sogni d'oro: furniture

Showing posts with label furniture. Show all posts

This bibliophile dreams of a someday home library. I'm one step closer and have spent many hours sitting here curled up with a book in the week that I've owned this chair. Delightful.

PS – I just finished reading the book "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand. Layne recommended it to me a couple of years ago and it has been on my to-read list, but with the movie coming out soon I realized I needed to get my act together and prioritize it among my upcoming choices. Basically I have been raving about it to anyone who will listen—it is easily one of the best books I have read this year. If you are interested I wrote a longer review here. (Are we friends on Goodreads?)

When I bought this desk for $5 at the Deseret Industries, it looked like this:

It's been sitting [in use] in my room since the end of August, but finally I sanded and spray-painted it. The white semi-gloss is a great improvement. This project also did so much to relieve some of the creative ennui I've been feeling for a while.

I love the perpendicular lines in this, as well as the aerial view of a chair so recognizable from its diagonals which are only visible from the side.

[source]

parola del giorno: impiallaciato. veneered.

Italian design vocabulary + Scandinavian design inspiration, yes please.

(I think the above photo is stunning...such clean lines, so much white, beautiful wood, that pendant light, and the blue chairs!)

This is something that I am extremely grateful for: because I had read design periodicals in Italian, once I got to Italy this past summer to intern in an architectural studio, I had a solid design vocabulary. I knew and could use somewhat obscure words like acciaio, maniglia, and rubinetto (steel, doorknob, and faucet). And this was all because of reading.

I read this article on a favorite Italian design website today and it made me so happy. It made me especially happy because these chairs by Arne Jacobsen were the chairs used throughout the architectural studio where I interned (I also used one in this project!). Like most famous and classic designs, there are copies floating around, but I learned what makes these particularly well-designed and authentic. The No. 7 chairs are made from veneered layers of wood, but in between each layer is a layer of cotton, which makes the chairs flexible. And I remembered that yes, they do have some give.

just a happy thought that brightened my Thursday. photos from AT Casa.

As always, I have some new favorites of Italian furniture design. Casamania has several pieces that I absolutely love.

This hexagonal bench! I love the structural design.

I love the subtle and beautiful details of this bookshelf.
The description says it is inspired by urban architecture and it reminds me of tall buildings clustered in a city space.

These stools are named "Medusa" after the jellyfish form that they resemble. So many pieces of Italian design reflect this whimsical taste and inspiration from nature. Achille Castiglioni's Gatto lamp is another example, inspired by the form of a seated cat. Yet in these interpretations, there is just a suggestion of the original form, lending an element of humor to the design. I find that Italian design often is so very clever.

This sofa, with its combination of leather and other upholstery, is beautiful! The buttoned back and use of leather are references to the classic Chesterfield sofas. I love that while this design is modern, the style has a vintage feel. I also happen to love that this collection is called "Elisabette."

As much as I love American and Scandinavian design, I will always have a fondness for Italian design and its clever subtleties.

I've learned a lot of new words since I've been here. But that's a given. These made me laugh and/or are particularly useful.

@ - chiocciola

Chiocciola means "snail" (how appropriate is that!).

squarciagola: at the top of one's voice.

Mostly I just love the fact that there is a single word for this.

tovagliolo: napkin (self-explanatory if you have read this)

stress: stress

There wasn't a word for "stress" in Italian, so they borrowed an English word. Hmm.

tramonto: sunset

I've actually known this word ever since sometime last year I studied this piece of furniture, which is by an Italian designer. But it lately occurred to me the rather obvious etymology: tra for between and monto for mountain, because the sun sets between the mountains.

Eames rocker at the MoMA.

(I really love the geometric quality that the shadows have.)

I should probably go to the library and do homework right now, but I can't bring myself to walk to campus in the freezing cold. Instead, I'd rather curl up on the sofa with a blanket and a book...

Something I really appreciate about my shoebox apartment compared to the basement of last year is that my current apartment has shelves! Most of my books are in New Jersey but I have a few here with me, as well as textbooks, and it's nice to have somewhere to put them.

This black shelf is one that I saw in a magazine a while ago. I don't think the height is particularly ideal, but the style of the unit reminds me a lot of Asian design, specifically Chinese fretwork.

I saw this bookshelf in the New York Times this week, and I think it's perfect! The proportion of the shelves (taller than it is wide, and a more traditional width when it comes to bookshelves) is really great, and I love that it is white! This particular interior is in a house in Morocco (where I want to visit someday, although I'm not entirely sure why) but it has a lot of Scandinavian elements - natural materials, use of lots of white, fireplace central to the room, and natural light.

The only problem with both of the above shelves and their respective magazine and newspaper features is that they do not give resources or designers for those specific pieces! I try to keep track of pieces that I really love, as someday I might utilize them in a project or if I ever have something similar custom-built, I would like to still give credit to the original source, or as close to it as I can find.

I also love the bookshelves my family has which are of Danish origin, from the days of my grandpa's European business travel. I tried to locate something similar online and this was the closest I could find:

Also during that particular google image search, I found the following, which solves the above problem of not being able to find a similar bookshelf with a source/designer.

If you are in the market for a new bookshelf, hopefully you've found some inspiration! If not, well, now you know how I feel about bookshelves. (which is positively.)

Despite the snow, my family was still able to go to New York (upstate first to visit our extended family and then to nyc on our way home). I had been wanting to go to the MoMA for a couple of months and both of those previously mentioned exhibits won't be there when I go home after the semester ends, so I was so happy we were able to go!

the snowy MoMA sculpture garden with its Bertoia chairs!!

This photograph is from the Small Scale Big Change exhibit, which was my favorite of the various MoMA exhibits and displays that we saw. This is a model of the project featured that I loved the most, and below the model are children's drawings; during construction of this school, the architects sought to get input from children who would attend later be attending the school, and if you look at the finished designs, the bright colors that many of the children drew were considered in the design. I loved all of the architectural projects in that exhibit, and it further cemented my belief that design can be used as a social tool to better lives and improve both physical and psychological circumstances.

various furnishings by American designers (mid-century pieces)

drawing by Le Corbusier

Above is part of the frieze in the old (demolished in 1972--but the Chicago Art Institute has the restored Trading Room from this building!) Chicago Stock Exchange, built by Louis Sullivan; the intricacy and colors in this are interesting, because from afar his architectural works are very structural in nature, but up close you become aware of a great deal of surface decoration. This is especially interesting as Sullivan is known for his philosophy that "form follows function," and so the forms of his buildings are very functional and indicate the purpose of the building, but he still adorned these with surface details and decoration such as the above.

(Can you tell that I miss my history of interior design and architecture class? At least a little bit.)

Above: the Trump Tower, below: outside of the Swarovski Crystal store (both on 5th Avenue).

New York is a great city. I highly recommend visiting.

i have a silly habit of pointing out furniture and buildings in movies. melissa learned of this habit today when we watched Inception together... because this chair showed up in a preview and this one was in the first scene of the movie! (and i excitedly whispered those things to her)

I also watched The Family Man in Italian tonight, and learned some not-so-useful phrases such as 'benvenuto sulla terra!' ['welcome to earth!'] as well as what the interior of the Seagram building looks like.

i appreciate design details like these in movies, and i also appreciate my friends who seem genuinely interested when i tell them :)

preface: most of these photographs are taken of buildings, but did you expect anything different? after studying many of these buildings in my classes, and seeing amy's list of new york hot spots, i realized many of them we would in fact walk right past! and it was so opportune.

amy and i spent the day in new york city yesterday. being a south jersey native, i have visited ny countless times, but never have i gone to new york doing all of the planning myself... (usually i have gone up with my family, immediate and extended at one time or another) so it was interesting choosing where to go and in what order, so that we did the least back-tracking and made the most of our cab and subway fares. basically... we went ALL OVER manhattan, and it was wonderful! but we started on the lower end of the upper west side at......

the Manhattan temple! absolutely stunning.

Central Park!

(the building above with the triangular windows is Hearst Tower)

the Balto statue in central park! amy and i both hugged it. before doing so we encouraged the little boy 'in line' in front of us to sit on the statue so his mom could take his picture. "come on, you love balto!" (we watched the movie today, and it warmed our hearts since we hadn't seen it in years)

these sailboats at central park made me so happy! and the stroller-laden new york runner moms made me and amy laugh.

bright colored Monet lilies and a design exhibit at the Met!!

back left to front right: painting by Josef Albers, Zigzag chair by Gerrit Rietveld, Wassily lounge by Marcel Breuer, and the MR armchair by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. I LOVE THESE CHAIRS.

(also note the glowing Chihuly piece right above/behind the MR chair)

Chihuly close-up and an even closer close-up. i thought his work was incredible from day one.

mario botta shogun tavolo lamp, still in the same design exhibit in the met

St. Peter's Cathedral

THE SEAGRAM BUILDING!!! it's the black one at the left, and one of my all-time favorite buildings.

the guard in the lobby yelled at me for almost taking a picture inside, but you areee allowed to photograph the Jeff Koons piece. so fabulous. aaand i still got some of the interior details that i wanted...