Death by Television.

I have no words to describe how hideous the monstrosity I am about to discuss is.  OK, that is a lie.  I have words.  Lots of words, but I won't go down that road right now.  I went to the Greystone Showcase House sponsored by Luxe Magazine last December, and it was OK.  Lots of big name designers phoning it in for publicity, some quite horribly.  I'm not going to name names, but if you went, you probably saw something awful.  Don't get me wrong, there were some delightful things, but most rooms were forgettable and some of them should be burned.  Out of an entire mansion filled with every item imaginable, this monster topped my list of things that should never have been created - the flat screen television framed in Venetian mirror.

One of my cardinal sins is a television in the bedroom; it should never happen.  You'll never sleep.  Another of my cardinal sins is mounting a television above a fireplace.  This applies to every room in the house.  No TVs above fireplaces.  Period.  I know this Designer has done a Fornasetti screen saver to give the impression of art, but it's not cutting it.  Commit to a piece of art or even a mirror and take the high road.  Through this installation, I have also discovered a new sin I hadn't thought of, because who in their right mind would ever consider doing it; that sin is surrounding a television in Venetian mirror.  This grotesque invention was part of a scheme for a mans bedroom; sorry, but no man I know, gay, straight, bi, thai...would ever do that to a television.  I don't think you could be gaudier or more gauche than this, but then again, I didn't think something like this would ever happen.  This is the design equivalent of Lindsay Lohan.  This is Bruce Jenner's face in television form.  This is the hottest mess I have seen in a long time.

I'm doing this as a public service announcement, for your own safety.  As a Designer and a friend, I would never do this to you, but there a people out there that will tell you this is a good idea.  Those people need an intervention and possibly some sort of medication.  If you know anyone who has anything like this in their home, break off all communications.  You'll thank me later.

- Ian

Nostalgic Style for New Technology.

My Dad passed away last year and I had to clean out his house.  I had to go through all his stuff and try to make sense of it all...what goes to the shredder, what third notice in the pink envelope should I be worried about the most, what died in this room?!  Of his amassed possessions, a few obvious piles grew.  The dumpster pile, the shredder pile, and the 'could this possibly be worth anything at all to anybody?' pile.  The latter was a very small pile; if you knew my father you'd know why.

The pile was comprised mostly of things he collected, and by collected I mean amassed, not curated.  Do not for one minute think my father curated anything short of the mold in the shower.  He loved his swap meets and garage sales like a Kardashian loves a staged wedding.  The fruits of his labor left me with a unique assortment of old television picture tubes, propane tanks, and old TVs and radios.  In the end, they were all donated or dumped, with a few of the radios being sold on ebay...or in this case, released back into the wild to be purchased by someone like my Dad.

There's no denying the appeal of those old classic radios; the kind people in farm houses used to gather around to listen to a variety show or adventure series.  The kind that used to send George and Gracie or Little Orphan Annie bounding across the state for New York to Los Angeles and all points in between.  They're ripe with charm and nostalgia and frankly, some really lovely design too.  But what do you do with them?  You can't have them fixed, they're completely obsolete, and all they really do is sit around and collect dust, right?  In my travels, I was happy to find something to disprove this thought. 

A company called 3Ryan Radios has come up with the genius idea of refurbishing vintage radios (form the 30's through the 60's) and turning them into ipod docks.  How brilliant!  You just pick your favorite from their one of a kind selection which ranges from Bakelite table top styles to wooden floor models the size of a refrigerator, and away you go.  Talk about character pieces and conversation starters.  These are perfect for hipsters and old timers alike and help us all recall a simpler time when technology was a little more beautiful.

- Ian

Click to visit 3Ryan Radios.