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THE WORDS ‘ICONIC’, ‘design’ and ‘affordable’ rarely appear together in the same sentence. But if you know where to look, it is possible to infuse your home with classic pieces that have stood the test of time – and will look just as fresh in five, ten or twenty years as they do today.
“Whether you’re a furniture aficionado or not, I think everyone can appreciate great design,” says Carol-Anne Leyden, founder of interior design store and consultancy CA Design. It might be a cute mid-century sideboard, a cool reproduction piece or even a simple paper lantern.
Great design is everywhere, and you really don’t have to settle for something forgettable. We chatted to some design insiders about budget-friendly design heroes that will look gorgeous in any home.
This dinky aluminium coffee maker packs a serious design punch for its size. Designed by Italian engineer Alfonso Bialetti in the 1930s, it has become quite the icon. Over 200 million have been made to date, and the original design is displayed in dozens of industrial art and design museums around the world, including MoMa in New York and the Design Museum in London.
“That, to me, is iconic design,” says John Adams, owner of chic interiors store Article, in Dublin’s Powerscourt Townhouse Centre. A total classic, and for less than €30.
Bialetti Moka Express three-cup, €24.99, Home Store and More
Furniture from the late 1920s to the mid-1970s has been having a moment ever since Don Draper plonked his whiskey glass down on a beautiful rosewood desk in Mad Men. And even though the show’s finale aired almost four years ago, our love affair with mid-century modern design is still going strong.
A mid-century coffee table or sideboard adds warmth and interest to a space, removing that generic flat-pack look. While not technically considered “vintage” just yet, the quality of these pieces is often excellent, the design aesthetic spot on and there are still bargains aplenty to be had.
Hit up Adverts.ie or follow someone like Dublin-based mid-century reseller Kirk Modern on Instagram to score yourself a modern classic.
Designed more than 100 years ago, the cute and kitsch ‘Hang it All’ coat hooks were dreamed up by Charles and Ray Eames, two of the most important figures of twentieth-century design. When it comes to affordable reproductions, the Eames’ modernist designs are possibly the most reproduced (with quality varying greatly), which some argue simply remains true to their philosophy of wanting to make “the best for the most for the least”.
“Our coat hooks are one of our best selling pieces,” says Carol-Ann. “For me, having them available and accessible to everyone is a joy.”
While many “inspired by” products are watered down, low quality knock offs, CA Design stocks pieces reproduced to the style of the original “in a respectful way” using high quality materials. These coat hooks add a fun pop of colour to a hallway or even a kid’s room.
Eames-style coat hooks, €140, CA Design
And sometimes it’s just worth having the original. Created by Thonet – the oldest surviving furniture company in the world – the Bentwood Chair dates back to the 1850s and is made by literally bending wood (hence the name). Also on display at MoMa, the most recognised model, the Café Chair, went on to become one of the most successful mass produced products ever made.
While you can still buy these chairs new, you can also pick them up relatively cheaply on Adverts or eBay. Easy to upcycle, they come up beautifully with a fresh lick of paint – pick an on-trend hue to have them looking fresh and modern.
Is there any other piece of design that is as much at home at a campus digs as it is in a high end design studio?
“People were hanging these up in the 60s and they still look great now – we used to sell hundreds of them when I worked in Habitat,” recalls John.
Whether hung over a dining table or creating a soft glow in the bedroom, their clean shape and neutral tones (most are white or cream) allow them to blend in seamlessly with most decor schemes.
Sjuttiofem pendant lamp shade, €10, Ikea
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Meanwhile life goes on at Fukushima.
Only a matter of time when we will rue the day of nuclear power
I think the people of Pripyat already do.
Someday they will learn to handle it properly and safely…
“Someday they will learn to handle it properly and safely” — but what will the consequences be,
when they learn that?
It’s no trick being safer than coal. But what if it becomes safer than natural gas to provide the same power? Safer than natural-gas-plus-wind-turbines? It’s already less radioactively polluting than those systems.
When that superior safety shall be fact, a government that wants to take a billion dollars in natural gas severance taxes and/or royalties and/or import duties will have to accept the loss of some citizens to gas disasters in the bargain. If it allows nuclear energy to be used instead, those lives will be saved, but the billion will, from a civil service point of view, be lost: it will remain in private hands.
No-one will forthrightly deplore that result. Everyone’s official position will be that however good a few million dollars in tax revenue may be, it doesn’t justify an innocent citizen’s death.
But perhaps there will come to be a huge industry of denying that nuclear energy is a lifesaver, and of calling nuclear wrecks that harm no-one “nuclear disasters”.
Perhaps, eh?
Perhaps when the media makes accuracy the priority over profits.. but the scary word “nuclear” sells very well. The headline “Radiation from Fukushima has not caused any health effect” may be true, but it won’t catch peoples attention or sell advertising. They definitely don’t want people to know that fear of Fukushima radiation caused much more harm than the radiation itself, then they might be held accountable…….
Not a single person was killed when the water hit the Fukushima nuclear plant, in fact I have not heard of anyone even cutting their finger there. In comparison around 18,000 people from the surrounding area were swept away never to be seen again. But here on the Journal Fukushima is remembered as a a nuclear disaster. In the press hysteria trumps fact every time.
The tsunami left the enormous death toll,19000, not the incident at the nuclear power plant. The wording of this item is rubbish.
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