Some good stuff in New York magazine’s “Design Liberation” issue, including this apartment with nice shelving and amazing pink walls.
August 29, 2008
Lonelyville
Coffee shop not far from my new apartment. Love the thermoses lined up on the shelves. Not to mention lemonade.
August 25, 2008
Divide This!
So I’ve moved and unpacked 80% of my stuff but I’m currently dealing with some major indecision. I have two of these mandarin rolling shelving units from CB2 (above left) and currently have both of them (rather effectively) acting as sort-of room dividers. But something feels wrong. I really liked having both of them next to each other and up against the wall in my old place — yet in the interest of new beginnings I’d rather not have my few possessions arranged exactly the same. I don’t really feel like I can finish unpacking the various books, magazines and objects that go on these shelves until after I decide where they’re going to be. Oh, my life is so hard. Some photos of shelves as room dividers follow.
Silly low shelves:
Almost old school shelves-as-room dividers:
Shelves? Or just boxy storage units?
August 1, 2008
Love Shelves
Last night I saw Love Songs, the new “musical” by writer-director Christophe Honoré. The songs are a little awkward, but it has all the great ingredients of French cinema that I enjoy so much: the brusque attitude, ménage à trois, death and melancholy, attractive players, fluid sexuality, way open family conversations, Paris and…shelves galore!
The film is impeccably art directed, with each character going through their drama in gloriously chic disarray. (Erwann’s room has especially pleasing shelf arrangements.) Unfortunately the above shot of Louis Garrel (who plays the lead, Ismaël) is the only still I could find with any shelving and it’s not the best example. The trailer, however, offers a few glimpses.
July 31, 2008
Welcome
I love shelves.
The shelving that people choose and the way they arrange things on their shelves reveals a lot. Some like to have all their books in alphabetical order, never to be disturbed again. Others have shelves that are works-in-progress, the objects moving around so much they never have a chance to get dusty. I once knew someone who had beautiful, custom-made shelves that were empty save for each day’s newspapers and dirty clothes that he threw on/at them. No other piece of furniture allows for so many different options, moods and changes like a shelf does.
This blog will examine and celebrate what different people do with their shelves — the possessions they display and the ways they choose to present them, whether carefully considered or haphazardly nonchalant. Please stay tuned.
