*LATEST UPDATES* TO THE GLOBAL DÉCOR SOURCE LIST (VINTAGE EDITION) ARE: NETHERLANDS (VARIOUS), ITALY (LUCCA; ROME), NEW YORK CITY, SAN DIEGO, SHANGHAI, ANTWERP
Dear Snoops,
“NORTH STAR” STATUS ALERT:
A quick love note to a gallery of décor and art near the Silver Lake Trader Joe’s that has been a very regular guiding force in FOR SCALE themes. So often has MARTA curation resulted in FOR SCALE mindseed that we are awarding 3021 Rowena Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90029 with NORTH STAR STATUS.
“FOR SCALE” MARTA FAVORITES: L.A. Door faux-knot pine mirror (OF COURSE!); Sarah Burns’ under-the-table cast plastic gum; a Ross Hansen basket; the stoolverse exposed (done with old-stuff ultra-legend J.F. Chen).
ANYWAY – now… (and, this is connected):
MAIN TOPIC:
“THE CAVE” DÉCOR IS ONE OF DEEP PERSONAL COMMUNE
In décor, it is commonly agreed that the “cave” is a space of personal sanctuary and communion, while equally providing the opportunity to explore Extremes and Excesses. Though its presence is fairly rare, it is nonetheless among the homescape’s most treasured and culturally significant spaces.
And, because this is a patriarchy, only one half of us get the cave, it is “THE MAN CAVE” — both disturbing (b/c patriarchy) and erotic-mysterious (b/c extreme masculinity). It is cliché-masculine, it is décor-vulgar, it is one of few rooms that actually BENEFITS from “little natural light”.
Yet, the décor HISTORY of cave is BETTER than “MAN” — NO SURPRISE THERE. Few décor aspects of “MAN CAVE” (too-big TV; sports paraphernalia; etc.) are things you’d want elsewhere. Instead, we turn to the aesthetic of GENUINE CAVES (AND REPLICAS) that blend the MYTHIC and CRUMBLY nature of Earth with the décor intervention of HUMAN. While maintaining sense of Sanctuary and Excess.
PREV. SEGUE EXPLAINED: It may by this point be no surprise to you that one institution currently SPELUNKING DÉCOR is Marta ( + guest selector of the cave-esque, Krista Mileva-Frank!!!)
This is: THE GROTTO.
PLEASE OBSERVE THE DIFFERENCES, but also appreciate some spiritual similarity:
Dark, highly sensorial, walls totally maximized, etc.
GROTTO: “TO CAVE” AS VERB
To cave, as a verb, is to RELINQUISH POWER. To submit; to defer. Yet, there is sooooooomething of a generosity in “to cave” – to cave into one’s desires, or for example to cave in and TREAT ONESELF.
The grotto-esque décor shares this generosity, because its earthiness oddly carries with it a kind of inherent out-of-the-ordinary extravagance. Why? Because we live in a f*cking overly-machined, Steve J*bs-obsessed, ironed-out, digitally filtered world. (FOR SCALE speaks often against a totally ‘frictionless’ décor.) The Grotto instead is non of those things, but equally is a lot.
Take for example the earthy extravagance of some of what MARTA/KRISTA M.-F. have brought forth:
SCONCE: “A HISTORY OF FROGS”; GLASS: “VALENTINA CAMERANESI SGROI”; LAMP: “CHARLAP HYMAN & HERRERO”; VASE: “MASAOMI YASUNAGA”
THE GROTTO-ESQUE APPEAL:
Now, the GROTTO-ESQUE DÉCOR has been swiftly reduced in many “articles” to shell work, and dripping stalactitery. Not so.
Yes, there IS that (OF COURSE!!!), but we see from the MARTA selection that there is something more:
HIGH embellishment (many details)
HIGH TEXTURE Earth-whimsy (not simply “organic” shapes) – i.e. lots of drippy or crumbly
FACES (for whatever reason)
NOTE: it is NOT SIMPLY ABOUT F*CKING SHELLS.
Not to us at least. (And we mean in the case of domestic décor.)
So, for example, a homesetting that we feel is edging on the GROTTO-ESQUE but includes not a single f*cking shell is that bedroom of proud 20th century art-floozy Peggy Guggenheim:
Not wall use – the vertical is crucial!!!!; note how it your enveloped in clutter; note the “organic” shapes that aren’t just round and soft (i.e. some are spiky).
THE RESULT: “MEDITATIVE” OF A DIFFERENT SORT
The more monastic, minimal approach to décor is predisposed to a certain type of meditative contemplation – one that is about eliminating distraction/influences/whatever.
The GROTTO-ESQUE instead is about CONFRONTATION, not elimination – the grotto services to kind of condense much much much stimulus into a confined, kind of eery-mysterious-everything kind of place. One that feels as if it might, when you turn your back or close your eyes, totally come alive. (The monastery, by comparison, feels dead.)
(One positive note on shells:
Shells, for example, the crutch of grotto décor for many, are of course very fun in this context because they are, like, little homes for animals. Very “alive”!)
TANGENT: “FORMAL INTERIOR DESIGN AS PLATO’S CAVE” THEORY
The Plato’s cave allegory is like: imagine we’re shackled up in a cave and all we can see are shadows on the wall in front of us. The shadows become our reality, we know nothing but them. But therefore what we understand as reality is just a fragment of reality. (There’s more, but we’ll stop at that.)
We at “FOR SCALE” believe if all your love for décor is serviced only by looking at the work of professional interior designers, you are in a kind of Platonic cave of ideas. You aren’t really seeing all that real reality can offer.
It’s like, c’mon, break free, run out of the f*cking cave and see some f*cking color (allegorically).
Think about f*cking what caves mean for décor, and airports, and corporate offices, and cars – all fantastic homescape lesson-givers.
THE GROTTO-VERSE IN OBJECTS
A little selection from around.
And forever and absolutely ALWAYS, one of the best-ever candlesticks, THE BIG AL by PROJECT ROOM. The AL knobs also suit.
And, a LITTLE QUOTE TO LEAVE YOU WITH.
AND AFTER HAVING REMAINED AT THE ENTRY SOME TIME, two contrary emotions arose in me, fear and desire – the fear of the threatening dark grotto, desire to see whether there were any marvelous thing within it.
— LEO DA V.
Until next time. Love and good luck,
Best article yet!
"NOTE: it is NOT SIMPLY ABOUT F*CKING SHELLS."
*hides in shame*