Light Bright

Here's some really amazing lighting from London's Sharon Marston.  Seriously, again and again, it's proven to me that some of the best lighting on the planet comes out of the UK.  Maybe because it's so cloudy there?  Who knows.

Anyway, Marston is using fiber-optics and hand-blown glass to create these incredibly wispy, almost ghostly light fixtures.  Here's "April," click for larger views:

This is "Flora Cascade":

I love the very natural quality of that.

Here's "Laelia":

And I think my favorite of all of them is "Glacial," because it really does look like you're underwater looking up through a hole in the ice:

It's such wonderfully uncommon imagery to draw inspiration from, I really like it.  And great subliminally if it's a balmy August night.

Sharon Marston

(UK) 440-208-670-4644

Also, as a bit of a follow up to my recent ranting about the state of architecture in this city, I'm loving this article.  But really I'm just disgusted that there would be any opposition at all to one of the world's greatest living architects building such a masterpiece for us here.  And because it's "out of scale."  Out of scale.  For Midtown Manhattan.  Seriously, are you on crack???  It's Midtown Manhattan, for crying out loud!  I swear, Guiliani's miserable Disneyfication of this city has had repercussions that are starting to seriously make me sick.  Already we're being blazingly outshone by Dubai, Taipei, and Beijing.  If things continue the way they have been, in no time it will be virtually impossible to build anything of any global interest here at all.  It's really pathetic.

©2008, Ryan Witte

Furniture from New York

Last week I went to the Architectural Digest Home Design Show.  Some of the products on display were rather insipid, as with any trade show, but there were quite a few interesting things to see, as well.

In no particular order, I'd like to talk about some of the products/ designs that I really liked.

First is a company called Shimna (they also have a blog, by the way), on Lafayette here in NYC, right above Houston.

What drew me to their booth, really, was this coffee table, called "Susquehanna" (click on the pictures for larger views):

It's a nice simple table with a seat carved out of the top of it, but then it also opens up to provide storage space:

Giving it three different functions, which I really like: table, seat, and storage.  The hydraulic hardware was very smooth and solid, evidence of quality craftsmanship.

Here's another little end table called "Tidy Table":

Toward the back of the shallow "V," if you look closely, there's a wooden disc between the two panels where you can rest a drinking glass or a vase.  I guess that's what they mean by "tidy."

But I was also really impressed by their seating.  It's very clean, sharp, and minimalist, in a delightfully 1950s sort of way.  "Three Seat Beam Sofa":

I can't tell you how many sofas I've seen that would be so wonderful if not for some stupid, rinky-dink legs they slapped onto the bottom, or some ridiculous plastic casters, for that matter.

But they've rested this sleek, clean, almost delicate geometric sofa on top of heavy, rough, rustic wooden beams, creating an incredible contrast in textures.  Here's the Sectional:

I really like those lines.

©2008, Ryan Witte