamp comprises broken porcelain dining ware and cutlery!

Where does "Porca Miseria" come from?

It was when we went to Milan once, for the famous Salone del Mobile [furniture fair]. And I found too many designs there slick and design-conscious. "Porca Miseria" is partly a kind of revolt against that tendency. I'm also an admirer of slow-motion explosions, like in the film by Antonioni called "Zabriskie Point,"where he blew up a castle in slow motion.

When I first showed it in Milan, I called the lamp "Zabriskie Point." But then the first few Italians came, and — since no one had seen this ever before — said, "Porca miseria!" which is a kind of a cuss: "What bad luck!" So I immediately changed the name to "Porca Miseria."

We produce it in a limited number — we do only 10 a year. Believe it or not, it takes four people almost five days. We buy porcelain plates at a regular shop. First, we smash them: I have one, I drop it; or I take a hammer to it. It looks very much at random — and it is, maybe 50 or 60 percent. The rest is in a way constructed: There's a bit of calculation of how big I want to have the piece I want to use.

Chance rules our life, much more than intention.
via http://www.bookofjoe.com/2007/11/the-origin-of-i.html

Trivia

• A 2009 post on http://morningglory.onsugar.com/ placed the cost of the customised lamp at $67,500.
• There are Chinese porcelain-versions of the lamp from Ingo Maurer, the Porca China and the L’Eclat Joyeu.

 Porca China

“Porca China” (china as in porcelain) is a suspended lamp made of fragments of Chinese white porcelain statues and chopsticks fastened around a light source. Like the Porca Miseria, it gives the viewer the sensation of a sudden explosion crystallized in the moment of its happening. It was put up for auction in 2005. Its auction price began at 45,000 euro.
via http://www.domusweb.it/en/design/porca-china-the-best-bid-wins/

L’Eclat Joyeu

Maurer used pieces of white European and coloured Chinese porcelain (acquired during a journey in China), which he teamed with chopsticks and metal to explosive effect. He describes the product as: ‘An encouragement to keep calm and serene in difficult times, an appeal not to stagnate in one’s habits or just a terrific suspension lamp providing excellent light.’
via http://www.idfxmagazine.com/story.asp?storyCode=4741

More pictures of the Porca Miseria in the Gramercy Park townhouse on Freshome. One of the bedrooms also spot ceiling lights that reminded me of the Torn Light by Billy May.

Images from
- http://www.novamob.fr/fr/887.html
- http://marcosns.tumblr.com/
- http://www.lifestylenavigator.de/?p=116

Ikea, now with integrated electronics, to be sold in Europe

Funny video.

Guess the key question is, do we need to replace a new home entertainment system every five years or when one thing conks out before the rest of the integrated system?

Will be interested to see what is covered in the warranty from this solution selling price starting from 6,500 Swedish crowns ($960).

The system, which will go on sale in five European cities this summer, attempts to solve the problem of unsightly wires bulging from behind the HDTV and stray remotes strewn throughout the living room. The all-in-one unit’s wires are all hidden (though presumably, you still have to plug in the power cord and your cable TV prong somewhere) and though the device offers Internet, DVD/Blu-ray, an MP3 player/iPod attachment, FM radio and regular TV, there’s only one remote control.

No word on when Uppleva will hit the U.S. market. We all know that Microsoft and Apple, among others, have been targeting the living room as the next battleground for years, but who would have thought that Ikea might actually be a player as well?
via http://mashable.com/2012/04/17/ikea-home-entertainment-system/

The Swedish retailer is working with China-based TCL Multimedia on the venture. The items will begin showing up in Ikea stores in five European cities in June. “This is a large step for us. We will have an offer that is unique in the market,” IKEA’s living room chief Magnus Bondesson told Reuters. “We are launching a new concept where you in one place can buy your furniture and your electronics — designed for and matched with each other from start.”
via http://mashable.com/2012/04/17/ikea-consumer-electronics/