Dear Snoops,
Buy us a drink and we’ll give you one of about six Official “FOR SCALE” Rants on SALONE DEL MOB*LE (but it’s kind of insider-industry cr*p). But rest assured that there was quite a substantial dose of Charm, too.
And, in fact, in today’s report – to help us ease into the weekend – is JUST some brain treats. It’s our second ever “DELIGHTS AND CONFUSIONS” and but already it’s…
CATEGORY ONE (AND ONLY): DELIGHTS
1.1 U.S.M. “MODULAR F*CKERY”
We obvi went to say Hello to Jon at U.S.M. because he, like, made SALONE DEL MOB*LE happen for us. And, sure, of course, “U.S.M. is amazing”, etc. etc. BUT ALSO: WE HAVE SOME THOUGHTS, and those are about a bench that kind of reminded us of the TRUE VALUE OF “MODULAR”.
Context: Lots of people do the U.S.M. thing and it’s very kind of, buttoned up. Fine. Go for it.
But there’s a RADICAL gene in “MODULAR” that is (1) really far too rarely explored in practice and (2) should probably become part of the way we adjudicate “MODULAR”, (3) definitely present in U.S.M. (lucky them!).
A brief exploration of “BANAL” MODULARITY VS “RADICAL” MODULARITY:
Banal Modularity can still LOOK and FEEL very gorgeous, you know?, and ADAPT to suit new arrangement needs. So it’s like, “boom! My sofa is now two chairs!”, or a Chadwick sofa that is super-curvy-snaking, twirling, goes-around-a-pole, etc. etc.
But, Radical Modularity is present when you can, like, do something that maybe the Capital-D Designer of the thing didn’t anticipate. THAT is not “ADAPT”-ing, that is “INDIVIDUATED F*CKERY”. And the benefit of that is clear: it’s Highly Personal; and, it reveals you as a person who can think LATERALLY.
QUICKLY just for those, we can’t imagine who, who need a U.S.M. Regular Stuff reminder – i.e. this is “TYPICAL U.S.M.” (which, of course, we love):
It’s a kind of rod-”joiner ball”-panel assembly situation. And, you can switch out color panels, or like, add height or - you know, kind of so much. But, like, DOES IT HAVE TO JUST BE “ADAPTING”? (No.)
And, so when we saw THIS, we thought to ourselves, “YES. INDIVIDUATED F*CKERY!”:
This bench they don’t, like, “sell” but totally should. And was just there for you to sit down at, and watch some Swiss folks assemble and disassemble U.S.M. in a kind of Sisyphean loop.
We, we took pictures of this instead. Don’t you just f*cking LOVE it? JUST THE RODS!
And, by all accounts, FRITZ HALLER (who, like, is the mind behind HALLER FURNITURE, which is this stuff) was very intense and very broadly Utopian etc. And our utopia is this bench.
1.2 “ENCOURAGED THEFT”
One is encouraged to drink Heavily during SALONE DEL MOB*LE, because it makes the Décor look better. But, in two instances we were also told, while sipping, to “PUT THAT GLASS IN YOUR BAG AFTER, SHHHH!” by people in positions of power or influence. We obliged (The Thrill of Rebellion).
Ok, but here’s the point: these are new Booze vessels that are not sippy-sippy-delicate. These you seem to want to grab with your whole fist. They are saying “GET FIRED UP AND SLAM ME DOWN ON THE TABLE!”. And, we’re ready for this – a bit of a rejection of the “PÉT-NAT”-wine-bar-“TAKING OURSELVES SERIOUSLY”-”impossibly slim and fragile” approach to stemware that’s been very dominant.
One is HEM, and is a Product; the other was stolen from some Tanquer*y party (WE DIDN’T SAY SALONE DEL MOB*LE was *JUST* FOR RESEARCH!).
The Tanq is meant Not To Leave Tanq Parties, but they’ve been stolen by drunken people in São Paulo and Milan already – so, like, HELLO. That’s a pretty rep?
The HEM one is, like, not even for sale either - but will be. So this is basically a “FOR SCALE” exclusive? ;) And, it’s also not “JUST” HEM, because it’s actually a f*cking CULT CLASSIC they plucked from the KOSTA BODA archives (first devised by ERIK HÖGLUND who also did mega sweet bottles that are little booze soldiers, and zillions of other things). So, like, yeah – it’s got 1950s mod-goblet energy because actually that’s what it is.
Taking bets on whether these’ll smash en route home to “FOR SCALE” HQ in Los Angeles.
1.3 THE “NOUVEAU FAUX” AESTHETIC
Ok, so, usually when people consider “FAUX” they are like, TROMPE MY F*CKNIG L’OEIL ALREADY. But, we’re not here to (exclusively) talk Trompe. We are, instead, intrigued by a world of décorstuffs that are reminding us that Everything Is Artifice, that we’re probably in a matrix, that what we assume is so “SOLID” is in fact totally not.
Esoteric, but there is mainly HUMOR in it (to us). And let us explain with three examples:
1.3.1 “GHOSTERY”
This is the work of SOPHIE LOU JACOBSEN who is a glass-and-other-stuff gal from New York, collabing with a MAGAZINE (first mag mention! Wait for #2), COSE JOURNAL (ITALIAN LESSON: “Cose” means “Things”) by GIULA NARDI.
Ok here it is:
So basically it’s some everyday objects, but, like, made of GLASS. And, there are several, but fun ones to us are:
→ BAG, because even in glass it’s still contains, like, a bag function (COPERNI energy!)
→ VASE WITH FLOWERS, because you first look at think “OH A VASE AND FLOWERS, BUT THEY’RE GLASS” – except that a vase is really kind of SO OFTEN glass to begin with, so that’s kind of trippy that your brain (or just ours?) first kind of sees the whole thing as “faux” when it’s basically not
REALITY, LIKE GLASS, IS TOTALLY FRAGILE.
1.3.2 “SO MUCH FAUX BUT THEN SUDDEN REALLY NOT”
‘Twas very fun to romp around at CASA CABANA (as in, the origin story of “CABANA” THE MAGAZINE, which this house inspired and where Cabana person Martina Mondadori grew up). We were there for a breakfast-time party for a candle, because SALONE DEL MOB*LE is nothing if not kind of totally absurd.
THE VIBE:
It’s very, like, Rich-Industrialist-Intellectual, but also they had some John Grisham novels on those shelves, too.
Anyway, there’s just a lot of TRAD TROMPE-L’OIEL, because this is the type of circumstance where one has invested in a Trompe. And, that’s cute, but it’s not really a Brain-Trompe – y’know? Like, you’re usually quite aware there’s not a door out to a lush garden of lemon trees right off the tub, etc., etc.
But, here’s the double-trip of CASA C., which is:
LEFT: Wood-On-Wood-On-Wood and some of it’s real and some of it’s not (and gives us the same kind of energy that L.A. Door used to give us, if you can think back that far!)
RIGHT: Just when you feel like everything in CASA C. is sorta just, like, this trippy unreal-ness, there is a thing that is very just for fun but kind of Eloborately Real. i.e, Door trim (as in ribbon)
Well, anyway. We loved that. Excessively fauxness AND excessive realness – a key combo in Nouveau Faux.
1.2.3 BONUS FAUX
We just really liked this grocery store faux curtain – but it’s kind of a Sophie Lou faux, as in it is faux but also does the same job as Non-Faux. SO THAT IS NOUVEAU, TOO.
And just like that… SALONE DEL MOB*LE IS OVER. But we’re gonna do one more on Monday. BECAUSE WHY NOT, RIGHT? Thank u for sticking with us.
Love and good luck,