Favorite Finds In The World of Design 6
By Steve Miller • Category: Favorite Finds
Clay Furniture: dining chair (red)
designer: Maarten Baas
Walking into Moss, a gallery of bespoke table top, furniture, lighting and jewelry, with locations in New York City and Los Angeles, you are instantly confronted with some of the most original pieces of art on view anywhere. Yes, I said art, since even a simple vase, which at Moss is never simple, is a gorgeous architectural statement. Most pieces are functional and should be used, but at the same time they are beautiful enough to frame or put on a pedestal.
Maarten Baas is a furniture superstar from the Netherlands who makes some of the most imaginative pieces of furniture around. The Clay Furniture was first introduced at Salone del Mobile, Milan, 2006. This dining chair, as all the other pieces are made from industrial clay, hand-modeled on top of Baas-designed metal ’skeletons’ surface and painted with colored lacquer. The Clay designs are mass produced, but in this case, “mass” is a much smaller number.
Moss: Clay Furniture address the issue of form-giving in industrial design, revealing, literally, the designer’s ‘hand’ in this intimate process, today normally concealed through the use of a computer (but there, none-the-less).
Price: $2,900 per chair. Assorted colors, styles.
www.mossonline.com
TAKASHIMAYA DEPARTMENT STORE - ORGANIC TEAS
A high-grade young leaf tea with fresh aroma, full-bodied taste and pale green color. Grown on an organic tea plantation in Hunan Province, China; certified by U.S.D.A. This tea is absolutely delicious and the tin it comes in is not so bad either!
50g (1.8 oz.) in black tin - $18. Per tin.
www.ny-takashimaya.com
Giorgio Fedon
Clean-cut and essential designs are the hallmark of the Giorgio Fedon brand, established in 1919. This business and credit card holder is made from hard bent aluminum covered in Fedon’s signature orange or classic black. Compact enough to fit in a shirt pocket. Made of PVC. Stylish, different and sure to make a statement.
www.giorgiofedon1919.com
Bordoni Leather at Richard Shapiro
Richard Shapiro Antiques and Works of Art, one of the premiere art, antiques and furniture galleries in the country scored a major coup when it was named the exclusive representative in the United States for Bordoni Leather, a family owned company headquartered in Bologna Italy and overseen by Cecilia Bordoni. This leather is like nothing I have seen or felt before.
It is stunningly sumptuous, soft and altogether luxurious, no doubt because the family has been working in leathers for centuries providing bespoke wares to people truly in the know. What is so wonderful about Bordoni is that the carefully curated collection of leather is equally at home on contemporary and period pieces of furniture a like and fits well in any style of home. Colors range from subtle to HELLO!!!! Look at me.
