Writer's Block

I told you I ran into a few celebrities while in NYC

My carry-on NYC weekend packed a lot into a little: a few celebu-sightings, a play called Avenue Q, ABC Carpet and Home, an Art Fair, FAO Schwartz (where we ran into Gwenyth Paltrow and Apple), Art Galleries, plus a multi-cultural array of cuisine -- South African, Indian, Afghan, American, street vendor, Asian, and the old standbys: wine, peanuts and bagels. 

Some of the great views from the windows of our incredible host's incredible apartment:

Overlooking Central Park

Mandarin Oriental Hotel deck next door

Rooftop Deck

I would be remiss if I failed to admit that some karaoke was crammed into the weekend as well.  (cheers.)

Now that my brain is mush on overload, I've barely been able to form a coherent thought or sentence all week.  But I wanted to thank everyone to who emailed me with all the great suggestions, etc.   My head is spinning with ideas from some of the incredible furniture/designs I saw, and I'm excited to get back to some of my projects armed with fresh perspective.  Oddly, the trip left me feeling so creative that it drained me of all creativity to write anything interesting about it? Strage, but true.  

'Writer's Block' by Amy Spiridellis
A piece on my friend/art-collector/host's coffee table

How I'm feeling at the moment

Meanwhile for all you locals:  don’t forget 'Art for Art Sake' is this weekend!  See you around the galleries…

Going to take a bite of the Apple

Thank you to Jay-Z and Alicia Keys for articulating my current state of mind -- an Empire one.  NYC, I'm on my way.   While my wallet attempts to elude it all, my eyes will be surrendering to the many inspirations the city has to offer.  I'll be the one waving the White Flag on Fifth Avenue.


So start spreadin the news and give me your suggestions on decor & furniture stores, flea markets, art galleries, or just funky places to go, email me (kakivelie@yahoo.com).  Eye candy here I come...

ChairMan Mao

Mae West's Lips Sofa by Salvador Dali
What it used to mean when celebrities ‘had their lips done.’

Ever since I did my post on Pedro Friedeberg’s hand chair, I’ve been thinking about other pieces of furniture inspired by the human body.  What’s beautiful to some, is creepy to others. So, what do ya’ll think of these?

Him and Her by Fabio Novembre 
I wonder if these have ever been met with a straight face.
They bring out the 10-year-old in me: the giggles.

Human Chair by Tucker Robins
Looks more like a monkey chair to me. 
Maybe some of our ancestors evolved into chairs.

Perspective by Pharrell Williams for Domeau & Peres

Left foot, left foot, right foot right.  Feet in the morning, feet at night. How many, many feet you meet?   –Dr. Seuss, The Foot Book

Tongue in Cheek by Peter Harvey
Clearly Mick Jagger was Harvey’s muse.

Salvador Dali's Hands Chair

Mr. Surreal himself gave this chair hands. 
Eccentric, creepy, they seem to be reaching for something.

Ruby Rocking Chair: Anatomic Rocking Chair by Pouyanm
Does this come with its own clinical hospital gown?

Leggy Blonde by Rupert Cavendish
This piece of furniture had me at its name.  Plus, it’s like the leg lamp redux.  Who can forget this beauty from the classic Holiday flick, A Christmas Story?

But this takes the cake:

CHAIRman Mao chair by Geralde Scarfe

CHAIRman Mao eerily resembles Jabba the Hutt in this rendition.  This may be as comfy as Peepaw’s Barcalounger, but lounging in the arms of Mr. Mao/Jabba just doesn’t strike me as relaxing. 

What do you think? 

Give it a Hand please...

A hand to hold your bottom

Hand Chair by Pedro Friedeberg

The wonderful, the sublime, the beautiful, and to some, the creepy: the hand chair. Do you love it or loathe it?

Personally, I love it. I have seen Mexican sculptor Pedro Friedeberg’s hand chair used, up close and in person, and in many editorial pieces. In my experience, people tend to have very adamant opinions about the notion of such a chair. Let’s examine its positive attributes: its sculptural, its conversation worthy, and it’s a functional place to sit. Not many pieces of furniture can claim such diverse utility. Of course, there are many different versions of the hand chair floating around now, but we’ll begin with probably the most notable and recognizable done by Pedro. Here we see it used in haute design:

Jonathan Adler and Simon Doonan’s palm beach apartment via Metropolitan Home

Nate Berkus designed home for Brian Atwood via Elle Decor

(Don't believe that's a Pedro chair, it sort of looks like one of the wood versions from Bali below.)

Kelly Wearstler designed home office via Vogue Living

Kelly Wearstler in her Foyer

Some of Pedro's hands are joined by a foot

What I like most about the Pedro’s hand chair is that it’s surreal, it’s whimsical, and a little tongue in cheek, which makes it all the more stunning (if you have the real Pedro). Most importantly, it merits a chuckle. Certainly, laughter was even Pedro's intention. (read about him here.)

But Pedro was a true 'artiste,' and thus his pieces are not only valuable but also timeless, regardless of your taste. But what if you don't have the $ for the real deal? Would you still furnish your living room with a hand to hold your bottom?

For centuries designers and artists claim nature as their muse. Even the most modern and abstract pieces may draw inspiration from the human form, or from natural surroundings. So God made the hand in such a way that when cupped, it can mimic the shape of a seat. Pedro took it, elongated it, abstracted it, and gilded it (in many cases) to create his masterpiece. Unfortunately, or fortunately, he did not have a copywright on the hand. And thus we've seen thousands of versions of the hand chair.

Here are some from a Balinese Company. Hand carved of hardwood, they look pretty interesting to me:

What's beautiful to me is creepy to a friend who says the nails freak her out.

Here's one that seems to be saying 'A-Ok' ...

I can imagine one certain hand gesture that might take this idea a bit too far.

And here's a whole inventory full, looking like they're waiting to catch a fly ball.
Much further down the hand chair food chain (think cheap) are the plastic versions, which come in a rainbow of colors from ebay...

What's at the end of this rainbow? Buster from Arrested Development....

If not you, Buster Bluth from one of my all time favorite TV shows, Arrested Development, loved his red hand chair. There was even a plotline where he rescued his favorite chair from his mother's philandering habits:

Hey, what's good enough for Buster..

Apparently what's good enough for the immature and socially inept Buster is good enough for me. You read that right. I actually fell victim to one of these plastic numbers from ebay, and provided lots of laughs and odd looks from my friends, family and houseguests. Whether the jokes were at the expense of me, or the hand chair is yet to be determined. But here's the evolution of mine:

I was so excited to get my hand chair that I painted it gold and put it in the living room-the first room you see when you enter my house.  What, dare I ask, does that say about me?

I loved the whimsy and the contrast of the antique French chair juxtaposed with the more modern, suffice cheap, hand chair. I also felt it spoke pretty well to my life and my design aesthetic --to not take oneself too seriously. While it provided lots and lots of conversations, suggestions that it move to my four-year-old's room, and fights over who got to sit in it, my favorite moment with this chair was when someone suggested I paint the nails red. True story.

Don't worry, the chair didn't move because I succumbed to pressure. It only moved because I found these two beauties (thank you again ebay):

I can no longer say, "take my hand," in this room without referring to my actual hand.

So the chair moved to the TV room below a large painting:

I liked that it added a sculptural contrast to what's on the wall behind it.

Most recently it has moved outside where it collects rain, and provides a new territory to mark for my lab:

A sculptural territory for a tasteful lab to mark.

So maybe my taste isn't so discriminating when it comes to the hand chair. But I'm all sorts of lost when it comes to the mitt and foot chairs:

Just no. Unless its for a playroom.

I just am not a foot person. Sorry.

Now, for those with a foot fetish, maybe?
PS:Blogger, why is the formatting so messed up on this post? ugh.

No Planking Zone

Home = No Planking Zone

I am totally at a loss with the phenomenon of planking. Are we so collectively bored that taking pictures of oneself lying face down fascinates? I mean this is the position most of us have been sleeping in since birth. Give me a picture of a Cirque de Soleil acrobat with her left toe in her right ear and I’m impressed. Someone planking, not so much.

Impressive? Yes.

If you haven’t heard of planking, congratulations – you are a better person than me. According to the urban dictionary, planking is the art of laying horizontally in a strange or unusual place. In order for it to be legit, one must post a picture of it on the internet, preferably on Facebook.

Now it's starting to make more sense...

After reading that definition it started to make more sense to me, the key phrase being 'a strange or unusual place.' I mean if you can plank on the Great Wall of China, atop the Eiffel Tower, or even a moving escalator, kudos to you. So what I really don’t understand is the celebrities who twit photos of themselves planking in the most conventional of places, like at one's own home. Admittedly, the Playboy Mansion may seem 'strange and unusual' to some, but to the senior who's lived there since the '70s its standard routine.

Hugh, this is all sorts of wrong!

Furthermore, according to the above definition, laying across a flat-surfaced dining room table does not a planker one make. That's just plain lazy. Might as well just plank across your bed Hugh, because frankly there’s nothing novel about seeing you atop that either. Generally speaking, furniture is designed with the intent for people (or items) to sit or lay upon. Thus, planking at your house seems to defy the very nature of planking.

Planking across a couch, table or bed is counterfeit planking and I won’t support it. That's right, stop the spread of this contagion at your front door. Keep your home a no planking zone.