✦ Horse Tapestry
“Kevin would call this one controversial but i think it’s more silly. It makes me smile and laugh it’s natural it’s whimsical it’s cozy and fun i just feel like it perfectly embodies my design style.” - Yazzy Mavers @eternalpic
I love this piece! It’s so cute. The textile nature of it softens the room and adds a sense of warmth. Very horse-girl coded in a good way.
✦ Original Artwork
“My son + my artwork on huge canvas from Hobby Lobby!!” - Lauren Badenhoop @badenhoop
If you don’t follow Lauren, go check her out. She has such a great eye for detail, and her son Cedar’s room is everything I’d ever want in a kid’s room. Her personal style seeps into everything she touches - always SO well done.
This video tour of Cedar’s room shows the custom artwork they made together. I love all the little pieces that makes the space feel so personal and loved.
Plus another design tip from Lauren - “Tulip shades are a must to hide any boob light and make my house feel so cozy and me” <3
✦ Duck Collection
My sister shared her duck collection, and here’s why everything in her house has a duck on it -
“Ducks are my favorite animal because they walk funny and they’re silly and because that thing mom always says about being a duck even tho i think that was just her way of telling us to push down our feelings.
but i like the blind confidence that ducks have. i’ve been slowly collecting duck things to curate a theme which Em has just accepted.” - Riley Broughton
Growing up, our mom would always tell us to “be a duck”- a reference to the phrase “like water off a duck’s back.” So I guess that stuck with her. It’s funny how those little things from childhood end up turning into design choices later in life.
✦ Karlsson Wall Clock
“We got it during our trip Belgium. I believe its a Karlsson Wall Clock or at least like a rip off of it haha” - Rhianna Pinkerton
She’s had this wall clock for a while now, and I’ve always thought it was a cool piece. Partly because she got it in Belgium, but also for the modular design of the clock and those moveable blocks. It’s very simple yet sculptural. I love when someone has an object with both a travel story and a design story baked into it.
✦ Akari uf3-q
Riley (my husband) has this lamp and my unpopular opinion is that I think it’s freaky and looks a bit like a big bug. He loves it for the design history though, and that I can appreciate.
This design is a replica of an Akari uf3-q Lamp from the 1950s, originally created by Isamu Noguchi, a renowned designer known for his paper lanterns and mid-century Japanese design aesthetics.
In 1951 Isamu Noguchi visited the town of Gifu, Japan, known for its manufacture of lanterns and umbrellas from mulberry bark paper and bamboo. Noguchi designed the first of his lamps that would be produced by the traditional Gifu methods of construction. He called these works Akari, a term meaning light as illumination, but also implying the idea of weightlessness.
The fabrication of Akari in Japan at Ozeki & Co. since 1951 follows the traditional methods for Japanese Gifu lanterns. Each Akari is handcrafted beginning with the making of washi paper from the inner bark of the mulberry tree. Bamboo ribbing is stretched across sculptural molded wood forms. The washi paper is cut into strips and glued onto both sides of the framework. Once the glue has dried and the shape is set, the internal wooden form is disassembled and removed. The outcome is a resilient paper form, which can be collapsed and packed flat for shipping.
With the warm glow of light cast through handmade paper on a bamboo frame, Isamu Noguchi utilized traditional Japanese materials to bring modern design to the home. Like the beauty of falling leaves and the cherry blossom, Noguchi wrote, Akari are “poetic, ephemeral, and tentative.” And he was fond of saying, “All that you require to start a home are a room, a tatami, and Akari.”
I’m really inspired by the design and craftsmanship that goes into a Noguchi piece, and I love so many of his other works. But when you see several Akari uf3-qs grouped together in an exhibition, they start to look kind of freaky. Like a swarm of big glowing robot bugs.
Riley loves it though, so it’s a part of our home.
It feels fitting that after last week’s ode to jouches and fish mobiles, this week turned into a version of the same idea - the things we love that might raise an eyebrow, but still make our spaces feel like ours.
I loved hearing everyone’s stories and seeing the pieces that mean something to you, whether they were thrifted finds, sentimental keepsakes, or just weird little treasures. It’s a reminder that design isn’t about perfection or taste level. It’s about joy and attachment and the stories we build around the objects we choose to live with. Every “controversial” piece has a reason behind it, and I think that’s what makes a home feel alive.
