The Dutch Limburgs Museum in Venlo currently hosts an exhibition about furniture in Roman times. Set up as an Ikea store, the exhibition allows visitors to try the items on display. And everything is for sale, yet not for the wallet friendly Ikea prices. A small side table, that took 4 days to make, costs about $5.000. All the furniture are replicas of items found in archeological sites as Pompeii and Herculaneum. The exhibition runs through to January 2012.
IXEA
Dutch artist Sara van der Heide has been drawing Dutch cabinets since October 14, 2010. That was the day the current Dutch government started. Prime Minister Mark Rutte started this cabinet (Dutch; Kabinet) with the support of right-wing party PVV who won a huge amount of votes. She decided to draw a Dutch cabinet in the furniture sense of the word every day this government will be in place. The drawings showcase our diverse and often colonial history and make a great statement. However, I find the cause a bit annoying. A democracy is a democracy so if a party wins, no matter how much you dislike them, you have to deal with them. I believe that if you want to prevent them from winning again, you need to reach out to the people who voted for these folk in a way they understand. In most cases, they have absolutely no radar for art in any shape or form. As much as I love this project, I think it is lost on the them.
Sara van der Heide, Hollands Kabinet
Posted in Design, designers and online finds
Tagged actie, art, drawings, Dutch Cabinet, Holland Kabinet, kunst, Mark Rutte, protest art, PVV, Sara van der Heide, tegen
When our own home was featured on Apartmenttherapy.com, we got quite few compliments on the highboard credenza. To be fair, I had to look up the word to find out what people were actually complementing us on. It’s the wooden liquor cabinet in the main picture, never knew that was called a credenza. It is most likely Scandinavian design from the 50’s or 60’s of the previous Century. I bought it for about $40 years ago at the Emmaus goodwill store in my hometown Haarzuilens to divide my studio flat in two separate parts. I needed something high enough to create the sensation of two rooms, but low enough to let the light flow through. It was exactly what I was looking for back then, and I still love it to bits.
Highboard Credenza
Doing a bit of research online I noticed that these chests are quite popular. This one at Etsy.com for instance is listed at $1.975.
Highboard Credenza at $1.975
And this one for $1.150 on German design website Room of Art
Room of Art Credenza $1.150
Ours is getting rather old. I should probably get it fixed before it collapses. The problem is that the thing is so bulky it is almost impossible to get up or down the stairs. I thought of maybe taking it apart with a next move, but now have second thoughts. I love it, so it might have to get a place in our next home too.
This truly magnificent 201 x 145 cm folding screen is part of the Limited Edition collection of design label Boca do Lobo (Wolf´s mouth). The large golden pebbles are actually fiberglass painted gold in a high gloss varnish. It doesn’t come cheap at € 13.900 but boy, I love it!
Gold folding screen by Boca do Lobo
Posted in Design, designers and online finds
Tagged Boca do Lobo, Cheap, design, designer labels, folding screen, Gold
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