Let The Buyer Beware!

I have a small, OK... HUGE, confession. One of my guilty pleasures is watching extremely bad reality TV. Somehow it keeps things "real" for me. Anyway, Monday night I was sacked out on the sofa watching the antics on the Bachelorette and found myself screaming out in disbelief. I saw Ali and borderline nutjob, Frank, haggling with a Turkish rug merchant at the Bazaar for a Kilim rug that the Yogini and I bought at Ikea. I kid you not. I thought that maybe I was imagining things, but the Yogini screamed out at the same time, "That's our rug!" This is where it gets good. The price shown on the merchant's calculator was 980. Considering that the rug costs $149 at Ikea, that's quite a mark-up for the right to say that you purchased it at the Bazaar in Istanbul (not to mention shipping charges back to the States). Even if the 980 were Turkish Liras, that would translate into about $620 US. He did, however, throw in two pillows to sweeten the deal.

Here's the description direct from Ikea's website:




KIBÄK (I love Ikea's names... does ANYONE know how to pronounce them?)

Rug, flatwoven

$149.00

Product Information
Key features

• The rug is hand-woven by skilled craftsmen, and is therefore unique.
• Woolmark. 100% pure new wool.
• Pure new wool makes the rug naturally soil-repellent and durable.
• Its flat woven pattern is equally visible on both sides making it reversible.
• Flat woven rug. Suitable for use in the dining room because it is easy to keep clean and chairs can easily slide in and out.

I especially like the first bullet-point. It's apparently "unique" enough to pawn-off on clueless American tourists.

FYI, You can also purchase the same exact rug from overstock.com for $179.99. They call it the Indo Kilim Multicolor Rug — I think I like KIBÄK better.

Don't get me wrong I'm not bashing the rug. It's a great value, and we love the way it looks in our Cabin. But, honestly, Frank, I hope ABC footed the bill for your purchase.


The KIBÄK / Indo Kilim Multicolor Rug / Turkish Bazaar Rug installed at our cabin.

designer:

One Man's Trash

First of all, for those of you who follow me (I'm talking to both of you), I'd like to apologize for the lapse in posts. It is truly my intent to publish at least once a week.

I was flipping through last month's Charleston Magazine and ran across a piece about artist, Jonathan Brilliant (yes, that's his name... and, yes, he is). I just love his works on paper that are created from coffee cup sleeves, stirrers, lids, sugar packets... you name it. It's fascinating to see ordinary discardable items turned into extraordinary works of art.


Coffee Cup Sleeve Mandala (print made from coffee sleeves)


Untitled (1000 black coffee lids & 1000 white coffee lids)


Sticks, Straws, Sleeves & Lids (detail)

Even more impressive, are the temporary woven sculpture installations that he constructs from wooden coffee stirrers. The scale and execution are nothing short of amazing. The pieces are held solely by tension (Moms, keep your kids on a short leash).






This particular installation at the City Gallery in Charleston was composed of 70,000 stirrers and took 10 days to create.

Jonathan is currently on his "Have Sticks Will Travel World Tour", creating site-specific installations. Do yourself a favor, and check out his website. Be sure to look at the gallery of installations. You'll never look at your latte the same.

Color Me Green

The yogi is going GREEN! At least I'm going to try — I've decided to pursue LEED credentials. The first stop in doing so is taking the LEED Green Associate exam. In preparation for this I attended a study class that was presented at Southface. What an incredible facility! During our lunch break we were given the nickel tour. I was blown away by the systems and common sense approach to design that resulted in this building being certified LEED Platinum. Cisterns collect rainwater for use in irrigation. Native and adaptive plants grace the campus. Pervious concrete is used to mitigate runoff. Glazing is relegated primarily to the north and south facades to control heat gain. Natural daylight is maximized by the use of light shelves and light tubes — artificial lighting is kept to a minimum. Low volume and waterless plumbing fixtures are utilized... they even have a composting toilet (that may be pushing the envelope a little too far). Their mechanical room is amazing. You can actually go online and check their water and energy consumption in real time. I especially grooved on the green roof and photovoltaic canopy (salvaged from an old BP station — talk about environmental irony!). But, this is just scratching the surface. I'd encourage anyone interested in green design to take the hour long public tour offered every Wednesday at 10 am. You can make reservations on Southface's website. Green is the new Black.

Every Cloud...

The Yogi just spent his Memorial Day weekend in the Mid-Ohio Valley for the Yogini's parents' 50th wedding anniversary. While I could exhaust an entire post about the trip, the economic demise of the heartland and the minefield that is the average American family, I've decided to focus on the inspirational moments from the trip. Apparently during its golden age (the mid-1800s to the early 1900s), the region was quite a happening place — literally the crossroads of America. From Blennerhassett Island to Historic Marietta & Harmar Village there are little gems to be found along with an abundance of forgotten history. The Blennerhassetts particularly piqued my curiosity. They were Irish aristocrats that seemed to be constantly surrounded by scandal. He was not only her husband, but her uncle. Shocking! He got caught up with a revolutionary faction in Ireland and was forced to flee to America. Here he showed similar poor judgment by allowing Aaron Burr to woo him for his fortune. This ultimately resulted in him being accused, with Burr, of treason for trying to establish an empire in the Southwest. It was discovered later that Burr had his sights set on Northern Mexico (current day Texas). I think that little tidbit should go in their new history text books. Juicy stuff, huh? Below is my favorite single item from the Blennerhassett Museum. I love the rustic elegance of its proportions and details.







This gave me the bug to hit the local antique malls in Marietta and wander into quaint little Harmar Village, where we had a lovely little lunch at the counter of the Soda Museum. Yes, I went to the Soda Museum. I'm constantly surprised when wonderful, beautiful things pop-up in what appears to be the lowliest of places.

Sticker Shock

You can file today's observation from The Yogi under "Rants". One of my pet peeves is the UL sticker that seems to pop up in the most conspicuous places. I know it sounds like a small thing, but I think these photos make my case.


At first glance, it appears that someone forgot to remove the price tags.


Are those what I think they are?


UL strikes again!

Here some simple backlit signage is destroyed by the ubiquitous sticker. I understand the regulatory needs that must be fulfilled, but do we always have to sacrifice aesthetics to be compliant? Could they not have been placed elsewhere — like the top of the letter, unseen to anyone except the inspector who is looking for them (or better yet, on the inside where the light source is housed)? I'm just saying.

If you hear about a crazy person being arrested at the Atlanta Botanical Garden with a bottle of GooGone, you'll know who the perp is.

Incredible Edibles

This week's Designers' Day Out was a trip to the Atlanta Botanical Garden to experience the much anticipated Canopy Walk. I have to admit I was more excited about the design of the structure and it's details than the experience itself, which was much too brief for me (as so many are). I guess that's an occupational hazard.

Also new is the Edible Garden. The Yogi got much more excited about this recent addition — perhaps due to my love of food. I was absolutely bowled over by the decorative use of garden vegetables and herbs, as well as, the fruit espaliers. I love a good espalier. The herb wall was also a knock-out. It's an incredibly creative and beautiful way to cultivate. I particularly like the grid of textures and shades of green that it creates.

But don't take my word for it. Go check it out, and tell them the Yogi sent you. On second thought, you better not. They might charge you extra.


The approach to the walk. I was very amused by the number of elderly people who got scared and turned around at this point.


I love the view from the ground as the walk "disappears" into the trees.


This is my favorite part of the walk. The structure is a beautiful thing of engineering and geometry.


I'm a sucker for espaliers... and anything else French for that matter.




The herb wall — my new favorite thing.

What's In A Name?

Happy Cinco de Mayo, friends. I was going to talk about design inspirations from South of the Border, but was afraid that I would be asked for my papers. So, I'll feature some appropriately European designs that I literally tripped over while at ADAC this morning. They are both new introductions from Formations. The first is a translation of the traditional wing chair in weathered oak with a seat cushion and kidney pillow. It's called the Wooden Barrel Chair (who comes up with these?) and is surprisingly comfortable, even for those of us like the Yogi who are posteriorly challenged. I just pray that I don't see it knocked-off in an upcoming Restoration Hardware catalogue.



The second (also from Formations) is the Sabot Ottoman. Not knowing what a sabot (pronounced SAY-boh) was, I googled it and was informed that it is either:

1 : a wooden shoe worn in various European countries (1) : a strap across the instep in a shoe especially of the sandal type (2) : a shoe having a sabot strap

or

2 : a thrust-transmitting carrier that positions a missile in a gun barrel or launching tube and that prevents the escape of gas ahead of the missile

Hmmmmm... I'm still pondering what either of these has to do with what I took to be an abstraction of animal horns. Did I miss something? At any rate, I love the thorny, horny legs on this critter. FUN!