Furniture Reporter

Check out the July issue of NZ House & Garden for a nice shot of Rhythm in a feature on book storage styled by Anna Church.

So the apartment is light, white, and bright, still, we needed some furniture before our backs broke into two by crouching over the laptop and our spines jutted out of our backsides…

Before I go on to describe the sad shopping venture we green newcomers had, I just have to say that until you are here, living in the Big, Bad, Capitalist, Consumerist West, you can simply have no idea to the sheer amount of advertising and persuasion to spend cash that you are exposed to in this part of the world. Just by doing your daily tasks such as checking your post box, going to the grocery and walking down to the playground, you become literally engulfed in hundreds of flyers, screaming at you hysterically to spend your hard-earned dollars at this and that store, and as reward save so many cents on this or that item. The major department stores push flyers daily in your box, advertising each of their items, with their price, and how much you “save” by buying at their store. These flyers can be mesmerising, and if you are not careful, you can find yourself trapped in their world, spending hours staring at the coloured pictures and anxiously comparing prices and wondering whether it is a good idea to “stock up” on dishwashing liquid while it is going “cheap”, looking for the scissors to cut out out coupons which will give you 2 percent off 200 dollars or more that you spend at such-and-such store… There are complicated “points and rewards” schemes, through which, if you do one years’ shopping at such-and-such a store, you will earn so many points which will in turn entitle you to so many miles of free air travel. It is absolutely surreal. Spending is practically elevated to a civic duty, since by spending, you are boosting the economy…

JYSK is furniture store, which had spread flyers round Halifax screaming “free shipping” for online orders of furniture. Free is like a magic word, say free and you are bound to sell. We grabbed the flyers at a local playground, and without pausing to ask why somebody should be so kind as to send furniture for free to our doorstep, gave ourselves up to the magic of online shopping.

Just four words of advice: DON’T DO IT. NEVER.  

Even though there are pictures, even though there are dimensions of the products, the gap between virtual products and reality is enormous. For slightly over 500 dollars, we were able to purchase a hollow whitish sofa, very plain, big enough for two persons and a child, a small kitchen table and four small chairs, a bookshelf which looks like its made out of wooden slatted fruit boxes, and an incredibly shoddy set of four small drawers. In fact, all the furniture is unbelievably shoddy, and shelf and drawers wobble. The items were all sent to us unassemebled, in pieces, and we had to spend a whole day, repeating the title of this posting with different variations, assembling them; tools for assembly were included. And this was not stated in the website. I have to say- you could never get this kind of quality (I’m talking REALLY cheap here, like thin plastic handles which fall off if you tug too hard, or shelves which don’t fit on each other properly), if you looked for it in Tehran. At least I have never seen anything like it.

Never mind that we could have sent back the products if we had wanted (paying for the shipping ourselves, of course)- that is not the point. And of course you can get solid, ‘Made in Canada” furniture here-  only at prices which made us gasp and reel. For us, the point was simply-  don’t trust flyers, and online shopping, ever ever again.

Spending time outdoors this summer?  Designer Patricia Urquiola has taken the traditional woven look for outdoor furniture and reinterpreted it in a contemporary style.

Her chairs make me want to curl up with a book under a shade tree and doze away the afternoons. The Pattern and texture of Patricia’s Canasta Collection is unique and the serving tables to match make the chairs that much more interesting.

Like the site?

A List of Recent, Personal Breakthroughs for Aanna “Patty” Greer: Read more…

http://nickpapageorgia.blogspot.com/2008/06/puur-design-studio.html

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http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/3045/dubai-opera-house-by-zaha-hadid.html

You can’t really ‘buy’ the Opera House in Dubai, unless by buy, you mean get tickets to a show.  However, Dubai has been and is becoming more and more the gem of the Middle East.  The city, situated in UAE (United Arab Emirates), plans to build the biggest suspension bridge, the tallest skyscrapers and has already finished the map of the word resorts, a mini world in a luxurious resort.  I’m certainly dying to visit, especially with all the shopping!

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I happen to have a mod little 60s number that would perfectly match that chair.  Now all I need to get is the $2,500 to match the price tag (plus tax).  Darn.

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This is just lovely.  Elegant and very minimalist.  I’m just afraid that it might not fit into the design of my ideal house (or that the previous statement just scared off whoever was actually interesting in making that house with me).  BUT this Belgian designer has offered schematics to a possible DIY version.

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Dude!  BMW built a concept vehicle using fabric to cover the metal frame, so that people can ‘shape shift’ the vehicle.  Here’s the vid:

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I’m so into these chairs.  They’re “stackable” and look comfy.  One minor change for my personal preference is to increase the curvature at the bottom, so they can become mini-rocking chairs.\

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Concept:

1. Write a message.
2. Stick in the bread.
3. Bread comes out with your message.

Now that’s awesome.

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The “Stewie,” or for those still relishing the 90s, the “Pinky the Brain,” chair is perfect for those craving world domination.  The website just calls it the Villain Chair, which apparently retails for $7200.  (What the fudge?)

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*Insert stereotypes about how all Chinese people are punctual*… well, here’s July’s edition in June. :-D

Borrowing a theme from B’s awesome casacaudill blog, I’m helping the parents pick out furniture and trinkets for their new (ginormous) house, so there will be a number of style/product entries coming out in July.  If you like it, please comment and let me know what you think.  If not, tell me, and I’ll try not to piss you off so much. :)