INVITING YOU TO A PARTY; "DARK ROMANCE"-ING DÉCOR
PRINT ISSUE LAUNCH IN N.Y. (DETAILS); and HOTELS, RESTAURANTS, WONG KAR-WAI, Italian apartments; Paul Delaroche
*A FINAL THANK YOU TO U.S.M., DEITIES OF “MODULAR”, FOR THEIR SUPPORT IN SENDING “FOR SCALE” TO EXTRAVAGANT FURNITURE EVENT “SALONE DEL MOBILE”. OUR REPORTAGE IS HERE, HERE, and HERE.
Dear Snoops,
SEE -END OF THIS POST- FOR AN INVITE TO THE “FOR SCALE” PRINT ISSUE LAUNCH IN NEW YORK CITY ON MAY 17.
We are in the midst of a new Age of Enlightenment, for better and probably largely for worse (because it is far more desperate, far more Last Days of Rome). We shan’t really expand on this, because we are here to dissect domestic décor – but, simply to say:
industry is changing, and we’re being f*cked by it
the reaction of many is to become absurd fanaticals about pretty much everything
Both troubling. But, a tiny sliver of a silver lining exists.
Specifically, the intensity of the world today has loosened the grip of Suburban civility on décor, and re-introduced to us the phantasmagorical, seductive-moody décor world of “DARK ROMANCE”.
Some not-strictly-evidentiary support for the notion that something tectonic is occurring:
Have you not noticed a greater interest in dining in slightly forgotten, candlelit steak houses, over mini-course blonde-Scandi dishes-must-be-”introduced” places?
Are there not more of your friends embarrassed to say they work “in Tech”?
Similarly, a rejection of “Airbnb” and the triumphant return of hotel stays, i.e. turning our backs on imposed digital “community” and mutual Ratings systems, and back into a zone of hazy anonymity and transient, dark bars
Everyone is currently seeking to find some dimension in which they are “an artist”
But, we’ll stop get a little more concrete, with AN EXAMPLE:
LEFT: PAUL DELAROCHE “THE EXECUTION OF LADY JANE GREY” as a foundational example of High “Dark Romanticism”, i.e. gorgeous but spiritually DARK A.F., tenebristic, and a sorta really “Human Nature is f*cked” scene
RIGHT: A little arrangement around the SIGNAL lamp by Raphael Khalid.
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS, AND THE…
“SILO OF OPTIMISM” THEORY
Now, the latter is of course, very contemporary. But does it not share some emotional qualities with Paul D.’s 1833 painting? i.e. Of some sense of unnatural holy light, illuminating an otherwise dark scene; of a unifying “dramatic main character” amongst others that are kind of somewhat despondent.
The DARK ROMANTIC holds the belief that something – some “energy” in L.A. parlance – can bring a SILO OF OPTIMISM to something kind of TRAGIC (DELAROCHE), or the décor version of “TRAGIC” i.e. plain, banal, or (in this case above) an otherwise quite emotionally cold arrangement.
(LADY GREY, as much as she’s about to be killed, has the obvious “SPIRIT OF YOUTH”.)
In other words: Where “DARK ROMANCE” differs from the flowery, rosy-tinted “ROMANCE” is that there is always an acknowledgment or presence of the cruel, unfeeling, etc. (i.e. the ‘dark’).
The hopefulness we cling to does not evelope our Personal Worldsphere, it simple exists within it.
SOME REFERENCES:
REFERENCE 1: WONG KAR-WAI, “IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE”.
Let us simply accept and absorb the phenomenal capacity of W. KAR-WAI to f*cking nail DARK ROMANCE. Because, another differentiator is that "DARK” ROMANCE has sex appeal, it is pained; regular romance is, like, “sweet”.
W. Kar-Wai’s LOVE AND LOSS SIMULTANEITY:
This kind of reminded us of a recent bedroom via LOS ANGELES décor gall*ry SEVENTH HOUSE. The exhib*tion was not particularly romantic on the whole, to be fair, but This bedtroom really was one set-up that lingered with us, and it IS very dark romantic:
So, we can expand on some décor elements:
A kind of heavy brocade-delicate-ness; something that is not floaty like LACE but more weighty
Similalry, TIGHT and not flowy
Surfaces of impossible DEPTH (e.g. lacquer) that suck you in, like the pool-iness of eyes
Very Specific Light; even when ‘ambient’ (as in the Seventh House example) it feels limited and also a bit heavy (not the endless sunshine of Pure Romance)
Romantic décor raises us up into the clouds; DARK ROMANTIC décor instead traps our feet in a pool of tar. There must be some underlying vibe that reminds us that the world around us is tanking – yet, we are asked to remain calm (as one must in tar; struggled makes it worse) and reach up.
Yet, crucially, though these are not “ESCAPIST” environments, and they are also NOT Depressing. We look up.
DARK ROMANTIC DÉCOR IN “HOSPITAL*TY”
It can be quite a commitment, dark romance. And, so, we must turn to décor outside the Homesphere to see some examples of this kind of heavy-deep, enveloping moodiness, tenebristic lighting in real action. Because people are home are, for whatever reason, more nervous.
So DARK ROMANCE, before it makes it “home”, is a particularly common new vibe in recent Hotel-ery and Dining-ery.*
EXAMPLES:
All romantic, none of them “CHEERFUL” so to speak. All sexy, none “SWEET”.
Elsewhere in the HOTEL ULYSSES is the “ASH BAR”, which is utterly drenched in the knots-only-ness of “BURL WOOD”. Burl wood, UNSURPRISINGLY, is also enjoying a little extra attention in the décorsphere currently. And, why not? The knots – beautiful as they are – occur when trees are, like, flipping the f*ck out and trying to fight something off and using this stupid knot-making strategy that does nothing. (HIGHLY RELATABLE.)
“FOR SCALE” PAL CALEB E. OF “REST ENERGY” is working on some phenomenal burl wood stuff we’ve had a sneak peak at. We’ll keep you posted.
TANGENT
The recently relaunched MERITALIA is heading in a HIGHLY “DARK ROMANCE” direction with their marketing:
REFERENCE 2: MARGIELA COUT*RE 2024
You have SURELY witnessed it. The fetishy, damp-smoky, seductive, stumbling Runway-ery of the MARGIELA “COUTURE” presentation from JANUARY.
This we use now as an example of how “DARK ROMANCE” isn’t just “RED” – since we have, until this point, show much red.
DARK ROMANCE can also have the milkiness of Pure Romance, but does so with a particularly confining execution:
LEFT: 1957, Milan, and the apartment of CARLA VENOSTA (obvi. she was a des*gner); MIDDLE: The LAMPAMPE lamp by Ingo Maurer, pictured here in an Oslo shop; RIGHT: a home décor-shaped by “FOR SCALE” dream fave GAE AULENTI.
SUMMARY: A Margiela-ean standoffishness more than a kind of WONG-y heart-pumping red-lipped doomed lust.
Some narrative interpretations:
→ VENOSTA: the anticipation of the Intimate Dinner within a kind of icy-silverleaf coffin.
→ INGO M.: the vulnerable crumple of a $1500 lamp, set against rough stone and cagey steel.
→ GAE A.: a moment of recline-ability (and elsewhere in the Palazzo, very overstuffed pile-of-cushion sofas) within something that is glowy-y, sure, but ultimately rigid and RIGHT-ANGLES-ONLY.
ONE LAST THING
CARLA VENOSTA (as above) partially inspired some of the most compelling décor presentation at SALONE DEL MOB*LE, by the extremely Dark Romantic duo of DIMORE STUDIO.
A new gaggle of décor bits, under new brand INTERNI VENOSTA was revealed amongst a bunch of plaster figures etc, in a kind of very tiny and delightfully decrepit PLASTER STUDIO in Milan.
The furniture has all the right trappings; see this screen of laquer and mirror (and wood, less importantly):
A new lamp displayed next to SHELL SHOCKED LADY JANE GREY:
But you see a hint of a that lamp (more below), part metal and part fabric, that is about not about the free-flow of light, but about its limitation and restriction, without it being like “pointy” (i.e. highly directional light).
Something of a blended energy of the romances.
SUMMARY
It’s dark-moody, but it possesses an OPTIMISM OF THE WILL.
ANYWAY, YOU ARE ALL INVITED…
TO THE LAUNCH OF THE “FOR SCALE” NEWSPAPER at the very stylish and singular COLBO, on ORCHARD ST. in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
May 17. (That’s a Friday.)
6-9pm.
100 FREE COPIES of the newspaper to be distributed.
Alcohol and non-alcohol will be available for your free consumption.
We shall provide more details imminently.
Until next time,
LOVE AND GOOD LUCK.
*A FINAL THANK YOU TO U.S.M., DEITIES OF “MODULAR”, FOR THEIR SUPPORT IN SENDING “FOR SCALE” TO EXTRAVAGANT FURNITURE EVENT “SALONE DEL MOBILE”. OUR REPORTAGE IS HERE, HERE, and HERE.
Fan-bloody-tastic.
this essay made me realize why i like dark moody in everything (music, film, art): it possesses an optimism of the will