11.08.24 | KATE’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
^Los AngelesI love L.A. 4-years-ago me would find this take highly controversial, (there was a brief period in 2021 where I test-drove moving before promptly hightailing it back to Brooklyn), but a lot can change in a few years and my feelings toward California certainly have.
I spent the month of October out West, romping around the city. There are so many places- these are just a few noteworthy if you’re looking for lamps, or doorknobs, or ceramics or mirrors.. the list goes on and on.
1. The Rose Bowl Flea
1001 Rose Bowl Dr. Pasadena
Somehow between revisiting old Freunde von Freunden profiles and California daydreaming via Ray Kappe, I ended up on an interview with Australian jewelry designer Lucy Folk mentioning the Rose Bowl as a favorite source for furniture and cool pieces. I had never been to the Rose Bowl. Admittedly in all my time floating around the city, I had never really thought about it. Arriving two days before the 2nd Sunday, I bought a ticket for October’s and was off to the races.
There’s a strategy to fleas and I read up beforehand. Internet sources recommended a concentrated goal and said the real ones go early (general admission starts at 9a, but you can go as early as 5:30a). I went to bed Saturday with high ambitions and visions of a table lamp, slept through my alarm, and got there at 8... Maru coffee in hand.
Despite my FOMO, it still felt quiet and while huge, it’s organized by section (I obviously stuck to antiques / vintage/ furniture) and was easy to navigate. However, I didn’t find the table lamp of my dreams or anything I felt I couldn’t live without, so maybe it is true that the good things go fast.
TL;DR I don’t think you need to kill yourself to get there before dawn, but at $7 more than general admission, having an extra hour or two to peruse sans sensory overload makes the early bird ticket feel worth it. I cosign all the advice about a “shopping list” or vague idea of what you’re looking for also; it helped to have a filter.
1837 Hyperion Ave.
Counter-Space’s inventory feels both California and also the closest you can get to the Paris Flea without being in Paris. Lots of neutrals, woven, wood and always distinct (I mean look at this). I usually look to them for unique side chairs and smaller accessories; when I stopped in they had a ton of mirrors that made me wish I was working on a bathroom. If you’re not in LA don’t fret- their online inventory is regularly updated and a little less overwhelming than shopping irl.
3. Twenty One Tonnes
200 N. San Fernando Rd.
Twenty One Tonnes makes baskets that feel sort of like an Inès Bressand bag for your home. You’d think a good basket would be easy to find but it’s somehow not, and this is always a great place to find something simple, but sculptural and unexpected. Imagine this in your living room or on the floor of your closet. Bonus points: It’s a woman-owned small business.
West Side
4. Galerie Half & Seventh House
6911 & 7001 Melrose Ave. (respectively)
Neither one of these are secrets. Galerie Half specializes in 20th century vintage and antiques and Seventh House is their more modern counterpart, featuring contemporary designers alongside vintage. Currently looking at Louise Roe Champagne candle holders (if this were a gift guide, they would top it) and a 1940’s René Prou side chair. Spaced half a block apart on Melrose, both are 100% always worth the trip- even if just for dreaming.
5. Raum
200 N. San Fernando Rd.
Raum LA sadly slipped under my radar while I was out West but I know about it now and it’s on the top of my list for when I’m back. Their online inventory is limited, but everything is good- eyeing this unreal pair of slipper chairs, and a Poul Kjaerholm chaise. If you’re reading this, please go for both of us.
Off Topic // Everything Else
I went to the Marciano Art Foundation and no one I’ve spoken to seems to know what I’m talking about? A gem hidden in plain sight with a knockout collection. Staklena Kuća is a new vintage store on N. Virgil that is now a favorite alongside Sleeper on Sunset. Zodiac Pictures is a gallery in Santa Monica and a part of LACGC, a collective of galleries and spaces on the West Side of the city. Chase Hall and Ruby Neri are on view at David Kordansky. I mentioned Florian Krewer before, and there’s still a week left to see his show at Michael Werner (closing 11.16).
I have so many ideas and objects bookmarked for the perfect project, and I would love to help with yours. Book a consultation here, or contact me regarding working together on larger projects or styling in New York and LA.
Furniture For Thought
These chairs, which 100% belong on someone’s front porch or balcony, and the pendant light I really wish I’d known about before I bought an Akari. $2,333 | via Chairish
Price on Request | via Spazio Leone
08.19.24 | Back to basics
Around this same time, I tried on a blazer at Carven and it made me want to toss out my whole closet. It also made me think about the floor lamp. Like Roger Fatus, Louise Trotter has managed to create pieces, and through these pieces a world, where nothing is try-hard but everything is considered. Her clothing feels like something maybe you already own, but timeless, elegant, and obviously better.
I have a theory, we can call it Perfect Piles, that if you could just manage to own a perfect version of everything, your life would look good all the time and you’d never have to think about messes again. Perfect is subjective and context specific- case in point, the interiors in Ira Sachs’ 2022 film, Passages, or literally any issue of Apartamento. I think this theory applies to both home and closet and isn’t something you can fake or do all at once; it only comes from intentionally consuming and making good choices.
I crossed paths with the floor lamp again this past Spring. I was at a cocktail party in the West Village, and there it was, standing quietly in front of a large Florian Krewer painting. Seeing it in situ just further confirmed my feeling that maybe our focus should be more minute. If we can take time to get the basics right, we can build spaces and lives that feel beautiful everyday, all the time.
furniture For Thought
A few chairs you’d keep for the rest of your life. Price on Request | via Aurelien Serre
$3,675 | via Sophie Buhai
07.17.24 | The Things she screenshot vol. i
The TL;DR on Villa Magnan, a dream hotel on the southwest coast of France, is this: it’s everything and we should all be taking notes. At some point it will probably need its own post but for now, we’re focusing on one of their guest rooms, specifically an instagram photo from a few months prior I keep thinking about.
It’s all a perfect smashing together of random things but the floor lamp in the back left corner gets extra points. I did a little digging and found a similar pair on 1stDibs, linked below. You’re welcome.
Domenico Gnoli was an Italian painter and set designer from Rome, who lived and worked in New York until dying from cancer at the age of 36, in 1970. His art career was short, but prolific; before passing he produced around 140 paintings- large but intimate portraits highlighting of the “thingness” of things.
Rare Books Paris (which is a great source if you’re looking to add to your library) posted a painting of club chair, arms outstreteched and protruding from a borderless backdrop covered in the same floral as the upholstery. Immediate screenshot. The book sold, but you can see his 2022 exhibition at Fondazione Prada covered beautifully in Emergent Magazine.
Sheila Heti already had my heart, but she won it further through her essay titled “Should Artists Shop or Stop Shopping ?”. In the piece, the habits of consumption and their implications in the life of the everyday individual are juxtaposed against the work of Sara Cwynar, a visual artist who creates elaborate photo and video works through the collage of various found objects and imagery (including 72 Pictures of Modern Art, wallpaper created for Exhibition at the Prada Foundation, which is unbelieveable and a different story for a different day)
I read this on a long train ride out to Rockaway and couldn’t help but think about its relevance; not limited to contemporary art. Viewed through the lens of interior decor it holds weight, and felt like an obvious and important inclusion on a blog about objects.
You can read the essay in its entirety, published on Affidavit sans paywall, or in the book “Art Essays: A Collection”, edited by Alexandra Kingston-Reese
furniture For Thought
Below, the mentioned 1stDibs find, and a table lamp I’ve had my eye on for a long time that’s incredulously still available.
$1,999.54 / Set | via 1stDibs
$1,557 | via Okay Art
06.20.24 | In transition
Beds are big. They take up a lot of space, and the common options to rememdy this problem are often lack-luster at best. Murphy beds are hideous, and the cabinets aren’t fooling anyone. Your typical sleeper sofa is usually quite boxy and boring, and the mattress inside is probably not much better than sleeping on the floor. Andrea Zittel took solving this case to the extreme with the A-Z Comfort Unit. Designed as the ultimate do-it-all, each unit holds a bed encased various carts to support activities such as eating, working, or getting ready at a vanity, allowing you to live your whole life in bed.
Outside of conceptual art, a daybed seems like the everyday answer, and the route I sort of wish I’d taken. They soften the functional boundaries of a space, provide seating and eliminate the need for an air mattress or destruction of your life when hosting guests. If chosen well, they’re also a smart investment that can move with you; just as at home in the living room of a Greenwich Village apartment as in the middle of an art studio in Brooklyn.
Good examples, including the Lomazzi ‘Flap’ Sofa Bed, (which technically becomes a lounge chair but still):
furniture For Thought
Bautier is a Belgian brand that makes beautiful, simple pieces. Their daybed, upholstered in something interesting, would be a deeply chic solution for the afformentioned issue above.4,030 EUR | via Bautier Furniture
05.21.24 | In Defense Of the Noguchi Table
It’s also seemingly missing from many of the screenshots and reference images I’ve saved as of late, and beautiful rooms I’ve spent time in. When I was 22, I ran a store in the West Village and we had one that sat quietly by the front door. I didn’t pay much attention then, but in hindsight it was, and still is, perfect.
I think the biggest thing the Noguchi table has going for it is that it’s interesting. Deceptively simple, it’s a classic case of “why did no one think of that before ?”.
Judging by the number of knock offs that populate on Pinterest, everyone wishes they had.
If you are looking for a coffee table or need assistance with styling one you already own, I look forward to connecting with you through a consultation.
Furniture For Thought
A selection of tables that are decidedly not-Noguchi, (but still feel just as great). $8,750 | via Morentz
1,595 EUR | via Alice Lahana Studio