Posts Tagged ‘French Interior’
Product Spotlight: The Lampe Gras
The lovely folks over at Brook Farm General Store in Brooklyn tipped us off to their newest product: the Lampe Gras. They have a wide range of products in stock, including beautiful items for around your home, and are currently the only store on the East Coast to carry the original architect’s lamp.
First designed by young engineer Bernard-Albin Gras for use in offices and industrial environments in 1921, the Lampe Gras became the ideal French architect lamp for its simple yet beautiful design. Without screws or welded joints in the basic form, it is an adjustable lamp with a chrome base and head refined for reading and working at the table.
The Lampe Gras was one of the first items created for industrial use to become embraced in everyday interior decorating. During the golden age of design in France in the 1920s, the Lampe Gras exemplified the perfect blend of form and function that came to define the style of the period.
Many lights are described as architects’ lamps, but only the Lampe Gras can claim the distinction of being not only the first architect lamp, but the favorite of the godfather of modern architecture himself—Le Corbusier. As one of Bernard-Albin Gras’s most enthusiastic supporters, he championed the lamps as modern classics, describing them as a ‘type-objet’; an object reduced to its pure function. He and other well known avant-garde figures like Henri Matisse adopted the lamps for their own offices and studios for projects all over the world.
Production of the Gras Lamps stopped at the outbreak of World War II, and after over a year of experimentation and careful study, they are once again being hand-made in France.
For more information on these modernist table lamps, visit the Brook Farm General Store site or head on over to their brick and mortar store in Brooklyn, NY:
Brook Farm General Store
75 South 6th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718-388-8642
Posted by Nicole Bruce
Book Review: Jacques Grange Interiors
When it comes to beautiful books on interior design, especially monographs, we count on Rizzoli to get our fix. They seem to consistently publish high-quality, dense, picture heavy volumes on all our favorites. Our latest obsession: Jacques Grange Interiors by Pierre Passebon.
The book is singularly focused on legendary French decorator Jacques Grange’s design portfolio from the past four decades. Each page showcases full color photographs of the spaces he’s designed over the years, including Yves Saint Laurent, Princess Caroline of Monaco, and Valentino. It’s so much fun to get lost in each page, studying every little detail in the various rooms. His style is so unique, combing neoclassical, traditional inclinations with the unexpected and, often times, avant-garde. The book also features many close up shots, which reveals his talent for tablescapes, and his ability to capture the essence of his client’s personal taste.
Suffice it to say, it’s a book worth investing in that promises to provide endless inspiration for years to come. It can be purchased here from Rizzoli, or on Amazon.
In the meantime, we’ve given you a preview of some of our favorite pages and spreads. Enjoy!
Loft Tour: Le Corbusier Loft
7/29/09
We’re officially on a French kick this month, with our newest discovery, living agency, fueling the trend. Now there are some fundamental elements of we what know of as a loft that will never loose their significance: concrete, tall ceilings, casement windows, primary color touches. Translation: the aesthetic Corbusier created. This loft is actually located in the “Cité Radieuse” created by Le Corbusier himself. The loft is one of the 337 apartments which compose this authentic vertical village, featuring hotel, shops, school, gymnasium and even a swimming pool in full sky. It is owned by an interior decorator who has painted the walls nearly-black, within which light floors and accessories contrast dramatically. The space has an updated, mid-century modern aesthetic that poetically pays homage to Corbusier.
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