DOMESTIC DÉCOR OF "CAR"
START OUR ENGINES: AMERICAN STREETS VS SCANDINAVIAN COTTAGES, FLOS AND CASTIGLIONI, JOHN STEINBECK, CUTLERY, BLOCK SHOP TEXTILES, SVENSKT TENN,
(ONE DAY LATE, WE KNOW. LONG STORY.)
Dear Snoops,
To many, décor is a tool for forward motion — personal “progress” less focused on “finished project” i.e. destination, and more on what is commonly referred to as “the journey”.
And hence a MAJOR PARALLEL with the great cultural resonance of THE AMERICAN HIGHWAY and, to a lesser extent, of its streetscapery and car culture. i.e. The cultural cachet of the meandering or destinationless or existential (American) road trip (John Steinbeck; Joni Mitchell; FIVE EASY PIECES; etc.). TOTAL ZENITH!
P.S.A.: Good car culture domestically is not Child Car Bed. Good car culture domestically has nothing with the garage. It has nothing to do with tools and tinkery.
May we ask you to reframe your décor-terpretation of CAR CULTURE, because in fact there are some very compelling intersections (SO TO SPEAK) with “FOR SCALE” aspirational sh*t.
Before we (really) begin, let us force upon you our personal car décor on-ramps (THREE OF THEM):
CATHERINE OPIE (UNTITLED #27)
EXCEPTIONAL photo series. ALSO: as much as highways transport us they are also MAJOR BOUNDARIES. You don’t just, like, cross one on foot. CITY-SUBURB, SLICE-THROUGH-NEIGHBORHOODS type boundaries; alienating but also sorta ELEGANT (as portrayed by Catherine O.). Importantly Catherine O. prints these not at like mega-mural scale, but around 4” x 8”. Eensy teensy, ITSY F*CKING BITSY.
The point for us and the domestic décorscape is thus:
To render as graceful, and with tenderness, that which is big and brutal.1960S CAR PAINT COLOR SAMPLES are essentially Backdr*p. And are VERY INTERESTING.
General Motors, Pontiac sh*t!
The shades are highly OPTIMISTIC; VARIEGATED; and, really a very good example of how red used to be much s*xier.
But mostly worth noting that COLOR, OPTIMISM, VARIETY were part of / signs of a broader (often radical) cultural transformation. And in car world, they didn’t rely on POP-PSYCHEDELIC COLOR WACKINESS. Which is good.
But the point is that in fact their colors HAPPEN TO BE quite connected to MEGA CLASSIC DÉCOR HISTORIES.
The streetscape (car paint colors included!), as drab-ish as it may appear, is also charmingly hummm-chill and ultra sophisticated. TAKE FOR EXAMPLE, 1974’s corner of 21st and Spruce in Philad*lhpia, care of another super-duper-photog STEPHEN SHORE:
Which very much gives SCANDIN*VIAN COTTAGE, et voila:
SPOT F*CKING ON!!! Isn’t that kind of amazing? (YES, IT IS.)
O.K. IN SUMMARY THO:
What we’re saying is that CAR, CAR CULTURE, STREETSCAPE AESTHETIC, WET PAVEMENT etc, are a kind of really great escape from PLAIN OLD BROWN COLOR. (Even while containing some of the best f*cking brown around.) Like, LOOK TO THE “DRAB” and really pick it f*cking apart! It might be exciting, wholesome, historic.
LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF
LOS ANGELES, what a place!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And, it’s very CAR CULTURE, d’uh! But why we bring it up is that Yesterday, our journey to the LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY (CENTRAL BRANCH) was briefly interrupted by a jubilant-shouty community person dancing wildly in the street.
Much danger, much honking, but equally there was something really kind of “F*CK YOU”-”JOY RELEASE" about it. To disrupt! It’s very necessary in culture. And roads themselves are kind of both FREEDOM (of movement) and PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE OF FREEDOM (existential road trips) and DISRUPTION (the machine and its needs disrupts the human and its needs) and also PLATFORM FOR DISRUPTION (as with this shouty person).
Very cute to imagine this energy in the homsescape!
FOR US THAT MEANS:
a décor that is of Liberated Personal Expression, but also one that Challenges you, at times maybe stops you in your tracks.
TANGENT: YOU MUST LEARN THIS
The only ONLY R.V. to matter in history past and future is that of midcentury earthy wordsmith JOHN STEINBECK. Who had this sh*t custom built for his end—of-life tour of the country with his poodle CHARLEY in “TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY: IN SEARCH OF AMERICA”.
CRUCIAL.
DÉCOR PRINCIPLES:
NON-BLAND CURTAINS, and even an indulgence in the thematic (as John S. has here, with DOG CURTAINS… zoom in) — but we’d settle for some kind of f*cking ACID TRIP from Svenskt Tenn, or give us a JOE BRAINARD PANSY (!!! dream) via HERE at BLOCK SHOP !!!
APPLIANCES not “hidden” but camouflaged: appliance color-world is wide (NOT JUST WHITE/BLACK/STEEL), and John S.’s little fridgette is painted in “WOOD PANEL” as a shade. DREAMY!!!! HELLO, GAGGENAU, WE’RE WAITING!
FINALLY:
DÉCOR WHICH IS BASED ON CARS-ISH, STREETSCAPERY, AND HIGHWAYS
There is a certain degree to which some kind of a “CAR”-ish décor is very HOT and EXCITING and not so slap-in-the-face-car (WE DON’t REALLY CARE ABOUT ACTUAL CARS!). For example, the SPLÜGEN BRÄU by the Castiglionis for FLOS gives a kind of chrome grill (is that something?) energy — despite being designed for a beer hall, as you might have guessed:
And yes, R*N ARAD made a very famous décor-seat out of car seat, THE ROVER. But, if you’d prefer to be a little more Indirect, may we suggest SOFA TYPES that offer kind of INDIVIDUAL CHAIR PORTIONS, as per car. (As we’ve long left behind the car banquet seat.)
Because journeys, even when taken together. We cannot REALLY know that which is outside of us. And this is embodied in cars.
In sofa-world, we can find some sort of physical manifestation of this. (What IS togetherness, anyway?)
Example:
(L) Additional System by Joe Colombo, 1967
(R) Veranda by Vico Magistretti, 1980
There are also that which we have already DISCUSSED (in “REARRANGING AS A SPORT”) which is the WHEN WHEELS ARE DONE WELL THEY ARE TRULY DREAMY:
(L) Gae Aulenti’s 2746, 1980
(M) Gae Aulenti’s 2746, 1980
(R) Gae Aulenti’s 2746, 1980
OR… on a f*cking FRUIT BOWL. Why the f*ck not, right? And such a thing exists. It’s the Arnout Visser "Fruit On Wheels" (1993) and you can buy it via ODD EYE right here.
NOW, FOR HIGHWAYS
A tougher question. Ultra-linear, elegantly curved, they are a means of getting from A to … wherever. So, we are going to dive into THE major FUNCTIONAL MOVER of the homescape: the utensil. The getter of things from A to … Mouth.
(And recall the exceptional Catherine O. printing big big big ideas into small formats?! BIG IDEAS into small objects.)
FIRST, LET’S NOTE THIS “KNIFE FORK SPOON” DISCOVERY IN MEXICO:
And so we shall indulge ourselves in the EXCEPTIONAL catalog of BEST EVER knife-fork-spoonery via KNIFE FORK SPOON, which is put together by the INIMITABLE DUNG N. of AUGUST JOURNAL, etc.
A threesome selection of HIGHWAY ENERGY food shovelers:
(L) “COLORINA” BY NANCY STILL, 1970, kind of TRAFFIC SIGNAL-ly????
(M) ADOLPH TISCHLER, 1967, SPEED!!!!!!!!!!!!! (few things domestically can convey!)
(R) HABITAT, 1970s, kind of guardrail?
(HAD TO MAKE THAT ONE COLOR.)
ALL TO SAY
Vroom! Cars are fun. Streets are WILD – the are escape, protest, psychotic playful shouting, interaction, speed, existentialism! What a good thing to play around with in the HOMESCAPE.
ARE YOU CONVINCED ???????????????? THAT CAR IS MORE THAN “CAR”-LITERAL?
Maybe.
WE WERE STUCK IN TRAFFIC, OK?!
Until next time. Love and good luck,
growing up in NYC in the 70s, my father would open take us to the this place called the Autopub - a restaurant where the tables were situated in a variety of car chassis
it was wonderful and weird and glorious
Fantastic!
But does it translate to the Great British Motorway with its Ford Mondeo’s and welcome break service stations?