Covet: Dorothy Thorpe Lucite Candlesticks

photo via etsy

Get the Look: 34 (Mostly) Modern Sculptures

Bronze sculptures are expensive, modern or new, but there are examples of vintage and contemporary pieces in other mediums, like wood and ceramic, that are well within reach. I love the well-above-my-price-range biomorphic bronze by Antoine Poncet, as well as Kelly Wearstler’s cheeky legs. And the Finnish sheep in smooth black wood is adorable.

S H O P P I N G
‘Crystal Angel’ by Martti Rytkönen for Orrefors, $125 at Unica.
C. Jere Sputnik in Polished Chrome, $99 at Jonathan Adler.
Porcelain Skull by Nymphenburg, $439 at Unica.
Brass Knot, $1,495 at Kelly Wearstler.
‘Totemic Dreams’ with Bronze and Shino Glaze by Victoria Shaw.
‘Pointing Figure’ by Bernard Meadows, 1967, $10,000-$15,000, Sotheby’s
Bronze Legs, $1,495 at Kelly Wearstler.
Black Wood Ram by Aarikka Finland, approx. $615 at Aarikka.
Teak Fish Sculpture by Mike Morgenroth,1979, $24 at Abodeon.
Smolten Mirror by Cmmnwlth, $4,000 at Matter.
Vitra Miniature Wiggle Chair by Frank Gehry, 1972, $130 at MoMA Store.
‘Construction of My Heart’  in Alabaster, $4,500 at Arlene Angard.
Green Laminated Milled Acrylic by Phillip Low, $750 at Moss.
Puppy Abstract by Eero Aarnio for Magis, $147 at Nova68.
Nobuho Miya Iron Birds, $120 at Abodeon.
Briciole Sculpture/Divider by Paola Navone for Riva 1920 at Unica.
Resin Bottles by Constantin & Laurene Leon Boym, $55 at The Future Perfect.
Unglazed Abstract, 1952 by William August Hoffman, $2,500 at Assemblage.
Sputnik by Tony Duquette, c.1960, at Lamberty, 1st Dibs.
Primary Color Cubist Sculpture by Adolf Odorfer, 1971, $8,000 at design/one.
Biomorphic Bronze by Antoine Poncet, late‘50s, $12,800 at Sam Kaufman.
‘Minhir’ by Hans van De Bovenkamp, 2009, $16,000 at Lon Hamaekers.
Kostick Bronze Star, $160 at Abodeon.
Multicolor Acrylic Shapes by Vasa Mihich, $950-$1850 at Galere, 1st Dibs.
Primitive Style African Sculpture, $800 on eBay.
‘Small Boxes #4’ by Mike Wright at Williams McCall Gallery.
Reclaimed Wood Sculpture, $99.95 at Crate & Barrel.
Black Rib Cage in Porcelain By Celia Nkala for Perception Park.
African Fertility Figures, Sierra Leone, 20th c., $5,400 each at Wyeth.
‘The Alexander,’ Stabile, $75 at Nova68.
Wood ‘Ascension,’ by Autin Wright, 2011, bid $6,500 at Grounds for Sculpture.
Brass Salvador Orb Brass Bibelots on Marble, $225 at Jonathan Adler.
‘Some Cords are Feathers’ Bronze by Romolo del Deo.
‘Tangle’ in Chrome by Richard X. Zawitz, 1981, $35 at MoMA Store.

Site Spotlight: Room 68

Nick Siemaska, Eric Portnoy, and Brent Refsland in their shop, Room 68.
Photo: Laura Barisonzi for Boston Magazine

Design shop Room 68 is Boston’s answer to Matter (heaven, on the edge of Soho). Owned by three bespectacled design hipsters in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts (an outlying area of Boston), the gallery-like shop opened this past fall. I cringe to say I haven’t actually been (it may be Boston, but it’s a 25 minute drive from my Back Bay sofa). The guys have garnered plenty of press (no surprise, as we get hot and bothered by new design outlets), including write-ups in Boston Magazine, Boston Globe, and Apartment Therapy.

I am familiar with a number of the Boston-area designers whose work if for sale, including furniture maker Jacob Kulin, who I’ve had the pleasure of working with, accessories designer/architect Susana DeVoe of Make.Good Studio, who I met last year at the SoWa Open Market, Debra Folz, a New England Home 5 Under 40 winner, who I met at the party, and Nervous System, a design team with degrees from MIT and Harvard.

Textile designer Cary Hewitt is a new find . . . her reversible rugs look delicious. I love the wood vases from Seth Rolland, and  Pelrine + Durrell Design’s Lobster Trap Table is an excellent contemporary interpretation of a vernacular monstrosity.Many of the designers are local, but not all. Room 68 recently launched its online shopping site. Below are the above mentioned items, and more, complete with links both to buy and to the designers’ own sites.

 

S H O P P I N G

Lobster Trap Table by Pelrine + Durrell Design, $1,500 (Boston)
Comfort/Conform Pillows by Make.Good Studio, $150 each (Boston)
Reaction Cups designed by Nervous System, $60
Lotus and Jasmine Wood Vases by Seth Rolland, $115 (Seattle)
Balancing Blocks designed by Fort Standard, $80.
Turned Leg End Table by Pelrine + Durrell Design, $700 (Boston)
Procession Reversible Rug by Cary Hewitt, $750 (Boston)
Concrete Idea by Kaza Designs, $15
X-Stitch Stool by Debra Folz, $1,600 (Boston)
Twist A Twill Blanket by Tina Ratzer, $140 (Copenhagen)
Spool by Jeb Jones, $450 (upstate New York)
Blossoms on Cherry Reversible Rug by Cary Hewitt, $650 (Boston)
Single Leg Coffee Table by Jacob Kulin, $3,500 (Boston)
Beam Bench by Jacob Kulin, $2,000 (Boston)

Room 68 • 68 South Street • Jamaica Plain • Boston

Photo: Apartment Therapy Boston

Sponsor Style: Storkie

I’d like to start the week off by welcoming Storkie, the newest StyleCarrot sponsor.

The designs I like best are the fun and girly ones. They’re totally customizable. Not only can you choose the card stock and background color, you can customize the ladies and gents in the illustrations—hair color, skin tone, eye shape. Clothing can be specified too… red bikini or black one-piece? Even the props can be personalized. For instance, diamond rings can be rendered as round, heart-shaped, marquise, etc. Or choose the beverage of your choice: Champagne or beer? It’s all very fun.

Here’s a sampling of the line. They cover pretty much any occasion, including baby announcements, holiday parties, sweet sixteens, baby showers, birthdays, and changes of address. Have a look at my favorites, then click through for more.

 * storkie is a style carrot sponsor *

ARTmonday: Maissa Toulet

I came across these glass dioramas by Parisian artist  Maïssa Toulet when I was sifting through Flickr photos for a story I was doing  The Inside Source about displaying white collections. I was immediately drawn into her quirky little worlds, in which mice wear suits, ducks have arms, and where Marie Antoinette finds her fate.

Toulet cites the assemblies of the American artist Joseph Cornell as her initial inspiration. She is drawn to the “eclectic jumble” of curiosity cabinets—the disturbing dimension, sometimes morbid, cabinets of curiosities, which accumulate stuffed animals, skeletons, and organs preserved in formaldehyde.

She views her pieces as miniature museums, and says that though nothing is classified with apparent logic, each object has a distinct place; none are interchangeable. Her most recent works are moving away from the concept of curio cabinets towards pieces that are self-contained stories.

I find them to be part science project, part crazy collector, part artistic effort; all intoxicating.

Ecographie
2007
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A Rodent Trap
2007
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Les Végétaux
2008
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Oral Hygiene in Adults
2008
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View
2008
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The Autopsy of Marie-Antoinette
2011

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The Menagerie
2011
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Under the Sea
2007
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Souvenirs of Youth
2011
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Jeune fille, que vous faut-il pour le printemps?
2010