A spotlight on eco-cool designs
WANT to make your friends green with envy? Look to the ecologically sensitive design of the Mio Collection, a stylish line from the Philadelphia collective Mio Culture. Led by Colombian brothers Isaac and Jaime Salm, the 3-year-old firm has already won accolades for its 3-D wallpaper tiles made from recycled paper. Mio Culture’s lighting is simple and economic: The high ticket item is the $165 flexible Bendant Lamp, a laser-cut, powder-coated steel sheet that can be shipped flat and bent into a variety of looks. The $65 Capsule pendant’s shade is made from recycled felt, with a colorful opaque top half that directs low-energy fluorescent light down to make the white bottom glow. “We have them manufactured using steam like old-fashioned hats,” says Jaime, showing off the light here. “It’s just like two fezzes put together.” The collection is available through Shelter in Los Angeles, (323) 937-3222, Lost and Found, (323) 856-5872, or online at www.mioculture.com.
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SAVE
A clear shot at vintage
For Stefan Lawrence, purveyor of futuristic design at the furnishings emporium Twentieth, having a collection of table lamps from the 1930s to 1960s was just so last century. His loss of interest in vintage lighting can be your gain. Twentieth has put on clearance dozens of lamps, including the ceramic and wood classics by Martz, shown here. Prices start at $100 for a ceramic column in mottled green and brown or a genie bottle made of cork. Top dollar is $600 for a two-socket lamp made of stacked Lucite rings. The sale also includes pendants and desk lamps made of chrome and brass with lacquered shades, priced less than $300. 8057 Beverly Blvd.; (323) 904-1200; for online shopping, go to www.twentieth.net and click on “catalogue,” then “sale.”
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HAPPENING
Garden treasure hunting
When Lynette Proler says she wanders Europe in search of garden antiques, she’s not kidding. “I go out into the sticks. I never know where I’m going,” says the Los Angeles-based dealer and consultant, whose recent finds include a timeworn 5,000-pound stone wellhead that she tracked down in a weedy field of Italy and a beautiful marble statue of Venus from Vienna, circa 1840 (pictured with Proler in her warehouse). She will share tales of her hunts during a lecture from 9:30 a.m. to noon Feb. 23 at the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden. Admission is $20, payable at the door. Lecture information: (626) 821-4623. Proler Garden Antiques: (310) 459-0477, www.garden-antiques.com.
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SHOW
Antiques, L.A. style
What do Angelenos keep in their attics? According to the next two episodes of PBS’ “Antiques Roadshow,” which pitched its tent at the Los Angeles Convention Center, they keep war souvenirs, plein-air paintings, scary looking toys, Arts and Crafts lamps, shelf clocks worth six figures and Oscar ephemera, including a 1961 ballot, a 1972 program and an Oscar statue that was never awarded, pictured below with the owner. New host Mark L. Walberg gets appraisals on suits and boots by tailor-to-the-cowboy stars Nudie Cohn of North Hollywood. Also new: PBS has slapped a fresh coat of polish on the show’s official website, www.pbs.org/antiques, which includes glossaries and tips from experts and appraisers. The L.A. episodes of “Antiques Roadshow” air at 8 p.m. Monday and Feb. 27 on KCET.