1. TAKE A BOUGH
Out of tree-hugging Berkeley, Calif., comes the Bard’s Side Table by Ironies. This woodsy, 18″x 24″ gem is hand-carved from mahogany, then burnished with silver leaf, giving it the look of apple tree boughs after a rain.
2. CAFE CLASSIC
Vienna’s coffeehouse culture spawned more than good grounds. Czech architect Adolf Loos developed the classic bentwood chair for the city’s famed Cafe Museum in 1898. A 1993 version by Viennese architect Hermann Czech, done for another of the city’s cafes, sports a comfy back and compelling hue. Thonet makes it under the name Czech Chair.
3. CLEAR AND SIMPLE
Good glasses don’t have to have soaring stems to radiate elegance and elan. The short-stemmed Murano glasses designed by Nason & Moretti in 1988-sold in three sizes for champagne, water and wine-prove the point.
4. FRENCH ACCENT
This black Lalique glass vase can be a strong accent piece when you have a bevy of colors or elements to unite in a room.
5. TOP DRAWER
It’s the little things that count, like socks and undies that smell sublime. Freshen up your wardrobe with Hermes perfumed lining papers. They’re 16 inches square, five to a box.
6. THE WAY TO GO
Getting around a city often means listening to the talking GPS system in your car. But Paul Cohen and Henry Taliaferro’s new book, “American Cities: Historic Maps and Views” ($70, Assouline Publishing, October release), takes us back to simpler times. Nine American cities are illustrated with rare or previously unpublished maps that trace their development. Chicago wins the cover with a 1916 map; the essay on Chicago is by Robert Holland.
7. HALLOWED HALLS
The architectural firm of Holabird & Root began rebuilding the city 125 years ago after the Great Chicago Fire. Among its master works are the Art Deco Board of Trade Building (foreground, 1930) and University Club (background, 1908). Check out the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s exhibit “Holabird & Root 125” through Feb. 26, 2006 at 224 S. Michigan Ave.
8. PAST PERFECTED
Dutch designer Marcel Wanders improves some of the 19th Century’s frothier offerings by crafting them in turned wood varnished in matte black. They include these two tables topped with smoked glass.
9. SLEEPER HIT
It was a fresh take on the old sleeper sofa. Turns out Dutch designer Martin Visser dreamed up the Slaapbank, which converts to a single bed, in the late 1950s, and it is still in production today in a wide range of fabrics.
10. ON FIRE
Au Coin du Feu (French for “by the fireside”) inventories more antique European fireplace surrounds, from Gothic to Art Deco, than anyone else in the U.S. Many are on view in the new Milwaukee Avenue showroom, and over 4,000 more are stashed in a Belgian warehouse. Chicago decorators Nate Berkus, Leslie Jones, and Missy Derse are Au Coin du Feu devotees.
11. BLUBBER STAMP
Scared to say the big things in life, like “I’m sorry,” “I love you” or “You’re right”? The Honesty Stamps by Mosley Meets Wilcox will give you the courage to get it out.
12. TECH-IN-THE-BOX
It’s half as large and sounds twice as good, the claim goes. This T+A K6 DVD Surround receiver replaces four boxes in your entertainment system. No need for the DVD player, AM/FM radio, surround-sound amp or SS movie processor. It has a second amp to accommodate two more speakers elsewhere in the house.
13. FASHION TO FLOOR YOU
Designer Vivienne Westwood applauds patriotism with her “Flag” motif for The Rug Company, her first collection of rugs for the innovative firm. Westwood also used the Union Jack flag in her spring handbag collection.
14. Think ink: Rooms painted as dark as night.
Check out Ralph Lauren’s Arcadia Blue or Tournament.
15. HOOKED
These aren’t your great-grandmother’s hooked rugs. Elizabeth Eakins’ custom hand-hooked rugs are richly detailed, reflecting a range of modern or natural imagery. Each 100 percent wool rug is made to order.
16. STOP, LOOK AND GLISTEN
Kundalini is both a type of yoga and an Italian furniture line, so it’s fitting that the latter named Giorgio Gurioli’s 6.5-foot-tall sculpture Asana, Sanskrit for “manner of sitting” or “posture.” It provides both seating and a 250-watt halogen reading light.
17. BABES IN TOYLAND
The first round of “Toys” by famous fashion designers sold out so Visionaire, producer of multi-format art and fashion albums, introduced “More Toys,” with toymaster Kidrobot. The two pictured (there are 10 in all) are the work of Martin Margiela (left) and Helmut Lang.
18. C’MON, LET’S VASE IT
Connecticut potter Frances Palmer’s fanciful handmade vases, like the one pictured called “Log Vase,” are quirky and modern but with a whiff of ancient Greece.
19. FRESH FACES
TWO TO WATCH
Since 1996, when home and garden visionary Mac Hoak opened his first Mecox Gardens store on Long Island, savvy Chicagoans have been hoping he’d put down roots here. Finally, a 3,500-square-foot incarnation opened at 406 N. Clark St. last month displaying architecturally rich furniture and objects ranging from a carved wooden stag’s head Hoak found in Paris to groovy jewel-toned ceramic lamps. Not your idea of garden equipment? It’s “gardenesque,” says Hoak.
Chandra Greer has set the bar high for her new stationery store, Greer, 1657 N. Wells St. “I want to carry products that help people live a more civil life,” she says. A designer with an MBA from the University of Chicago, Greer and her team create chic custom stationery and invitations. She also scours the world for items not found anywhere else in the U.S., like 100 percent cotton notepaper from Spain. “The shape of it is so arresting,” she says.
20. WELL-SUITED
With classic pinstripes in not-so-classic electric hues, Paul Smith’s new collection of upholstery fabric for Maharam, aptly named Bespoke Stripe, appeals to fashion-forward types and traditionalists. The exuberant hits of color tweak classic navy, brown and gray suitings without sending them over the top.
21. AN OLD GEM, A NEW SETTING
George Nelson paid homage to the traditional storage tansu when he designed his teak and laminate miniature chests for Herman Miller after a trip to Japan in 1951. The company reissued them in June in two styles, featuring six or nine drawers.
22. WALL POWER
Founded in 1875, the English wallpaper company Cole & Son offers decidedly new millennium fare. Hick’s Hexagon is a reintroduced 1960s design by English decorator David Hicks, and The Woods graces a wall in actress Hilary Swank’s New York home.
23. CLASSY CHASSIS
A food processor that’s easy on the ears, eyes and biceps. Viking’s new 12-cup capacity food processor has a special motor for quieter homogenizing, comes in six colors (including a zingy bright red) and has easy-glide rear wheels for effortless countertop maneuvering.
24. OUTSIDE IN
The sitting rooms of the proper British Colonial homes in India and Burma were grandiose, gallery-like front porches outfitted with equally grand low-slung teak chairs. Doug Van Tress of Golden Triangle in Chicago has hand-picked a collection of these chairs from the 1920s and ’30s.
25. NICKY, DARLING!
This sleek mirrored cabinet seems to have danced right off the set of a Nick and Nora Charles movie. British creative director, consultant and editor Ilse Crawford and her company Studioilse launched this line called “The Other” for Baleri Italia at the 2005 Milan furniture fair.
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RESOURCES
25 THINGS WE LOVE
1: Ironies Bard side table, available to the trade through Tui Pranich and Associates, Merchandise Mart, Chicago.
2. Czech Chair, $895, at www.conrans.com.
3. Nason & Moretti short-stemmed Murano glasses sold in three sizes, $260 for a set of six, at Moss, New York City, or go to www.mossonline.com.
4. “Tortue” black glass vase by Lalique, $2,400, at Lalique, Chicago.
5. Hermes Perfumed Lining Papers, $25 a box (5 sheets), at Hermes, Chicago.
6. “American Cities: Historic Maps and Views” by Paul Cohen and Henry Taliaferro (Assouline Publishing, $70, October release) at Assouline boutiques, Saks Fifth Avenue and fine bookstores everywhere.
8. Marcel Wanders tables, $2,300 and up, at Luminaire, Chicago.
9. Slaapbank sleeper sofa, prices start at $3,600, at I.D., Chicago.
10. Louis XIII-style limestone fireplace surround (over five feet high), price available upon request, at Au Coin du Feu, Chicago.
11. Honesty Stamps by Mosley Meets Wilcox, about $30 each, at www.thorstenvanelten.com.
12. T+A K6 DVD Surround receiver, $8,500, at Glenn Poor, Chicago.
13. Vivienne Westwood “Flag” wool aubusson 8’x 5′ rug, $ 3,200, at The Rug Company, New York and Los Angeles, or go to www.therugcompany.info.
15. St. Lawrence (left) and Mantova Vine (right) hand-hooked 100 percent wool rugs by Elizabeth Eakins, made to order, at wwwelizabetheakins.com.
16. Giorgio Gurioli’s 6.5-foot-tall sculpture Asana, $2,930 in black, orange, red or white, at Orange Skin, Chicago.
17. Visionaire 45 “More Toys,” $175 each (contains two sets of five; limited edition of 2,500), at www.visionaireworld.com and at select retailers nationwide.
18. Ceramic “Log vase” by Frances Palmer, $750, at francespalmerpottery.com.
20. Paul Smith upholstery fabric for Maharam, $110 a yard, at Moss, New York City, or go to www.mossonline.com.
21. George Nelson laminate Miniature Chests for Herman Miller, $1,000 to $1,395, through www.hermanmiller.com.
22. Cole & Son wallpaper available to the trade only exclusively at Lee Jofa, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, or go to www.leejofa.com.
23. Viking Professional Food Processor, $299 (in six colors), at Abt Electronics, Glenview.
24. Veranda chairs, $650 to $1,400, at Golden Triangle, Chicago.
25. Studioilse mirrored cabinet/sideboard: $8,965 (or $7,700 for wall version which can be suspended on wall), by special order at Moss, New York City, or go to www.mossonline.com.
