This is the ultimate Chair of the Day. I LOVE this. Isn’t it great? I think the fact that designer Maarten Baas (from the Netherlands, natch) had the guts to go through with this is amazing. Smart man, he introduced it last year at Salone del Mobile. There’s a special building with student and young designers prototypes there. It’s a good way to get great ideas funded.

The chair is made of industrial clay, hand-modeled on top of Baas-designed metal skeletons surface painted with colored lacquer. The chair comes in red, orange, black, green, black, white and yellow. It’s part of a family of Clay Furniture which includes a side table which I love almost more than the chair, a bookcase and a weird, table with a furry top. I’m dying to make a Gumby joke, but I shall restrain myself.

Clay Furniture addresses the issue of form-giving in industrial design, revealing, literally, the designer’s hand in this intimate process, today normally concealed through the use of a computer (but there, none-the-less). You can stock up on Clay at Moss. They retail for a mere $2,250. I’m saving up!

More lighting here during Design Hole’s fabulous Lighting Week! Check out the new pendant lamps available at Design Public. They’re a fresh, clean look. Hang them over a dining table, or use 2 smaller ones as bedside lamps. They also look great as an alternative for a table lamp. As Design Public says:

Those crystal chandeliers that look like concentric rings of glass panels arranged in a stalactite formation are lovely, but they don’t really work in most homes in this century (performing arts centers are another matter). The idea is just so nice, though, that Lights Up! Couldn’t resist creating a modern version–on a much more sensible scale and in a delightful selection of prints. And so the Deco pendant lamp was born. It’ll add class and whimsy both to any space that needs lighting up.

The prices are good and range from $115 to $240.

I stumbled across the work of Susan Etkin a couple of weeks ago when I was surfing around and she’s a perfect addition for Lighting Week. Her work with hand-blown glass is truly her own. She began working with light in Murano, Italy working with master glass blowers there. Murano is famous for a particular style of hand blown chandeliers. You either love them or you hate them. Personally, they’re too frou-frou for me. But I love her unique take on the old tradition. She has breathed new life into an old dragon. They’re very sophisticated and not over-the-top in the decoration department. And, I really love the light bulbs. (I can see Martha Stewart stealing this idea with beads.)

Ms. Etkin opened her New York studio in 2001. But it’s not a lighting studio; she thinks of herself as a sculptor first. After working in Murano, she realized that designers were interested in incorporating her ideas and designs using and hand-blown glass into their projects. As she says on her site, “Thus began a series of unique collaborative ventures, often requiring complex design explorations…”

I have some knowledge of the difficulty involved in making glass bend to your will. My experience was with the simplest of forms. So, I have the greatest respect for the talent and imagination of Susan Etkin. Oh how I would love to interview Ms. Etkin! Maybe some day. I’ll put it on my list.

The bad news is that she does only custom work and doesn’t have an online shop. Nor does she sell to a retailer. However, please visit her site here. And if you’re ever in NYC, she’s in SOHO on Greene St.

Lighting Week continues! I think next week will be Ceiling Week. I don’t know, what with Chair of the Day, and this main topic of the week PLUS all the other stuff I have going on, I might need to go on vacation. Hmm…. Good idea, and Spring Vacation is coming up.

More about that later.

Don’t run for your Kleenex! This beautiful flower is not an allergy-inducer. It’s a beautiful chandelier called Dandelion. I wish they had a picture of this luminaire lit up so we could see the effect on the walls. Dandelion was design by Richard Hutton in 2004 for Moooi. It’s made of laser cut powder coated steel and comes in white. It measures 32″ in diameters and is 22″ in height. It’s available from Questo Design for $1,390. Questo is in the UK, but they ship to the US.

I hope there were no tears about yesterday’s omission of Chair of the Day. I promise not to make it a habit. We don’t want it turning into Chair of the Every other Day. I’ll leave the reason for the missing chair up to your imagination. But here’s one clue… My shoe was ringing.

Let’s all keep a smile on our faces! And here’s just the way to do it - with David Trubridge’s SMILE chair. Is it a hammock or a chair? Who cares? It’s beautiful and right in keeping with the natural wood trend that’s emerging. Here’s a little info about New Zealand designer David Trubridge:

David Trubridge trained as a naval architect at Newcastle University. He has since worked as a furniture designer/maker for 22 years. He settled in New Zealand in 1985 after traveling through the Caribbean and Pacific with his family on their boat. His work is produced in New Zealand using only natural materials so as to minimize the impact on the environment. The forms he creates in this environment, his sculptures and furniture, speak of simplicity and the fragility of life, of man’s dependence on his environment, of his preservation and his optimism for the future as a result of the sustainable development movement.

Smile is made of Ash or Teak along with untreated stainless steel. It comes with an optional cushion. Smile is mostly for indoor use, but can go outside for a little while. I guess it can’t get rained on. I’ll be featuring more of more of David’s truly breathtaking work today. Smile is available from Greener Grass Design. And, speaking of breathtaking the price is $4,300. But keep in mind, you’re buying not just a chair but the work of an up and coming designer.

Everyone is turning green these days. So it makes sense that fluorescent lighting should be part of all the fun, since it is always associated with that color. But how can you use fluorescent in a residential setting without suffering flashbacks of trying on swimsuits under their green haze?

Never fear. Design Hole has the answers. Fluorescent have improved quite a lot, now that manufacturers have become aware of the huge market that the residential world represents.

But first, what exactly are the benefits of using fluorescent? First, they are truly energy efficient. Less wattage gives you more light. Ergo, many dollars can be saved by making the switch. They also give off less heat, which is important in warmer climates with air conditioning. Also, some fluorescent can now be dimmed.

So how do you choose the proper lamp? The color of light from a fluorescent lamp is determined by its temperature. A 4,000 Kelvin lamp will give you blue light, 3,500K is a neutral white. The lamp which best mimics the warm glow of incandescent light is 3,000K or 2,700K. This will bring forth a warm, yellow color.

Now, write this down and take it to your nearest hardware store. Or, buy them online here. As you stock up on fluorescent, your lighting bill will go down. And you’ll be green in the best sense of the word!

For the first time since 1980 Fritz Hansen has put Arne Jacobsen’s beautiful chair, model ”3208” back into production.

It was originally designed and presented on the Danish furniture fair in 1969 and is possibly the most beautiful armchair by Arne Jacobsen. The chair was in production until the end of the 70’s. The production process was and is very difficult; the curves of the shell required substantial pressure which resulted in about 3?4 of the finished shells being rejected, and it was consequently discontinued.

Through the years, however, the production methods have been improved. They’ve also improved the quality of the surface and lacquering. It’s kind of sad, but because people are larger, the size is larger. But the design doesn’t suffer. Fritz Hansen hasn’t just changed some design elements, they’ve also changed the name to the more poetic Lily. The chair - consisting of 10 layers of veneer - will be available as an armchair in black, red or white lacquer or with black soft leather. You can purchase Lily at Hive Modern.

Sometimes designers go away to a far off island and hope that someone will go with them. Here’s a case in point. Doesn’t everyone need a horse lamp? Aren’t there lots of Kentucky breeders who would love this? Actually, I have 2 horseback riding nephews and now I know what to get them for Christmas. Who but Moooi and designer Front could create this? I really do love it. It measures 82L” x 90H”. As Moooi says, “Who wouldn’t want a horse to lighten up your home?” You can purchase Moooi through Mezzanine.

I love Liberty, especially the floral prints they’ve always been famous for. I haven’t seen those prints for a long time, but their home dec textiles are also beautiful. Now I’ve learned that they have a shop that will soon be online. Here are a few of the lovely things they have for sale.

First up are these silk and velvet cupid pillows. They come in three sizes. The smallest is 17″ x 17″ and retails for a mere $130.

These silk twill scarves are $245, which isn’t bad compared to Hermes.

There are beautiful handbags and I love the leather covered books in bright colors. These candles are fantastic and sell for $57.

Right now you have to email the store or call them to place an order, but the online store should be up and running later this spring. You can contact them at: contactus@libertyoflondon.co.uk. Their bricks and mortar store is located on Great Marlborough St, W1B 5AH.

Lighting is so important and also more fun than most people realize. There are so many ways to design using light. My first rule is to start with the “wow” and fill in with the useful. I also think about the lighting design at the beginning of a job instead of at the end. Here’s an example of what I mean.

This is a room I did for a show house. I turned a dressing room/coat closet/powder room on the first floor into a “gentleman’s club.” And I started with the lighting. There were no windows, so I created a warm, cozy masculine nook and used the lighting for the drama. First, I took the doors off one of the closets and turned it into an bar with under lighting. I bought some rope light and tucked it into a groove around a sort of box. The box was covered with sanded plexi to create the look of frosted glass. That became the top of the bar.

Then, I painted the ceiling red and hung a crystal chandelier. The low light allowed the crystals to create a beautiful pattern on the ceiling, thus “painting with light.” It looked very elegant and dramatic.

I filled the black and white walls with lots of art, and added a geometric patterned carpet from Interface. The room was designed to create a sense of movement. The movement would keep the space from seeming claustrophobic, since there weren’t any windows. It came off really well and was a big hit (if that’s okay for me to say). And it all started with the lighting.

Here’s a lamp I tumbled across on Another Shade of Grey. Isn’t this hip? I wonder what the original Mr. Chippendale would have thought of this. Okay! So it isn’t exactly Chippendale. It does remind me of him. This cute number is from lighting manufacturer Harris-Marcus. Click here to go to their site. I know it’s so last century, but you’ll have to call their rep to find a store or designer who carries their lamps. Still, they’ve got lots of cool styles. And I have a feeling the prices are reasonable.

My husband saw the guy who plays Mini Me at the airport yesterday, so while I was also thinking about my favorite ceiling fixtures for Lighting Week, this came to mind! I saw it’s mother a couple of years ago in Milan. It’s called Button, or in this case, Mini Button. It makes a great wall sculpture. But it also makes a great, plain and simple ceiling fixture. It’s perfect for when you want some ambient light without a lot of fuss. And you know that if you want some that’s simple and has style this is very hard to find.

Mini Button is made Great for indoor and outdoor use and is made by Flos. Different colored glass and finishes are available. You can find it at Arkitektura in-Situ.