Janet Ramin - The annual Architectural Digest Home Design Show opened to huge crowds of design fans and homeowners at New York’s Pier 94. Maybe after a year of restraint and moderation, people were looking forward to some design indulgence. The four-day extravaganza hosted over 300 vendors, design seminars from industry professionals, as well as culinary demonstrations and book signings.
One of the standouts for us was Ercole Home from Brooklyn, New York. They combined two rich materials – stained oak wood and glass mosaics – and created a sophisticated line of cabinetry. Founder and artist Ornella Pisano takes her inspiration from her mosaic sculptures. Ercole's line includes buffets, credenzas, bar cabinets, and tables as well as mirrors and lighting. The variety of colors of the glass mosaics provides a diverse selection, and they can even customize a furniture piece with a unique mosaic design.
Also showing off elegant lines was furniture from Japan’s Matsuoka International. Matsuoka designers choose high-end woods such as celebes ebony, sycamore, bird’s eye maple, walnut, and mahogany. At the design show, Matsuoka displayed Empire, a long sideboard made of ebony and nickel and Chrystanthemum, a cocktail cabinet made of smoked bird’s eye maple. Their furniture designs recall the glamorous and sophisticated era of the Art Deco.
Another furniture firm, the New Traditionalists, has redesigned past period styles and given them a facelift to complement today’s contemporary homes. Below is Console No. Thirty One, an updated version of a period Sheraton style. The console is made of sustainable hardwood and nickel drawer pulls. Bed No. Ten Forty is made from bleached walnut with pony hair insert panels. All their furniture has hand-rubbed, water-based finishes and is built in New England.
Nova Bronstein - Sometimes curiosity gets the best of you, sidetracking you to follow an irrational thought to a rewarding path ... you hope ... and this was certainly the case last Friday. A friend of mine came to me inquiring about a slim silver-tone bracelet that was given to her. She wanted to know if this lovely present was actually made of silver or not. And I realized that I didn't have an easy answer for her. Determined to remedy this, the two of us set on a quest for practical tests to find out if something is truly silver.
Test #1: Acid
This test called for Nitric Acid, which, as I'm sure you could guess, we did not have on hand. Just to give it a shot we tried this test, substituting lemon juice instead of the Nitric Acid. The results are supposed to be that for 100 - 90% silver objects, a drop of acid will turn milky in color when it comes in contact with silver. This proved very disappointing. Our results were nearly indistinguishable from a regular drop of water on silver. (Test found here.)
Test #2: Magnets
The next test seemed more promising and ... we hoped ... more conclusive. Only iron-based metals, known as ferrous metals, are magnetic. Therefore, any solid silver item should not react when coming in contact with a magnet. Doing this test, we did get the hoped-for result, getting no magnetic reaction. The problem was that there is something profoundly unsatisfying about a test that results in no response. And, even if the object was made of copper and plated with silver, the outcome of this test would have been the same.
So we were left feeling unconvinced and continued searching for a test which clearly communicated a positive reaction. On to the next test!