QUICK NOTE: this post will ALSO appear on the fabulous *SIGHT UNSEEN* with additional décor Things. The link to that is here!
THANK YOU TO SIGHT UNSEEN <3
Dear Snoops,
We speak often of unnew Stuff, but realize we have yet to address THE GHOST IN THE ROOM. (Almost literally.) But, fear not, the time is now. Today, we invoke THE DEAD, and the important domestic aesthetic surrounding THE SEANCE.
Also because The Craft (1996) turns 27 this year, and 27 is both The Age At Which Music Dies (e.g. Jimi, Jim, Janis, Kurt, Amy; i.e. totally a morbid age) and also, numerologically, 27 is a symbol of spiritual awakening – so, we face a milestone anniversary.
Ultimately, however, SÉANCE is about three very FOR SCALE THINGS:
Communing with the past, in an effort to make it very Present
Banishing ceiling lights, and focusing on intimacy (we also introduce the “TRAPPED LIGHT” concept)
A reappraisal of round dining tables, which we’re on the fence about but the Séance requires
Also, we’re attempting here to show that all the great elements of SÉANCE needn’t be executed as GOTHIC or WITCHY. Very valid as domestic décor approaches, of course, but worthy of their special moment.
So, turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream with us…
SCÉANCE-TIFIC DÉCOR ANALYSIS
The SÉANCE, of course, is an attempt to connect to and ideally commune with spirits in another realm. And, as such, an important acknowledgment of the only rule of interiors: it’s all about relationships. Between things, in the case of décor (i.e. arrangement / our relationship to space). In the case of formal séance, of course, it’s a relationship between us and some other plane of existence.
Secondly, the seance is a group activity and highlights the criticality of a suitable place to join together. This is, in any home, a task best accomplished by the dining table.
For the séance, the dining table is round and ONLY ROUND:
Above, the home of Robert W. also demonstrates some key seance attributes that may apply elsewhere, in addition to ROUND TABLE:
Limited distraction, useful in keeping focused entirely on the table and those around it
A bank of chairs for observers. A great place for your B List
We’re also great fans of other strategies to make dining very inward-gazing, including excessively tall chairs. Here is an image from KAREN FISHER’s 1972 “LIVING FOR TODAY” (which, may we remind you, we’re selling on Echo Park Ave at UNTITLED, which is a bookshop):
Those chairs are Fratina Chairs by Italian sculptor MARIO CEROLI,1972 – made from Russian Pine, which is why they have that great bathhouse/platza energy to them maybe? (Or, less generously: tongue depressors; wooden takeaway cutlery.)
ALSO, of course, of COURSE the high chair features in one of the greatest home-seances of all time, that of DELIA DEETZ (who also uttered décor’s most important line: “If you don't let me gut out this house and make it my own, I will go insane, AND I WILL TAKE YOU WITH ME!”)
To summarize the value of a round table, it’s basically EQUITABLE and NON-HIERARCHICAL. See below on PSYCHIC EFFORT required in a round versus Any Other Shape table (we use the classic rectangle for simplicity) by each diner:
NEXT, INDULGE IN SOME PARAPHERNALIA
AND THE “TRAPPING OF LIGHT”
Let’s first meet some good friends of the aesthetic (that are consciously, for us, not “goth” or like, obviously Wiccan or whatever): LELLA AND MASSIMO VIGNELLI.
We all know and love Massimo and Lella Vignelli, many of course will know Massimo as the designer of the N.Y.C. subway map. Massimo was obsessed with maps, but he was even more death-obsessed: his friends have suggested that his own funeral was – and we quote – a “recurrent theme” in conversation. A.K.A. He must have been, erm, a real treat at dinner parties.
He designed his own urn (a black cube; very “NeXT” by Steve Jobs), for example, plus selected the music and speakers and guests, as well as the location: St Peter’s in Manhattan, for which he had designed the interiors. (Control freak!)
For the purposes of the Everyday Séance look, one absolutely must import a little funereal energy, and the candle-incense ceremonial accouterments of the church are an easy crossover, and for that we turn to the work of the duo did for St Peter’s (in 1975):
The Vignelli’s altar set, as cooly modern as it may be, is really kind of too sexy for church – almost subversively Hot. Sexy-for-church gives it a sort of dark edge, and Dark Edge is important. Plus, you’ll note the grooves in the stems of things and on the pitcher, were designed for “TRAPPING LIGHT” – and that is very Dark Edge, to TRAP INTANGIBLE MATTER.
ASIDE:
The Vignellis were, as is obvious, very good at silver. But, they were also very good at cult leader-style clothing (a.k.a. monochromatic and loose). Again, quite good for Séance, because they speak to the “Spiritual Guide” in all of us:
→ A MORE PRACTICAL INTERPRETATION, FOR THE TABLE
We can appreciate that (1) you can’t actually ACQUIRE that stuff from St. Peter’s, unless you steal it, but also that (2) even something equivalent is rather specific.
Fear not, however, there is a light-trapping, very similar and yet also intended for domestic use set of things. And, lucky for us right now, they were brought to life by a DEAD MAN.
The dead man is artist Donald Judd, deceased in 1994 R.I.P. And, though sketches for these were made in 1989, they were finally produced only this year – care of the Judd Foundation (and in particular Donald’s son Flavin) and the French mega silversmiths PUIFORCAT (which was acquired by Hermès in the 1990s). ANYWAY:
The look is very Ritualistic and shares some Trapped Light properties with the Vignelli altar set, in this case mainly - as you can see - that the inside-y bits are super reflective and give the illusion, nearly, of producing light.
The “TRAPPED LIGHT” world loves: GLASS
Trapped light is intriguing: the sense that something is kind of possessed by light – i.e. without producing light itself, it seems to kind of hold onto it. And for that, the Vignellis came up with grooves, and Judd has those very inward-looking reflective bowls. But, the true hero here is the crystal ball.
Tapio Wirkkala made one that was egg-theme, in which rare examples have a silver yolk; and living-and-working crystal ball maker (a.k.a. glass artist), John Hogan, does the trick quite well himself.
Or, if practicality drives you, think beyond the balls to the vase family, which actually are often also balls, like those of Timo Sarpaneva (like Wirkkala, Sarpaneva is FINNISH).
FINALLY: INVITE IN THE ELEMENTAL SIGN OF FIRE
Here is another very good principle of the Séance aesthetic that works well beyond its confines: the intimacy of light. And, a choice of a light source that is very much alive, and very fragile.
That is, of course, candlelight.
Candlelight is, as you may know, FIRE – a very powerful force, an elemental sign of astrology, and a metaphor for life and death itself (so easily is it snuffed out).
And, we’ll continue with the Finns for this. The aesthetic sense of Timo Sarpaneva is, again, appropriate: he developed his signature look age of eight or nine, after making a hole in a hunk of ice with his finger (kind of pervy?). He realized, we infer, the delight one might have in playing with space and transparency. It’s all very Shroedinger’s Cat, because the approach is pretty much about the blending together two opposing states, i.e. solid object and empty space – as in, the empty bits are what give interest to the solid object bit.
His finger-in-ice look is probably best seen in the Arkipelago candle holders, but his greater achievement is the classic Festivo, seen here from the days when Iittala had an excellent brand logo:
Not quite finger-in-ice style, but there’s a kind of inviting in of the negative space around these ‘cause of the grooves. (Also very good to grip onto!)
And, assuming you aren’t choosing a full-fledged gothic, witchy séance but are maybe intrigued by it, the Festivo actually have a kind of gothic essence without being that: they wouldn’t be out of place in some 15th-century castle, against a kind of pastoral tapestry or whatever; or next to something you picked up at Bruises Gallery. Equally, you can imagine them at home in the home of a stark minimalist like ROBERT WILSON.
And that really is the tablescape.
And, the tablescape is where the séance aesthetic shines. You don’t (or shouldn’t) séance in your bathroom, for example.
The main takeaways are: the important of the dining table and a case for ROUND; and, strategies for EQUITABILITY AND INTIMACY amongst you and your guests.
BONUS: ON “THE ESTATE SALE”
(*We talked about another transformative experience at Estate Sales in our BUTTS post.)
Once upon a time, FOR SCALE attended an estate sale in Topanga Canyon and had an unnerving experience. As in, apart from a large collection of skulls (we didn’t ask), the entire home was furnished almost PRECISELY as we would have dressed it up.
This was the décor equivalent of attending one’s own funeral.
But, an estate sale in general gets you into the right headspace. SÉANCE, in its essence, is about unfinished business. We yank the souls of those who’ve passed into our realm, and we find resolution (HOPEFULLY). (Or something like that, right?) And that is also what is at the heart of the Estate Sale (their unfinished business being: making their next of kin a little extra money.)
Both the delight and creepy aura of UNNEW furniture is that it has had a life before you. And, at the Estate Sale this comes into focus. They are also very snoop-y and voyeuristic, which is an added benefit.
All the ones ever seem to be on ESTATESALES.net. (Dot-net!)
BONUS 2: GHOSTS
We do not actually believe in Ghosts*, but we do believe in GHOST LAMPS.
In Los Angeles, a favorite used-things seller, SAME OLD, recently unearthed the gem that is Shiro Kuramata’s 1972 Ghost Lamp:
If you’re feeling like you want to push the envelope, this is a high-quality way in which to do it.
(*We don’t believe in Ghosts because we spent a weekend at this creepy-amazing centuries-old German estate for the birthday of FOR SCALE super pal Jessica B. - and if that place was not haunted, truly we believe nowhere is.)
Until next time! LOVE AND GOOD LUCK,