Emerald City: My Love Affair with Malachite

Source: artstheanswer.blogspot.com

They say your favorite color says a lot about you: your preferred moods, general equilibrium, state of mind, etc. Well, I know next to nothing about that, but I do know that my favorite color has always been green (hence it shows up in the blog title :). I love that pale spring green when the trees start budding this time of year, as I adore the glow of jade beads and a rich jolt of kelly green.

Sources: Poshmark, Mountain Shadow Beads

One of the most dazzling green materials out there is malachite, an opaque, hard mineral that is typically found in masses deep underground. The name traces back to its Greek precedent malakhe, in reference to the color of the mallow plant.

Even as a child I was fascinated by malachite, with its rippling green-black veins and exotic, sensuous patterns. I find it incredibly alluring but also intimidating because of how otherworldly it looks. It reminds me of how much life and mass there is deep inside the Earth, and how much of that goes unseen and unknown by all of us...

Sources: Pinterest, Saks Fifth Avenue

Maybe it's the fact that I've mostly encountered malachite in decor or jewelry, but it's always struck me as having a particularly regal quality. Clearly I'm not the only one who feels this way, as artists and designers were for centuries using it in palace interiors. Take the malachite rooms at El Castillo de Chapultepec in Mexico City. At one point this site was the residence of Emperor Maximilian I and Empress Carlota, and it possesses a truly monumental doorway made of Russian malachite and gold--a good fit for royalty!

Sources (LTR): a-l-ancien-regime.tumblr.com, Twicsy.com, Pinterest

Not to be outdone, the Russians themselves have an even more opulent "Malachite Room" at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, for which they used over 2 tonnes of malachite. Although I sometimes find the combination of malachite and gold too rich, it infuses drama into the rooms, especially through those massive, glowing columns. Russian royalty certainly had a knack for using malachite's rich hues to arrest the eye.

Source: Flickr

Sadly, most of live in a world far removed from that splendor. Today, you'll mostly find malachite as an accent piece that elevates everyday objects such as tableware, office accessories, and jewelry to a state of accessible luxury.

Sources (clockwise from top): Barneys, Etsy, L'Objet, Anthropologie, Tony Duquette at 1stdibs, OKL

Although the pieces themselves are pretty distinctive, one consistent theme is the artist's effort to capture malachite's mutating, sometimes flame-like patterns. The color palette is enthralling: from near translucence to almost black, stimulating our eyes constantly and pulling us further into the object.

But it's the irregular, organic shapes that really capture our attention. If there's one thing malachite isn't, it's demure. To me, this is an inherently dramatic stone, and the best artists are those who can capture its drama and freeze it into stillness. In that way there's a paradox to everything made of malachite: the object itself doesn't move, but you can't help but feel that the stone is still alive. 

DIY: Marbling a Side Table

If you've been a regular reader, you'll have seen my recent post about the marbling trend that has taken design by storm over the past year. While I'm hesitant about a heavy use of marble at home, as an accent I think it brings unparalleled sophistication and elegance to a space...

...which is what led me to try a little 'marbling' of my own at home! A few weeks ago I found a rather sweet little side table at Goodwill for $18 and immediately dashed it home, brewing different ideas for how to spruce it up. This is the naked beast:

For those of us who can't quite spring for marble tiled countertops or backsplashes, there is an alternative: marble contact paper! It's the master of illusion, but this self-adhesive vinyl (it's not actually paper) can be incredibly convincing, when used in the right way. It's even easier to use than wallpaper, in that it comes pre-glued. All you have to do is to apply it directly to the surface of your choice and voila.

In addition, the marbling trend is so embedded that you can buy contact paper both easily and affordably. At the higher end is this grey-hued number from Design Your Wall, which I've seen turn up on quite a few DIY projects. Since I way experimenting and didn't want to spend too much, I opted for this version, which I got from Amazon. I'm sure if you look at them in person, there may be a difference, but online, they really look comparable:

A few weeks later, my product arrived directly from the manufacturer in Germany, and I got down to work. If you're not familiar with using contact paper (as was my case), you will need the following tools:

1) Scissors to trim the paper to the shape/size you need
2) A ruler or something with an equally firm, slim edge that you can run along the paper without tearing it. You'll need this to smooth the paper out as you go along.

My technique was to peel off one edge of the paper and start pressing it down onto the table with the ruler. The ruler helps eliminate bubbles and allows you to move at your own pace. Because my surface was rounded, I decided to trim the paper into sections and lay it down piece by piece. The first section is below:

The tricky part was then lining up the remaining section so that they didn't overlap. I had to keep repositioning the paper to avoid overlays, but the contact paper allows you to do this without losing its adhesive. As you can see below, I didn't get everything to line up perfectly, but the nice thing about marble is that the pattern is irregular anyway, so it's more forgiving of mistakes!

I confess that I did suffer the occasional bubble, despite using the ruler. There are different approaches to handling these: some say you should start over, and others advise treating the bubbles directly. I opted for the latter, given that this was just a fun project. So I took a box cutter blade and made a small slit in each bubble, almost immediately smoothing it over with the ruler. This helps knit the edges back together. You can go a step further and use a hair dryer to heat the vinyl, so that the edges soften and bind together. Don't forget, it's called "paper" but it's actually more like a plastic surface so you can manipulate it differently.

Anyway, after much fussing over the bubbles, I finished up! Doesn't it look nice with the gold edges, and more elegant than the wood?

I decided to leave the top surface as is for now, though I plan to finish that too because I love the contrast of marble and brass. But it's a nice reminder of the "Before" and the "After" effects. Here's the final product, in all its glory!

Phillip Jeffries: These Walls Can Speak

Source: blog.rethinkdesignstudio.com

While flipping through a recent issue of Elle Decor, I stumbled on a gorgeous ad (yes, I actually stopped to look at the ads!) featuring Phillip Jeffries Spring 2014 collection. If you don't know Phillip Jeffries, let me sum up their brand in one word: texture. I could also rhapsodize at greater length with these descriptors: raw, fiber, natural, tactile, sensual, moody, etc. etc.

Why all this fuss about wall-coverings, you say? Well, think about it. A room is no more or less than the sum of four walls, and all that resides within. Most of us congratulate ourselves if we get around to hanging our pictures, and even homeowners typically limit wall treatments to a coat of paint.

But the fact is that wallpaper has had a HUGE - huge! - comeback in recent years, and has much more to offer than the acres of tiny flowers a la Laura Ashley. What's more, as you can tell from the term "wall-coverings," we're not just dealing with paper anymore. Nowadays, you can bedeck your walls in grasscloth, silk, raffia, you name it. Suddenly walls are being allowed to take center stage, attaining a character and presence of their own. Phillip Jeffries have a marvelous sensibility for dressing walls in luxe textures and materials. They employ a variety of textiles that span from the extremely fine (silk) to the richly textural (grasscloth and hemp).

Source: Phillip Jeffries

This is not to say that hue and paint alone can't make a room--they absolutely can. But a textured wall-covering takes it to the next level; has a sensibility of its own. Rooms with wall-coverings seem to reverbrate with their own pulse and to actively cast a mood onto their surroundings. Below you can see for yourself the different effects of paint (left) and grasscloth (right).

Sources: Apartment Therapy, homeshoppingspy.com

The challenge, of course, is that these options don't come cheap. Phillip Jeffries is not sold through its own retail channels, for example, but rather through "trade" channels. What this means is that they sell directly to designers and distributors, so you have to buy their products through a third party.

That said, if you ever find yourself flush with cash and considering a redesign project, you could rethink the paint swatches and invest in some luxurious wall-coverings. Check out what Philip Jeffries has in store for this season:

Source: Phillip Jeffries

My absolute favorite, however, is the Enchanted Woods line. Like the bark of birch trees, these wall-coverings have a peeling, rough-hewn texture that belongs in the untamed natural world. I love the organic and asynchronous 'tears' in the fabric, which reveal metallic slivers that peep out like fragments of mirror-glass. 

Imagine a room or even just one wall paneled in this paper, with shards of gold beckoning us to an "enchanted" place just behind the wall; almost within our reach. Wouldn't it be nice to bring this promise of Wonderland into our homes?