What If?

For the Winter Solstice a few years ago, I invited Kathleen Jenks, a professor of religious studies, to write something for a video I was working on. She graciously offered me her profound and beautiful poem "What If?" Our collaboration has been playing on YouTube ever since. You can watch it here or on YouTube; either way, watch it to the very end - it's got a coda!

On Kathleen's website, Mything Links, in a discussion of how Abraham, Moses, the Buddha, and other spiritual sages had lived into old age, she wrote: "How different Western civilization might be today if Jesus too had lived to be an elderly sage instead of dying such a violent, gruesome death -- a death that continues to foster what many view as a pornographic obsession with death, cruel military prowess, unceasing war, and the ceaselessly morphing attributes of economies built upon military/industrial might. At the risk of oversimplifying, let me point out that, like victims whose helpless terror drives them to identify emotionally with their oppressors (e.g., Stockholm, Muloccan Hostage, and Patty Hearst syndromes), the West has largely identified with the harsh, imperial role of ancient Rome instead of with a gentle, brilliant, compassionate man who chose stories instead of weapons to change the world. Did Jesus' approach work? No, not really. As one of my Pacifica colleagues, Dr. Lionel Corbett, once said, 'Christianity is a sane, beautiful, caring religion. Too bad it's never been tried.' "

Perhaps, at least for the next few weeks, we could give it a whirl.

What If?

Kathleen Jenks' Mything Links

Warm Winter Wishes

The Winter Solstice
Sunrise, 7:22am, December 21st

On the first day of winter we make our yearly trek up the eastern rim of Mount Tam to watch the sunrise, and to celebrate the turning of the year. From this point on, days grow longer, brighter and warmer in the Western Hemisphere.

Light Show

All of the season's holidays are celebrations with light, by no coincidence, as they align with the Winter Solstice on December 21st. This is when the longest night and the shortest day of the year occur, from which point the sun slowly returns to us and we begin our journey back toward Summer.

To dispell the darkness and create beacons of hope, we burn yule logs, light candles and put up strings of electric lights indoors and out, creating the shimmering displays of magic we so dearly love.

Barry Underwood is an artist who creates magic with light all year round, integrating it into the most unlikely of natural landscapes. He is currently exhibiting photographs of his work in a show called Earth Engines.

Earth Engines

Johansson Projects, 2300 Telegraph Ave. Oakland, CA
Showing November 21st 2009 - January 9th 2010
Hours: 12-6, Thurs - Sat & by Appt.

Barry Underwood's surreal staged photographs, intermingling issues of contemporary painting, cinema and land art, surveil landscapes of the impossible. Just as earth and electricity are the elementary particles from which energy takes shape, Underwood fuses authenticity and artifice to nurture nature into flashpoints of wonderment.

Johansson Projects

Earth Engines on Flickr

H/T to Design Crisis

Line (Red)

Bleu

Trace (Blue)

Bow Falls

Circle (Blue)

Fish II

Norquay (Yellow)

Blue Lines

Lightning Bugs

Line (Yellow)

Happier Holidays!

Be of good cheer and all that crap. Indeed.

After reading the 7 Deadly Sins that Lead to Hoarding on Charles & Hudson, after hoarding a bit more information about it from across the Net, after deliberating how I might write about this behavior, I've decided simply to face my own. Hoarding. No. I don't have to pee in a urinal in my living room because the bathroom's barricaded with stuff. Nor do children have to leave home because there's no room for them. I don't even love the quaint look of stuff-stuffed rooms the way I used to, and I used to stuff stuff to rather great effect, if I do say so myself. Nuh-uh.

Nope. Without suffering any major neuropsychiatric disorders, I can find plenty of other reasons not to hoard. One of them is money. Shopping's no fun if you can't buy anything.

Lack of space is another reason not to haul anything else into the house.

Dusting. What attracts dust faster than stuff? I really have no desire to pick up all my stuff and wipe it down once a week the way my mother did. That was her calling. It ain't mine.

Health. Stuffdust is notorious for sucking the life out of lungs. Breaking one's neck tripping over stuff, or being buried alive by stuff is also life threatening.

Planet earth. As we well know. Insurmountable environmental evils are generated through the making, shipping, marketing, and inevitable disposal of stuff. I can't be responsible for that.

Gluttony. Nuff stuff. Nuff said.

Rather than head for the bridge because I can no longer live with my stuff-hoarding self, I think I'll just change my ways. Find other hallways to fill with this obsessive compulsive behavior. What choice(s) do I have?

★ I shall photograph stuff instead of spending all my money on it. I usually find that once I get it home, the burning urgency to own it goes away and I end up returning the thing. Stores love returns, because the hardest part of retail is actually getting the customer into the store. Let them prey on someone else from now on. Listen up, WWD and WSJ, the camera is the new fashion accessory. If I'm wearing my little black camera decoratively about my neck, I can "snap" up anything I like. Way more satisfying and so becoming. Antique stores are particularly exciting, but any old strip mall will do. Bonus: cameras are great at taking notes and recording ideas. Then, when I really do need to buy something, not only do I have the money, it's more fun. Way.

★ I shall create more blogs, photo groups, galleries and favorites files. The only thing better than having my stuff is having everyone else's stuff too. Warning. These activities can also become addictive and a terrible waste of time. I'll get back to you on this.

★ I shall get rid of stuff. Donate it to charity where it can either go to someone who could really use it or be resold to pay for meals, medicine, clothing and shelter. While I'm busy peacock feathering and ostrich pluming my nest, others are in desperate need of a twig.

Hark, Mr. Scrooge! Hark! The spirits have done it in one night of blog posting! My tannenbaum and I are ready to turn a new leaf. Anyone care to join the festivities? The holidays are notorious for their commercial crap. Who needs it? Not Santa - he and the elves make their own gifts. Not The Little Drummer Boy - he makes music. And the Three Wise Men weren't wise for nothing - they gave stuff away.

Granted, for thousands of years, even before Christmas, the holidays have been all about excesses. Even the Church couldn't change that. But as ever, it's not what you do but how you do it that counts. The holidays don't have to be an excuse to hoard. They can be a celebration of excesses like peace on earth and good will toward men. Hey, isn't that a novel idea. So this year I think I'll get a jump on my resolutions: Don't be a stocking stuffer. Do be a stuff stopper. Go forth and don't multiply.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some last minute shopping to do.

Frédéric Méchiche

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My room can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of decorating and ideal decor.
I love thee to the level of every home's
Most decorative need, by sun and candle-light.
and so on and so forth

apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning
appreciation to Anna of Door Sixteen
adoration and big french kisses to Frédéric Méchiche

accolades for Portraits (see #11) by Mark Luscombe-Whyte

Frédéric Méchiche is a superstar and I'm not ashamed to say I'd follow him to the ends of the earth. I'm not alone. He has designed the interior of villas, hotels and yachts. In this way, he is known around the world, leaving behind his designs with an unmistakable French charm. Look at this designer's work, much of which I have gathered for you here, and see if you don't fall for this guy. Hard. Ohhh, Frédé.

Stalking the Internet for Méchiche, one finds countless references to his work. Here, as this blog begins, there also begins what will hopefully become a definitive curation of work by Monsieur Méchiche.

In trying to piece together a bit of biography, I have learned that he is Algerian-born. Algeria was a colony of France from 1830 until the end of the Algerian Wars in 1962. Judging by the two photos I've seen of him, I'd say he was born around that time and perhaps his family then moved to France. I asked a French-speaking Algerian friend of mine to pronounce his name. He thinks it would be: may'-she-shuh or may'-sheesh, with the accent on the first sylable. He added that the name is Berber. Whatever it is and however it is said, anyone with "chic" in their name is okay by me.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Frédéric Méchiche.


Petite Bauhaus

Le Curry de Frédéric Méchiche

An 18th Century Loft

Apartment in Paris

Classic Style

Hôtel Particulier

Magazines on Méchiche

Changing sheets and other transformations

Taking it to another level

A Fisherman's Cottage

Booked

A room in Paris

Ship Shape

.

Petite Bauhaus

A few years back, around 2008, Frédéric Méchiche changed homes in Paris. He downsized from a large loft (a stunning seven room duplex he created by gutting three minor apartments) to a small pied-à-terre that has been referred to as his "Petite Bauhaus."

For a beautiful bunch of photos on this apartment, click on New Paris Interiors, a gorgeous book you will definitely want to set aside some time to see. All 301 pages are viewable, so let the site load. To jump to the chapter on Méchiche type "208" into the small rectangular search field beneath the images, then keep clicking right to turn through all five pages.

New Paris Interiors



Get the Look from Casa Vogue.



The apartment also appears on the site Elle.hu. I can't tell you much about the article because it's in a language I don't recognize, but I'm sure that whatever it says, it says it's beautiful.


Bauhaus kicsiben és Párizsban

"Ez a párizsi átmeneti szállás (pied á terre?) a maga keskeny terével vintage-elemekkel kevert modern hangulatot kapott. Kialakításában ötletesen keverednek az ipari és a bio-megoldások."








Blogging Elle Decoration UK: Petite Bauhaus

As posted on Apartment Therapy SF
February 22, 2008 by Shayna
Images: Elle Decoration UK, February 2008
H/T to Door Sixteen

"Hands up if you wouldn't mind a small pied à terre in Paris. Yeah, we're right there with you. We certainly wouldn't turn down an opportunity to set-up a little nest over there in the land of romance and fromage....especially if it was filled to the brim with gorgeous, vintage furniture. If you're lucky enough to be Frédéric Méchiche then your hand didn't make it that high 'cause you've already found la chance."

"We like the concept behind this dream of a small apartment, but we love the execution."

"Monsieur Méchiche has held fast to his admiration for the Bauhaus mentality by making sure that everything in this small space is simple, modern and functional."

"Though he relies heavily on black, metal and glass, Méchiche keeps the space from falling too far on the side of heavy masculinity or industrial chic by warming up the decor with wood and organic accents."

"To see more of interior designer Frédéric Méchiche's Paris apartment, check out the February issue of Elle Decoration UK."