apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Why switch to those shower rings from the other cool ones - the ones that glide easily? These look like they'll fall off.

What exactly does "TOTAL copy of Jonathan Adler" mean?

Isn't a huge portion of his portfolio inspired and tweaked or just plain copied directly from retro design of the and 60's and 70's? Haven't you ever been to a flea market? Or ebay? Just go check out the Italian and Scandinavian cased glass vases of the 60's on ebay... Then come back and tell us it's all a plot to rip off J. Adler.

Mr. Adler, back when he had loads of time to spare, without a doubt spent it in flea markets, or lived in something very much like one as he developed his design strategy.

Not that there's anything wrong with that... It's very common for designers to look to the past when creating for today.

Let's just not deify the man just because he's got commercial success and expensive retro pots and lamps... The idea that West Elm is copying Jonathan adler is analogous to comparing two Liza Minelli impersonators and forgetting that neither is original!

Come on.

If somebody today complimented his lover for having "quivering flanks" and "supple thights", what effect that would have, I wonder...

Ideal of beauty, it changes (*says she, the sage*)

Jonathan Adler has successfully mined mid century design ideas of the 50s and 60s for a very long time and why not? Most people have neither the time nor the eye to find the originals at flea markets. But there's some poetic justice to his (JA's) being knocked off now, at a much cheaper price point. I mean that with love, of course...

...and from Garnet Hill, too.

I don't understand the adoration for Jonathan Adler's stuff, which sometimes seems like cult worship. I've not really seen anything of his that I find appealing. Just what is the big deal?

well, dIANE adler's designs are influenced by the decoative arts of the last 50 years and so is current interior design i guess his products appeared at the right time and place. By the way the west elm store looks very appealing, the color stories look very tasty. also there are more adler influenced products besides a lamp; vases, candle sticks, and stacking cubes abound and look darned good.

That's funny, I just picked The Tiny Book of Tiny Houses up at the library. Dreaming of the day I can have my own tiny little cottage on my own property, instead of the tiny little apartment I live in now!

"Adler influenced"? You're giving the guy far too much credit.

They're not as nice looking as Adler's though, even if he liberally borrows from those greater than him. For me, I'd kill for the giraffe lamp Adler sells. I wish they'd copy that. His website has a sale going on btw.

paul, i do give him credit for vision, and making it happen. after all in fashion and the decorative arts we are always looking for inspiration and expressing it.

Making it happen? What are you, a cheerleader from that Toni Basil Mickey video from 1982?
What the heck does "making it happen" mean? (Grumpologist adjusts glasses and pulls out clipboard)
Are you giving Jonathan Adler credit for making mid 20th century design happen? Or it's revival? Puh-leez. "Adler-influenced" is a meaningless phrase.
Adler did not make a fascination with vintage- inspired desgin "happen." It was around long before him. He's just good at glamorizing and selling flea market-inspired tchokes... Giving him credit for being the inventor of retro design is too ludicrous a discussion to have.

Here's the anaolgy... saying those retro lamps from West Elm are a copy of J. Adler's work, as opposed to simply looking further back to the era of design inspiration for both Adler and West Elm's designers... is like saying Low Library at Columbia University is a copy of Jefferson's Lirary at U.VA or his home, Monticello.

But... Speaking of something being inspired by vintage design... Wasn't the Pantheon in Rome designed over 1500 years before Jefferson was ever born? And wasn't the Pantheon the real root of inspiration for all three of those great buildings?

I hope you're happy now Maxwell... It's midnight once again and instead of getting my sleep I'm up late debating a phrase AT chose this morning to describe a new West Elm line of lamps, and whether or not Jonathan Adler is the point of departure for us all in terms of retro design. I hate West Elm.

PRESS RELEASE



Musician, Producer, Music Publisher and now Novelist, Graham Sclater looks back at the music scene in the 60's .


Graham Sclater ’s first novel "Ticket to Ride" reveals the actuality of living and playing in Hamburg during the 1960’s.

An accomplished songwriter and musician, Graham has been featured in a number of arts and musical programmes and has performed and recorded with artists including Jimi Hendrix, Fats Domino, Ritchie Blackmore, James Taylor, Elton John and numerous ’name’ musicians. Many of his songs have won international competitions and have been recorded by well known artists.

In 1975 Graham formed Tabitha Music Limited, an independent music publishing company with a catalogue of more than five hundred songs, with hit records published across Europe and the Far East, including Japan. The Company’s songs have been featured in films, television programmes, documentaries and have been released on major record labels including EMI, CBS and Phonogram.




"Ticket to Ride" ISBN 0-9545945-7-6

is commercially available now from Flame Books http://www.flamebooks.com