Animal magnetism
After lighting up lives with lamps made from two brightly colored Tupperware tumblers, www.tonymeredith.com wants to make kitchens more fun and revive the lost art of letter-writing.
Los Angeles-based graphic designer Tony Meredith’s website offers refrigerator magnet collections made from laminated mid-century wallpaper scraps, primary-colored ‘60s children’s dictionary illustrations and old magazine advertisements (from $5) as well as Atomic Age colored rubber gloves and cleaning sponges sold as Scrub Sets ($13).
“Imagine Andy Warhol sitting at home, your granny shows up, and they make crafts together,” Meredith says of his pop product aesthetic.
Meredith’s stationery line consists of three collections of note cards, the newest of which is based on digital photographs of a 1966 Hasbro poodle doll named “Peteena” (eight cards and envelopes, $16).
Packaged in heat-sealed laminated pouches ideal for gift-giving, these products -- and Meredith’s hilarious descriptions of how they came to be -- walk the tightrope between cute and kitsch with ease.
“You won’t be conversing with some burnout,” Meredith promises potential visitors to his site. “My customer service team is my 10 little fingers, tapping away at the keyboard.”
David A. Keeps
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Movin’ on up
FOR the last 10 years, Lee Stanton has been a designers’ secret, the go-to guy in San Juan Capistrano for 18th and 19th century home and garden furniture. Early this year, he opened a Los Angeles showroom that has already been visited by Mario “the Prince of Chintz” Buatta.
Behind its slate gray facade, the 1,500-square-foot space and hidden garden are a breath of fresh air in the frequently musty world of antiquarians. Pale walls and antique-white oak floors set the stage for Stanton’s collection of British and European pieces in dark woods and richly patinated metals.
Among his treasures: 1820s cast-iron Gothic windows fashioned into mirrors ($3,500), a pair of Louis XVI chairs ($5,750) and lamps made from balustrades with shades made from architectural drawings. Lee Stanton Antiques, 769 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 855-9800, weekdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
David A. Keeps
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A bright idea
SYLVIE Cogranne is what you’d call an enlightened photographer. After creating illuminated images for a New York advertising agency, she developed a process for turning her own digital snapshots into translucent lampshades.
Now based in Los Angeles, Cogranne’s lighting design company Fotoluz offers table lamps (from $210), sconces (from $130) and four-arm chandeliers (from $420) as well as custom installations for commercial and residential interiors. The collection, characterized by classic drum and box shades and simple bases, puts the focus squarely on Cogranne’s photographic images, including this eye-catching gooseneck lamp, which recalls the work of Man Ray and Fornasetti.
“I try to photograph things that are typical of the place I live, without creating a typical image,” says the artist, whose recent work features surfers and bamboo fronds in sepia tones and palm trees and swimmers in moody solarized prints. Available at the Gallery of Functional Art, Santa Monica, (310) 829-6990; for custom quotes, call Cogranne at (213) 736-5314.
David A. Keeps
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Compost in a tea bag?
Now here’s a new wrinkle in planting -- little packets that look like tea bags but contain just enough natural fertilizer for a healthy, nutritious start in life, plus a microbial stew of beneficial mycorrhizal fungi. Simply drop Smart Start plant food packets in the hole at planting time and the necessary nutrients are provided, along with eight kinds of possibly important microbes.
Mycorrhizal soil fungi help plants by attaching themselves to roots, dramatically aiding the gathering of nutrients. Plants tend to be associated with specific microbes, so using several different kinds is a shotgun approach, but it certainly can’t hurt and may help (especially in the really poor soils found in new subdivisions and worn-out urban areas).
Harsh chemical fertilizers often do more harm than good during a plant’s first few months, so the fertilizers in these little packets are naturally mild and become available “slowly and consistently,” according to Whitney Farms, the Oregon manufacturer. Each packet contains nitrogen, potash, calcium and sulfur derived from a mix of fish, bone and alfalfa meals. The packets are available at nurseries in cartons of 20, selling for $3.99.
-- Robert Smaus