13 October 2010

Black stripes are always right

I get hundreds of press releases and product announcements every week, it comes with the territory. That's not a complaint. Not at all. I welcome those things and I find they are the easiest way for me to keep up with what's going on in my field.

I received one yesterday from Flambeau Lighting and the release featured this photo.


I love it. I love the pendants, I love the room. I love how the stripes from the shade continue up the rods to the ceiling. Here's a close up of the pendant itself.


It's the stripes, the back stripes, that get me every time. Flambeau has all kind of other great lighting designs, and I encourage you to check out their catalog.

I've always loved black and white color schemes because they remind me of Tim Burton's work. In 1985 I saw a short film by an unknown filmmaker. The film was called Frankenweenie and it was Tim Burton's first movie. It was a Disney production, as hard as that is to believe. You can find it on YouTube these days. Anyhow, I was struck by the visual style of that movie, I'd never seen anything like it. Burton ended up getting fired from Disney over the film and the world owes Disney a debt of gratitude for their wise decision. Though I'm sure it was traumatic for Burton at the time, that firing unleashed a breathtaking talent on the world.

photo courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art

Burton did a retrospective of his work at the Museum of Modern Art last year and it was cool to see how his style had evolved over the years and it was even more cool to see how much he'd held onto. Here's the ad MoMA put together while Burton's retrospective was running at the museum.





The pendant lights I started with have a Burton-esque feel to them and I like them all the more for it.

As the offerings in Flambeau Lighting's catalog show, black stripes are always right. They've certainly served Tim Burton well.

5 comments:

  1. I absolutely love anything Tim Burton touches. If he had been around when I was a kid I'd have been a zombie disciple. I really like his cartoon movies, but my favorite has to be Sleepy Hollow. That was a fantastic story to begin with and then creepified even more and starring Johnny Depp. Swoon!!

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  2. I've always had a soft spot for The Nightmare before Christmas, but his treatment of Sweeny Todd was his best work to day I think.

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  3. That looks to be a Stray Dog Designs piece. You might like some of their other whimsical pieces:

    http://www.straydogdesigns.com/shop/Products/Lighting/index.html

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  4. Wow! It's everything Jonathan Adler wishes he could be! Thanks Raina.

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  5. I've been listening to Nightmare before Christmas all day here in preparation for my favourite holiday. I totally thought of Tim Burton when I saw those stripes in the picture there :)

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