are you game?

Tetris is certainly the all-time classic 'think quick' hand-eye video game.  And if you've ever been around when we are loading the van with fresh stock for the shop, you will have seen it's practicality as training for real-life situations ...

But have you tried 'first person tetris'?  An amazing javascript variation which makes it a whole new ballgame (block game?). 
Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger?  This one just makes us dizzy!

ancient modern

Dunno how we haven't come across these before - about the most beautiful bottle opener in the world ... Nambu Tekki crows.

Nambu cast iron dates from mid 17th century Japan. Originally the technique was used to create ceremonial iron teapots, but is now a well established craft, with the black color the result of a rust resistant urushi glaze.

Can't find them for sale here (again!) - but love them enough to be considering an online purchase, if it comes to that.  They sell 'em at Mjölk ... hmmmmm.

vintage home office

Sadly they don't ship to Australia, but US retailer Restoration Hardware have come out with some really nice looking vintage themed leather office furniture we really like ...

Or for the traveller - perfect for that 10-week steamer trip to Europe ...

And to accessorize -

Good, old-fashioned, hand-tooled leather fun.

sofa alternative

Totally forgotten where we saw these, but would love some for 'round the house.

Rockin'.

voyeuristic fun

We always enjoy a bit of a browse thru apartment therapy - great website, with never-ending inspiration and ideas (interiors and lifestyle-wise).  They post regular 'house-tours', some really nice, others ... well, other.  This one, posted from LA a couple of days ago, is right up our alley.

Fella named Mark who bought his 50's house and became only it's second owner.  He has been very strict about keeping it totally original, and it has paid off magnificently.  There are 20 or so photos on the house tour - you should take a look!

From a brand you can trust!

Well, the batteries in the DVD remote finally ran out today, which gave us our first opportunity/reason to look at the old ones ...

Not a company we know much about, but a bankable name, for sure.

by wire ...

With Summer looming, the verandah at the farm needs a bit more chairing up (as with most spots around our place, need may be a mild exaggeration), and we have been hunting for something to compliment our long-time favorites ...

Of course, the problem is that any new addition has to be vintage, look good, and have a decent pedigree ... oh, and fit our budget if possible.

Today things came together nicely - we were off to Richmond to deliver some chairs and thought we should take the opportunity to check out the recently launched Permanent Collection on Burnley Street.  A great stop all 'round.  The store is stocked with some officially fantastic mid-century pieces, Charles is a lovely chap to chat with, and ...

... a vintage (c.1950) local-production of the sweet Bertoia 420c side chair - quietly waiting for us.  With nicely cracked plastic-coating and just enough rust developing to fit in with the verandah's current set, she's just the thing.

Joy.  So now we just need maybe one or two more nice bits of white wire and ... oh lordy ...

Like Charles Eames, Harry Bertoia's sculptural chair designs from the 40's+50's have become fodder for those 'reproduction' monkeys (MattBlatt, Click-On, Sokol, etc, etc) who are getting low-quality copy furniture SOOOOOO cheaply from China and populating every real-estate brochure and carbon-copy renovated house in the western world.  So we know that for $149 (+ delivery) we could have as many of those $12 (wholesale - check alibaba.com for a laugh) knock-offs as we please ... but does the world really need to put our dwindling resources into turning classic design into disposable, paper-plate chairs?

As for the originals ...

A vision of tomorrow before we humans got together and trashed it!

the evils of shelving ...

We were chatting with some 'vintage fans' the other day, and the conversation turned (naturally enough) to 'what are you collecting these days?' ... both of them had a good specific answer - one was hunting 50's plastic squeeze-toys, the other was accumulating vintage ceramics by a specific Australian potter.

Both of us were a little less defined as to our current 'things'.  Looking around the house today I get the feeling that perhaps we are collectors of shelving, with a view to giving more homes to our collections of collections ...

Perhaps a sample or two?

 

 

 

 

Every flat surface seems to be an excuse to accumulate ... oh lordy.

love a job once it's done

Ages ago, we picked up a set of 4 dining chairs - Parker model #26, 1963 - a design we really love, and had not had before.  They came with a table (which we restored and soon re-homed though the shop), but the chairs were in extremely pre-loved condition.

All the frames were pretty loose, the upholstery had holes, and those fantastic 'spade' backrests had serious damage to their veneers.  If they weren't the best-looking chairs in the world, we might have given up ...

We re-glued the frames so they were all as strong as new, but have been totally stuck since then on what to do ... re-covering the seats is no problem, but the damaged backs were beyond our abilities to repair (and the cost of getting an outsider to re-veneer would make the chairs unsellably pricey), so they have been resting in the shed for months.
This week, inspiration struck - refinish the backs in matte-black enamel and see how they look ...

 So we stripped the seats and re-covered them in a nice full-grain leatherette, then got to work on smoothing out the spades ...

And, of course, polishing up the rest of the frames ...

After a whole lot of sanding and smoothing, the time has come.  Found a nice low-sheen black enamel paint, which would conceal the sins of the past, and a big roll of masking-tape to protect what needs it, and set to painting ...

We gave them 7 coats over 24-hours, and were really excited to find that the grain texture of the timber shows through the enamel.  Bit more sanding, and polishing the backs, and it's time to re-assemble.

We're really happy with the result ... now the only problem is going to be parting with them ... still, they're going into the shop today, so we'll see.

Post wall art in Berlin

Sure, it's an ad - but what an ad!
A 'mobile phone event' product launch by LG - with absolutely astounding 3D projections onto the facade of a building in Berlin. Seven minutes of madness ...



Thanks to boingboing for the original post and footage ... wow.
So what's next?  Banksy's holiday snaps as a slideshow on Westminster?