Vintage Chair Restoration.

I bought a more than 50 year old South African chair from a lady last year. The lady inherited it from her in laws but she hated it and wanted to sell them. So with the blessings from her mother in law, she sold them in loose pieces to make way for new dining table chairs. I bought one of them from her and recently the leather cords on the old chair had started to give way. I suppose it is fair after all they are that old. I ordered new leather cords from ebay two weeks ago. Being the overzealous me, as soon as I saw the package, I set out to the hardware store to buy some supplies to get started. Restoring the chair was lots of fun.

Hope you'll enjoy the pictures as much as I did restoring it.

Where.

Where
Your child-like kindness finds
The fire of many dark Irises
That eats away into my tenderness,
Corrupting the space between my heart and my soul.

Where
Your smiles send me through
Many layers of doubtful limerence,
wondering why the marriage
Of our minds are unwanted;
Left out on a leaf to dry,
While waiting for a cure to dissolve thoughts.

Where
Indigo inks travel into my speech,
Muting my senses.
Unable to decipher pain from gentle pleasures,
I watch the swollen streets,
Trying to read their glassy expressions
As they walk,
The fire in their soul flickers.

By Sandra Liao
27th August 2009

"Oh Man, It's a Ray!" Installation, Milan Furniture Fair.

Being a huge design freak and having a soft spot for lamps and chairs, looking at the lighting section of the Milan Furniture Fair this year really intrigues me. The one I would really buy among all of them would be the Tolomeo XXL by Artemide. If I had a garden, this would be perfect. It adds a certain whimsical feel and reminds me of Alice in Wonderland. Maybe one of these days, I shall put on an "Alice in Wonderland" inspired garden inspiration post.

Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures.

Huge Mobile Installation by Ingo Maurer

Smaller low hanging installation.

Close up of the wood etched words.

Ingo Maurer's Egg Installation. I love the underlying message of the hope that life brings.

Samurai table and ceiling lamps by Barovier e Toso. This model is from 1966 and reproduced just for the show. Although it is an old design, it is still looks current and relevant.

Tolomeo XXL, One of the most iconic lamps by Artemide done extra huge. This version is weather-proof and great for the outdoors. Love it!

Installation by Karim Rashid. Looks like he has ditched his favourite bright pink and opted for a soft lavender colour paired with white.

Acrime Del Pescatore is made up of 350 crystals placed on 3 nylon nets, giving it movement and creating a phosphorescent sweep of light suspended in mid-air.

Conservatories.

I love conservatories. It is almost like having having a room in a garden. If you have a gorgeous view or garden, sitting in that room during the evenings with a glass of champagne, watching the sun set would be the perfect way to end any day. I found some pictures of conservatories and the last picture is of what my conservatory would look like. Maybe with the exception that the ceiling would be glassed.

Many Apologies.

Sorry. I'm trying to overcome the problems with blogspot. So please bear with me meanwhile. The format may look a little off. This is for the time being till it gets sorted (which is soon, I hope).

Anamorphosis By Droog.

If there is one design school that I would die to go into, it would definitely be Droog's. I absolutely love the way they change your mind about how you perceive the world. Take for instance their Anamorphosis series which they unveiled at the Milan Furniture Fair. It's awfully meaningful, at least to me. I think that as humans, we are so limited by our our own human boundaries and we forget that things are sometimes not what they appear to be superficially and we need help to see clearly. Take for instance, in this case, they have painted some precious (close to extinction) birds on white porcelain plates like what would usually happen on traditional porcelain plates but with a twist. Without the matching bottle or cup, the plate just looks as thought they are painted with colourful lines. The metal cup or bottle reflects the hidden birds.

Simply beautiful and poetic.
http://www.droog.com/presentationsevents/detail/anamorphosis-/

Ala Moana Residences, Hamilton Island.

I absolutely adore Ala Moana at Hamilton Island in Australia. I will
admit right now that I am a bona fide city girl. I need the rush, the
movement, the adrenalin and I seriously can't sit still. However, Ala
Moana might just change my mind. It is a beautiful luxury beach house
perched right in front of the beach. It has it's own infinity pool
and spa, 5 huge bedrooms with ocean views with the Whitsunday islands
in a distance. The master bedroom is situated on the second floor on
its own. It has its own private lounge area and a beautiful balcony
with a great view. For a beach house, this is really special. I just
might want to stay there and not go home. I hear that there are some
units for holiday rental but such beauty and tranquility does not
come cheap.

I think it is such a pity that I could not find more photos online to
put up except this one. I do highly recommend you to go their website
and take a look.

Inspiration Board for a Library.

Blogspot is really screwed up. Seriously. The features are missing from my compose option. Please bear with me as I try to overcome this by sending the images through email.

Anyway, I've always wanted a place with my own private sanctuary; like a library. A room without a television, just with lots of books, a writing desk and good amount of space to laze. It would be fabulous to retreat to a library to sit around, have a drink, read, and listen to some music after a day mingling among the maddening crowd. It may sound a little boring but it would also make a good space to entertain in after a nice sit down dinner. With that in mind, I've put together items that would make up my library. Throw in a hidden sound system, this would be perfect.

In a Haiku Mood.

It's been a while since I have written poetry. Today I've probably gone under the weather and I felt a need to write a little haiku. Haiku is a free form poetry with a total of 17 syllabus in it. Traditionally it has 3 lines and 5-7-5 are the syllabus in each line usually with a underlying seasonal theme. Most of the time it is written with nature in mind. However, the english version of haiku, sometimes there are only 12 or 14 syllabus and it is written simply, expressively and cryptic.

I may be a tat rusty but for warm up, this would suffice. These are 4 different haikus put into a set. Enjoy.


Outside, my bleak soul
looms, waiting for the dry truth
as the leaves fall neat.

Invite into me
an uncertainty of speech
feeling limerence.

To my kindred friend,
I long to be in your stead,
buried in many thoughts.

Let me go to him.
Don't Resuscitate us and
forge our crimson fall.

Magno Design.

Sorry for the disappearing act. Blogger at times drives me mad especially the last 2 weeks with the crazy bugs, however everything is back to normal and I am happy.

Magno comes from the word 'magnify', and that's what the designer aims to do. To magnify the little details that go into every product; from what trees these radios are made from to the simplicity of their design to resemble somewhat like a toy.

These radios are made from wood harvested from a forrest in Kandangan, Indonesia. Kandangan has a population of 4000. Magno's aim is to hire as much of the population as possible and to replant a tree for every tree that has been used to produce these radios. In this way, they have a regenerated forrest and a lower unemployment rate. This adds to the beauty of these green-conscious radios and also maintains a moral obligation between the product and owner.

I love these radios. You can plug in your ipod to them so that they can be used as speakers. They can run on both battery and DC adaptor. It will look great on a night stand, so that you can look at it just before you sleep to remind yourself of how beautiful the world can be if we all cared for it a little.