Eichler in Oakland

A pristine 1667 square foot Eichler has recently been listed in Oakland, California. The three bedroom/two bath home has been featured in Atomic Ranch. It has original mahogany paneling, stained-wood ceilings and glass walls. Updates include double-pane glass, VCT floors, bath fixtures, stainless appliances and new landscaping.

All images from eichlerforsale.com

Zisha

I am always struck by the fact that the simplest designs can be the most beautiful. The Zisha tableware offered by Neri and Hu is no exception.

Zisha dishes
indesignlive.com

Zisha tea canister
neriandhu.com

Zisha tea pot
seehosu.com.au

Zisha cups
nicelymadeinchina.com

Zisha stacking tea ste
indesignlive.com

Blenko reissue

If you've been wanting a pair of Blenko lamps but have found them difficult to locate, Rejuvenation might have a solution for you.

Back in 2012, they formed a partnership with famous glass manufacturer Blenko to reissue several of their lamp styles from the 1950s. They produce five table lights: Cylinder, Round, Flare, Wave and Carafe, which are offered in several color options. Decorative finials use Blenko's signature decanter stopper styles. Drum shades are available in natural burlap, black linen or ivory linen.

All images from rejuvenation.com

(l to r)  Carafe in turquoise, Wave in olive, Cylinder in peacock, all with natural burlap shades

Round in ice blue with ivory linen shade

Wave in amethyst with black linen shade

Flare in wheat with natural burlap shade

Does it mesh with your style?

Steel mesh was all the rage in the 1950s, and it seems to be making a comeback. Now, instead of just being used for furniture and accessories, it is showing up in architectural applications, such as balustrades, room partitions and window coverings.

Steel mesh room partitions
sharedesign.com

Steel mesh balustrade
dezeen.com

Exterior view of steel mesh window coverings
(seen from inside in above image)
trendland.com

Another use as stair railing
graepel.ie

Even mesh-look items made of fabric or other materials seem to be trending. These lamps knock me out!

Afillia lamps by Allesandro Zambelli for ExNovo
dezeen.com

Wishful thinking

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter and SIL drove by a house that is about half a mile from where we live...just on the other side of the freeway.  A sign that said "Soon to be on the market" caught their eye. From the street, they fell in love with the property and could hardly wait for it to be listed. They were estimating it to be at the very top end of our budget...or a tad above.

Then we saw the listing.

Main house: 3020 square feet (with only 2 bedrooms); guest house: 1500 square feet. And way over our budget.

The search continues.

           See complete listing here.

Weekend thoughts: Minimalism

Nathan George Horwitt

Nathan George Horwitt (1898-1990) was an American industrial designer. He was born in Russia and immigrated as a child to the United States. Later, he attended the Art Students League in New York.

Horwitt served in the U. S. Army during World War I. Upon returning, he worked in advertising, but in the late 1920s, he started the firm Design Engineers.

In 1930 he designed the Beta chair, which was produced by the Howell Manufacturing Company. He displayed the chair at the Brooklyn Museum in 1931 and at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1934.

In 1947 he designed a wristwatch with a round, black face. It had no numerals, symbols or lines marking hours or minutes, only a single gold dot at the 12 o'clock position. The watch was produced by Vacheron G. Constantin-LeCoultre Watches, Inc., who gave Horwitt credit as the designer.

In 1948, in a clear act of design piracy, Zenith Movado copied the design without giving any credit or compensation to Horwitt. It took 27 years before the company settled with Horwitt, giving him $29,000 in 1975.

In the meantime, the watch was included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in 1960 and became known as the Museum Watch. In 1969, the design was produced by Howard Miller Clock Copany with Horwitt's permission.

From idsa.org (Excerpted from Designers of the Machine Age by Carroll Gantz, to be published by McFarland & Company, Inc. in 2014)

Beta chair
brooklynmuseum.org

Horwitt watch
produced by Vacheron G. Constantin-LeCoultre Watches, Inc.
brooklynmuseum.org

Just yesterday, I had the winning eBay bid on this desk version of the Museum Clock by Howard Miller. I'm really pleased with the purchase and can't wait till it arrives and takes its place on the credenza in my living room.

Howard Miller Museum Clock, desk version
ebay.com - yesums

Howard Miller Museum Clock, desk version
ebay.com - yesums

Homies

I almost let the Apartment Therapy Homies pass me by this year. I hadn't realized nominations were going on, and there are only a couple more days to vote.

Several of our blog friends have been nominated, including Mid2Mod, so if you have a chance, drop by Apartment Therapy and vote for us. (Yes, you can vote for as many blogs as you'd like.)

West Elm animal planters

I know that many of you share my love of animal figures. These ceramic planters aren't vintage, but they would certainly fit right in with my mix of vintage and new modern furnishings...and my collection of birds.

West Elm is offering these animal planters in a variety of sizes and prices, ranging from $9-24. They come in three styles and sizes of birds, a mouse and a hedgehog.

All images from westelm.com

West Elm animal planters

Baby bird

Singing bird

Dove

Mouse

Hedgehog

I have to say, as charmed as I am by these planters, I found this West Elm image a little too mistakable for a Chia pet for my taste. I like the succulent planting in the top photo much better.

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Leon Polk Smith

Leon Polk Smith (1906-1996) was a Native American artist. His parents were both part Cherokee and went west to the Indian Territory in the 1880s. In 1907, a year after Smith's birth, the Indian Territory was incorporated into the state of Oklahoma.

At age six, Smith decided that he did not want the hardscrabble life of a farmer. During the Depression, he worked on a few ranches in Oklahoma and built roads and telephone systems in Arizona, dutifully sending money home to his parents for the mortgage payments on the homestead, but eventually the farm was foreclosed, freeing Smith to enroll in college.

In 1934, ten years after he finished high school, he received a bachelor's degree from Oklahoma State College (now East Central University). While there, he had discovered an art studio door ajar. It was the first art he had ever seen, and he immediately knew he would become an artist.

He chose Columbia University for his graduate studies. While there he discovered the geometric art of Piet Mondrian. which inspired his own work, although he made a conscious decision to focus on aesthetics rather than the theoretical process of Mondrian and other members of the De Stijl group.

After receiving his master's degree from Columbia, he became an assistant professor of art at Georgia Teacher's College. While holding this full-time teaching position, he pursued his art and had his first one-man show in New York in 1941.

His reputation was growing, and he had two more shows in 1942. In that same year, he left Georgia, because he felt the state's resistance to desegregation was too much at odds with his deeply held convictions. He accepted a post as State Supervisor of Art Education in Delaware.

In 1944 he accepted a job in New York assisting at the Museum of Non-Objective Painting (later to become the Guggenheim Museum) and subsequently received a Guggenheim Fellowship, which took him back to the Southwest temporarily.

In 1945 Smith returned to New York City. During the next few years, he established affiliations with various galleries and occasionally accepted visiting teaching positions, including a two-year position with Rollins College in Florida and a brief residence in Cuba. In 1966, he moved permanently to New York City.

Smith is said to have been the originator of the "hard edge" style of painting.

From leonpolksmithfoundation.org

White Woman -1940

Repeated Forms -1940

Red, Black, White -1948

Diagonal Passage White, Yellow, Black, Gray - 1949

Black White Repeat - 1952

Black White Duet with Yellow - 1953

Self Portrait - 1955

Stonewall - 1956

Correspondence Green Orange - 1963

Correspondence Black White - 1965

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