The latest installment of MCM Digest, a few things that caught my eye this week in the MCM Facebook Group! Enjoy and tell me what you think in the comment section below! Links to the original post on Facebook have been included in the caption of each photo if you would like to add a comment there.
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This past week Padma Nara took us on a tour of the Eero Saarinen-designed TWA flight center in New York. More than 50 years old the building still looks modern and it still mesmerizes visitors. While the flight center had fallen into disuse and its fate left uncertain it is being converted into a hotel in the near future. Would have loved to have seen it in person but this tour was a very nice substitute. Thanks for the tour Padma and thanks for sharing! Click here to see the original post.
What could hands down be the score of the week was Plastolux Modern’s find of an Eames screen at a Goodwill. Designed by Charles and Ray Eames and first produced by Herman Miller in 1946 they are still made today. However, to find a sweet, older one like this – did I mention at a Goodwill? – is pretty incredible. At auction theses screens sell between 3000 – 5000 (more for older example) and as gentlemanly civility kept Plastolux from telling us how much he paid, I’m guessing a bit less than that. Thanks for sharing Plastolux! Click here for the original post.
Spikes posted this photo of her still yet to be completed dining room. I swear she could stop right now and it would be pretty much perfect. This lovely dining room is in the O’Brien house designed by Richard Neutra, which Nicole and her husband purchased in May of this year. What do I love best about the photo? Look to the ceiling. The original Neutra signature wooden ceiling still intact and not removed or covered over and made white as so often happens with renovations of Neutra’s home. Thank you Nicole and look forward to updates! Click here for the original post. The Exterior of the home lovely too – click here for that.
Just so much to like about this space. Jennifer Skoropowski, while posting about a great piece of original artwork she had found, showed us again her lovely dining room. The chairs, the glorious rosewood highboard, the ceiling light, and the accessories make this an incredibly inviting space. As most collectors know it can be tricky furnishing with MCM pieces and not ending up with a ‘museum space’. This dining room, with its great mix of pieces and colorful objects has a contemporary and livable feel that is a fabulous showcase for classic pieces of MCM design. Love it. Thanks for sharing Jennifer! Click here for the original post.
Accessories make the space. It doesn’t have to be much but the touch of a well-chosen object can sometimes be the difference between a great space and one that feels like it ‘missing something’ – and you can’t relax in a room wondering what’s missing. Max Mcdonald posted this (expertly shot) Ceramic Spagnolo Blue horse designed by Aldo Londi for Bitossi Bitossi of Italy in the 1960’s. It is one of those items that compliments a modern setting perfectly and adds life to a potentially staid space. Max shows us with this photo that the signature Bitossi blue works beautifully with walnut and teak. So, like a good outfit, a room needs the right accessories. Thanks for sharing Max! Click here for the original post.
Mark Bisch posted this lovely wall unit and it is one of those things that I find odd companies no longer make, or at least certainly not as much as they did. It’s a practical, customizable (modular), and it opens up floor space. Wall units are desirable and useful pieces of furniture. This particular one appears to be in a basement and that would be my first experience with wall units of this period as it seemed everyone had an old wall unit in the basement when I was growing up and by the 80’s most were binned. I often wonder what happened to the collective consumer conscious that people turned away from so many well-designed and useful pieces of the MCM items. Oh well, not Mark’s concern as he nabbed this one! Thanks for sharing. Click here for the original post.
Three things here that are all high on my list of ‘absolute good’ 1. A MCM atrium. 2. Anyone who can make beautiful things and 3. Sushi. So this post by Tim Hills ticks a few boxes for me. Tim lives in a MCM home with an atrium and he built this low, Japan-ese style table for the space. The result is stunning. It cannot go unnoticed that a great deal of Modernism was influenced by tradition Japanese architecture and design and seeing this beautiful table in this setting pays wonderful tribute to those influences. Well done Tim and thanks for sharing. Click here for the original post.
By far the most popular post to the MCM group this past week was Misty Kobielusz Bateman’s Sunbeam toaster. This glass paneled toaster features an era-perfect graphic of stylized leaves and it is just one of those things that’s incredibly appealing. This model of toaster has been posted to the group before and is always very popular – perhaps this is while these things can fetch some pretty high prices. For Many toast is a comfort food and toast from this pretty little appliance would be all the more lovely. Also, older toasters make the best toast! Thanks for sharing Misty! Click here for the original post.
Well here’s a handsome cache of diamonds! Terry Bowen posted this photo taken by fellow group member Barbara Daley Schwab. This iconic chair, designed by Harry Bertoia and first produced by Knoll in 1952, is not a terribly rare chair and is still made today, but it is one of the best and enduring designs ever produced by Knoll, or any manufacturer for that matter. What I find great about this image is the casualness of it in how the chairs are simply lingering about waiting to be picked up. I’m hoping they were and thanks for sharing! Click here to see the original post.
Now this is a nice little pile to have found. Group member Nor Man posing here with a great set of Herman Miller shell chairs. These chairs are always going to be useful. Looking at these you can see the hook on the side so these were were probably meant for lobbies and waiting areas. Because of this they were built to last. I’ve seen these used quite nicely as dining chairs and they work just about anywhere in any style. Nice find Nor Man and thanks for sharing! Click here for the original post.
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