#3474 | Luminance and Perseverance.
9 thoughts on new beginnings, artisanal lamps, and ticking stripes.
š This is a long issue, so you may need to hit "expand" or read it in your browser...
Hello lovelies!
Greetings from Toronto...a place about which, in case you're interested, the NY Times can inform you on how to spend 36 hours (free link). I usually get more actually useful info (and some amusing snark) from the reader comments on these stories...but there you have it!
Toronto is a kind of New York operated by the Swiss.
Peter Ustinov
Toronto is a nice place, if you like that sort of thing.
Mark Twain
FROM A ROOM INĀ TORONTO...
This room caught my eye when I was looking through the grid of Kinfolk co-founder Nathan Williams the other week...so I did a little digging. I was surprised to read that he and his partner, Nick Nemechek, had been living in Toronto...hmnh! And that they managed to find this lovely apartment on Kijiji (Canada's equivalent to Craig's List)...it's somewhat of a miracle that it still has its original wooden floors...they have a terrible habit in Toronto of replacing these with laminate floors (pet peeve).
TO A ROOM INĀ PUGLIA...
But it appears that they have recently moved on and have bought a place in Mesagne, Puglia. Neither of them are very prolific on IG so I don't have a lot of details but...wow!
FROM THE LAMPS OF MARTAĀ BONILLA...
Having only started with ceramics a few years ago, designer Marta Bonilla has been totally hooked on the material and the freedom that it allows when working. From her Barcelona studio, she designs and creates these beautiful lamps (among other things) using the coil modeling technique, giving each piece a naturalness that does not lose the traces of its creation.
Andā¦she has one of those fantastic Barcelona tile floors in her apartmentā¦I think I may have to move there just for the floors!
Give yourself a little gift...if you have been enjoying A Treasury of Moods now would be a good time to click on the coupon below to receive 20% off a full yearās supply of newsletter goodness at only $3.33/month!
TO THE LAMPS OF LANAĀ LAUNAY...
After moving back to Sydney from New York City during the pandemic, Lana Launay started making her own lampshades. Her work began to get attention on Instagram, and now she fulfills orders from design stores and works with clients on a made-to-order basis. I particularly like her Modular Launay lamp which can be rearranged in multiple ways...
Sensitive to environmental impact, she uses salvaged metals and plant-based materials that are biodegradable, applying washi and cellulose papers, natural raffia hand-stained with coffee, coconut shell rope, Australian sourced timber, and naturally dyed alpaca and silk and wool yarns from Australian farms.
When you purchase something, you want it to last your lifetime, but you donāt want it to last the earthās lifetime.
TO THE LAMPS OFĀ MARR-KETT...
I did not set out intending to do a post about lamps but that seems to be where this is headed...so I'm just gonna go with it!
While looking at all these lovely lamps I was reminded about some that I've had in my files for a while...Marr-Kett in Byron Bay sells a range of artisanal Moroccan-made raffia-covered wall sconces, table lamps, and floor lamps in multiple colorways which I quite like. And...as they are currently in the midst of moving their shop to a new location they are running a big sale!
AND JOS DEVRIENDT (BY WAY OF BANANA REPUBLIC)...
I recently discovered that Banana Republic has launched a new home division...and, as I was scrolling through, noticed that they have some lighting pieces that I quite like. As is often the case with commercial design they are a little derivative but there is obviously someone at the helm who is leading with design first rather than dumbing down to the lowest common denominator. When they show it by the roomful it's all a little same-y (and mansion-scaled) but if viewed as individual items I think some of these pieces would work well if injected into a more eclectic, less heavily "merchandised" mix.
This lamp caught my eye because I like the proportions and I had recently been looking at the highly-collectible work of Ghent-based ceramic artist Jos Devriendt who has been exploring the classic mushroom form for many yearsā¦
AND VIA PAOLA NAVONE...
I like the triple layers and the use of the large "edison" bulb (which they don't seem to sell but are now possible to find in LED versions) in this pendant...
Obviously inspired by the beautiful Paola Navone for Gervasoni suspension lamp (which you can buy here or here in brass or here in silver)...
OOOOOā¦AND LOOKā¦
They also have ticking stripe bedding (I love ticking stripes)...a couple of those shams may or may not have made it into my cart...!
AN EXERCISE IN EXTREME PERSEVERANCE...
One of the many cultural institutions affected by the 2020 port explosion in Beirut was the Archeological Museum at the American University of Beirut which presents an overview of archeology in the Near East from the Early Stone Age to the Islamic period. A case displaying 74 glass vessels from the Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic periods blew over and shattered the objectsāmixing thousands of fragments of ancient glass with the shards of the glass case and surrounding windows. This fascinating short film shows how eight of those vessels were painstakingly reconstructed...
Thank you all for reading...let me know if you have any thoughts!
xo,
Please smash that ā¤ļø button if you liked this postā¦
Mood board credits: 1-3 daturastudio; bohomeinteriors; thepoetryofmaterialthings 4-6 re.jin.lee; stylinginbloom_; nick_nemechek 7-9 Jean Dunand; re.jin.lee; nick_nemechek
šš
Smashing that š©· hard! Loved this so much.