A couple of months ago, Deconet launched the possibility of placing ads also as a private indivdual. Many happy sellers have taken the opportunity to list their items for free. Among the private ads this week, I find Jimmy in Belgium offering Arne Jacobsen cutlery and Barbara in South Africa advertising a rare Josef Hoffman vase. The Willy Guhl chairs listed by Klas in Stockholm would look nice in my garden...

AJ cutlery, Arne Jacobsen

Vase, attributed to Josef Hoffman

Pair of Loop chairs, with table, Willy Guhl

Do you have furniture or other decorative arts that you would like to sell on Deconet? It is free of charge during summer. Welcome to list your items here.

I often get inspired by the slide-shows from beautiful homes shown in the New York Times. Today I found the home of Andrew and Kim Todd situated in the middle of the redwood trees in Mill Valley, California. The house was designed in 1958 by Daniel J. Liebermann, who favoured radial plans and curved walls.

It is designed to blend into the landscape and was built using salvaged materials like rafters from a 19th-century hotel and glass from fighter planes used during World War II.

For more inspiration, click here.

Credit: Drew Kelly for the NY Times

I stumbled upon this "leaf of light" while browsing the net.

Designed by Valentina Trimani, and just a prototype from what I understand... It is thin as a page of a book, rechargeable, wireless OLED light with adjustable brightness, for those who read and travel everywhere. I do not exactly understand how it works but it looks really smart, and I feel pretty convinced that it will be produced soon. This is how the designer describe her product:

"Great progress is being made in the field of light displays such as OLED, and even if not quite ready to affect our daily lives, they are giving a new freedom to designers who are called upon to imagine future applications and new, inspirational archetypes. This project finds its home in this panorama of international research, mapping the wishes of consumers and pursuing innovative options and solutions to meet their desires."

Not all design items on Deconet has a named designer. Sometimes the seller do not know the origin of a piece, nor does the Deconet-team. This anonymous italian coffee table for sale at Boetto Auctions is one of my favourites this week. Does anybody know who made it?

 I just love this fabulous pair of 1970's table lamps by Raak Design.

The Raak Design Group of Amsterdam was active in the 1970's. Raak cooperated with a number of international designers and architects such as E.J. Jellis, Sergio Asti, Frank Ligtelijn, Bertrand Balas, Maija Liisa Komulainen and Nanny Still. Raak has manufactured a wide range of lighting sources including wall- and standing lamps as well as hanging models. Designs were often based on characteristic combinations of glass and various metals, which added a futuristic effect to the lamps.

The asking price? On application, click here to find out.

If you do not fancy these lamps, there are another 171 table lamps to have a closer look at, on Deconet this week.

"From cars, mobiles, computers, lighting, chairs to clothing, packaging, food and toys, driven by our daily addiction for the new, there is a lack of respect for the well tried, trusted, and workable", David Carlson and Brent Richards claim, in the March issue of David Report. I think they have a point here.

The current isssue of David Report, presents some really interesting thoughts and thesis about the design mission of today.  Several important questions are asked:

"Have we not fulfilled Design’s 20th Century’s mission to market, style, brand, and added value, to innovate and to experiment through design"

"We are facing a pandemic of ‘designed stuff’ and we have reached a contamination point, a crisis for Design. Why are we not more pertubed and disturbed, why are we so tolerant? Should we not be calling for a guerrilla war against ‘designerism’ or do we need a revolution to cut the ties with the hero’s of 20th Century Design?"

Read the full Design Report here.

 –

For those of you who read my blog on a regular basis, you may think that I am now repeating myself.

Nevermind, I cannot enough talk about my admiration for Harry Bertoia and his work, especially the sculptures...

Bertoia learned welding at Santa Monica City College in California in the late 1940's, and immediately began to experiment in his personal evening time. Wire and platform sculptures were his first attempts. These evolved into panels and screens, which led to his early public pieces. He discovered that light would perform wonderful dances if enough space was left between the metal shapes. 

The curvy fountain-type pieces were welded one rod at a time, shifting each new rod enough to give the desired shape. Bertoia never balked at technical difficulties, but rather managed to invent new techniques if needed. He had a remarkable skill of envisioning the result, and then progressing backward to plan and building the work.

I am now in the ancient town of Galle, south Sri Lanka, staying in, what might be, the most beautiful room on earth - The Cinnamon suite of The Sun House Hotel.

This colonial villa was built in 1867 by a Scottish spice merchant and served as private residence for numerous families until the current owner turned it into a small hotel with a unique country house atmospere. In my room, from a 19th century mahogany desk, I have an astonishing view over the djungle and the ocean.

Sri Lanka is today a very interesting country to rediscover. The country has for years been quite closed to foreigners because of the civil war. The southern parts of Sri Lanka where also very affected by the tsunami in 2004. But now the country is opening up again, and it would not surprise me if Sri Lanka, within a couple of years, has become a destination to count into the most popular  package holidays.  Meanwhile, I am grateful to travel in a area with genuin culture, not too exploited to tourism.

For all the lovers of Scandinavian design, I highly recommend the book "Scandinavian Modern" by Magnus Englund and Chrystina Schmidt, available here on Deconet. It has photographs from the homes of famous designers like Eero Aarnio and Poul Kjaerholm and it truly gives you the image of the Scandinavian mid-century look.

I hope you all enjoy the Deconet-bookstore. We try to update it often, but if there is any particular litterature that you would like to find here, please keep me posted and maybe we can help you in finding what you search for.