Anna Hoffman

All about the origins of these funky geometric shapes.

image:091a0421120d147dd94cb74569189c01f6d2e4ed w:540 s:"fit" class_name:"mt-image-center" show_pin_button:"true" show_image_credits:"true" Ideally, our furniture can reveal something about how we live and what we value. But in reality, other factors like cost, space and what is available in the marketplace ends up limiting us or diverting us from our true values. We might believe that form should follow function, but own an uncomfortably lumpy hand-me-down desk chair.

Earlier this week Regina showed us the classic Brno chair in various contemporary interiors. One of the most famous pieces attributed to Mies van der Rohe, the Brno chair was actually probably designed by Lilly Reich, and was heavily inspired by yet another designer. Check out the story of the Brno chair and the house it was designed for.In 1928, Mies met with Fritz and Grete Tugendhat, a Czech couple who wanted him to build them a house in Brno, Czechoslovakia.

Tatami mats are a kind of rush flooring used in traditional Japanese homes. Made of woven rush grass around a rice straw core, they are gentle but firm underfoot, and also give off a lovely (I think) scent, especially on rainy or humid days. Increasingly rare in modern Japanese interiors, tatami deserves to be considered as a potential material in all homes. Let’s take a look at its rich history.

You’ve seen the shapely, classic Cherner chairs, but do you know the designer behind them? Norman Cherner is an unsung hero of mid-century design, an innovator in plywood and in affordable design. And the story of his most famous design is a dramatic tale of innovation, betrayal and, ultimately, of justice.Norman Cherner (image 2) was an American architect and designer. He studied and taught at Columbia University, and was an instructor at MoMA in the late 1940s.

Antique Chinese chairs are surprisingly at home in the contemporary Western interior. With a slender silhouette and graceful proportions, yoke-back chairs from the Ming and Qing dynasties offer particularly elegant and practical ways to bring a piece of history into the home.In China, this type of chair is known as an “official’s hat” chair, because of the shape of the crest rail.

It’s wallpaper week at Apartment Therapy, the perfect time to look at the history of wallpaper. Evidently the Chinese were hanging decorated rice paper on their walls for a couple thousand years, but the history of European wallpaper begins in the 16th century.The first European wall decorations were textiles — in the Middle Ages, sumptuous wool and silk tapestries were used not only as décor and artwork, but also as insulation.

Wicker furniture might seem like an invention of the Victorian era, but that’s just when it hit the English and American markets. In fact, wicker is one of the oldest methods of making furniture, common all over the world for thousands of years. But wait, I’ll bet you’re wondering what wicker is exactly, am I right? So let’s define our terms, and take a quick look at the history of wicker.

For the last few years, barrel-shaped ceramic stools have been a popular decorating accessory, adding luster, color or texture to a space while serving as little side tables or room accents. But where do they come from, and where were they traditionally used? Okay, the answer is in the title of the post: they come from China, and they were traditionally used in gardens. But read on to learn more about the fascinating origins of this familiar form.

The British Colonial look is always especially appealing during these tropical New York City summers, when creamy neutral spaces provide a cool haven from sizzling concrete. Caned furniture is classic in a colonial interior. Lightweight and airy, it seems at home in a palm house or on a veranda (image 1).

The Arco lamp is one of those classic designs where form and function meet and live happily ever after. Designed in 1962 by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, it is so practical as to seem almost obvious — how else would you turn a floor lamp into an overhead light? — but the Castiglionis’ interest in ready-mades and functionalism makes this design complex in its simplicity.

We’ve all seen Marcel Breuer’s famous Wassily chair — the first to use tubular steel for a domestic setting — supposedly inspired by a bicycle frame (image 1). Would you believe this chair, maybe the most famous design to emerge from the Bauhaus, is a grandfatherly 87-years-old? Yes, the Bauhaus turned 93 this past spring, a shocking fact given that Bauhaus design still feels incredibly fresh and current.

Peacocks are everywhere these days, their iridescent feathers and decadent beauty inspiring decorative imitations both abstract and literal. But this is no recent trend. Peacocks have been a favorite ornamental motif for millennia. Let’s look at a few snapshots of the peacock in design history. Peacocks have been a symbol of wealth, beauty and rebirth since ancient times — and a symbol of dangerous pride, as well.

From aguayos to ikats to suzanis, ‘exotic’ handcrafted textiles are enjoying considerable popularity in Western interiors, and Moroccan Wedding Blankets are no exception. The creamy, sequined blankets, or handira, are a window onto traditional Berber culture.Known as Moroccan wedding blankets, handira are woven out of sheep’s wool, cotton and linen by Berber women in the Middle Atlas mountains of Northern Morocco.

Salon-style art walls are so popular these days — it’s easy to forget that the look has been around for hundreds of years. In fact, the origins of this hot trend, at the French Salon, mark a democratic turning point, a moment when artists began responding to a public audience rather than a royal dictate.

Ikat is everywhere these days — as trendy as anything ancient can ever claim to be. Visible in traditional textiles ranging from Southeast Asia to South America to the Middle East and beyond, this type of pattern now lends interiors a kind of dressed-up bohemian vibe. But what is it, and where did it come from?Think about a typical patterned textile, say a floral upholstery fabric.

I’ve been shopping around for a mirror to replace one that broke last month, and keep coming across trumeau mirrors. Trumeau mirrors (pronounced troo-MO) are set in tall wooden frames with a large section of painted or sculptural decoration at the top. But what are these unusual mirrors, and where did they come from?The original trumeau mirrors were set into wood paneling, or boiserie (bwah-zer-EE), the fancy carved wall-covering of choice in the 17th and 18th centuries (images 2-4).

Caspar David Friedrich, Woman At A Window (1822) There was a time not so long ago that glass was a precious material, so highly valued that only the wealthiest homes had glass in their windows. And for millennia, of course, people had no glass at all in their windows. So how did we get here from there?

Chimneys at Casa Mila, by Antoní Gaudi, Barcelona, 1906-1910The idea that Santa Claus comes down the chimney to deliver gifts is a relatively recent tradition — its spread is mostly associated with Clement Clark Moore’s 1823 poem, “A Visit From Saint Nicholas” (“‘Twas the night before Christmas…”) And, though fire has been the heart of the home for thousands of years, chimneys are only a few hundred years old, themselves.

The Galerie François I at Fontainebleau, c. 1528-39 Last week on Retrospect, we looked at the history of parquet floors, which are hardwood floors arranged in repeating geometrical patterns. This week, let’s look at two of the earliest and most enduring parquet patterns: herringbone and chevron. Lately I’ve been pinning herringbone floors on my Pinterest with abandon, I’m so in love with the look.

In last month’s House Beautiful, Maxwell gave his top ten tips for decorating small spaces. One of his most interesting and unusual suggestions is to take doors off their hinges and replace them with curtains, adding visual interest and saving space. Here’s a gallery that makes me wonder why doors are even a thing.Of course, you need doors for sound barriers, security and privacy.

For most of us (even bloggers), bathing is an essential part of every day, mostly for the hygiene factor, but also as an enforced moment of private contemplation at the start (or end) of a frantic day. For thousands of years, though, bathing was a public and social activity that bore little resemblance to our own rituals of cleanliness.Bathing was an important part of many ancient cultures, as evidenced by religious rules surrounding bathing in all the major religions.

The other day we looked at a bunch of rooms that went unexpectedly without rugs or carpets, embracing a relaxed bare-floor look. Today let’s go in the opposite direction: what does it look like when one rug just isn’t enough. The most common look for layering rugs seems to be an animal hide (faux or no) over a sisal — this is probably the most neutral option. Other examples mix patterns and colors, sometimes creating a bohemian wonderland of textiles.

Art Nouveau is the name for the artistic movement that started in Europe around 1890 and lasted until around 1910. It took on many different characteristics in different places, and some of the most famous designers from the era have disparate styles, including Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona, Josef Hoffmann in Vienna and Carlo Bugatti in Italy. What these designers had in common was an interest in finding a new artistic vocabulary that could best express the modern world.

George Nelson’s Bubble lamps are familiar icons of Modernism. Somehow evocative of both paper lanterns and the space race, they have a warm simplicity that is always in style. The story behind their creation is best told in the words of George Nelson himself. Nelson designed the first bubble lamp in 1947, incorporating a self-webbing plastic that was developed for military use.

Do you remember that Domino feature where they completely made over an apartment for only $2018? The part that stuck with me, other than THE WHOLE THING, was the window valances, made by staple-gunning IKEA fabric to plywood and adding ribbon trim. While I’m DIY-shy, it hasn’t stopped me from collecting images of valances I like and might want to copy some day. Which got me into all this valance terminology, which I’ll try to unpack below.

To the list of decor for renters and commitment-phobes, add removable tile decals. Similar to wall stickers, these are specifically sized and designed to fit on bath and kitchen tile. Here is a roundup of options currently on the market, including a couple vendors that will custom-make them to order.These tile decals are self-adhesive and water-resistant. When you’re done with them, you can peel them off easily without damaging the tile.

Black and white checkerboard floors first appear in European paintings in the 15th century, but the pattern’s origins lie long before that, in ancient artifacts from Iranian ceramic vessels to Roman paved floors. Here is a quick look at the history of checkerboard floors.