Contemporary German lighting designer Ingo Maurer calls his Zettel'z a blend of art, sculpture and light. Very true. From the moment I first saw this light a few years ago (it was designed in 1997), I was smitten. The light is composed of 80 sheets of Japanese notepaper— 31 pre-printed with Maurer’s doodles and 49 blank sheets for your own designs and reflections. The paper is then clipped to stainless steel wire cables and shade the light heat-resistant, frosted glass bulb.
The Price? Design Within Reach sells it for a hefty $1,165 but if you search around you can find it for hundreds less— Europe by Net has it for only less than $700.
5 comments:
I wish it was a lot less money. And that we had somewhere to put it that would not require even more money paid to an electrician. I have also loved it since the moment we saw it. It will go in our next place. Promise.
I recently read an interesting book, one of the conclusions of which was (and I'm paraphrasing) that modern design had failed to measure up to its own aspiration to create a machine age utilitarianism through its failure to translate good manufacture and simple lines into easily affordable goods.
Discuss.
Great lamp though. Oh, and I'd opt for the bedding before the Dyson.
I think it's an illogical conclusion to say utilitarianism = affordability. For something to be utilitarian in the machine age it must be easily produced (not painstakingly made by hand) and functional. It doesn't mean that it also needs to be available to all. But then again, I'm a pragmatist. And although it would be nice to buy everything I want, I'm not that upset with the prices of modernist designs. (Although even I think the prices of some items are insane. $8,000 for a sofa? Ridiculous.)
And as I have learned starting up a small business, when the customer base is small, your goods often cost more to produce because you don't get the quantity discounts. You also need to make more of a profit per item when you only sell a few. So it makes sense that modernist items, still being a somewhat unpopular style, cost more. However, I think some manufacturers and designers are probably just plain greedy, which in my opinion should be seen as a failure.
As for the Dyson, obviously you're not the one who does the vacuuming in your home.
I agree with you re: utilitarianism. The chap who wrote the book was paraphrasing Gropius, however.
As for the vacuuming duty split, au contraire; but we mostly have hardwood floors. And a tiny house.
I'm angry at Dyson the man. He's from my home county in England but after he got famous, got rich, got a Queen's Award for Design and a Queen's Award for Industry, and gazillion in tax increment financing and incentives he moved his factory offshore and put a lot of my compatriots out of work. Even so, we looked at the Dysons for our wedding registry but ended up plumping for this.
Speaking of wedding stuff, I need a shoe consultation. Care to cast your expert eye over these and weigh in? You've seen me in the (rather a lot of) flesh, after all. Cheers.
Shame on Mr. Dyson. I wish that fame and fortune would never change people. But I guess that's niave. I have to commend him though for taking something that once seemed so dull and turning it into a "status" item.
Meiel does make a nice vacuum. We have all hardwood floors, too, and Shame on Mr. Dyson. I wish that fame and fortune would never change people. But I guess that's naive. I have to commend him though for taking something that once seemed so dull and turning it into a "status" item.
Miel does make a nice vacuum. We have all hardwood floors, too, and only one rug but I really like the upright with a detachable hose.
As for the shoes, I'd opt for the cap toe. However, maybe one that's a little more patent leather and slim, such as these.
only one rug but I really like the upright with a detachable hose.
As for the shoes, I'd opt for the captoe. However, maybe one that's a little more patent leather and slim, like these.
Post a Comment