October 2011

As children we are told conflicting truths about life, and as adults we repeat these truisms to ourselves and to others. Generations of confused people battle between Be yourself... Do as your told... Be polite... Speak your mind....  Dream big... Be careful what you wish for... on so on and so forth.

Two especially-irreconcilable mandates: Don't judge a book by its cover and First impressions are lasting impressions are especially-confusing when dealing in realms of art, craft and decor.

Do appearances matter? And if so, to whom? Do we perform our lives for our own benefit? For others? Do we mimic the performances of our parents? And theirs of their parents? Or do we act without a care in the world, unwed to see-and-be-seen culture?

This is fraught territory, especially for the likes of Furniturea, where we appeal to the parts of people that love design - to the people wanting chairs to be functional and attractive, interesting and different. It's the difference between chairs as seating (full stop), and chairs as players in life's performance. Rituals of gathering, of dining, of reflecting - all may involve the act of sitting, and seated actors may need *certain* chairs to more fully experience the task at hand (bottom?).

The relevance here to Pieter Stockman's plates and platters is in the ritual of sharing and consuming food. Sure, we can eat with our hands or the special-occasion silver. We can feast with paper plates or Grandma's special English China. We can dine consciously or not - this is our choice. But to shine thoughtful light and attention on food is to enhance an already rich pleasure. Local veggies, roasted to perfection? Delicious, no question. Local veggies, roasted to perfection, AND served Modus Vivendi-style? Divine!

The paralysis of boredom... it's something we've all likely experienced at one point or another. People often correlate boredom with the modern day predilection for immediate pleasure. If something is not immediately interesting, then it is passed by for whatever's next. And that next thing ought to come quickly or else there may be... that's right; there may be boredom.

But boredom - listlessness, lethargy, tedium - it's not the same for everyone. We arrive at bored states in innumerable ways, and have been doing so for a long, long time.

We tend, too, to correlate interest with variety and lassitude with sameness, but this understanding is limited at best. We all know (and perhaps have been) the person who has "everything" but remains accutely disengaged from the surrounding world.

The nest few posts will deal with an unconventional antedote to restlessness: Staying Still. Pieter Stockmans has devoted his entire career to a singular pursuit, and the results are abundant, varied, elegant, and above all else, porcelain with blue.

Another wonderfully weird design by Junya Ishigami: The Garden Plate. Available for sale via Luminaire, this glass disc is actually a low-to-the-ground table that serves as an indoor, miniature gardenscape.

Each slick glass wafer bears obvious recesses into which one can place greens, water, leaves, petals, stones. The table's rippled surface and overall asymmetrical shape renders it jelly or liquid-like in appearance, as if it could undulate into infinite formations, all the while hovering above your floor.

Living in the United States we are accustomed to rigid garden spaces, to flat and uniform lawns, and the belief that tending-to is a menial, burdensome and boring chore, one that is absent thought and meaning.

The sophistication of Ishigami's Garden Plate again reveals a truth: That in simplicity lies complexity. Here, abundance is limited only by the gardener's imagination, and the space generated by each Plate's peaks and valleys. This ecosystem is yours alone to establish, maintain, undo, and create for as many or few variations as you see fit... 

To conclude this season's homage to all things nest(y), Rural Modern Home sought out some of the most cool and clever nest-inspired-objects. Some are useful, others decorative, but all bear obvious tethers to nature's most nurturing form.

The sterling silver nest above is made of 300 individual parts, which are assembled informally by hand (just as birds would do with beak and feet). For more on this nest, click here.

Not your average Tiffany statement, and all the better for it. If an actual nest was rolled into a one dimensional sheet, and that sheet was sculpted into a circular, hollow tube, well, the result would be this funky bracelet, available for real here.

London-based designer, Timothy Schreiber, makes a whole slew of interesting metal objects, the X Lounger included. This chair is like a gently dimpled loaf... a snarl of wires with the most subtle of indentations... a cell, inverting ever so slightly on itself. Cool, indeed.

... and the undeniable appeal of Incase's graphic Bird's Nest iphone cover, featured in gadgetsin (where they also sell an Apple fish tank). This cover is equal parts nest,  Cat Cradle, and Spirograph. 

When investing nests, every line of inquiry generates more and more interest. They are ever-recognizable, infinitely variable, abundant and life-giving. Their fruits come in all forms, be them birds, bees or beds. And for all these, we are truly grateful.