Search result for: the-last-thing-you-aquired-
| # | Post Title | Result Info | Date | User | Forum |
| For me it all started with... | 1 Relevance | 13 years ago | NULL NULL | General discussion | |
| For me it all started with... For me it all started with My Mother. Shes an Interior Designer as well and actually grew up in an Eichler in Palo Alto Ca. So its in my blood so to speak. As I was growing up a thing my mom and I would do every year for my birthday was go to an Architecturally significant home tour, Being that I grew up in California ?California Modernism? was literally all around me and I was naturally drawn to Neutra, Schindler, Ain, May, etc? we would drive through the Eichler tracts near us (I still do to this day) and study every detail. As I grew I made the decision to go to school for design and it was there that my love of Mid Century Architecture was further fed by their amazing interiors. We had a course titled: The history of Furniture, This class exposed me to furniture from so many periods and the Mid century design hooked me from minute one. I have been known to get obsessive about things Im into (which can be good and bad depending on who you ask) so from there I soaked up everything I could about mid century design (still do). I buy pieces I like although my taste these days have been getting a little more on the expensive side (as my next purchase is going to be an Adrian Pearsall 2408-s sofa) but none the less if it appeals to me I go for it. I?m also a thrift/antique store addict and have found some amazing things browsing the local goodwill stores. To me the furniture is a perfect harmony of modern lines and naturalistic forms and materials as well as a real understanding of biomechanics. Ive had many discussions with people who look at some of my furniture and at a glance say ?well that doesn?t look very comfortable? typically after sitting in it they change their minds. What I love most is that Many (if not all) of the furniture designed then still holds relevance today and for a design to stand the test of time and become truly ?Timeless? is a feat rarely matched. Fads come and go but to me mid century design will always hold firm, a perfect marriage of sophistication and whimsy. | |||||
| Gustavo... | 1 Relevance | 19 years ago | dcwilson | General discussion | |
| Gustavo... You make a case worth investigating that designer houses are on the rise as a speculative investment by collectors. Let me express this phenomenon in terms of real estate appraisal terminology. There appears to be a recently emerging segment in the housing market. It is a market of collectible houses. Home collectors collect houses based on, say, the architects that designed them. Houses designed by certain architects appear to sell for a lot more than houses designed by other collectible architects. In other words, some architects are viewed as more collectible than others. In fact, the collector house market seems to be segmented into submarkets relative to each architect. Further, many of the same collectors bid against each other for houses all over, say, the USA. Therefore, the highest and best use of a Wright house is no longer just to be lived in, but to be collected and used as one of a person's several homes. And the best market area from which to draw comparable sales is no longer the immediate neighborhood, because there are no other collector houses in the neighborhood (and no Wright houses either) in that neighborhood. Instead the best market area to draw comparable sales from is (let us assume the market data supports this hypothesis for this discussion) the entire USA where Wright houses are located, because the same buyers for all these Wright houses and they could be expected to be practicing the principle of substitution in buying any of the houses around the country (again, this is just for discussion). The principle of substitution is a deductive logic that underpins all real estate appraisal and all of its various methods of arriving at value estimates. The principle of substitution says that if two things have utility similar enough that a buyer would substitute one for the other and be satisfied, then it follows that one can validly substitute the price of one substitutable thing for another. | |||||
| Ok, ok, room_606 | 1 Relevance | 20 years ago | Modern Love | General discussion | |
| Ok, ok, room_606 I understand what you are saying room_606, with regards to "totally insignificant upholstered american furniture" and "these dealers are wasting the market's time, selling kind-of-OK junk as a collectible". I totally understand, but they are NOT selling it as a collectible. What I am saying is, that when you say "these dealers are wasting the market's time", you are talking about a different market than the market 1stdibs is serving. Yes, those no name pieces are not collectable, but these buyers are not after collectability, they are after BLING (for lack of a better word). Do you know what I mean? 1stdibs does not cater to collectors and the collectables market. If the piece happens to be collectable as well, then that is just an added selling benefit. The 1stdibs market caters to interior designers who are driven by aesthetics first, collectability second. Same thing happens in fashion. 2 pairs of jeans, both made in the same factory who knows where. They are the same jeans, same cut, same construction, but one is ordered a distributor to K-Mart and the other gets odered by a high end fashion label. Same product, but the two different markets will dictate its price. The no-name American furniture is worth less in an antique store because that's where collectors shop, but worth more in a 1stDibs gallery because that's where interior designers shop. So: "upholstered american furniture": -insignificant in an antique store(or even eBay) because it is not collectable, eventhough it looks nice. -significant in a 1stDibs gallery BECAUSE it looks nice, collectability not so important. Agree, yes? no? Can we hate the interior design game, but love the collectables game. Just don't hate the players, that's all I'm saying. Too much hating in this world right now. | |||||
| RE: DA old timers | 1 Relevance | 7 years ago | Spanky | Off topic | |
| ahh, I didn't even realize how much I missed DAOT haikus! Nice one. Here are some pics. One of the visible fissures is what's left of the bigger split. I guess the edges had splintered a bit. It's a solid glue joint under the fissure, which is only maybe 1mm deep. The other fissure wasn't a split at all, just a missing bit of wood..?? I don't know how that could happen but it did. I was worried that the plastic insert would be damaged when I closed up the splits, but it wasn't. I guess it was flexible enough. The splits didn't go together perfectly---one side of the bigger one was higher than its mate but only by a hair. Not sure what that means in terms of how it split apart in the first place but I'm pleased that it wasn't worse than that! I like it without the top so I'll probably just leave it. I'm leaning toward keeping it. I'm not sure what it's worth with the repairs and no lid anyway. I like wenge a lot and I've never owned a rare woods piece, nor have I even seen more than one or two in person. Plus one of my kids already called dibs on it. Haha. What do you guys think about filler for the two fissures? I used gray epoxy and I don't like that is is visible. You can't see it from a normal viewing distance but it still bugs me. I was thinking a blend of black and brown shoe polish that would match the wood color. It's just wax and it will harden and not rub off. Not that this will be doing anything but sitting around looking gorgeous. One last thing---do you guys know what the "2 SORT" mark on the bottom refers to? "Sort" is Danish for "black"---that's all I've got. Is wenge sorted by color? I have no idea. Attachment: IMG_2976.JPG | |||||
| I don't like this last... | 1 Relevance | 20 years ago | sharplinesoldtimes | General discussion | |
| I don't like this last... I don't like this last suggestion. I miss the "ZAP!" effect. You know, where you look at the item and think "How clever! ... and perfect. I wouldn't change a thing". I think the vase is too messy regarding its apperance and function. Like it's trying too hard to be 3 different vases at the same time (which it is more or less). I miss the simple yet precise, clean lines and obvious functionality of many of our previous vases. This is just too much. But I love your drawings, Koen. From the drawing it's actually easy for me to see which solution I prefer. The tubes at the top do no spread out the flowers as Patrick would like, they're merely serving as small extentions for the main body/hole of the vase. What was so great about Patrick's first idea, was that the sterms could pertrude out from the many slim spaces between the tubes and thereby help keeping the flower arrangment evenly. The two lower types of holes on the vase (damn, what's the word for those?) do a much better job in keeping the flowers in place. They do what they were invented to do. Though I would only go with one of them and since I think the row of holes in the middle looks to much like those on the ceramic vases my mother uses in her garden for small clusters of herbs, I would certainly prefer the lower type of holes. These protuberances look like they grew out of the vase itself whereas the other looks they've been added later on. Also, they're more pleasing to they eye and they allow your view to move effortless from the bottom of the vase up to the flowers and back down again (their cone-shape works both ways regarding the moving, visual direction of our sight). By keeping only these protuberances, perhaps in two rows (each with a slightly different angle), we sort of return to Patrick's earlier Photoshop illustration in this thread (which I liked). Hmmm, perhaps we should make a top 3 over the many suggestions so far? I found a nice picture of the inside of a tube. It might be a source of inspiration for someone. | |||||
| RE: New to furniture collection | 1 Relevance | 6 years ago | Kyle Barrett | General discussion | |
| I agree Herringbone, I think 'pure' collectionism rarely exists when talking about furniture. Oda is probably the only example I can think of. I know of people who own storage containers/warehouses of items here in the UK, and they love and covet the items as collectors would. Is the distinction between stockist and curator really important? I genuinely don't know, I suspect if you asked them it probably wouldn't be important. But there's a lot to unpack there that this probably isn't the thread for, though it's taking quite a lot of self restraint not to start unpacking it! So Harlequin, I will instead agree that if you've managed to find your way here that is what is most important. My learning and knowledge from this forum alone (though in its previous iteration) has been critical in helping me develop my taste, knowledge and appreciation of furniture design history. I actually only shared this forum with a close friend who is in the same boat as you, very recently. They asked the same question. I also shared this link, which in terms of books and resources is quite helpful. My partner has it as an evergreen Christmas gift list: http://www.mancha.co.uk/books.html This gentleman is well known in the UK design scene for his repairs on Eames 670/671s. But if you have a lounge chair that the shocks have gone on, or any Eames piece, he's the guy you go to if you want it done properly. Regardless the selection in that link covers a lot of aspects of design, nations and movements within the 20th century. Possibly not much before that, but what comes before is generally not a subject on this forum. I can confess quite a accomplished level of ignorance in regards to anything before the 1900s. To sum up: being here, being engaged and actively searching for pieces (even ones you can't afford) is the most valuable thing, it really does come down to that I think. There's no single library of books to fill in all the gaps you'd like filled in. Recognising shapes, ingesting design nomenclature and developing a vocabulary come with exposure. Kyle | |||||
| IKEA + Olive | 1 Relevance | 17 years ago | whitespike | General discussion | |
| IKEA + Olive No, I believe you are right, Olive. And I have to admit I have three pieces of IKEA - a blonde dining table, an Expedit bookshelf in walnut (faux), and a Malm bed. As long as I don't move this stuff too much they will last a long time. But, my tastes lean toward wood as a main material. And this is where they dgo wrong (particleboard). Olive, are any of your pieces "wood?" My real problem with them is their disposable nature. Not too good for mother earth. I have to admit, these pieces are placeholders. Malm bed - one day to be replaced ... I want a thin edge bed! Expedit - to be replaced by a Knoll or Nelson credenza. dining table - to be replaced, hopefully by a Richard Schultz 1966 series table. So I suppose I could keep these pieces until they fall apart and that would be more green, but as nice a simple as these pieces are ... I know they aren't built well. And that bothers me. And when able, they will be gone. And it seems many people buy these items as interim pieces. One of my favorite pieces I have from a function, price, durability standpoint is my Aalto knock-off stool from target. Ten bucks. And because I am not afraid to use it, just 4 or 5 years has made it "vintage." But that thing can take a beating. I did see a chair at IKEA rrecently I may buy for my bedroom as a more permanent option. It's the Poang, but with nylon straps a la risom / mathsson. Those chairs are sturdy from what I can tell, and it bounces better than any rocker we've tried. Perfect for rocking the baby, still handsome (especially compared to all those faux-modern contemporary rocking club chairs for 400 bucks at Babies R Us), and ti comes with straps now!!! I looked on the site and can't find the webbed version but look at these two versions I have yet to see!!! http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S69861087 | |||||
| Lunchbox | 1 Relevance | 15 years ago | TinyArmada | General discussion | |
| Lunchbox I don't think it's a matter of new vs vintage looks. Tell me people wouldn't fall over themselves if some RAR appeared that was bought brand new, never used and stored safely away for 60 years, and appeared mint on the market. The most sought after "vintage" items are those in the very best, near mint condition. Hence why rip off artists on eBay like Modernisia get big bucks refurbishing vintage pieces then just pawning them off as "Minty" vintage, museum quality. - gag When Charles and Ray designed chairs the ideas were in there most realized form fresh off the production line - not after 60 years of wear and tear. I always buy vintage, but I'm certainly happier the better the condition and as close to "new" as possible. I don't see anything wrong with that. I wont keep something in shabby shape just to be "authentic" - people have to get new upholstry on vintage stuff as a rule, otherwise it looks shabby or worse. If you had a choice between a rope edge vintage RAR that was in near mint condition, even "new" looking, or one that had the look of being used for 60 years (with faded gel coat, little hairline cracks, deteriorating zinc, worn runners) which would you chose? I think some go a little overboard romanticizing "vintage." I want an furniture with great design that looks good - not worn out. It's a fine line and I will always chose buying authentic vintage pieces, but I won't apologize for wanting them to look their best and trying to put some more years back into them. If I wasn't a stickler for total authentic vintage pieces I would have just bought one of the countless shells people have stuck Modernica rocker bases on. (funny this whole thing started over the runners when the fact is if I wasn't so anal and worried about protecting my RAR I would just use the org. runners, but because I want to preserve this chair as best I can I got custom replicas done. This is the only RAR and rope edge chair I own, so I will do whatever I can to preserve it.) -Maria | |||||
| Bank of London and South America by Clorindo Testa | 1 Relevance | 17 years ago | Gustavo | General discussion | |
| Bank of London and South America by Clorindo Testa Provably the Masterpiece of Clorindo Testa perhaps the most important argentine architect. One of the more emblematic building of one of the most important argentine architects Exterior is good, but interiors is awesome, although no photos, as is a bank, is no allowed to take pics. Levels are "floating", upper levels are indeed suspended from the ceiling and there are no divisions between offices. Those spaces you enjoy it, and need to stay more than usual to "get" it. Trying to find some text in english to help me, I find an interview with Peter Cook, and what he said when was asked about a wonder: " Wonder: The Bank of London and South America, Buenos Aires The Bank of London and South America (now the Hipotecario Nacional Bank) was built in the 1960s and has haunted me for years. It is in the financial area in Buenos Aires, and was designed by Clorindo Testa, an Argentinian-based architect born in Naples. The building is stunning: not only does it have an extremely original street facade, it makes the exterior part of the extraordinary interior. Giant trellises run into the building from the street: there is a huge concrete trellis, then a network of windows, creating an incredible feeling of captured space. Inside it is beautifully crafted, with the banking areas suspended in the vast space. The building is on a corner, and a giant eyelid hangs over it, playing tricks with the light. It's the sort of thing baroque architects would have done. " http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/blsa/ | |||||
| Barragan and Leggoreta | 1 Relevance | 16 years ago | Olive | General discussion | |
| Barragan and Leggoreta Funny you should mention Barragan, Arthur SP. Both he and his protege Leggoreta have been big influences on the 'modernization' of the Santa Fe style. My new home is actually quite influenced by both of them. My architect/builder is also a big fan of John Pawson and David Adjaye, so I have lots of clean lines, blocks of color and interesting window placement. With all the light out here those features are gorgeously seen. Gustavo, I promise not to tell about your love for pink! I think my issue with it is the 'childishness' with which it is so often used. It's a color that can very easily tire and insult the eye if it's too candy-like. I do like soft greyed pinks and lavenders. Here, in Santa Fe, these colors are mixed into the tones of the sunsets along with rich red, oranges, purples and a lovely shade of steel blue that you can often see in the clouds. Thank you for the compliments, I guess you are right, I am very affected by color. I do seem to have the knack of seeing it exactly. I often surprise people when I will remember the precise shade and tone of something when I buy clothing or home accessories. It's pretty common for me to match things perfectly just from memory. My sister can do the same thing so it must be something about our brains that is genetically sensitive to color. The light here in New Mexico is famous for it's clarity. People have been coming here to paint for a long time, most famously, Georgia O'Keefe. She was just a genius in her use of color and she spoke of the light out here as a big reason why. It's been really interesting to see my things in this new light and realize that what I loved in my soft New England blue-grey light is NOT the same in the clear, hard crystal light of New Mexico. I have always loved oranges and reds, but felt they were too harsh back east so I used them sparingly, out here I use them in abundance and they look wonderful! | |||||
| 2nd generation Eames armchairs? | 1 Relevance | 9 years ago | Redandyellowcametobe | General discussion | |
| I'm sorry to beat a dead horse as I'm sure it's been discussed. I searched previous threads with no luck 🙁 Hi guys and gals! Wanted to give you an honest thank you for all the awesomeness that goes on in these parts!! I'm sorry in advance as I'm sure "eames Id" threads have been created numorus times. :/ I recently picked up a pair of shell arm chairs in which I need a little help IDng. I originally bought them without much info/pics with the assumption they are the generation following the "rope edge" days. There is no Herman Miller logo as well as no Zenith sticker. Along with no residue from a old sticker. The odd thing is, is one of the chairs (the x-base) is a tad thicker than is Eiffel base counterpart. The fiberglass seems to be pretty much the same in both chairs. There is also more shine, sheen to the x-base chair along with a thicker edge. I do not see any rope edge tho, but is def thicker. I'm sure these can be easily identified/rough value to the talented peeps around here as I've only been interested in mid century design this past year. I've fallen in love and have been bitten by the bug! So any help would be amazing! Thanks again everyone!!! Have a nice weekend!! | |||||
| Disturbing comments here. Ide... | 1 Relevance | 12 years ago | keewee | General discussion | |
| Disturbing comments here. Ide... Disturbing comments here. Identify the head of the sale and pay for it before inspecting it? What a bunch of underhanded crapola. Where I live there are tickets on the item. You need to have the ticket in hand to pay for the item. And once you've taken the ticket off the item, you are obliged to buy it. Most of the honest sellers here have gotten rid of sign up sheets because they were rife with fraud and also unfair to out of town buyers who would have to make two trips to the site-one to sign up and another to wait. Impossible for some people. There is still one company that has a sign up sheet and they're really dishonest about it. You'd be first in line only to discover that they signed 30 of their friends and family up at the store in the weeks preceeding the sale. They'd also do things like say "no sign up sheet" in the listing and then change it the night before..."Oops, forgot to mention we have a sign up sheet. Call our store to sign up." And it would be midnight and impossible to call the store. I hate that company and would never go to another one of their sales again. Hats don't hold places in line. And you can't hold places in line for a friend that isn't there. If two people are waiting and someone steps away for a few to get coffee or go pee, that's one thing. Even to sleep for an hour if it's at midnight. But none of this garbage where someone waits and someone else shows up five minutes before opening. The worst experience I've had is with older folks. Seriously. I've been waiting at 5 am and some old lady comes up at 7 and acts like she's looking at the sign up list and then just stays at the front of the line. That's another reason why sign up sheets are BS. Another old elephant of a guy would walk as slow as possible and block people from going past him after he'd let his partner slip through. I won't go to estate sales with sign up sheets anymore. You should have told the fat a** with the hat to take a hike and worked to block her and her husband. Tripped them as they ran past. Lol. | |||||
| It's too cold to think... | 1 Relevance | 23 years ago | koen | General discussion | |
| It's too cold to think... When thinking about design for the disabled, I would suggest a number of distinctive approaches. As elle points out, there is something called universal design which main aim is to make environments and products in such a way that they are accessible and or useful to all people, regardless their handicap. Apart from being an interesting goal to reach, those who have been involved in such projects know that it is not always possible. Specific handicaps require very specific solutions. Cutlery is one of these categories where universal design is just wishfull thinking. So to me that's a different group problems requiring different solutions. To have everybody eat from a Manoy plate is not necesarely a good thing. I also think that one should go way beyond ADA requirments. ADA is a minimum! In doing so we will discouver that universal is also taking into consideration the needs of a very specific group. A few months ago I discovered going down the stairs in a public place, that there was a braille message underneed the handrail. Readable for those who most likely would hold on to the rail: blind people. To me this is the result of more than just trying to make environments as universal as possible. This has a special quality beyond that. Considering that we have in most products an incredible amount of choices, I am often reluctant to think of design for disabled people as the search of just one solution. Like most of us people with some kind of disability, would like to have choices. A few decades ago, one of the popular bread knives in Sweden was the Ergonomigruppen-designed knife for Gustavsberg. Although originally thought of as something made for people with less flexibility in the wrist, it became the choice of many. In other words, I think that it is important to design in an inclusive way, but when one has to make a compromise, the compromise does not always have to aim at the largest possible group around the average. It's good to sidestep and discouver a different group of users. Basically that is also the story behind Oxo's Goodgrips designed by Tucker Viemeister (in his time at Smartdesign)....as I said it is too cold here | |||||
| I hate unanswered questions... | 1 Relevance | 22 years ago | koen | General discussion | |
| I hate unanswered questions... But you are asking a lot. First of all we have to stop mystifying over this. Contacting someone in the design world is not different from "normal" live. It is also good to have a little bit of imagination...A major editor or manufacturer has very little time during the Milan show, to look at new designs by unknown people. It is simply not the reason why he participates in the show. So in order to get attention and time you better have an very impressive set of projects or you are 6'4" or even better, you have both. Some people who want to change the world have done this succesfully, but I would not recommend it. Both the addresses and the names of the people in charge of the companies you want to contact are largely known, so why not send them your most interesting projects in a time of the year that the busy shows are over and they seriously start to think about next years collection. Having seen a lot of portfolios, I recommend to send just projects that might be of direct interest. Do not try to impress a furniture manufacturer with your latest electronic divices because he has no clue of what the quality of your work is compared to what the market has to offer. So, just send those things that you know would fit into their assortment. Last but not least, do your homework!! Make sure you know every single piece that the manufacturer you are interested in makes already. Justify the validity of your product by showing where it fits into that particular assortment. Assortment policy is more important than product policy, so make sure it fits. Go through the catalogues until you are sure that you understand the underlaying intentions and arguments and use them to your own advantage. So, please do not send anything untill you are sure you understand the manufacturers motivation to do what they are doing, to choose what they are chosing...and send the whole thing with the expectation that you are wrong two times out of three. If you do all of this you will go places...and you will be invited by the manufacturer of your brand new product to the next show to show your face for some major customers. I am sure you know all of this because it is simple common sense...maybe that's why nobody answers...good luck! | |||||
| So I finally got around to | 1 Relevance | 11 years ago | mgee76 | General discussion | |
| So I finally got around to taking some pictures of the progress on this... fell off the wagon for a while. I've got the drawer patched, made a new pull, and am basically ready to start oiling and finishing it. I'm attaching some pictures of the trim I put on there... it's Mahogany, not Teak, but I should be able to color it OK. I have one more question for the experts here, though... As I've sanded the top flush with the trim/banding, I've come about as close as I'm comfortable getting to the bottom of the veneer (at least I think this is what I'm looking at?). I'm going to have to color the top slightly, but my issue is that the pores still show a lighter wood, sometimes almost a white filler type thing. Anybody able to say with any certainty? I'm guessing that I've just taken the veneer down so far that I'm looking through it, almost? Perhaps this is leftover filler from the original finish? I have no idea, but it shows up when I wipe it with spirits, so I'm guessing it will show when I give it some oil. I've never really used wood filler... is that what's needed? I'm wondering if I can't glaze or something to color the pores, lightly sand again to clear the top, and then add my oil and tint. Any thoughts? I'm very close on this and motivated to finally finish it and put it into use. First picture is just the finished trim, second two shots are the veneer after wiping with spirits. | |||||
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