Hot home office pieces

Sadly, there wasn't room in this week's column in the paper for all the great images I had of office furniture. Happily, the wonders of modern technology make it possible for me to share them here. Kind of a ying-yang sitch.

 

Arie shelves by Aril Levy (at Klaus) can do double duty as shelves or room dividers

Domison's office chair (Corian) has a deliberate formality

Mayhew can help with office design from the floor up

The well-designed home office can increase productivity (image from Mayhew)

 

Castor (at Klaus) offers an unsual take on office decor

Martha Stewart thinks a tidy office (with items show here and below) is a good thing

 

 

A (work) room of one's own

Oi has an unusual plan for bringing its product to market

 

An interesting side story to my Hot Home Products piece this week involves a campaign just launched by Oi, a Winnipeg-based company that designs modular furniture pieces that can be configured in various ways to create flexible “cell seating”. The components - made from recyclable plastic -  sit on spiked bases, and come in several colours and coverings, including polyvinyl, polyester and Sunbrella, which can be used outdoors.

Oi cells can be configured to create various seating plans

The twist is that Oi is now offering the pieces at a $399, down several hundred dollars from the original price. The reduced pricing was based on advice from the infamous Dragon’s Den and was made possible by a decision to manufacturer off-shore. Since that price is based on volume, Oi needs to find a minimum of 400 orders to make it worthwhile.

To promote the plan, Oi has come up with a Twitter campaign that can net the top-tweeting “Oi’vangelist” free seating and 400 trees for their community. Clever. I think.

 

 

 

 

Available through a more traditional channel, but in keeping with the theme, Staples  has just launched Martha Stewart’s home office line for Avery, which includes modular trays, boxes, organizers, journals, and accordion files. There’s also a range of sticky notes, including removable chalkboard labels that can be used to label everything from office storage boxes to jars of jelly beans.

 

The things I do for you, dear reader

Arrrgh. Preparing to start one of my least favourite tasks right now - transcribing taped interviews. At least this one was with a couple of dudes who totally charmed me. But then, I'm a sucker for intelligent men. Please see previous references to Man of the House, or  MOTH. This of course, in part, because they make such a refreshing change from so many of their gender who share in the running of local, provincial and federal government. But that's a whole other column, isn't it? 

The tape comes from a talk at the Interior Design Show (a subject I have thoroughly, perhaps even shamefully, exhausted) with Stephen Burks, a New York-based industrial designer whose Readymade Projects works with craftspeople in the developing world to create décor products ­— often out of salvaged material — and connects them with higher-end brands for distribution and marketing.His pal, Dr. Kenneth Montague, Toronto-based curator was also there. The two work with people like Capetown-based Willard Musarurwu, who creates fantastic wire furniture, using skills he learned in childhood. In Toronto, Musarurwu’s work is available at Snob,  which is one of my favourite local shops, and an absolutely delightful spot to learn about and buy African décor and art.

Speaking of Snob, I’ve a mea culpa to share. In a recent column, I showed pierced-tin lighting fixtures above, pointing readers to Dutch retailer Zenza. At the time, I didn’t know that Snob carries the line. Now I know. And so do you.

Biggest question forming in my mind right now - why do I feel odd that many of these global items exist in the luxury category? If you need to be loaded to have them, aren't you a bit like those Victorian adventurers who plundered China, India and Africa, when Rule Britannia was in place? If so, is that a bad thing or a good thing? At this point, I have no position on the  question. When I do, I'll let you know forthwith. No surprise there to MOTH, who claims he "enjoys" the fact that I have "robust opinions" and that I share them in a "respectfully unvarnished" kind of a way. What a guy.

Things I like - but which you need not feel obliged to

Sadly, I did not have room in my column this week to include all the fab Canadian-made stuff I saw at the Interior Design Show last week. So here are just a few more items.

Woodlight  makes wood veneer lighting fixtures  — pleasing in colour and grain on their own, but also notable for their translucent quality, and for the soft, warm glow they throw (LED and fluorescent bulbs are specified to reduce heat and energy usage).I like too that they are designed and made in Toronto by artisans and craftspeople. A retail line is available at Morba, but they do custom work as well. More on these folks in an upcoming column, methinks.

 

 

 

 

I’d love to get one of these fixtures to replace the aging chandelier that came with our house, shown at right below.

(I know, I know, but what do you want? I have four kids to get through University, which means there’s not much left over for adventures in lighting). If I can’t have one of these, I’ll take just about anything from Eclectic Revival 

BTW, there was a ton of exposed, salvaged and hand-rubbed wood on display at IDS. While admiring  a piece I thought was particularly good-looking, I overheard a couple of visitors sneeringly suggest that somebody should take a paint-brush to all of it, and what taste-challenged plebeians (my word, not hers, but that was the gist) those of us who like it must be. Now, I like a pretty painted piece as much as the next person, and think that gloss can be good, but I find it hard to believe that anyone doesn’t appreciate the beauty of the colour and grain of hardwood.

However - to each his own. It was the tone I found irritating — the “you’re either with us or against us” attitude; reminiscent of the Don Cherry/Ezra Levant/Newt Gingrich school of “I’m right and if you don’t agree, you’re an idiot” School of Philosophy™. Ladies please! I know it’s a cliché, but it’s also true that if we all liked the same thing, the world would be such a bore! I can respect your taste even if I don’t like what you like. (Although now that I think about it, if you actively despise the short stories of J. D. Salinger, almond biscotti, or Miss Dior, chances are we won’t become BFFs.)  

But I digress. Also very much liked the ceramic Tiffin boxes by Vancouver designer Lorea Sinclaire They can be bought online, with the first pieces shipping out at the end of this month.

 

 

The pieces made by Tahir Mahmood  looked as wonderful up close as they did in the pics I previewed before the show. He made the spinning tops shown above, which I loved. He’s somebody I’ll be watching, and rooting for. Note, ahem, the combo of bare wood and paint. Something for everyone.