touching on... FLOR

FLOR always has great designs, but this "Big Wooly Rug Kit" (100% natural wool) is a particularly beautiful concept-- I love the idea of a striped shag, especially paired with a smoky blue velvet sofa and a tufted club chair. Soft, inviting & yet also masculine, like a good scotch.

Touching on...shell and horn

For the second column of Touching On... , I want to write about something that I've been seeing everywhere I look these days: creamy, pearly, warm neutrals, with stripes and variegations directly from or inspired by the textures of shell and horn.

The interesting thing about this look is the unusual combination of "cold" and "hot" in one surface: the glossy, hard, "cold," look of shell warms up from subtle veins of fiery colors-- caramel, walnut, even hints of rose. Not clear yet whether this is an autumnal, winter trend, or whether the spring will continue with its own versions of the materials. But I'm loving it and hope this one sticks around for a while! (For the source of top image, look here)


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Clockwise, from top right: (1) shell tray, $24, from Jayson Home and Garden; (2) seashell wall tile, $35/sq foot, from Maestro Mosaics via cribcandy; (3) William and Mary Metro chair, $585, from Context Furniture; (4) Silk comforters from Eileen Fisher, $438; (5) thrown ceramic cups from James and Tilla Waters, featured at the Origins crafts fair '06.


Lovely horn servers, $78 from 2kh

Touching on...: a new bi-monthly column!

Industrial metals like steel and iron go luminous, airy, and golden:




From a Moroccan lamp, to an early 19th c. belt from Berlin (decorative and appealing when iron was expensive and rare due to war) to the wonderful "sea urchin" salt and pepper vessels (or vessels for earrings!) at Mothology (featured in the NYTimes "Personal Shopper"), the endeavor to change the crudeness and density of these metals through punching, or through mesh and bronze accents, or by way of using gold leaf inside a very rough, almost violent surface-- this is not so much a trend (yet) as much as an inspirational post right now. But with additional examples, we may find the use of crude metals in elegant permutations becoming more than inspiration...

This is the first of a bi-monthly Friday column, "Touching on..." solely about textural inspiration & up and coming textural trends. Hope you dig it! Let me know what you think!

Have a great weekend!