designer inspiration: du verre hardware, brutalism, silas seandel, and blogtour london

i recently purchased a 1970's brutalist lane dresser for a client (above from 1stdibs, mine purchased locally at sunbeam vintage), and i couldn't be more in love with it.  in fact, both my clients and i are so inspired by it, we are having a a dining table base custom-made in the same style by warner brothers studio facilities.  in a few weeks, a real life version of the below sketch will have sprung to life, and be living in my client's dining room (with a bronze tinted glass top):

of course, both 1970's lane, and 2013 maison21 are drawing on famed furniture maker and artist, paul evans, who worked with metal to turn furniture into sculpture  and was pioneer of a 1970's decorative arts movement called "brutalism" (a more "decorative" version of the harsh but concrete-cool brutalist movement in architecture around the same period).

paul evans cabinet at sebastian + barquet

brutalist furniture and sculpture is one of my favorite things in the whole wide world, but not every project can use such a strong statement, so when brainstorming for another project, i remembered the fabulous jewelry-like hardware from du verre. du verre was one of the sponsors of my modenus blogtour london trip last fall, and as always, when introduced to new design partnerships during such events, they have been firmly lodged into my brain for use in a future project and now i think i have the right opportunity! thanks modenus for reintroducing me to du verre so they could be my inspiration for the cabinetry in my project.

these sculptural "offset" collection pulls will look fabulous on the ivory lacquer and walnut cabinetry i'm envisioning- jsut hte right hint of brutalism to keep from being boring...

as would "rio"

or "kuba"

or even this simpler "forged 3" for just a hint of brutal style. 

table base my modern metal master, sila seandel.

and if you are interested in investing in a true handmade work of art, sculptor silas seandel, has been creating works, many in a "brutalist" style, of out of NYC for over 50 years and is still producing amazing pieces, like the bronze table base above. if you love abstract metal sculpture, take a spin around this living legend's website- there are some spectacular pieces in production, and he still handcrafts custom work- loads of design inspiration! can't wait to feature some of his new or vintage work in a future project...

vintage silas seandel at todd merrill

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