Hello gang.
Beautiful week of furniture. It’s like 80 degrees out. Salone is going on—I’m not there because it’s interfering with my workouts. What can I say?
A couple newer furniture stores to check out in Brooklyn, one newish and one very new. First is Lanoba, a mostly Danish/teak MCM purveyor in Wallabout BK. Only open on weekends, only noon to 4. Not exactly new but new to this newsletter. There’s also Atata, in Dumbo, which has a more varied selection, and which is officially opening on Saturday:
RSVP to get in there. Congrats to them.
Obs 148
I really like this sharp French modernist chair in the style of Maxime Old, who’s a new guy to me and who was an architect, designer—he designed the French embassy in Ottawa, ocean liners, the Framatome headquarters, hotels in Casablanca, Guadeloupe... and a skid of furniture, the best item of which, outside this chair (not entirely his), was this crazy-ass desk.
The chair itself is a bit anonymous at first—an easy to ignore design item—but there are a few flourishes, specifically the black metal bar on one side below the seat, the two nubs on the front feet only, the black bars—that hint at some affectation or… trying from the designer. Fun to see on an older, staid chair, and invisible piece with near-invisible flourishes. Reminds me of this line by Norm MacDonald:
The setup is the same as the punchline; the adornment is the same as the minimalism. It’s part of a sharp auction out of Cali., ending currently, full of French curiosities; sort of metallic Bresson furniture. The best is below the jump.
So concludes this week’s newsletter’s free game: the rest of the items and the deals therein are behind the paywall.
Below the benchmark: the best collection of French mid-mod furniture available this week (think Robert Bresson films; dark lamps, architectural chairs); a couple of desks that function more like sculpture, including one from a super-ignored S-tier Italian (Milano) design firm that’s really only loved by design workers. I break down that company’s best pieces and values below the P-Wall; an answer to Cini Boeri’s most stout and masculine/powerful furniture—a much more obscure designer; a connection, I think, between a rare Arts and Crafts chair and Pierre Jeanneret’s Chandigarh work, Italian demigod designer Vico Magistretti’s most accessible piece, and more.
