The beginning of one of Napoléon Bonaparte’s earliest letters to Joséphine de Beauharnais simply oozes sensuality: “Seven in the morning. I awaken full of you…the…
View More Transitory SpacesTag: lighting
I’ve been an architecture and design journalist for more than two decades so when I come across lighting that has added depth, particularly literarily, I feature it here.
Though there is not true literary reference with Lumio as there is with Snow White Meets Settenani, this clever fixture is actually a book, A Book of Light to be specific. Given the product represents both a home décor angle and the physical form of a book, I could not help but highlight it on The Diary of an Imrpvateur.
Lumio, designed by Max Gunawan, uses LED technology to push the boundaries of design, as is noted by the guest curator of “Beautility,” a show that celebrates objects made from natural materials, Judy Bonzi: “In researching the show I was excited to discover a natural juxtaposition between gorgeous traditional objects that arrived at their design essence through centuries of anonymous refinement, and contemporary products that have been brilliantly conceived and executed for purposes that were previously unknown.” I featured many other brilliantly conceived lighting products here when I come across them, particularly if there is an angle that ties them to literature.
A Midcentury Cougar on the Prowl
The nickname cougar, signifying women who have “a thing” for younger men, hasn’t been around for as long as they’ve been cropping up in popular…
View More A Midcentury Cougar on the ProwlPeggy Guggenheim Visits Oculus Gallery
In 2009, I trekked to Venice with my dear friend JoAnn Locktov, the founder of Bella Figura Publications whose newest book Dream of Venice Architecture…
View More Peggy Guggenheim Visits Oculus GalleryHeaven Shall Be Here
In the film A Little Chaos, Alan Rickman, who plays an unlikely Louis XIV, declares, “Heaven shall be here.” He’s speaking of a ballroom he…
View More Heaven Shall Be HereThe Seat of Scottish Power
As the opening credits roll during the film Her Majesty, Mrs Brown, a Markino marble bust, which has been tossed over a castle’s ramparts, tumbles…
View More The Seat of Scottish PowerHow to Set a Mood
The 1968 version of The Thomas Crown Affair starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway is a mercurial mélange of masculine and feminine charisma in equal…
View More How to Set a MoodIt Is Time to Experience More
Experience more. It sounds like a simple directive but how many of us really take the time to savor what is happening right in front…
View More It Is Time to Experience MoreReading Dante in Milan
“I’d like that sunny table near the windows under the beautiful mirror,” he says to the hostess at Le Vrai, pointing to the niche set…
View More Reading Dante in MilanFind Your Red Carpet Style
“Find Your Red Carpet Style,” urged Currey & Company’s Brand Ambassador Denise McGaha during a presentation in the company’s Manhattan showroom last week. The point…
View More Find Your Red Carpet StyleWhat Is Art?
“It is assumed that everyone knows and understands what is meant by the word beauty,” Leo Tolstoy wrote. “And yet not only is this not…
View More What Is Art?