bridging the divide (with cool furniture & lights)
This issue is brought to you by Huyck House. My friend Evan created this - the highest quality, most aesthetic sporting goods store.
I have been pretty obsessed with Art Deco and 30's design for a while - it's the bridge between what we think of as traditional design and modernity.
Just like there was a lot of interesting music (Talking Heads, Kate Bush, Prince, Peter Gabriel, The Police) in the late 70's/early 80's during the transition from analog to digital, the 30's is very fascinating to me because it contains elements from both sides of the divide.
We are very much living through a Deco-influenced era in interior design right now. I have been talking about this for a couple of years. It is everywhere you look, and I'm a fan.
Deco was, at its core, extremely optimistic, and that energy is what people are craving today. I drove through Cleveland a couple of days ago on the way to the airport, and cruised right past this - the Guardians of Traffic on the Hope Memorial Bridge.
Guardians of Traffic
It's pretty striking; a reminder that we used to hold ordinary things, like bridges, in very high regard aesthetically.
There's a lot of pessimism in the air right now about the digital future (understandably so), and I think a good antidote for this is for more people to make really great physical things.
These are some pieces I'm digging that are designed along that same bridge sensibility.
This Giza II suspension light from EBUR has caught my eye lately. On one hand kind of traditonal symetrical chain suspension and on the other hand and very simple yet elegant tented form. Truly could put this in almost any space.
Giza II
Their Notte Floor Lamp has a similar feel.
Notte Floor Lamp
Also loving the Loquat Pendant from Of Enso via Claude Home. Similar reason...it has one foot in today and one foot in the past. That fabric, which is mustard silk with hand-painted florals, is doing so much heavy lifting. Really nice juxtaposition.
Loquat Pendant
These chairs by parc. upholstered in Metaphores Paris Fabric for Victoria Kirk Interiors. They are really simple yet elegant stylistically, but again, the upholstery choice is pretty electric. You could have the most boring room in the world, and these chairs do 80% of the work required to make it interesting again.
Chairs by parc. Metaphors Paris Fabric. Victoria Kirk Interiors.
I found this Swedish bar cabinet by Erik Chambert from 1934. This kind of thing - equal parts muscular and yet elegant and ornamented could do really well right now. It feels like its moment is reemerging nearly a century later.
Erik Chambert - Bar Cabinet, 1934
Erik Chambert - Bar Cabinet, 1934
A bar cabinet deserves ornamentation. Plain things are great, but they are made better when juxtaposed with some detail.
Similar to texture, ornamentation can really pop in design. A little border around a window, some extra detail on the leg of a table, does a lot when the default is zero ornamentation.
Obsessed with this Germain Coffee Table from Soho Home. They are someone who has been on the deco train. Great brand to look to for what is coming next, have heard from alumni that there is no brand with more meticulous creative direction, and I believe it.
I love the lava-esque rich burl exterior executed in a medium complexity form. The right balance of detail and simplicity.
Germain Coffee Table
Also, the Sloane side table with their Archie Lamp is amazing. No notes from me.
Sloane Side Table / Archie Lamp
Amoir Libre fabric, Dedar Milano. It would be hard for me to like a fabric more than this. That wonderful intersection of complexity and simplicity.
Amoir LIbre Fabric, Dedar
I have heard it said over and over, and I have said it too, but there is an incredible opportunity today for creatives to build their own worlds. The distribution is there - it's never been easier to get in front of the right audience.
This is a kitchen concept designed by Alja Horvat, a must-follow.
Alja Horvat, kitchen design
Nobody is guiltier than I am of spending way too much time in the world of content strategy and digital optimization and not enough time touching grass.
Making physical things and spaces, with great people, has always been the most rewarding part of my life.
When I go outside, even to pick weeds, it is a blessed immersive experience. There's a lot of inspiration online that I am so grateful for, but what I'm even more excited about is building and creating more spaces and hopefully, some furniture and lights. That's something I feel optimistic about.
