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HUNTING: IN THE BROOKLYN FLEA AND IN COLONIAL TIMES

Fox Hunting

Prints by Samuel Howitt

Republished by Edward Orme, Bond St, 1812.

I'd say it was the fox hunting scene in Mary Poppins that commandeered a spot in my heart for the wild-game hunting aesthetic. Those red-clad Brits perched on their pure-breads chasing hairy scoundrels...!

So these old fox hunting place mats caught my eye at the Brooklyn Flea yesterday, and I had to take them. These dense, wooden place mats are well-suited for a robust English breakfast of black pudding, rashers, and fried bread. 

The images on the mats are from Samuel Howitt's engravings from the early 19th century. Samuel Howitt, I learned, was a English gent, sportsman, and artist who provided the visual counterpart to popular hunting tales from colonial India and Africa. He illustrated books like Historic, Military, and Naval Anecdotes of Personal Valour, Bravery, and Particular Incidents and Foreign Field Sports, Fisheries, and Sporting Anecdotes. I love these titles. (My autobiography: Charlotte Hundley. The Urban and Suburban Anecdotes of Personal Valor, Bravery, and Particular Saucy Incidents)

Anyway, I discovered that Howitt's watercolors and engravings, such as Battle of a Bulldog and a Monkey and Oriental Field Sports, are exotic, perverse, violent, and most definitely sources for the talented New York artist Mr. Walton Ford. 

DISCUSSION NO. 3

What We Talk About When We Talk About

Iris Apfel

Known for her unexpected pairings, exotic accessories and inexhaustible creative spirit, Iris Apfel is now in her 88th year and still going strong.

In 2005, Apfel was asked (by the Met, nonetheless) to curate an exhibit that would include more than 50 years’ worth of her well-curated wardrobe, ranging from couture pieces purchased in Paris to $5 costume jewelry from junk stores. She called is Rara Avis or Rare Bird. Very fitting.

Apfel is quick to point out that her intention was never to gather a collection of clothes for a museum. For her, purchasing clothing was always about the thrill of the hunt. “I like to creep around and dig, it’s no fun to just sit in a shop and have people present you with things. It was the process. It’s not that I’m so mad about clothes. It’s about finding things and putting them together. That’s the fun."

Apfel's thoughts on being unconventional:

"If you can't be pretty, you have to learn to make yourself attractive. I found that all the pretty girls I went to high school with came to middle age as frumps, because they just got by with their pretty faces, so they never developed anything. They never learned how to be interesting. But if you are bereft of certain things, you have to make up for them in certain ways. Don't you think?"

HAVE A SEAT

This chair is a dream.

 Jens Quistgaard (1919 - 2008).

TIPI

Native living.

Athens, Georgia circa 1975.

Above is a photo of our father in front of his tipi in Athens, shirtless (as he was in all of his photos from the 70s it seems).

There has always been this mythology shrouding our Dad's years as a rangy youngster at University of Georgia in Athens. The tangential tales from those years--epic and quirky and boozy--seem to be malleable, half-truths that take various shapes over time.

But the factual core remains: our Dad, David, sported Sears denim overalls, bare-chested, and Chuck Taylors. He had permed hair with an almost-mustache and drank PBR beer at Tom Waits shows. And instead of living in one of Athens' antebellum houses--as many students did--he lived in his hand-built Tipi on farmland in the margins of Athens.

We decided to get the story straight and find some documentation of his tipi days...

We often mentioned our dad's tipi days and cracked jokes to elicit chuckles from our friends. I think we had a vague idea of the individuality and innate coolness in our Dad's endeavor, though it hasn't been until recently that we've become fascinated by this period in his youth and are begging him to recount details.

The (real) story begins with the book The Indian Tipi by Reginald and Gladys Laubin that David received as a gift. He became enamored with the old-world engineering and simple living. Perhaps there was a boyhood, cowboy-and-indian fantasy element as well.

With the book in hand, he drove his chevy pick-up from Athens, Georgia to Alberta, Canada to cut timber to build his tipi. On his return trip across the country, he serendipitously encountered the tipi book's authors, Reginald and Gladys Laubin, in Moose, Wyoming. The Laubins invited him into their home (a tipi) and gave him more tips on constructing a historically accurate Native American dwelling.

He found a plot of land in Athens by a farm pond for $10 a month and built his new home.

Interior shot of the Tipi's apex.

Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada.

His 1960 Chevy Apache pick-up truck with home-made camper.

Curing the timber.

Reginald and Gladys Laubin's Tipi Bible.

ROSSHAAR

Horsehair ("Rosshaar") mattresses handmade in Berlin.

The designer and craftsman, Daniel Heer, learned the trade from his great-grandfather's saddle and mattress factory in his hometown Lucerne, Switzerland.

Early advert from the Heer Family horsehair mattress company in Lucerne. Straightforward and earnest, just like the product.

The factory. 

We are enamored with the idea of living on idyllic Lake Lucerne , laboring over leather saddles and sculpting mattresses with horsehair, sailing and trekking through Alpine towns on weekends. With an Eichhof beer in hand. So perfect.

Heer takes one full day to stuff each mattress, carefully, to achieve perfect form. Like many traditional, hands-on trades, it's wonderfully meditative work.

Horsehair. 

Heer mattresses have at least 33 pounds of it. Evidently, these "rosshaar" mattresses provide incredible spinal support, naturally regulate body temperature, are glue and toxin-free, and will last you 100 years. 

Studio in Kreutzberg, Berlin.

Heer also has a popular line of leather bags, following the same principle of simple, well-crafted products using superior raw materials.

Photos from Sight Unseen, who wrote a fantastic article on Daniel Heer's mattresses.

EYE SPY.... NEW TALENT

So we're by no means scouts for newbie talent, but Alexandra Karamallis recently caught our eye with her amazingly bold yet delicate knits. She just graduated with a BFA in textile design from RISD and with experience at Diane von Furstenberg and Ralph Lauren, who would doubt her penchant for good design?

Check it...

Minä Perhonen

Tokyo-based designer Akira Minagawa started his brand, Minä Perhonen (only Minä at the time), in 1995. He quickly became known for his charming, hand drawn prints- he has published several art books and also applies his prints to furniture upholstery as well as his simple yet quirky clothing line. Think of Minä Perhonen as Japan's answer to Marimekko, albeit designed with a distinctly Japanese avante-garde appeal.

PARTNERS & SPADE

One of Andy Spade's recent collaborative endeavors is Partners & Spade.  

It's a storefront, gallery, and studio that produces films, books, garments, and conceptual products.  It's playful and quirky and wonderful. You'll find our favorite axes (yes, we have ax preferences) from Best Made Co, cacti, terrariums, and even backdated confidence trophies that will be sure to make you feel like a winner. 

Plus, Partners & Spade are good hosts... last night we were there sipping red wine and watching Thurston Moore play an improv guitar set alongside a super-star saxophone player.

Always interesting to see how Andy Spade mixes retail, art, and advertising together and serves it as a perfectly refreshing dish.