Home work
WITH A legacy that includes designs by Charles and Ray Eames and George Nelson, Herman Miller has long produced office furniture that looked good enough to take home. Now, with more folks working from their residences, the company has launched the Lifework Portfolio, new desks and storage units for the home that coordinate with midcentury classics. The Airia desk (shown here, $2,199), designed by Kaiju Studios, is made from cast aluminum and walnut. It features a cord bay for electronic devices and removable cork-lined trays in a center drawer. The accompanying media cabinet is $899. The Cognita storage bench (not shown), designed by Blue Dot, works in almost any room. Floating on steel legs, the $999 walnut case has two drawers topped by a catch-all tray; a cushioned upholstered seat lifts open for file storage. Available at Jules Seltzer Associates, 8833 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 274-7243; www.julesseltzer.com.
--
REDISCOVERED
Shhh. It’s a reissue, but don’t tell
In the early 1900s, the American Terra Cotta & Ceramic Co. of Illinois launched an art pottery line called Teco. With designs by Chicago architects who worked in the Prairie style popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright, the minimalist pieces were defined by buttressed handles and feet. They were glazed in characteristic matte jade green, sandy yellow and cobalt blue. Teco vases produced between 1899 and 1920 often fetch four figures at auction, but they’re now available from $60 to $195 as reissues by Prairie Arts (www.prairie -arts.com), a manufacturer of Wright screens and stencils. The firm recently added five Teco styles to its existing collection of seven; the pieces are available in three classic glazes and five contemporary colors. Outdoor Room, 17311 W. Sunset Blvd., Pacific Palisades, (310) 454-5509; Historic Lighting, 114 E. Lemon Ave., Monrovia, (626) 303-4899; and the Gamble House Bookstore, 4 Westmoreland Place, Pasadena, (626) 449-4178.
--
KIDS
Modernist tykes
Modernist children’s furniture may be nearing cliche-dom, but the Sam collection by the new Los Angeles firm Muu includes hundreds of custom options that are clever, cute and not at all cookie-cutter. Customers can specify colors, graphics reminiscent of Alexander Girard and fonts for names, which are digitally printed on panels that can be swapped out later if Mom or Dad wants a fresh look or if a new sibling arrives. The crib ($1,375) is pictured here with a toddler bed rail conversion kit ($225). Additional graphic panels are $80 to $135. All the pieces, including storage units not shown here, are made in the U.S. with sustainable materials, the firm says. Available at Petit Tresor, 11677 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 820-6300; www.muukids.com.
--
MADE IN CALIFORNIA
Picture-perfect
In the community of Blue Jay near Lake Arrowhead, Graeme Gale has made the most of an environmental tragedy, recycling pine trees ravaged by fire or scarred by bark beetles. His elegantly rustic collection of picture frames, mirrors and custom furniture with blackened edges could work equally well in log cabins or concrete lofts. Gale also turns the gnarled limbs of manzanita into wonderfully sculptural table lamps. To see or buy the work: www.llcook.com/pictureframes.html.