This Week's Top 5 Favorite 1stdibs Items: Mid-Century Modern Desks!

Whether you work from home or travel each day to an office for work, you probably need a desk of some sort to conduct your tasks. Just because a desk is for work doesn't mean it can't be good-looking! We've gathered some great looking desks of the Mid-Century Modern variety out of today's newest 1stdibs listings. Simple, with great lines and a lot of style, these desks just might help you do better work!

1) Desk by Osvaldo Borsani for Tecno
From the 1960s, this Italian Mid-Century Modern desk not only looks good, it features quite the fancy details! It is composed of two pivoting elements, each with 3 drawers, which allows you to arrange this desk how you need and like it. You can even keep things interesting by changing the arrangement every few weeks.
Price: $6,857
Dealer: 1stdibs Paris

2) Alain Richard Custom Order Mahogany Executive Desk
French and from the 1950s, this desk is such a great simple example of a typical executive desk, it's almost iconic. Quite spacious with lots of drawers for storage, it also features a desktop that overhangs longer on one side to allow for an extra person to work if needed.
Price: $4,800
Dealer: Galerie Sommerlath

3) Robsjohn-Gibbings desk
From 1950, this desk is a simple, compact, light and cheery desk, perfect for those who don't need a lot of space to work or just like a nice, uncomplicated desk. We love the lopsided feel of the desk---it gives it interest. The tapered one leg on the side has a great Mid-Century feel to it and the simple drawer pulls aren't distracting.
Price: $6,500
Dealer: Pascal Boyer Gallery

4) Desk attributed to Ico Parisi
Another Italian Mid-Century Modern desk, this piece features all sorts of stylish details, from the organically shaped legs and supports, to the simple and fluted drawer fronts to its great green original Formica top.
Price: contact dealer
Dealer: Caira Mandaglio

5) A "Diplomat" desk by Finn Juhl
This piece comes from Denmark from the 1960s, and is made of Rosewood and aluminum details. We love that it has such a retro, office-feel and like all the simple Danish details that are still quite evident. A great addition to an office of any style!
Price: $5,400
Dealer: NOHO Modern

Don't forget to check out the rest of this week's listings from 1stdibs, where you can find more fabulous, one-of-a-kind show-stopping pieces, as well as a number of other great pieces!

Roll 'n Pour

Roll 'n Pour — Takes the worry out of pouring liquids from gallon jugs, half-gallon jugs and 2-liter bottles

Easy to use: just set the container in your Roll 'n Pour and tilt it toward your glass — jug will roll smoothly, resulting in a steady pour with little effort.

No more struggling with heavy gallon jugs or messy spills as you pour a glass or annoying spills due to shaky or weak hands.

Great for kids and older folks who might need a little extra help in the kitchen.

Relieves stress to shoulders and elbows from hefting heavy jugs and bottles.
Roll 'n Pour

Moustache Necklace

Moustache Necklace

A Way of Living

Sounds pretty perfect, right? This is the introduction to Pia and Simon Pearce's new book, A Way of Living.

Mr. Southern (alas, who is not really Southern at all) grew up near one of Simon Pearce's shops and has known about Simon Pearce glass for years.

I first learned of Simon Pearce while watching Sweet Home Alabama (Something's Gotta Give also features Simon Pearce work). I just loved the glass, but Mr. Southern identified it as Simon Pearce immediately.

We love it so much, we registered there for our wedding. No crystal, just Simon Pearce. They have a fantastic registry program.

A Way of Living features 180 pages of glorious photographs and 27 recipes from the Simon Pearce restaurants. It aims to show the reader the "inspirations and the personal significance" of their glass and pottery items in order to create a beautiful way of living.

In truth, perhaps the book is a large glorious catalog of Simon Pearce offerings. Regardless, I will be awaiting to purchase October 8 at the Atlanta book signing.

Click here for locations and dates for the book signing.

Note: all photos obtained from Simon Pearce's website and admittedly used without permission.

-Emmie

Post Script- photos used WITH permission and what great news about the recipes! The food is really quite fabulous at the restaurant I've visited.

A Perfect Pair: An Egg Chair and Iridescent Swank Lamps!

After researching Arne Jacobsen’s wonderful furniture pieces for yesterday’s Designer Influence, we couldn’t help but fall in love with one of his pieces. Doing a quick scan of Swank Lighting’s website proved that there was a perfect pair and a perfect match!

After featuring a cabinet last week, we’re back in love with chairs, and this time it's this leather Egg Chair of Arne Jacobsen. Also a prolific architect, Jacobsen produced many of his iconic furniture pieces for his famed Radisson SAS Hotel in Copenhagen, among them, the Egg Chair. While this 1stdibs dealer isn’t sure whether this particular chair was made for the hotel, he can promise that it was one of the earlier models, due to the seat cushion being intrinsic to the chair (later models saw a separate seat cushion). Whatever this chair was made for, we don’t really care, because just look at it---it was made to go in any space! We are in love with the worn, leather look on this modernly-shaped chair. What an interesting and dynamic combination, don’t you think? The leather lends a bit of masculinity to the chair, wher eas the curved and organic shape feels feminine. This particular Egg Chair is definitely a successful study in contradictions.

With it, we would pair this stunning set of Swank Lighting lamps, the Iridescent Clear Crystal Murano Lamps in Sleek Sculptural Style, which are from Swank's new Contemporary Murano line currently being imported from Italy. These lamps are over-the-top luxurious, featuring many crystal details that give them a great texture. A clear color, but with an iridescent finish, the lamps are at once neutral, but also refusing to sit in the background. With a tall, cylindrical shape barely containing the great irregular shapes of the crystals, these lamps are a bit of a contradiction themselves.

Together, the Arne Jacobsen leather Egg Chair and Swank Lighting Crystal Murano Lamps make for a dynamic and unexpected combination. The leather chair brings both masculinity and modernity, whereas the lamps bring unbridled femininity and a sassy Hollywood Regency feel. Instead of fighting each other, the lamps and chair heighten each other’s commonalities, making for a gorgeous composition fitting for either a Mid-Century Modern or Hollywood Regency styled room. The power of this combination of décor pieces could even be enough to create an entire space on the premise of mixing two seemingly opposite styles: modern and luxurious.

Chanel Gets Her Forever Home

I've blogged about Chanel in the past and had to share with you the great news! Chanel has found her forever home.

She will live in the North Georgia mountains with her new mommies who love her very much (she was the only dog they wanted to meet!)

We actually were in Hawaii when the initial meeting took place- but I saw these pictures and knew we had found the right home.

Meeting her mommies and new sister, Ginger, for the first time. Look at that smile!

Relaxing in our backyard

Saying goodbye to my girl

We will absolutely miss her but feel so blessed to have helped this little girl. She went from living in a crate 24/7 birthing babies to living the lovely life she deserves.

I don't often do public service announcements, but this one is important. Please please don't ever buy a dog from a store. You may think you're rescuing that doggy in the window, but you're really supporting a horrendous industry. Learn more at Stop Puppy Mills.org.

The Iconic Danish Designs of Arne Jacobsen!

We don’t talk much about Danish Modern design here on the Swank Lighting blog, and that’s a darn shame. This style of furniture, architecture and interiors is gorgeous and has played a huge role in shaping other styles around the world, especially American Modernism. Today we bring you the work of Arne Jacobsen, one of the leading Danish designers of his time and a big hit in today’s homes still.

Like many other important designers, Arne was well known for being involved in every aspect of his design projects. Trained in architecture, he worked both as an architect and a furniture designer, but he is overwhelmingly famous for his furniture designs, which many consider to be some of the most important furniture designs of the century.

Born in 1902 in Copenhagen, he spent some time as a stonemason before studying architecture at the Kongelige Danske Kunstakademie in Copenhagen until the year 1927. Next up for Jacobsen was a stint in the architecture office of architect Paul Holsoe. It didn’t take long for Jacobsen to open his own practice though, and he soon began one in Hellerup in 1929.

Even when he was in school, he was winning awards for his furniture design. Many of his designs, with easy to remember names, have since become iconic. In 1952 he created the Ant Chair, with its signature “pinched” back resembling an ant, and able to stack, making it quite functional. In 1958 he designed the Swan Chair, which was a soft and organically shaped chair. That same year he came out with the Egg Chair, with its soft frame, high back and decidedly egg-shaped seating space. The next year saw the Pot Chair, which was a low-backed and circular shaped seat and the Giraffe Chair, which had a long, narrowing back and a very graceful shape. His most iconic seat, though, was his Model 3107 chair, also known as the Number 7 Chair. With a simple, stacking shape, the Number 7 chair takes its name from the simple curves of the back.

While you still see Jacobsen’s furniture in today’s interiors, Jacobsen did contribute to the architecture world as well, perhaps known for the Radisson SAS Hotel in Copenhagen. So ensconced with design Jacobsen had a say in everything in the interior, from curtains, to cutlery to even the ashtrays. Often called futuristic, and ahead of his time, his designs not only helped usher in the International Style and modernism into America, they were even featured in movies about the future, like 2001 A Space Odyssey. Simple, organic but extremely relevant, Jacobsen’s high quality work is well-deserving of its iconic status.

USB key

Realized in a coin shape and not without humor, the USB key becomes a real currency which can see devaluing or undergoing the inflation according to the stock market prices of the memory Flash. In the middle of a crisis financier, this object reminds us the excessive capitalization on consumer goods which exercise the main actors and the analysts of the market. A speculation influencing and disrupting our appreciation of the things value.
Designer: Cinq Cinq (5.5) Designers

Hansa Faucet - HansaLatrava

Hansa Faucet - new HansaLatrava

"Tougher Than Leather" skateboard design by Greece Is For Lovers

"Tougher Than Leather" skateboard design by Greece Is For Lovers

child of BaR2D2

Beer2D2

Tea Cup Stool

The Tea Cup Stool is a playful and unique stool design inspired by the images and ideas in the story of Alice in Wonderland.
Design: Holly Palmer

Details
# Original stool designed to look like a giant tea cup
# Designed and manufactured in the UK
# Roto-molded MDPE plastic
# Available in white, yellow, red and orange
# Dimensions: H 41cm Dia 58cm

Description
The funky and humorous design of the Tea Cup Stool will appeal to the young and young at heart.

Available in several bold colours, they are guaranteed to brighten up the decor of any room.

Also suitable for outdoor use, the Tea Cup stools will make eating al fresco an enchanted experience.

Chairs for the Dysfunctional

Designer: Alice Wang

Colombian artists Andres Barragan and Miss Vynilos

interior of a shower to depict scenes from Donkey Kong Junior

Sebastian Brajkovic

Sebastian Brajkovic

Designer: Noémie Cotton

Duplex Packing Bags