Boredom is the root of all evil - the despairing refusal to be oneself.
Jun 20, 2014
Jun 18, 2014
10 Best of Craigslist Vancouver June 18th
vintage macrame screen
bamboo table and chair set
images © their respective owners
Jun 11, 2014
Quote of the Week - Edgar Allan Poe
from the collection of Stacy Reynaud
Marginalia
Jun 9, 2014
Jun 4, 2014
One of The Most Important Chairs of The 20th Century
my chair
my chair
If you've been following my adventures on Instagram and Facebook, you're already aware of my dream kitchen dining area and my three chairs for $25. The chair above is one I sold last year. If you follow me on Twitter, you know we're moving again (ADHD or sane decision - you decide). I also decided to sell my mid-century dining table and chairs - which has left us - once again - without a table or chairs.
So, now is the perfect time to acquire my dream kitchen dining area! Out with the old, in with the new!
As I was perusing Craigslist for Best of Craigslist Vancouver content, I thought, 'There sure are many of those Marcel Breuer Cesca chairs around. How can I tell what's a fake?' Well, it turns out the Cesca chair was never patented (blame it on Mart Stam) and is, therefore, in the public domain. Le Corbusier is turning in his grave.
There are actually two Cesca chairs—the B32, manufactured and mass-produced by Thonet from about 1930 to the end of WWII (stay tuned for my Thonet tubular steel rocker adventure), and the cheaper version manufactured by Knoll from the 1950s to the present.
1928 designed version:
- warm beech patina
- back and chair, each made of a single bent piece (bentwood)
- back has a marked curve
- caning was done by hand and sewn into the bentwood frame
- slight incline to the front edge of the seat
- curves of the tubular steel frame are even
- large bolts
All that's left of the more expensive original 1928 design:
- hand-caning
- chrome plated steel caps on the tubing
- rods inserted to maintain the curvature of the tubular steel shape
last image: B32 version via the V&A
May 28, 2014
From the Archives - 10 Random Things About Jean Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat 1982
© James Van Der Zee
- Initially, Basquiat wanted to be a fireman.
- In third grade he sent a drawing of a gun to J. Edgar Hoover (no reply).
- Basquiat played the synthesizer with Vincent Gallo in a band called Gray (named after the 1918 classic of human anatomy Gray's Anatomy).
- He was the only kid in his grade nine academic life drawing class to fail.
- His mother encouraged his interest in art and stressed the importance of education.
- In 1981 he made his first trip to Europe to exhibit a one artist show under the name SAMO.
- Basquiat described his subject matter as, 'royalty, heroism, and the street'.
- His heroes included Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Charlie Parker, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson and Billie Holiday.
- The sidewalks of Greenwich Village were his temporary store front as he sold painted t-shirts and postcards under the name SAMO.
- Helped Andy Warhol rediscover his relationship to painting after 20 years of not picking up a brush.
Untitled (The Boxer), 1982 ~ sold November 2008 $13.5 million
© The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Originally published March 26, 2009
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May 27, 2014
16 Best of Craigslist Vancouver May 27th 2014
Collection of 1970s Hornsea Bronte pattern ceramic tableware (I had this too - it's fabulous sold mine for $300 about ten years ago).
Mid-century king size teak bed and side tables (what appears to be teak in the photo anyway)
May 14, 2014
Where have all the Conversationalists gone?
Last Wednesday, I was feeling good. The sun was out, I was in my favourite part of downtown, and I felt inspired and alive - like my good old manic days that would last for weeks. The ones where I'd start four businesses, thrift shop for 12 hrs straight and forget to eat. Am I in denial to miss that? Anyway, feeling so inspired and alive, I automatically thought of my friend Ken and our hours-long vintage and fashion conversations, so I headed off to shoot the shit with him down at Deluxe - then I remembered Ken was dead. So I thought, well Rod will be there, I'll go shoot the shit with him, then I remembered Deluxe was gone - closed due to a $3000 a month rent hike. Okay, no need to get down, I'll go talk design with someone at Inform. Well, the only bodies at Inform were ones glued to computer screens behind cash desks. Five bucks, they're practicing the snobby sales technique identified in the UBC study, Should the Devil Sell Prada? Retail Rejection Increases Aspiring Consumers’ Desire for the Brand?
Well whatever, not yet feeling deflated I thought, 'Okay I'll go sit down and have a coffee somewhere.' Somewhere, conversation was already flowing, and I could at least be part of it. Uh, since when have coffee shops been so quiet? Not one person was engaged in vocal conversation with anyone. Not because they were glued to a book, writing, or staring off into space thinking, but because their heads were bent down, staring into their phones. Holy crap, people get with it. My public library has more conversations going on! I left without buying a coffee (or tipping someone for bending their arm beyond 85 degrees).
Highly irritated, I turned around and headed back home. On my way, a homeless man complimented me. (I was hoping to run into you, but I'd put a little extra effort in that day.) I turned around and said, 'Thanks.' He said, 'Anytime, sweetheart'. So, from now on, when I want to have a conversation, face to face with someone, I can feel confident the homeless guy at Water and Cambie will participate - and I guarantee he has a hell of a lot more stories and opinions to share than the dipsticks glued to their screens. What's that old saying, 'All text and no talk makes Jack a dull boy'?
God, I miss hanging out and just talking.
Stacy Reynaud
image: Simone Signoret, Marilyn Monroe, Arthur Miller, Yves Montand
May 9, 2014
Quote of the Week - Herman Hesse
stacy reynaud
There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside of them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself.
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