Work Spaces

A place to work, a room of one's own, where ideas develop into reality in words, on canvas, in sound and now more often on screen and sent off on the internet. There have been several books written with lots of photos of where great writers wrote, what the studios where like of great painters, where musicians composed and always I am amazed at the simple rooms, not fussy, often exposed materials, often a window to look out.

The space doesn't need to be large, enough for a table, a chair, shelves, for painters and designers a good wall space to view work and always a window for light.

Since I am working on my own space, my work room, I am thinking a lot about work spaces and was looking at a few:

And this space with full floor to ceiling plate glass views over an ocean,  a composer would make music, a painter would paint the color of light... but it is probably for a banker looking at spreadsheets.

Black and White Stripes

Black and white stripes on fabric, a painting, a window frame, they are always dynamic and graphic. Any color will work with this pattern, any other pattern will work with black and white stripes, a floral, a check, polka dots, more stripes.

My gosh where does the time go, it has been a week since I have been here. I have started renovating my London flat. Started with a new boiler, the old one had been in here since it was converted to gas central heating and before it was just coal fires. Wow, can you imagine living with having to keep fires going all day; time, dust, a small glow in the room. Anyway, I took pictures of the wall where the old was, I striped the old wall paper back to the bones, it looks better already. I will update when the first coat of paint goes on....... in time.





     

Patterns of Light and Shadow

On bright sunny days when light streams through a window,  it will often leave a pattern of shadows from the window frame, a shutter or a lace curtain across the wall or floor. They are ephemeral patterns. Sometimes they will elongate and stretch out, other times they will be short, brief and transitory because of a passing cloud.

These patterns of light and shadow tell us what time of day it is, they fill the room with a temporary design, but I like to think it also guides us on window treatments; what kind of curtains should we have,  I would never want to cover a window so that we would loose daylight, but they are so necessary at night.

With such a wide window and the varied grid pattern the light creates, a wide curtain pole is needed so it doesn't interrupt this lovely shadow. What a marvelous pattern.

You can feel the breeze, but look at the pretty shadow on the wall, to me it is prettier than the curtain.

And this dramatic screen of the shadow of a tree.

Light, natural light, the way it illuminates our rooms, our minds, I find is an essential element in the concept of interior design. It gives the room soul and when you find a quiet moment you will see the light.

images via Flickr