Bookshelves

Bookshelves have been on my mind recently. My roommate got his back from an apartment he was subletting and so we now have a really big bookcase in the apartment. At first, it seemed so overpowering to me, but after an evening of re-arranging furniture and making our downstairs neighbors hate us, we found a spot we could both agree on. Now I think it looks great and is helping the main living area look more finished. Expect pictures soon, but in the meantime, look at this cool bookshelf below. 

Crystals REDUX

So, Lady Gaga performed in NYC a couple nights ago and just look at what she was wearing! 

Oh man, I can't get over my crystal obsession, especially when fabulous people start WEARING them!

Bookworm: Eunoia

I have never posted about a book, but I love love love language and found this book and thought it was just amazing, so I wanted to share it. Eunoia is the shortest word in English containing all five vowels - and it means "beautiful thinking". It is also the title of Canadian poet Christian Bok's book of fiction in which each chapter uses only one vowel. Mr Bok believes his book proves that each vowel has its own personality, and demonstrates the flexibility of the English language. Below are extracts from each chapter.

from CHAPTER A - FOR HANS ARP

Hassan Abd al-Hassad, an Agha Khan, basks at an ashram - a Taj Mahal that has grand parks and grass lawns, all as vast as parklands at Alhambra and Valhalla. Hassan can, at a handclap, call a vassal at hand and ask that all staff plan a bacchanal - a gala ball that has what pagan charm small galas lack. Hassan claps, and (tah-dah) an Arab lass at a swank spa can draw a man's bath and wash a man's back, as Arab lads fawn and hang, athwart an altar, amaranth garlands as fragrant as attar - a balm that calms all angst. A dwarf can flap a palm branch that fans a fat maharajah. A naphtha lamp can cast a calm warmth.

from CHAPTER E - FOR RENE CREVEL

Westerners revere the Greek legends. Versemen retell the represented events, the resplendent scenes, where, hellbent, the Greek freemen seek revenge whenever Helen, the new-wed empress, weeps. Restless, she deserts her fleece bed where, detested, her wedded regent sleeps. When she remembers Greece, her seceded demesne, she feels wretched, left here, bereft, her needs never met. She needs rest; nevertheless, her demented fevers render her sleepless (her sleeplessness enfeebles her). She needs help; nevertheless her stressed nerves render her cheerless (her cheerlessness enfetters her).

from CHAPTER I - FOR DICK HIGGINS

Hiking in British districts, I picnic in virgin firths, grinning in mirth with misfit whims, smiling if I find birch twigs, smirking if I find mint sprigs.

Midspring brings with it singing birds, six kinds, (finch, siskin, ibis, tit, pipit, swift), whistling shrill chirps, trilling chirr chirr in high pitch. Kingbirds flit in gliding flight, skimming limpid springs, dipping wingtips in rills which brim with living things: krill, shrimp, brill - fish with gilt fins, which swim in flitting zigs. Might Virgil find bliss implicit in this primitivism? Might I mimic him in print if I find his writings inspiring?

from CHAPTER O - FOR YOKO ONO

Loops on bold fonts now form lots of words for books. Books form cocoons of comfort - tombs to hold bookworms. Profs from Oxford show frosh who do post-docs how to gloss works of Wordsworth. Dons who work for proctors or provosts do not fob off school to work on crosswords, nor do dons go off to dorm rooms to loll on cots. Dons go crosstown to look for bookshops known to stock lots of top-notch goods: cookbooks, workbooks - room on room of how-to-books for jocks (how to jog, how to box), books on pro sports: golf or polo. Old colophons on schoolbooks from schoolrooms sport two sorts of logo: oblong whorls, rococo scrolls - both on worn morocco.

from CHAPTER U - FOR ZHU YU

Gulls churr: ululu, ululu. Ducks cluck. Bulls plus bucks run thru buckbrush; thus dun burrs clutch fur tufts. Ursus cubs plus Lupuspups hunt skunks. Curs skulk (such mutts lurk: ruff, ruff). Gnus munch kudzu. Lush shrubs bud; thus church nuns pluck uncut mums. Bugs hum: buzz, buzz. Dull susurrus gusts murmur hushful, humdrum murmurs: hush, hush. Dusk suns blush. Surf lulls us. Such scuds hurl up cumulus suds (Sturm und Druck) - furls unfurl: rush, rush; curls uncurl: gush, gush. Such tumult upturns unsunk hulls; thus gulfs crush us, gulp, dunk us - burst lungs succumb.

Crystal Chairs by Igor Solovyov & Tokuji Yoshioka

I have recently been very seduced by crystals. I have been toying with the idea of painting a mural in the living room of crystals. My sketches have multiplied but I continue to waver. This past weekend D.D. took me on a surpise trip to ABC Carpet on Broadway and we oogled all the furniture and especially the insanely priced crystals they had everywhere. I found these chairs by Igor Solovyov and aren't they amazing?! They make me very happy and I wish I could have one. I would love to own one in a very pale pink so that it looks like quartz. 

In a much more literal interpritation, I found this chair by Tokuji Yoshioka. The chair is actually grown slowly while submerged in a tank like the one seen below. 

Design History:Gabriella Crespi: Architecture & Disco

So, I know that all my design history posts seem to be focused on the same period, but I can’t help that I am drawn to this period so much. I promise that I will be more thoughtful in my attempt to diversify, but if you read the November issue of Elle Décor’s article on Willy Rizzo, you will see that I am not alone in my obsession with the lead designers of the 70s and 80s.

Today’s pictures are of Gabriella Crespi’s furniture and accessory designs. Throughout her career as a designer she designed lamps, silverware and jewelry, in a huge range of materials, from metal, wood, marble and bamboo to seeds, shells and gemstones. Produced mainly in the 1960's and 70's, her creations graced some of the most elegant homes in the world. Elizabeth Arden ''fell in love with my designs, and wanted everything in the collection,'' Crespi said recently. Thomas Hoving, Princess Grace, Gunther Sachs and the Shah of Iran were other aficionados.

Today, her furniture and decorative objects are beginning to bring high prices, as the design world turns its focus from mid-century to late twentieth century.

The multifunctionality of her furniture is a Crespi trademark. She made coffee tables that rose to dining height, bookcases that became room dividers, seating that converted into beds. This is due, no doubt, to her architectural studies at the Politecnico Institute in Milan. ''I was in love with Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright when I was young,'' she said. Le Corbusier, happens to be my second favorite all-time architect and his aesthetic has heavily influenced my eye, so it is no wonder that Crespi’s furniture is right up my alley.

She was born in Milan in 1922, and raised in Tuscany near Florence. She met her husband, Giuseppe Maria Crespi, at a tennis club in Milan. They were married in 1948. The Crespi family is one of the richest families in Italy. Gabriella Crespi is currently 86 and lives in the Himalayas where she studies with a spiritual guide and attempts to live in silence. 

Halloween DIY!

Halloween is almost here and I am so excited! This past weekend D.D. and I carved the above pumpkin and then roasted his guts. Very very yummy and pack full of protein. Two weekends ago, we also worked on our Halloween costumes. I made a sun crown, that i don't have pictures of, but D.D. made his really amazing bunny mask. Take a look at how it came out. The brown fleshy color adds a level of creepiness to the mask. 

Bedroom Mural Revealed

So I had lost the cord for my camera a while ago, but luckily I found it! Here is a shot of the finished mural in my bedroom. I would love to hear your thoughts! 

The bedroom still needs a lot of work, but I am so happy to have finally finished the mural in there. After finishing the mural in the dinning room, I was a bit terrified at the idea of beginning another one, but I pushed through it and I am happy with the final result - even if they look somewhat like the vegetation from a Dr. Suess book.