Auction Results: Morbid? Wrong? Ka-Ching!

On November 25, 1963 in Washington DC representatives from more than 90 countries came to President John F. Kennedy's funeral. Millions watched it on tv.

In Forth Worth, Texas Lee Harvey Oswald's body was laid in a simple, pine coffin.

A fierce legal battle erupted between Marina, Oswald's wife, and Robert, his brother. People didn't believe Oswald was really the one who was buried in that pine coffin.

On a crisp autumn day in October 1981, the coffin was dug up and Oswald's body pulled from it. Tests were run to determine if it was, indeed, really Oswald's.

Water had seemed into the burial vault and damaged the coffin. Oswald's body was reported to be covered in a "most of mold". (Note: I urge others not to read the medical autopsy report as I mistakenly did out of curiosity while eating lunch.)

One of the funeral directors who participated in the autopsy swapped the old coffin for a new one and kept it in storage. Then he decided to put it up for auction in December 2010.

Bidding opened at $1,000 at an auction house in Santa Monica, California. And soon escalated. It finally closed two hours after deadline to an anonymous bidder for over $87,000.

The coffin originally cost $300.

Oswald's brother tried to stop the auction. He wasn't aware of the auction and felt the coffin should have been destroyed in 1981. He was the one who originally paid for the coffin.

Image from Nate D. Sanders, Inc. Auction.

April Food Day

Most of us view hunger as a condition that has changed over time. We perceive our society as better prepared today. After all, most of us don't think twice when we drive to the grocery store to get what we need, but there are many others who can't.

America is the land of the plenty, isn't it?

History has told us that the first settlers in this country were subject to disease, raids and poor crop outcome. Population rapidly declined. That was 400 years ago. Conditions are much improved today.

In the eighteenth century, having overcome disease, hunger and wars, the colonists were gaining strength. They possessed the space, better resources and organization. But there was still hunger. Conditions are much improved today.

In the nineteenth century, hunger was perceived by some theorists as the result of a flawed individual. In reality, hunger was an unavoidable situation. There was mass starvation, illness, crowded living conditions, horrendous working environments and lots of child labor. Conditions are much improved today.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, hunger began to gain a new understanding. Humanitarian groups, social reformers, political activists and scientists all saw that hunger was a political and economic force out of their control.

During the Depression, there was tremendous hardship, hemorrhaging unemployment and millions of Americans starved. Many of us heard stories told by our grandparents as we watched them keep their pantries full of canned foods. Just incase, my grandmother always told me. That was then, I would tell my grandmother, "Oh no Grammy, conditions are much improved today".

We've learned from the Depression, didn’t we?

Hunger is invisible to most of us, but today people young and old are lining up at food banks in this land of plenty. It is a reality and it isn’t going away. Supplies are dwindling and pantries worry they might not be able to help provide what so many of us take for granted: food. Please consider contributing: HERE

Thank you Meg for making many of us more aware.

Yes, No, Maybe So? Josef Hoffmann's Flatware

Often times I look at various designs and try to place myself back in time when these object were first created. I wonder if I would have found them too different or utterly fantastic. I also try to look at them today with fresh eyes and wonder if (of course with an enormous pretend disposable income) I would want them.

I find this set of flatware eye catching. However, being practical, I wonder if the proportions of the fork (the handles being as thick as the tines) might cause me to poke myself in the mouth. I have this thing about flatware -- being a Libra and all -- I have to have balance in my hand. I don’t like for the bowl of a spoon or the tines of a fork to be too heavy in relation to the handle. And vice versa.

So what do you all think? Yes, No, Maybe So -- would you like a set?

Hoffmann's sketch

Josef Hoffmann designed this set of flatware for the Wiener Werkstätte in 1903-1904. All three founding members -- Hoffman, Koloman Moser and Fritz Wämdorfer -- ordered a set for their own.

Hoffmann made available three versions: silver plate, sterling silver and gilded silver. It was first publicly displayed at an exhibition in Vienna in 1906. Critics felt the smooth geometric shapes and broad surfaces not very practical. They didn’t like how stark and austere the design was devoid of any ornamentation except for the row of beads at the end.

crab fork and butter knife

A German newspaper described the service as “uncomfortable” and the shape suggestive of doctors’ tools. Another newspaper stated that Hoffmann made “geometry, not art” and his flatware was doomed to catch on with the public.

This line called Flaches Modell (Flat Model) included thirty-three in the set, and had a limited production from 1904-1908. Hoffmann went on to create other versions similar in style.

(Top image from Hiesinger and Marcus, Landmarks of Twentieth-Century Design; last two available from Bel Etage, Vienna)

Be back soon. In meantime, please feel free to catch up on the adventures of Soodie & Scout. Next week they are sure to get a phone call...

Nice!

$47.00 maple dresser at a junk shop +

overly expensive crystal knobs +

the help of one very talented painter named Kevin

=

Women in Design: Gertraud von Schnellenbühel (b. ? – d. ?)

Scores and scores of books have been written and exhibits have been presented featuring many well-known designers of the Art Nouveau style. But one designer, in particular, has been forgotten. Her output was not great, but one of her creations...

A masterpiece: 19” high silver-plated brass 24-light candelabrum created in 1913. This is the only work by Gertraud von Schnellenbühel known to survive. A profusion of swirled spirals organized in a rational manner -- it is rhythmic, mesmerizing and creates a sort of restrained freedom. The metal branches seem buoyant which defies the weight of the material.

Her creation was dubbed: The Flowering Tree.

So what happened to Gertraud von Schnellenbühel? How can one designer create something so brilliant, so striking yet there is barely any information about her?

This work was shown in 1914 at the Cologne Werkbund exhibition and received very positive reviews. Most Jugendstil designers harmoniously married elements of both Arts + Crafts with Art Nouveau styles. They merged whiplash lines and organic forms with medieval motifs or geometric silhouettes. Although Gertraud’s work follows the style, it is a creation indomitably its own.

The painter Wilhelm von Debschitz and the sculptor Hermann Obrist opened a private school in Munich’s Bohemian area on January 3, 1902 and called it The Debschitz School. It offered to artists and amateurs foundation courses combined with hands-on workshops. The school was a fertile seed for the emerging industrial design boom to come forth in Germany. It served as an important model for the Bauhaus – well known for integrating art and design education. The school was sold in 1914.

By 1913, The Desbchitz School had grown into the largest institution of its kind. By this time, 240 students were enrolled -- the majority women – and among them Gretraud. Students who attended this school thirsted for something new. They wanted to learn under different teaching methods and to actually make the creations they drafted on paper come to life.

What of Gertraud? One hit wonder? Married and became a haus frau?

It is interesting to note that the candelabrum ended up in the possession of Hermann Obrist, the schools co-founder and Gertraud’s teacher…

(images from Hiesinger and Marcus, Landmarks of Twentieth-Century Design; Beate Ziegert, "The Debschitz School, Munich: 1902-1914", Design Issues :The MIT Press, 1986 .)

Designer: Johan Carpner

Johan Carpner is a Swedish designer who created a light fixture. And I think I am in love.

The lighting fixture, dubbed Glänta, is available in two different sizes, both as a suspension and ceiling mounted fixture, and in three different colors: black, gray and white.


Made from sheet metal and acrylic he designed for Blond a couple years ago.

I'm starry-eyed for this light and can clearly see the suspended version in black hanging in my white subway tiled kitchen in a herringbone pattern over my breakfast nook with a built-in banquette softened with bright cushions... all of which I don't have.

Carpner received his degree from Konstfack in Stockholm. He has produced textile patterns and carpets inspired by nature for Swedish companies such as H&M, Åhléns and Svenskt Tenn and Kasthall.

This pattern is called Vinterek. And I love it too. It is haunting, yet serene.

Carpner also designs book covers the major Swedish publishing houses. You can clearly see how he carried this creativity over to different applications and materials.

He is most known for is his outdoor trellis called Tin Tree Spaljé which trains plants to grow upwards in a pleasing shape, but also brings beauty to the garden in the Winter when everything is dormant and brown.

This winter seems like a long one.

Amazing how your mood can lift when your eye falls upon great design.


(All images from Johan Carpner’s site and Scandinavian Design.)

Inga Sempé (b.1968)

A French furniture designer who created a small, compact sofa to work in proportion with smaller apartments. This design caught my eye when I was craning my neck to read the Financial Times House & Home Section over the shoulder of someone sitting on a plane. The sofa is light and airy. Made from a beechwood frame, it is upholstered in a sort of quilted duvet with cross-hatching of interrupted seams. She named her work: Ruché.


Although it looks as if a comforter cover was simply thrown over a stiff frame, the construction of the sofa is much more complex. It similar to a mattress and has a combination of layers of memory foam for comfort and sprung steel grill for stability. Sempé wanted her sofa to appear uncomplicated -- raised from the ground by a simple structure supporting a comfortable seat. The legs terminate in beveled feet which lends to more of a refined shape.
The height of the armrests is the same as the back. And if the thought of nestling yourself in a duvet cover while watching your favorite BravoTV show wasn’t enough, the armrests are mounted on elastic webbing which allows you to lean back comfortably while you sip on some wine and munch on white cheddar cheese flavored popcorn.



Ruché also is available in a one-arm settee version with an integral table surface at the end so you can conveniently place your bottle of wine without having to wait to get up during the commercials to pour yourself another glass.


This is a great idea for a narrow room or a small space -- a sofa and table all in one. Made for Ligne Roset, Ruché marries the unusual and the traditional; comfortable and practical. You can choose from a few velvety colors and stained or natural wood finish.



Her former employer? The design doyenne Andrée Putman.



Sempé pictured above (love her tights). See Sempé's site with many more great designs: HERE.

(images from DesignBoom and Sempé's site)

Time for a Little Bubbly?

Last weekend in a hotel room in downtown Washington DC, we were toasting to Andrea's birthday -- a friend, colleague and dedicated, hard worker. Her favorite drink of choice: champagne. The hotel did not have any champagne glasses; instead they brought wine glasses to the room. We made toasts and sipped from the glasses frequently pouring the bubbly contents from the thick green bottles again, and again, and again. I dare say… these wine glasses were much easier to drink from.

Flutes are awkward. When you raise a flute to sip, you need to turn your head away so as not to hit the face of another person. And although I love the look, ease and versatility of the coupe.... well, after drinking a few glasses of the bubbly libation, the mouth of the glass seems to somehow widen -- the contents sloshing about and spilling on the floor.

Little did I know (little do I really know as I prefer to sip my red wine from a small juice glass after all) that wine glasses are a perfect receptacle from which to drink champagne.

Stacy Downs has written yet another fantastic article in today's Kansas City Star on the subject of champagne glasses. read HERE

Though I probably will not be sipping champagne for this Valentines Day, (more likely a hearty pint of Guinness), I have always loved the ringing sound a crystal glass resonates when lightly touched with another. In the late 17th century, when lead was added to glass it not only increased brightness, clarity and the light-reflecting quality, but it also gave that ring sound. The tradition of clicking glasses after a toast developed during this time in England -- it was believed the bell-like ring sound had the power to send the devil away.


However, the problem is after one too many glasses of champagne -- regardless of the type of glass -- I tend to want to do exactly as the image above illustrates the following morning to the empty bottle of champagne ...

(images from Casablanca (1942), Notorious (1946), and Casino Royale (1967); to read more about the types of champagne glasses click: HERE)

Sophia Hayden Bennett

The Board of Lady Managers ended up awarding Sophia a gold medal "for delicacy of style, artistic taste, and geniality and elegance of the interior hall." There was a dedication ceremony for the buildings, but Sophia wasn’t there. Rumors began to spread that she suffered a mental breakdown, which plainly indicated why women should stay at home and not wander into the realm of men.

Critics dealt her another blow when they insisted the building was too feminine. One said regardless of her technical knowledge, the structure with its “graceful timidity or gentleness” was clearly designed by a woman.

The Women's Building was torn down after the Exposition ended. Sophia, frustrated with the way she had been treated, retired from architecture. She later married William Blackstone Bennett, an artist. Sophia never designed another building after the 1893 fair, and lived a quiet life in Massachusetts until her death in 1953.

(first image: Exterior of The Women's Building, period photograph, Boston College Digital Archive; second image: MIT)

Women in Design: Sophia Hayden (1868 - 1953)

Born in Santiago, Chile. Her father was an American from New England and her mother was South American. When Sophia was six, she was sent to Boston, Massachusetts to live with her paternal grandparents. She became interested in architecture in high school. In 1886 she was the first woman to be accepted to the architecture program at MIT; she graduated with honors in 1890.

Front elevation of Hayden’s thesis project: A Fine Arts Museum, 1890. (from MIT)

Floor Plan and Section, 1890. (from MIT)

After graduating, Sophia could not find employment as an architect; she accepted a position teaching drawing at a Boston high school. The following year, she entered a design competition for the World’s Colombian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. Her design was for the Woman's Building -- a structure given to various social causes such as church groups, temperance societies, a model hospital ward and kindergarten, a sanitary kitchen and a library. It was also to house exhibitions of embroidery, knitting, lace, fans and crockery. Sophia won the competition with her design of a three-story, white building in the Italian Renaissance-Revival style with arches and columned terraces. For this she was paid a modest sum of $1,000 for her design, while men who one competitions for the fair were paid 10 times as much.

Exterior of The Women's Building, period photograph (1894?) Boston College Digital Archive

Sophia traveled to Chicago to produce the final drawings, leaving the execution to Daniel Burnham. Burnham was very pleased with her work describing her as having great adaptability and being a hard worker. She returned six months later to direct the interior and exterior designs of the buildings. At that same time, she discovered another woman was involved in the project. Her name was Bertha Palmer, and she had other ideas.

Bertha Honoré Palmer (1849-1918) Chicago History Museum

A statuesque socialite with well-coiffured wavy hair, Bertha Palmer was a power to be reckoned with. She was not easy to approach. She demanded calling cards be passed scrutinized and screened by several of her servants before any visitor could speak with her. Being of Huguenot descent, no one ever contradicted her. But that was to change once she met the twenty-one year old Sophia.

Officers of Board of Lady Managers, portraits of 10 women. Key: 1. President Mrs. Potter Palmer 2. Mrs. Ralph Trautman 3. Mrs. Edwin C. Burleigh 4. Mrs. Charles Price 5. Mrs. Katherline L. Minor 6. Mrs. Beriah Wilkins 7. Mrs. Flora Beall Ginty 8.Mrs. Russell B. Harrison 9. Mrs. V.C. Merideth. 10.Susan Gale Cooke. 1896. (image via the Field Museum's flicker account.)

Mrs. Palmer was elected President of The Board of Lady Managers for the 1893 Fair. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Mrs. Palmer (née Honoré) met her husband, a wealthy dry goods owner, while she was shopping in Chicago with her mother. Potter Palmer was 23 years her senior. He moved into real estate and became immensely wealthy. Mrs. Palmer enjoyed their North Side mansion with a roof-top ballroom and picture gallery filled with Impressionist paintings she brought back from Paris. She also loved diamond jewelry.

Paul V Galvin Library: The book of the Fair

For Sophia’s building, Mrs. Palmer had invited prominent women to donate architectural elements to adorn the building. Mrs. Palmer believed the building would be better with these donations. Sophia disagreed. A mishmash of elements would dilute her vision, her concept and overall design aesthetic. As the doors, window grilles, columns, wood paneling, balustrades, slabs of onyx and black marble, granite steps, sculpted figures, and tapestries came pouring in, Sophia turned each one down. This hurt the feelings of the high-society donors, which didn’t sit very well with Mrs. Palmer. Sophia explained to Mrs. Palmer her schematic program for the structure -- the exterior and interior -- and why these random donated elements would not work. But Mrs. Palmer wouldn’t hear of it. She fired Sophia from the project and reassigned the final decoration to Candace Wheeler.

Paul V Galvin Library: The book of the Fair

Sophia walked into Burnham’s office, described what happened and from exhaustion began to cry. Burnham quickly called a doctor. Sophia was placed in an ambulance and driven away with the rubber wheels quietly crunching along the gravel road towards the sanitarium. Sophia was said to have a “… violent attack of high nervous excitement of the brain.”

(top image from Penn Libraries.)

Women in Design: Nancy Vincent McClelland (1877-1959)

Series: Women in Design

In 1988 ASID reported that 72% of women were interior designers. By 1998, the number increased to 81%. Yet at that same time, 70% of the 120 designers admitted to Interior Design's Hall of Fame were men. The number of women attending design school has gradually increased over the decade (I’m trying to find statistics for 2008/2009), however, estimating the number of women currently practicing in the field is difficult to find. Estimating the number of who are industrial designers is even more difficult.

One explanation for this is that many women are in and out of the workforce turning their attention to their families. Another reason, I was told, was that women lacked self-promotional, business and management skills to raise their profiles.

Oh really?

Or has the media let them down.

Why is this?

Women have been crucial to the development of interior design as a discipline and profession. The active participation of women in the history of interior design has yet to be seriously treated by scholars and historians (with the exception of Penny Sparke, Pat Kirkham, Beatriz Colomina and others who have made extraordinary contributions.)

After all, what is a well-decorated room compared to an acknowledged work of art? Or the architectural design of a building? The interior design of a room is fleeting, composed of everyday objects -- paint, fabric, ornaments, furniture and knickknacks. They can change as quickly in color and detail as the leaves on a tree. While the initial visual impact may be memorable, its longevity is limited and subject to the whims of popular taste. The study of the history of interior design is only recently being taken seriously.

A second reason women have been largely ignored is that, unfortunately, the attitude towards women having an innate knack for "decorating" has not seemed to change much over the centuries. Women were recognized as having a natural instinct for the placement of color and objects; the activity was also deemed suitable for them. And so it began, slowly at first, but steadily thereafter -- women as the arbiters of taste in their fine new houses that sprang up everywhere in America.

I propose to post a series of posts with your help -- dear readers -- about women interior and furniture designers, some names we have heard of, but others who have been forgotten by time. I would like to uncover these women, dust off their names and give them the attention they deserve. Some of this information is difficult to find, but I think as a collaborative effort we can... and, therefore, begin to rewrite history.

To Mrs. & Mr. EEE

A very merry and hearty congratulations! Although marriage is about respect, partnership, friendship, compromise, ((certainly attraction)), and memories of times you spend together… I give to you your own room, Mrs. EEE.

Design it as you please – with a large window to let streams of sunshine in, or French doors leading out to a balcony filled with blooming flowers in springtime. A fireplace inside for cold winters, high ceilings so as not to constrict your thoughts, and a warm and worn floor from many brilliant thinkers of the past who have paced about in the same room.

Decorate it as you may with a Linke desk,

François Linke Louis XVI style gilt-bronze Desk, Sotheby’s New York, April 20, 2009



or one designed by Carlo Mollino,
Oak Writing Desk from the Casa Editrice Lattes, Christie's: New York, September 26, 2007

or even a simple one from Ikea. Add pooling silk drapes on the windows or tidy pinch-pleat tartan ones. Built-in bookshelves galore! And a window seat with a cushion for the cats. Paint your room white, paint it black, paint it whatever color you desire.

Mica Ertegun (MACII) for Barbara Goldsmith NYC apartment. Source architechturaldigest.com

But know that this room is yours and you are to do with it what you like. I do believe in marriage, there is a time for love and partnership, but also a time for you. So this room is a place for you to think and write and create. Because when you give time to yourself you will always be enthusiastic to give time to Mr. EEE and that way you will continue to build a very lovely and significant future together….

Yes, No, Maybe So? Skull & Bones

We’ve aired our differences on blogs about mounting Elk heads on walls or using cow rugs to cover our floors. Many tend to be in favor of using these items to decorate a room, however, not without a little *twinge* -- some of us pausing for a quick moment, pondering about the once live animal.

But what about something that is human?

Remember the plastic glow-in-the-dark skulls growing up that we bought at the five and dime store? Or those out there who have bought them for your kids. They were cool, but also creepy. But if we had to handle a real human skill (excluding med students) how many of us would get squeamish? And feel, well... weird.

Christie’s (New York) just pulled a lot from the January 22nd upcoming sale. It was a real human skull from the nineteenth century that had been used as a ballot box by Yale’s elite and old Skull and Bones society (est. 1832). The skull was given an estimate of $10,000 to $20,000.

The skull has a hinged flap on the top of the head and believed to have been used as a ballot box to collect votes during the cryptic society’s meetings.

Who was the one who sawed through the skull to make the lid -- bits of bone dust flying around in their eyes, nose and mouth?


top image from Haunt Your Home; second image from Huffingtom Post.

To Haiti

A tiny little country with a wreath of clouds around its mountains and a long coastline has been plagued by revolutions, corrupt political leaders, poverty and now a devastating earthquake.

Jasmin Joseph (b. 1923) Caribbean Village, 1983
Christie’s, New York: September 3, 2008

Haiti was once a rich and flourishing country. It is now the poorest country in the Western world.

Wilson Bigaud (b. 1931), La Ronde, 1953
Christie's East: May 19, 1992

They have an old religion, an old oral history, and an old mythology woven into a complex cultural foundation.

Hector Hyppolite, (1894-1948), La Dauration l’amour (The Adoration of Love), 1946-48 Milwaukee Art Museum

Haiti has one of the richest visual spirits. Sparkling with vitality, Haitian art has an unprecedented openness and honesty.

Wilson Bigaud, Haitian Market Scene (date unknown) ; Sloans & Kenyon: Chevy Chase, MD; February 11, 2007

Haitians are not ordinary people, they are visionaries.

Salnave Philippe-Auguste (b. 1908), Flamingoes, c. 1962-1964

Wishes to them that their courage and strength will point the way toward a hopeful future. I hope their spirit will rise once more.

Rigaud Benoit (b. 1911), The Healing of the Sick, c.1964

Top image: Hector Hyppolite (1894-1948), St Francis and the Christ Child, 1946-1948 ; Last two images from the book Haitain Art by Ute Stebich, 1978. Erzulie, the Voodoo goddess of love, is known for her love of flamingoes.