I enjoyed Karly's post on rough and tumble agrarian chic immensely, possibly because it might be the perfect foil for my new obsession: industrial chic. I know, we should stop using the word chic because it has the aura of class, and we all know that Klassy = Sarracuda t-shirts. If I once again employ the transitive property A=B and B=C, therefore A=C, then we can agree that chic is a very bad word indeed. Special brownie points and a gold star to anyone who can think of a better word than chic, but which also sounds good with agrarian and industrial. "Bravura" is not an acceptable submission. It might help if I showed you some pictures, right?
Industrial light fixtures have been de rigeur in the kitchen since stainless took over as the metal of choice. The oversized pendant lights on the left evoke 30s/40s elegance in a thoroughly modern kitchen, while the (tiny picture of the) green wall-mounted beasties on the right from Desire to Inspire's fab site are a little more turn of the 20th century.
Actually, get ready to see a lot of pics from Desire to Inspire because Kim is remodeling her own kitchen and she and I share similar taste in fixtures, including articulated lamps like the ones I posted about recently.
The Style Files also showcases some great kitchens, including this very simple one with gargantuan pendant lights:
Speaking of lights with titanic proportions, check out this baby from CB2:
She is very sexy, no? Like a polished fusilage or jet afterburner, whatever those things are. Too bad that rug is KILLING me. Too small, too red, too marled. Actually, I like marled things... I just had to add one more insult for a little bit of tertiary symmetry.
Time for some retail therapy:
Pendants and sconces and a SCISSOR lamp, oh my! All from Pottery Barn -- seriously -- except for the bottom left one, which is from Restoration Hardware.
I have a rabid scissor lamp fetish... start snatching them up where you can because people are getting fizzy over them on Ebay. I kind of think either super sleek or super crazy, like this funky green pair from Radio Guy:
Radio Guy has some awesome fixtures (plus a ton of really weird masks and mannequins) in a more turn of the century vein, and I can definitely get down with some old school shizz, like these cage lights from Rewire.
Hotness! These are from 1915-1920, and Rewire says they're shown with Edison bulbs. Can you even buy those anymore??? (Totally unnecessary aside: maybe they should be called Tesla bulbs, since Edison was such a damn dirty thief...) Whereas the 30s/40s sleek chrome fixtures would be fabulous with more rustic materials, I think these antique fixtures need a more modern backdrop to give them bite.
Par example, check out this hot number via Desire to Inspire:
Perfect combination of all that is good: bare natural materials in conjunction with clean hard lines, and to accessorize: THE MOST AMAZING LAMP EVER (check check and checkmate).
Bongiorno, I am the the most amazing lamp EVER, designed by maestro Mariano Fortuny in 1907. Yes, that Mariano Fortuny. I may be over 100 years old, but I look as fresh as a newborn babe, and I represent all that is holy and good in the lighting universe. As a matter of fact, even though I was originally designed with theatrical and photographic industries (wink, wink!) in mind, I am so hot that no one would dare think of hiding me behind a curtain. Because I'm hot. And Italian. And expensive. And did I mention hot?
There's no topping that. But I shall press on bravely.
Some more inspiring images via Desire to Inspire, soon to be followed by a veritable onslaught of retail lighting goodness.
Floor lamps that aren't as cool as the Fortuny, but we can't all be gazillionaires: Clockwise from the top left we have Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn (!), Chiasso (that hunk of steel is over 6 feet tall), and Pottery Barn (again!!).
And for those of us that aren't even thousandaires (thanks, Reaganomics!), even Ikea has some good lights with game:
Wouldn't it be cool if that sconce were really that big? Like four feet tall? Wouldn't it also be cool if it took a regular bulb instead of a halogen one???
You all know by now that I'm partial to brass and gold, but maybe I'll take my cue from fashion and mix and match metals with abandon.
All lamps from Circa Lighting, which is fast becoming a favorite, except for the top right, which is from CB2 (another perennial provider).
Even Sundance is busting out with goodies, like this Luminary Lamp. Yeah. Sundance
Stay tuned for my next post on Friday, where I fully intend to cover industrial furnishings that are totally unrelated to lighting. Because in my world, there are only two categories: lighting and not lighting. In the meantime, try not to get too overwhelmed by all of the choices out there and end up like this guy:
Electricity is dangerous, and something tells me he may want to step away from the wires.
(via pan-dan)