September 2009 -  Keep It Simple, Beautiful & Useful

We just got back from California, stopping in Palm Springs, Los Angeles and San Diego. It is interesting to note that the purchasing mood is very much the same as we'd seen in earlier trips to Dallas and Austin and cities on the East Coast. People have uniform goals as they buy: simplicity, beauty and functionality. Our eyes always yearn for and immediately accept simple and beautiful design. While we are irresistibly attracted, our logic insists on purpose and function and ultimately, value. Midcentury modern design's first impact continues to please our senses-- beautiful to see, to touch and gratifying to use and own. Japanese Serving Pieces from the 1960s show an inherent Japanese love of wood in everyday utensils. Norway's Emalox Serving Bowls from the 1950s and 1960s make food bright. Italy's 1970s metal Wall Sunburst Sculpture adds simple geometric opulence to any wall. Allan Gould's 1950s Compass Chairs may look like a precise measure, but they are deep-seated and comfortable. Danish Casepieces from the 1960s can turn storage from a nagging necessity into beautifully displayed showcases in a home's public space. Charles Hollis Jones' Wisteria Chairs were originally designed for playwright Tennessee Williams. The chairs offer a simple, geometric lucite frame, decreasing teardrop circles on the back supports and generous, comfortable seats. Gerard Thurston's Tripod Lamps are basic in material but so cute and smart for ambient lighting. The Corona Chair & Ottoman designed by Poul Volther in 1965 as the EJ 605, evolved as a rare combination of organic expression, ergonomics, functionality and technical streamlining. It is simple, beautiful and useful. It meets the back at ideal places, providing maximum comfort and support to the body and spinal column. Paul Evans' 1960s three-cushion sofa for Directional has simple lines as modern today as 40 years ago. Jacques Adnet's French 1950s three-arm floor lamp floats delicately into space with its fluted glass cylinders supported on metal tendrils. Poul Kjaerholm's PK 80 Daybed, designed in 1957 invites napping or contemplation or admiration. What can possibly be more beautiful than a 1960s Norwegian Rosewood Casepiece outfitted with 25 drawers? America's simpler small town and working past has prompted renewed interest in paintings such as V. Gull's 1960s California Migrant Camp and R. Bruns' 1940s Industrial/Oil Worker. Both works express simple and honest pleasure.