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Posts Tagged ‘lamps’

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.

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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.

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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

Trend Alert: Chalkboards

With fall approaching and the start of the new school year, we’re finding that many are treating a certain classroom staple as unconventional home decor. It seems chalkboards aren’t reserved just for schools anymore. Blame it on the inner kid in us, but we love these chalkboard walls, doors, furniture and even lamps! We think you’ll find yourself wanting a corner or whole wall for doodling too.

An entryway is a perfect place for a chalkboard wall. Notes, appointments, and shopping lists can be checked on the way out the door.

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(Pictured above: Country Living via PoppyTalk. Photo credit: Keith Scott Morton)

Instead of writing grocery and ingredient lists, you could keep the menu for dinner or a wine list on your kitchen chalkboard.

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(Pictured above: Melanie Acevedo via DesiretoInspire.net)

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(Pictured above: Alan Higgs Architects via DesiretoInspire.net)

Or consider a giant chalkboard as a work of modern art in the making (remade every time your friends come over for a visit).

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(Pictured above: Bruno Helbling via DesiretoInspire.net)

For a different look in your home office space, try painting or bordering a wall with chalkboard paint. You can write important notes, scheduled meetings, and motivational quotes right on the wall in front of you.

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(Pictured above: Wish via DesiretoInspire.net)

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(Pictured above: Bo Bedre via DesiretoInspire.net)

For a less permanent and space consuming way to get the look, you can turn any wall into an instant chalkboard for jotting down ideas with Chalkboard Wall Schtickers, which are easy to clean, removable and reusable. For the kitchen, this could also be a brilliant way to keep a kid entertained while you’re cooking!

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(Pictured above: Schtickers via Decor8blog.com)

You can also find adhesive chalkboard vinyl wall decals made by Modern Dose. Such an adorable idea for a kid’s room!

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(Pictured above: “Hootie” by Modern Dose)

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(Pictured above: “Invasion” by Modern Dose)

UK store No. Eight is featuring this blackboard cabinet in its collection, but you could easily transform the idea onto cabinets or other furniture in your own home, such as this endearing piece in a kid’s room.

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(Pictured above: 123 Cabinet by No Eight)

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(Pictured above: Living Etc. via DesiretoInspire.net)

Handmade by St. Louis artist and designer John Beck, these lighting fixtures are the perfect canvas for any youngster’s musings, and they’re made of 95% recycled steel. Since they come in three different sizes, you can choose exactly the right one for your child’s room, kitchen or living room. We can’t think of a better place to write or draw something glowingly lighthearted and have it really shine.

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(Pictured above: John Beck Writeable Chalkboard Pendant Lamp via Inhabitat)

Country Living has suggestions for making your own blackboards out of items you already have handy around the house. Check out their fun project ideas. Or Make Magazine will show you how to create this blackboard globe. For those of us who can’t make a big commitment to the blackboard trend, Canadian House and Home suggests creating these DIY placecards.

Rocky Bella has even turned an old mirror into an inspirational chalkboard shelf.

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(Pictured above: Rocky Bella)

Posted by Nicole Bruce

Nathan Thomas Studios & Model Citizens NYC

6/1/09

We’re always on the radar for Nathan Thomas Studios’ recent designs and at the same time trying to find our new favorite chair “of the moment.” In the LL office, we just can’t get enough of chairs, and it seems our next big ideas tend to revolve around this staple furnishing. So we were thrilled to hear from Thomas when he sent over his newest creations for this year’s ICFF in an annex show called Model Citizens NYC.

Thomas creates each chair from hand carved solid maple with horse hair filling wrapped around springs for the seat. And last, Thomas, ever-quick to go to paper plates as material, uses them for his floor lamp. Thomas says, “Cant resist the use of such a simple product and transform it to something new and vibrant!” That said, is  what we’re always after at LL.

Comment below to tell us your favorite out of the clever bunch!

Courtship Chair

"Courtship Chair"

"Emotional Crime Scene Chair"

"Emotional Crime Scene Chair"

"Love and Bullets Chair"

"Love and Bullets Chair"

"Lollipop Floor Lamp"

"Lollipop Floor Lamp"

Posted by Kyra Shapurji

Bova Furniture