Rita Konig

Object Obsession…Glass and Silver Match Strikes

Since I have been dwelling on the beauty of small things lately – like flowers – it is no surprise that candles are in the mix too. Our garden here has no real outdoor lighting and the house has some glaringly bright overhead spots that I hate to use, so candles have proliferated everywhere, almost on their own accord. With candles comes the need for matches and that has brought up a long-term fascination with antique glass and silver match strikes.

The person who brought decorative match strikes to the design world’s attention is British designer and writer Rita Konig, who has a few favorites, along with a spectacular pink ashtray, that you see in the different incarnations of her apartments over and over again. There is no real date order to these photos, although the first one is from her London apartment in the mid 2000s. That’s the first time I remember noticing the two small match strikes, both antique, one green glass with a silver rim and the other one cranberry.

Over the years, I tracked for them every time a photo of her place was featured as she moved first to one New York apartment, then another, and then onwards back to London.

Konig herself has written about and featured her strikes in the various publications she writes for including here in The Wall Street Journal and here in The New York Times.

Over time a new art glass strike by Lucy Cope got added to the mix with her two small strikes, her pink ashtray and her coral patterned transferware plate. I think one of my favorite things about Konig’s style is that she is truly cumulative, and having committed to something, seems committed for life.

Match strikes like these are quintessentially English, although you can find some made elsewhere. The silver ring is hallmarked as per standard British regulation, most often between the final few years of the 19th century (fairly safe strike anywhere matches were invented in 1898) and the 1920s. They seem to have fallen out of favor with the advent of new match technology. I’m not quite sure how easy it is to find ‘strike anywhere’ matches these days, but it is not deterring me.

I’ve been hunting on eBay and Etsy but buying one long distance just doesn’t seem fun. If you are planning to search around after reading this, keep in mind that the American term seems to be ‘striker’ with the terminal ‘r’ versus the British ‘strike’. I hinted to sweet hubby for my birthday, but he missed the signals completely. I was absolutely sure the gods of glass coincidence would make one available to me at my recent forays to the shrine sales in Japan – because there is nowhere more likely that Tokyo flea markets for finding a random British antique – but I was sent a jam pot and some Turkish tea glasses instead.

I’ve spied some more recently in the Houston home of Catherine Brooks Giuffre on Domino. She has some great art and an interesting mix of pieces too. When I did a little back research, I stumbled across her previous living room and like Konig, it was quite interesting to see how and what she had repurposed.

When I woke up yesterday to a House Beautiful post on what to put on your coffee table that included match strikes, I knew it was time for this post. I don’t think I need a whole collection, but one little one, in emerald green or even bright cranberry would do me just fine.

And by the way, did you know hobby of collecting match-related items, such as matchcovers and matchbox labels, is known as phillumeny? I wonder if that label includes match strikes? Regardless, I’ll have to mention that to my daughter.

Mar 19, 2014 By tokyojinja in Glass, Interior Design 18 Comments Tags: antique glass, antique silver, Catherine Brooks Giuffre, match strike, match striker, Rita Konig

O-Hanami Decorating…Pale Pink Bedrooms for Cherry Blossom Season

The sakura (cherry blossoms) are super late this year. Usually they are past their prime by now, but I would say today or tomorrow they will be reaching their peak. It feels as if they have waited – waited for people here in Japan to be ready to move forward and try to celebrate spring. There is definitely a sense that the wild o-hanami (blossom viewing) parties that usually happen will be out-of-place this year, but I think it is important to look for hope and renewal and nothing better represents that then the masses of blooms seen throughout the nation.

In honor of the season, I thought a would do a round-up of the prettiest pale pink bedrooms. I have to admit a weakness for the combination of the color with rich woods and lacy white fabrics. The pink itself needs to be soft and subtle, without any brightness or it will look like a child’s room covered in candy or bubble gum. The best pale pink paints have lots of grey pigment in them, like those from Farrow & Ball or a bit of a coral undertone to take away the sweetness.

The mosquito netting on the bed, the simple pom-pom trimmed curtains and the antique rugs combined with the fine Louis VXI furniture make Mihri Fenwick’s unpretentious bedroom in southwestern France one of my favorites.

Beverly Field has artfully added blue and white, in the form a dhurrie rug, porcelain lamp and pillow shams to her painted sleigh bed in her delightful pink bedroom.

On one side of the same room stands this amazing scrubbed pine Dutch chest which looks lovely against the pale pink of the wall. I love the formal shape made from such an informal material.

This room isn’t technically a bedroom, but it does have a day bed in it! And here you can see how lovely the pink looks with the dark Empire and Gothic Revival mahogany furniture.

Pink, as we all know, is the navy blue of India. This English country house makes great use of Indian printed textiles in collaboration with lacy white linens.

This bedroom uses exotic fabrics too, but has more of an old world faded glamour. Note the Empire dresser here as once again pink is a perfect foil for mahogany.

Sometimes, the prettiest pink bedrooms need little more than white to set them off, like these two by Philip Gorrivan and Sally Steponkus.

I love Haskell Harris’s bedroom because she has taken fairly ordinary furniture and accessories and grouped them in such as way as to make them all feel special. The pink is the unexpected backdrop that pulls it all together.

On the other side of her room the tall chest seems like a piece of furniture she inherited from her grandmother. While the big trend these days is to paint everything, I love the old fashionedness of the brown wood.

The inimitable Rita Konig seems to change her bedroom constantly, but she always finds the perfect feel for less than perfect spaces. Take a look at what a difficult space this was before she wallpapered it here. For other versions of her bedrooms (not pink) in different apartments, click here and here.

The aforementioned Rita Konig also wrote about what may be my favorite pale pink room ever, the bedroom of Marella Agnelli, in The Wall Street Journal. It has such perfect balance and I could stare at this room forever.

Instead, I am headed out to join my girlfriends at an evening o-hanami party in the park. There is nothing better than the real thing!

Image credits: 1. David Hicks tablescape via The Peak of Chic, 2. House Beautiful September 1996, photo credit: Elizabeth Zeschin, 2-3. House Beautiful April 1995, photo credit: Fran Brennan, 4. House Beautiful January 1994, photo credit: Lizzie Himmel, 5. House Beautiful September 1993, photo credit: Michael Dunne, 6. Elle Decor November 2009, photo credit: Miguel Flores-Vianna, 7. Philip Gorrivan, 8. Sally Steponkus, can’t remember where I got this from, 9 & 10. Southern Living, April 2009, photo credit: Charles Walton IV, 11. Domino Magazine, photo credit: unknown, 12. The Wall Street Journal, photo credit: Eric Bowman. 13. Carolyn Koshnick Photography

Apr 7, 2011 By tokyojinja in Color, Interior Design 9 Comments Tags: Beverly Field, cherry blossoms, Haskell Harris, Marella Agnelli, Mihri Fenwick, Philip Gorrivan, pink, Rita Konig, sakura, Sally Steponkus

Ume Blooming…Maybe Pantone Should Have Called Their Color of the Year Plum Blossom?

Perhaps I am a little late to the party as many bloggers have commented on Pantone‘s choice of a bright pink called “Honeysuckle” for Color of the Year already, but nonetheless, I cannot resist commenting. I don’t really see honeysuckle in the vibrant pink – usually I associate it with yellow or golden orange. Instead, I am thinking of the mid-winter ume (plum blossom) opening now against the cold, the first sign of winter’s turn towards spring. That is the bright pink they are talking about!

I think this kind of plum blossom pink looks best with the colors it appears with in nature – the blue and white of the sky and the dark brown of the branches. Decorating with pink has to be handled carefully. Pink unmoored, or paired only with white can look little girlish or nursery-like. But handled correctly, it can be sophisticated and warm. In this post I think I’ll start out as saturated as it gets and slowly take it down….

Mary McDonald is a master of intense color and in this bright pink hallway she pulls out all the stops with walls and upholstery covered in matching shades. The key to making all that pink work? The contrast of the gleaming mahogany, the zebra rug and all the blue and white porcelain. The golden chinoiserie mirror doesn’t hurt either. This is an entry that lets you know you’ve arrived!

Jonathan Berger uses Benjamin Moore’s “Razzle Dazzle” in this Brooklyn entryway. It’s a bold move that not all could live with, but it certainly jazzes up this small space. Note the blue and white porcelain (again) and the brown needlepoint upholstered chair, white paneling and dark stair risers, all of which help to balance the brightness of the shade.

This Windsor Smith living room, featured in the September 2009 issue of House Beautiful is one of my absolute favorite rooms, both in terms of the colors and the furniture. I have been tracking that scroll arm sofa and painted Indian coffee table through many variations in her homes and designs…Click here to see an earlier incarnation.

In the course of writing this post over the last weeks, I heard through the grapevine that the March 2011 issue of House Beautiful was going to feature pink. Guess how surprised I was to see this same living room as the cover feature! Am I wrong in thinking it is fairly unheard of for a major publication to feature the same space twice, without any major design changes??? Of course the issue has been on the newsstands for days now in the US, but I have yet to see it. This post may need a follow-up once I do! [Quick addendum: I got my hands on a copy and it featured “Ten Rooms They Couldn’t Forget”, so it was the exact same room from the original photo shoot. I guess they wanted to do a “pink issue” but it must be difficult to rustle up many new projects with pink in them. It actually made the magazine feel more like a blog post…kinda like this!]

Too much pink for you? Moving the pink off of the walls and onto the major upholstery and fabrics might be the way to go. Here, in another interior designed by Mary McDonald, pink fabrics play off the soft blue walls, and lots of wood furniture softens the design. Gotta love those bamboo armchairs, and, once again, the blue and white porcelain. [In reality, this room is red, and only looks pink in the photo. But lets all pretend anyway, since I think it is softer and prettier in pink!]

This Schuyler Samperton designed project has heavy wood beams that balance the vivid pink fabrics…or perhaps it is the other way round and the vivid pinks brighten and lighten up a heavy beamed space. Here turquoise has been used as the major accent color, along with woven rugs from Texas as a throw and upholstery, giving the room an updated ranch feel, slightly Southwestern. See Style Court for more photos of this room.

Another home that has influenced me and scores of others is Alayne Patrick’s Brooklyn home. Using amazing textiles and colors from India, she has put together a pink and white dhurrie, dark tropical feeling blinds and a cane daybed piled with pillows. I’d love my TV room/guest room at the beach to have this kind of feel.

Patrick’s Brooklyn shop Layla has the same vibe as her home. I spent quite a bit of time there over the holidays searching for the perfect throw pillow. They reopen today after renovation and I really recommend a visit!

Sometimes a little goes a long way, as in actress Rashida Jones’ Manhattan studio, cleverly made over by Domino. The antique Persian helped set the palette with magenta and blue accents. White paint ties otherwise disparate furniture together and the wood edge of the sofa and touches of black ground the color scheme. Pale blue walls give the tiny space an expansive sky-like feel.

Would Rita Konig’s chair and her entire apartment actually, be the same without that shot of magenta? Again, a pale grey blue wall, soft as a cloud white window treatment and bits of dark wood in the frames.

And finally, for those too afraid of a real pink commitment, I give you Deborah Needleman’s bedroom…All the components are there, it just takes that pink scarf to pull it together.

This can also be done with flowers, particularly a big bunch of pink peonies or some beautiful branches of plum blossom. I am cheating here, as these are actually redbuds, but you can get the idea…

The only downside to picking a “Color of the Year”? Calling anything “in” always implies that there is an “out” coming…

Image credits: 1. Pantone, 2. me, 3. Mary McDonald, 4. House Beautiful July 2009, photo credit: Francesco Lagnese, 5. House Beautiful September 2009, photo credit: Victoria Pearson, 6. House Beautiful March 2011, 7. Mary McDonald via mydeco, photo credit: Miguel Flores-Vianna, 8. Schuyler Samperton via style court, photo credit: Lisa Romerein 9 & 12. Domino May 2007, photo credit: Melanie Acevedo, 10. The New York Times, 11. Lonny Magazine October/November 2009, photo credit, Patrick Cline, 13. Domino March 2006, photo credit: Mikkel Vang.

Feb 10, 2011 By tokyojinja in Color, Interior Design 16 Comments Tags: Alayne Patrick, Color of the Year Honeysuckle, Deborah Needleman, Jonathan Berger, Layla, Mary McDonald, Pantone, pink, Rashida Jones, Rita Konig, Schuyler Samperton, Windsor Smith