A Bronze Sheep In Sheep's Clothing

There are many items that are icons or legends in terms of interior design: Pedro Friedeberg's Hand Chair is one, along with the Thonet Chair, the Fornasetti etching of opera singer Lina Cavalieri’s face, and a host of others...but one of the most whimsical and inventive iconic design items is the Lalanne Sheep, created in 1965 by French sculptor François-Xavier Lalanne for the Salon de la Jeune Peinture in Paris.

Although they are now known as the Moutons de Laine, François-Xavier’s bronze sheep sculptures were presented at the Salon de la Jeune Peinture with the title Pour Polytheme, a reference to a passage in Homer’s Odyssey which recounts how Ulysses and his comrades blind the cyclops Polyphemus, and escape from his cave by clinging to the bellies of his giant sheep. Lalanne's work is highly sculptural, owing a debt to Surrealism in its whimsy, and highly functional. His moutons serve as either seats or foot stools! Below you can see Lalanne with his wife Claude, also a sculptress whose surreal whimsical work focuses on the botanical instead of the animal world, lounging on a flock. Claude has been quoted as saying, playfully, "They are not furniture, they are not sculpture--call them 'Lalannes.'"

The realistic cast bronze sheep are covered in sheep skin but Lalanne created outdoor versions where the "wool" is cream colored stone epoxy.

Yves Saint-Laurent was an early patron of Lalanne and collected a flock of sheep to populate his library in the home he shared with his partner Pierre Bergé.

Other designers have collected the sheep over the years. Valentino invested in a flock...

...and a Lalanne sheep can be spotted in this image of Marc Jacobs' home.

If you keep your eyes peeled, you can spot them grazing peacefully in so many homes in shelter magazines.

In case you're wondering, a flock of the outdoor Lalanne sheep went for a record $7.5 million at a Christie's auction in 2011...and original sheep go for just under a million. Just sayin'.

Happy designing!

History of Furniture: Sit Like An Egyptian

When we look at the history of furniture and furnishings, we can travel pretty far back in time (see furniture from Ancient Greece here). Of course we don't know for sure but we can guess what primitive cave dwellers used to furnish their caves: hides, straw, fire pits...the essentials for sleeping and waking and eating. But there are ancient cultures that have left behind a treasure trove of artifacts. So let's look at one of those cultures for this installment of the History of Furniture.

Thankfully, ancient Egyptian pyramids were buried and hidden by wind, sand, and time. Only when tombs started being discovered in the late 1700's did we, as a modern civilization, begin to see how Egyptians lived, first from depictions and scenes painted on tomb walls, then to finding actual furniture, furnishings, and everyday objects. The Ancient Egyptians believed that once dead, a person's soul lived on in an afterlife where they would need all the personal comforts of life on earth. Since many of the furniture pieces were made from wood, which rots over time, we have a better idea of what they sat on from images on tomb walls. But anything made of metal or stone has of course survived.

Since much of the wood in the immediate area of Egypt was of a soft variety not possessing the characteristics of strength to be made into furniture, they imported wood from surrounding areas like Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon. The most common item in an Egyptian household, whether commoner or nobleman, was the stool. It proved practical as it could be moved from place to place as needed. Styles ranged from simple to elaborate. Egyptians were surrounded by a plethora of animals which were very important to their religious beliefs--there are many animal deities in their pantheon of gods and goddesses. All indigenous cultures look to the natural world around them to explain phenomena and creation stories and animal forms play an important part in ritual and everyday objects as well. Therefore, Egyptian stools for the wealthy class had legs fashioned into the feet of animals, whether herd creatures like gazelle or one of the holiest of Egyptian animals, the feline. They ranged from simple pieces made of reed and woven rushes to carved and inlaid wood, but nearly all of them had the typical concave seat that rises to points at each corner.

Seats were more common in wealthier households, and they retained their characteristic animal legs.

Of course the gold seats and thrones that have been discovered in tombs like Tut's are incredible objects studded with stones and featuring relief scenes and carved animals at the seat and arms.

Egyptian architecture reflected the natural world as well with columns representing the lotus, the papyrus, and the palm.

Happy designing!

History of Furniture: China

Since today is Chinese New Year (we start the Year of the Monkey!), I thought I would share some traits, shapes, and characteristics of Chinese furniture for this installment of The History of Furniture.

Early in their culture, the Chinese sat on the floor or mats like the Japanese (previously here) but as time passed, low platforms turned into couches and chairs. It's generally agreed that this development most likely had something to do with the spread of Buddhism into China and accompanying figures of the Buddha on raised platforms. The idea of being not only figuratively but literally elevated, of being honored, and of being above others was translated into seating that was more and more raised off of the floor. Special guests, dignitaries, and noblemen were naturally "above" commoners who remained on low platforms or on the floor.

The first raised seating was a platform that became a daybed, eventually gaining carved side panels and an "entrance." Such daybeds came to be very complex enclosures, nearly like little rooms unto themselves.

Lest you think it was all supine lounging, below are two examples of chairs I have written about before in my "Know Your Chairs" column (seen here). The first is the Chinese Yoke Back Chair which originated during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 CE) and is characterized by a simple, elegant structure with fluid lines, balanced proportions, and concealed joints using the then-new-to-China method of mortise and tenon construction.

The Yoke Back Chair has a back whose design is based on the shape of an oxen yoke, which is a wooden harness put over the shoulders and around the head of oxen or other strong farm animals to pull a plow through dirt.

The Chinese Horseshoe Chair also originated in the Ming Dynasty. It uses a slightly different shape than the Yoke Back, that of a horseshoe.

The following Horseshoe Chair actually folds so it can be taken outside or on a journey so the master and mistress could be comfortable anywhere they go.

Speaking of outdoors, the barrel or garden stool became very popular in China during the Song Dynasty and was originally made from a variety of hardwoods that stood up to the elements. Later the stools were made from ceramic and decorated with lotus leaves, fish or birds, and pastoral scenes.

A common motif on not only garden stools but ceramics of all kinds is the lucky cloud design. Thought to be created between heaven and earth, clouds were looked upon with special significance and thought to represent the celestial realm.

On the ceramic plate below, you can see stylized clouds swirling around the dragons on the rim. In Chinese mythology, it was thought that dragons were able to create clouds with their breath.

As with most any subject, this is just a brief overview as we did not even touch on any chests, cabinets, or cases, as well as metal working. That could be for a future post so stay tuned!
And I wish you "Gong Xi Fa Cai"--or in English, Happy New Year!

Happy designing!

The Furniture of John Dickinson

John Dickinson's San Francisco-based interior design career spanned decades, through the 60s and 70s, but he will be best remembered for a collection of whimsical, stylish, furniture and furnishings created in matte chalk white. Since his death in 1982, his console tables, side tables, lamps, and mirrors have become highly coveted items by interior designers and collectors. His original designs feature wry details like animal feet and the illusion of draped fabric but made in metal or plaster.

Dickinson's African table is an homage to the kind of rough-hewn anthropomorphic objects from that continent.

The following images of his Etruscan chair and table are a combination of historical elements from Greek and Roman furnishings (and even as far back as the Egyptians who put animal feet on stools and small tables) with the neo-classical sensibility of eighteenth century Europe.

His footed and hoofed demi-console, lamp, table, and stool are now iconic.

Another trompe-l'œil effect from Dickinson is his organic stacked stone console table. The unexpected style comes from the fact that it is executed in his hallmark matte white.

His tin console (part of the permanent collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) and table look as if they have luxurious linens draped over them, cascading down into box pleats at the corners.This idea was so copied that we now see the idea in acrylic from various manufacturers and designers.

And finally, Dickinson ventured into "faux-bois" territory ("faux-bois" is a style of furniture that rose to favor during the Victorians and featured pieces in cast concrete that resembled rustic log furniture) with his twig lamp and mirror.

His pieces look wonderful as accents in rooms of any style. See if you can spot his pieces in each room below.

And here is a pine wood version of his African table in Dickinson's own San Francisco home, a renovated fire station!

Dickinson's original pieces were made in plaster but Sutherland Furniture has retooled the formula and has reissued some of these pieces in a mix of concrete and fiberglass. You can see and purchase them here. Take a look at the tableau from Sutherland below which features Dickinson's twig lamp and mirror over the tin console.

Happy designing!