Dear Snoops,
The zodiac is very important to many. To some, it’s maybe even a bit too important? To us – being frank – it’s kinda here nor there, even as proudly Saggitarian as we are.
That said, (1) there’s something intriguing about any pseudoscience that leans into celestial/natural connectivity; WE’RE CURIOUS! And, (2) we’re just going to toy around the intersection between the Zodiac and décor, because it is always good to look at things you see all the time with a new lens. Also, there’s an ocean disaster to discuss (not that one), which is very current (no pun intended).
ASIDE: FENG SHUI
We are, of course, well aware of FENG SHUI, which of course is also about décor and cosmic energies etc. And we think it’s very intriguing. But equally, it’s not something we feel equipped to toy around with.
Anyway, LET’S EXPLORE THE ZODIAC… FOR HOME… FOR NON-BELIEVERS
THE ZODIAC, TO US:
If you believe in complete and utter individual identity, stop here. If you believe that we all kind of are forged in this big cultural mélange but that ultimately you can lump us together into subcultures (as countless as those subcultures may be) then you may believe in THE ZODIAC.
And, if you think those subcultures can possibly manifest in interior décor, well then D’UH!!!! Of f*cking course they do.
So, it’s a thrilling and self-revealing exercise to continuously apply new filters in analyzing your own space (and those of others!). ie. “Does this one work? No. Does this one work? Kind of a bit.” etc. So let’s try the ZODIAC - kind of.
N.B.
We simply do not have the time or space to report on the 12 astrological signs, so we’re doing THE FOUR ELEMENTAL GROUPS of those signs, i.e. FIRE, EARTH, WATER, AIR.
BUT FIRST: GIO PONTI and PIERO FORNASETTI
Here’s an example of when “the zodiac” was really allowed to TOTALLY TAKE OVER, and so we’ll start here and kind of unwind this into some lessons and actual Stuff.
Gio and Piero – both MEGA, and both mega Italian – united to create THE ZODIAC SUITE (1951) in the ill-fated oceanliner (LESSONS ARE NEVER LEARNED!) the SS Andrea Doria. R.I.P.1956. (It collided with another ship.)
But, for four glorious years, this was really PEAK Zodiac design, as you can see:
We’re talking, like, these two men took some drugs or something and really went to town.
Ponti, at least, was doing Zodiac sh*t for like, 20+ years, and it was kind of just Zodiac stuff etched into things – so the Zodiac suite tracks, i.e. it’s kind of a basic interpretation?
… apart from this headboard (at right) that is really something quite special. Kind of has that Bemelmans Bar-style charm?
Ok, so what does this say about the Zodiac?
Well, for us, this is all quite skilled and charming stiff, of course. But it’s not really representative of how we relate to the Zodiac these days, which is not really as “a” singular thing, or like an aesthetic jumble we can puke all over a first-class suite (to great effect!).
The Zodiac of today is what a Starb*cks order was in the mid-1990s to early 2000s, which is to say, we identify as a particular star sign not just as having a general interest in all the signs. (Starb*cks signs became just Starb*cks signs.)
FOR THE YOUNG READERS: In 1990-2000, your identity would be like a “Tall Decaf Cappuccino” and you’d measure your compatibility to others based on coffee orders, etc. It’s true, and there is historical evidence to share on this. Please see the following clips: YOU’VE GOT MAIL (1998), and BEST IN SHOW (2000) - in both circumstances, Starb*cks come in about 1/2-way through these vids.
So, it would serve us to understand the Zodiac not as a monolithic thing, but to BREAK APART the umbrella of “ZODIAC” into, like, something more digestible.
BUT, ONE LAST THING BEFORE WE DO
This whole post really started because we were at this DEN (that’s a shop) pop-up thingy, in the shadow of the Scientology HQ in Hollywood-ish, and they had this PHILIP & KELVIN LAVERNE ACID ETCHED BRONZE ZODIAC COFFEE TABLE (father-son kooky design duo). That’s a long way of saying: it had constellations etched in it. It’s from 1960 and it is $-as-f*ck.
It was just really nice, and it’s one of those things that does NOT photograph well. And that’s another aspect of it we like, because there is way too much sh*t that photographs like a dream, but in REAL LIFE is stupid. And that goes for most T*kT*k trend furniture and - gasp! - “Influencer” homes that are just like, honestly psychotic. THERE, WE SAID IT. We have some in mind, but we shan’t name them.
ELEMENTAL DÉCOR
Okay, folks – so, let’s just talk about these four cute triplets of signs. We’re gonna whip through this.
1. FIRE
That being: ARIES, LEO, and the best one → SAGITTARIUS
First, let’s talk about the sun, which is an enormous ball of fire, and this lamp. It feels very kind of Greek-Holiday-Souvenir, Sifnos flea market, beach-gorgeous, and it’s really quite comforting somehow?:
That was sold by London’s OCULUS, who are really quite good at what they do.
FIRE SIGNS are – and we speak from experience – passionate, dynamic and *ahem* temperamental. Ready for action. (But somehow, in our case, also lazy.)
This means stuff with:
motion, probably, or at least some kind of change
color, definitely
And, to flatter ourselves, we’re gonna say something transparent-resin-y that kind of has a motion and change thanks to the changing light through the day, and not its own motion. Because what else is there? Like, a rocking chair? No.
Voila Gaetano’s BROADWAY CHAIR (1990s) in daylight “action”:
LIGHT, RESIN-SWIRLS, COLOR. Nothing wrong here. Lots to write home about.
2. EARTH
Meaning it’s: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
Okay, so no surprise here, we’re aiming for GROUNDED, REALISTIC, “conservative” and also, really emotional (ok, everyone is emotional). Also loyal.
We wanna turn back to the MARTA (our favorite Los Angeles gallery) and CATALOG SALE’s MAKE-DO exhibition, which was like, chair chaos. A dozen people who had three days to make a chair out of like, I guess non-chair-y materials. It was in New York in May.
And there was some major delight!
And, among the new stuff, there were also a bunch of “ANONYMOUS” chairs, that were found by the MARTA and CATALOG SALE people, and had been put together some time ago by random and unknown people. And THAT was super exciting.
For us, very EARTH, mainly for its groundedness (they are humble, tho not “plain”). It’s not so conservative in an AESTHETIC or DÉCOR sense, but it is in that is a penny-pincher for those that made them.
Here are some examples:
And these remind us of these truly delightful and honestly slightly more comfortable looking chairs, based on a similar VERY GROUNDED principle, done by not-anonymous designer JOE FRANC:
They are all, spectacularly, made out of chests of drawers.
3. WATER
Here we’ve got your CANCER, your SCORPIO, and obviously PISCES.
Emotional (who isn’t! Get your sh*t together, people) and ultra-sensitive. Mysterious. Kind of quite deep, in an oceanic kind of way.
And for that, we have to introduce you to JEAN-PIERRE RAYNAUD:
That is his BEDROOM, and his entire house is sterile white tile from top to bottom. Not only the look of a 19th-century psych ward (so maybe the right context for the ultra-emotional), but of which he has said “I take full responsibility for it, I possess it, and I am the one who makes it function.”
And, it’s like, "Okay buddy - nobody asked!” Very sensitive-defensive. Very WATER.
4. AIR
Finally, we’ve got your Libras, your Geminis (ACK!) and, oddly Aquarius (which you’d expect to be a water sign? Anyway!)
It’s a rational, social, communicative vibe here. Brainy, friendly, extroverted. “Enjoys giving advice” (yikes! Red flag.)
And, here we’ll focus in on THE AGE OF AQUARIUS, which - who knows - but alleged we have just or have recently-ish entered? Nobody is sure. But it’s high-tech (care of the Aquarian energy of rational, modern, idealistic).
Here, we’ll just about A BOOK that is totally seminal, SUZANNE SLESIN AND JOAN KRON’S “HIGH-TECH” (1978; ISBN 0-517-53262) which is a portmanteau of HIGH-STYLE and TECHNOLOGY.
In the nearly 300 pages of this book, Slesin and Kron talk about how the kind of softness of décor was being radically transformed because people started really getting off on “technology”. And, that just meant like, in a very Aquarian way, moving more towards the Industrial:
UPHOLSTERY
Was Velvet → Became Mover's blankets (as upholstery; not just strewn about)
LIGHTING
Was Crystal chandeliers → Became White-enameled factory dome lights
STORAGE
Was Teak wall units → Became Steel warehouse shelving
Etc. You get the idea. But one thing that oddly STILL resonates, and is the AIR ENERGY we still need is:
“But now that what was once avant garde has finally become establishment – the radial bent tubular Breuer chairs designed at the Bauhaus are the status symbols of the elite living room; the “good design” Eames chair is copied and sold at countless stores – it is time for us to discover the more humble and more anonymous designs of the machine age.
Truly that could have been in the last issue of [insert design magazine; any of them]. Except now the “machine age” is kind of quaint, because it’s not Artificial Intelligence it’s just actual intelligence.
The women writing HIGH-TECK truly and explicitly wanted their readers to be so enthralled that, as they passed a manhole cover (their words! What do we call it now?) they would think to themselves “I wonder where I can get one?”
I think the point here is RESOURCEFULNESS. Which is kind of delightfully anti-capitalist? So, kudos AIR SIGNS.
Ok, as per, we have kind of exhausted ourselves. And, honestly, the lesson here isn’t so much “do this, do that, avoid this” but more like, why not give try looking around you and trying to unravel your domestic décor Journey through a variety of lenses? One of them may as well be THE ZODIAC.
Until next time – which is actually THIS THURSDAY. And is the FOR SCALE XL with HOOD CENTURY’S JERALD COOPER and the Internet finds, found exclusively for FOR SCALE, of TRANG TRAN of International Objects.
LOVE AND GOOD LUCK,
Excellent post, the idea of matching decor and environment to star sign is beguiling! Well done
It reminded me of the fact that when we were going up some sixty years back :) My mother would read our stars from a column in the daily paper - those days it was news and entertainment Aquarius, Sagittarius and Scorpio!
I don’t just like it I love it!