Ingo Maurer

Last Friday I had the pleasure of visiting the Munich showroom of German lighting designer Ingo Maurer and I wanted to share a few images of my day with you. If you are unaware of Maurer then read on as his work is not only beautiful and inspiring, but also functional and used by design lovers all over the world. Maurer began his career by studying graphic design in Munich. In 1960 he moved to America and worked as a freelance graphic designer in both New York and San Francisco. Eventually Maurer returned to Munich and in 1963 founded the company 'Design M', which would later become 'Ingo Maurer GmbH', which developed and manufactured lamps. His career took off when one of his first designs, 'Bulb' (1966), was included in the design collection of the Museum of Modern Art. The 'Bulb' design is still very iconic today and many lights have been produced since that emulate Maurer's original design - largely due to a renewed popularity of the exposed bulb in interior design. As well as creating lighting products for us to buy, Maurer also creates light installations for both public and private spaces and also takes commissions. If you've been to Munich before then you've probably been to Münchner Freiheit tube station and have seen the blue illuminated columns - this was one of Maurer's projects in 2009.

Maurer has two showrooms worldwide, one in Munich and one in New York. His showroom in Munich holds his entire lighting collection. There are over 100 products on show including prototypes and one-offs. It's set in a pretty ivy-covered building just off the busy street of Kaiserstrasse and is well worth a visit if you are planning a trip to the area. While I was there I took a few snaps of some of my favourite pieces, I hope you like them too!

If you are interested in any of these designs they are, from top to bottom: Johnny B. Butterfly, L'Eclat Joyeux, Seven Off The Wall, Bang Boom Zettel'z, Canned Light, Exit, the hologram light Wo Bist Du, Edison...?, Ingo Maurer's signature Zettel'z chandelier, two close-ups of the Zettel'z chandelier. To find out more about Maurer's work and designs, head over to his website where all his designs are catalogued.

{Images: Laura Blanksby}

Sibella Court's China Town Apartment

Hi guys, how was your weekend? Mine was spent watching repeats of The Antiques Road Trip (great show) and eating in the tiny Hand and Heart restaurant in Nottingham, so was lovely all round! What did you get up to?
I thought I would start the week with a particularly lovely house tour from New York. This gorgeous little apartment is home to stylist Sibella Court and is located in central China Town. The loft apartment was converted from an old textile workshop and the tin ceiling and metal pipes have been kept as a reminder of this. Sibella has also referenced the immediate area in which she lives with lots of Chinese paper lanterns clustered together. Lets have a nosy around.

I particularly like (and am slightly jealous of!) her vintage collection of butterflies above her chest of draws. She has so many and has displayed them beautifully.
The predominant colours throughout the apartment are white and green which provide a cool, airy feel. Sibella has teemed antique green feature pieces (chest of draws, vintage wallpaper) with plain white walls which help make features of the accent pieces rather than distract from them.

The apartment is a treasure chest of well curated pieces. I love the freshness of the plain white walls and exposed pipework mixed with lots of antique pieces. There are a lot of things on display but somehow it still doesn't look cluttered.

Overall a beautiful, creative space which has given me lots of ideas for my own place. If you want to find out more about Sibella, have a look at her website for her Australian store, The Society Inc, a truly creative project. Sibella has also published two books: Etcetera and The Stylist's Guide to NYC, both are certainly worth a read.

{All images: House to Home}