TUSCANY REPORT: THE BEST "COMBOS" ARE PRESENT HERE

AND "LAMPS OF INTEREST" REPORT

Feb 03, 2025

Snoops,

As Subscribers will have learned, “FOR SCALE” has recently acquired an domestic outpost in the Tuscan city of LUCCA. Image below. Very appropriately, the patron saint of Lucca is SAINT ZITA also happens to be the patron saint of DOMESTIC SERVANTS and HOMEMAKERS, et cetera.

What better something to serve, than The Domestic? What better act than to Home-make? !!!Zita!!! For those seeking a pilgrimage: her body - and mummified face - is on display at the Basilica di San Frediano.

TODAY:

Lessons from the best of Tuscan villa “décor combinations”, i.e. the very skilled pairing of the Rustic and the Avant-Garde or simply just Quite Nice And Contemporary
“FOR SCALE” Lucca Outpost references: LIGHTING EDITION

“FOR SCALE” TUSCAN OUTPOST, IN THE RAW:

But, before we get there:

F*ck trade fairs, honestly they are so stuffy. (Like, we attend the events that SURROUND THEM) !!Until!!, we expect, “SHELTER” hits N.Y.C. this May. So new you can’t G**gle it. Advanced gossip is that it will rejuvenate even the most hardened Fair cynics (us!). And so very possible that a FOR SCALE PRINT ISSUE No.2 will also be there. ESSAYS, ANONYMOUS INTERVIEWS, NAMED INTERVIEWS. Since we’ve just about sold out of PRINT ISSUE No.1.
F*ck the Internet! The people who run it are f*ckups, for the most part.

Ofc. we respect that the Intern*t is the primary site of “FOR SCALE” but will this always be the case? From MARCH 2025 all paid “FOR SCALE XL” SUBSCRIBERS the world over will be eligible for the FOR SCALE “BULLETIN SERVICE” (i.e. FOR SCALE B.S.): 1x ESSAY solely printed on paper and posted to you per month.
To receive MARCH EDITION OF THE FOR SCALE “BULLETIN SERVICE” you must be a PAID “FOR SCALE XL” SUBSCRIBER

TUSCAN EXPERIMENTS IN “EXCELLENT COMBINATIONery”!

TUSCAN HOMESCAPE #1:

Little conversion situation by GIUSEPPE CHIGIOTTI (archi) in Florence.

NOTE: (a) Tuscans don’t f*ck with shower curtains; (b) many contemporary details in Historic-y ‘scapes, incl. P.STARCK “VICIEUSE” table used as SIDE TABLE TO A DESK (double surfacing!); (b2) many Historic-y details in kinda more contemporary ‘scapes, i.e. complete LIVING ROOM STYLE wood side table next to bath

TUSCAN HOMESCAPE #2:

Even at the sea-side (FORTE DEI MARMI), the Tuscan mentality can pull off a kind of sorta delicately snobby precise blend of TRAD and RADICAL-adjacent. This is the VILLA ANTONIETTA.

NOTE: (a) despite a wealth of space, it seems, FORMA DINING HAPPENS ESSENTIALLY UNDER the stairs, and is absolutely dwarfed by them, which is a great f*ckery of scale! (Taking notes!!!!); (b) rather could-be-post-modern-ish-if-it-had-been-made-in-the-1980s BIRD CAGE pendant lamp.

TUSCAN HOMESCAPE #3:

The Villa di Granaiolo which is the villa the PUCCI fam built circa 14th century, and then the Pucci we all know worked with THE ABSOLUTE TOP TIER Gae Aulenti and ecco, la resulta.

NOTE: rug absurdity; exceptional chair upholstery.

TUSCAN HOMESCAPE #4:

At Bagno Vignoni.

NOTE: super rustic with intrusively modern lampery (! CAN DO!); a touch of deco with super contemp smeary-nonsense abstract painting.

TUSCAN HOMESCAPE #5:

Podere San Niccolò.

NOTE: One single Tizio floor really totally completely absolutely takes this roomscape to a whole new level!!!!!

TUSCAN MINDSET TAKEAWAYS: LIGHTLY INTRUSIVE

Extracted lessons include:

There is a distinct skill in COMBINATIONS of past-ish stuff and very now-ish stuff; repetition, arrangement, etc, are used in lightly “intrusive” ways. WE ADORE A LIGHT INTRUSION!!!!

To expand:

LAMPS: a very good place to swerve towards the “NOW!”; seconded by small tables
A revolutionary DOUBLE TABLE (desk with side table) is in obvious praise of “THE BOOK”, and we need and love Book. (F*ck the Intern*t!); and in the same place, a double side table
ODD PLACEMENT-ery: stair-adjacent dining; in-bathroom Living Room-setup side table

Focusing on No.1 there…

∴ THIS IS THE LAMPery OF INTEREST…

+ Seeking your advice and additions.

In any case: the Lampscape is truly one of décor’s most thrilling, and most !impactful! of décorobjects. You can have a plain as absolute f*ck Room and with the addition of some exceptional, noteworthy Illumination it can – in the extreme – be rendered immediately as certifiably Chic.

A top tier Tuscan Tip, and the common thread within these Lamps Of Interest — as much as there is some range – is a sort of distinct and yet completely digestible off-ness. An off-ness without the ‘sculptural’ (overused! - both as term, and as Thing); an off-ness that maintains a real sense of self but that does not scream — it’s far too f*cking confident to scream.

The Tuscan break in Totally Traditional is the skillful introduction of like, a sorta ever so slight double-take. It integrates with Debutant Twink smoothness.

And, !!crucially!! and here is the Litmus test: they help to form homescapes in which you can open a lapt*p and not have it be utterly jarring. That speaks to quite a decent amount of Intellectual Sophistication, versus simply “relaxed charm” (also good, but not what we’re considering here.)

Other geographies that do this well include (non-exhaustive list): Athens.

And, it should also be noted, probably for “FOR SCALE” to respect an décorscape, it would likely have to do something beyond the Basic in its illumination.

THEY ARE, in fact, MOSTLY “NEW” actually (usually we’re seduced by 20TH CENTURY):

(1) the SHADE sconce by BLUE GREEN WORKS, wide and sharp as f*ck; (2) The 14.1 by Bocci — SO SUE US! is it that cliché by this point?; (3) the ADA sconce by Brendan Ravenhill, which contains the thrill of ‘Envelope opening’; (4) the ORNAMENT candle holder by FRAMA, simple-y, industrial-y, the only candlelight on our TRULY SUPER THOUGHT-OUT list; (5) the GILL ceiling light by Roberto Pamio for Leucos, 1970s, with a kind of jellyfishness blob (6) LE FALENE by Piero De Martini for Arteluce and manufactured in the 1980s, which is a crucial “SAIL-like” entry; (7) the VOLKER HAUG “TUX”, which is actually super imposing in real life and some of the best fiberglass of a generation; (8) the LÁMINA MAYOR pendant Antoni Arola, 2023, has ABSOLUTE Castiglioni energy; (9) these we own, sorta some unnamed Murano itty bitties, picked up at a junk shop in LUCCA — 25 euros a piece ffS!!; (10) FRISBI flying saucery by Achille Castiglioni, 1978, an ABSOLUTE favorite; (11) speaking of MURANO (from No.9) some new-age Murano from the !!! bEST of New GLAss !!! 6:am, and the SISTEMA 50 ; (12) a little opaline ball with !!!NECK CORD!!! (adore) and added-on special new shade by MAX KEYS; (13) The SuperWire Table Lamp by Formafantasma for Flos, 2024, for which there was a f*cking major lineup to view at Salone del M*bile 2024; (14) a touch of manipulatable 1930s Art Deco lamps designed by Oswald Milne care of TWO POEMS (15) a sorta XL-wide, fringy 1940s table lamp care of THE PEANUT VENDOR in London; (16) not really being “MEMPH*S”-oriented ourselves, nonetheless, SWING by Martin Bedin has a kind of charming Electrical Tower-y-ness to it that feels just kind of supercharged and a bit h*rny-masculine; (17) TABLE LIGHT 2022 by Studio HOAS and its definite !Cini Boeri-ness!, nice to see that energy return.

WHAT HAVE WE MISSED?

Love and good luck,