The Mezuzah Syndrome

When I was starting my event design business in New York, the caterer Susan Holland asked me if I fully gave every design element I outlined in my proposals. I told her of course, that and probably above and beyond what was written and promised.

I felt there had to be trust on her part. I had done work for her before, but this was a really big job, and I thought maybe she was just nervous.

But then she explained telling me about a well known designer who hit the skids. He took to spending the 50% deposit the client gave upon signing a contract, always counting on another client's deposit to pay for the event at hand.

It was dangerous, and of course one day it back fired, and the designer did not have the money to produce the event.

The event was a huge corporate Christmas party at the huge ballroom Roseland in New York City. The theme was "An International Christmas", and the decorations promised were supposed to be over scale and spectacular and as expensive looking as the budget given to the designer.

The designer was running very late for the set up. In fact he showed up only a couple of hours before the start time, armed with a couple of crumpled shopping bags. Susan was having a fit demanding to know where his usual large crew was, where were the props, the Christmas trees, the centerpieces?

He didn't say a word, but calmly started placing little things in the center of each 72 inch round table. There was a little pair of wooden shoes for the Dutch table; a small sombrero for the table representing Mexico, and so on. The final straw was when he pulled out a Mezuzah for the table representing Israel.

Susan started laughing, and then mobilzed all her waiters. She sent them out to every Korean market in the neighborhood (where they sell plants and flowers), and they returned with dozens of Christmas plants and greenery, and dressed the tables beautifully.

She got the lighting director from Roseland to do some magic, and the room actually looked decorated, and the client was pretty satisfied. Of course she would not let the client pay the balance owed to the designer, and soon after no one ever saw him again.

So Susan told me: "Darling I just don't want the Mezuzah syndrome again."
I took this to mean she didn't want a surprise of something smaller than what was expected.

Take a look at the cool Eames rocker again. Though not experts on Mid Century design, my coworkers and I know enough to have used many Mid Century pieces personally and for clients.

27 X 25 X 26
It sounded so normal!

We ordered this rocker for a client for her new nursery. She wanted a hip looking rocker.

It arrived today, and we all were shocked, and then we had to laugh, and I said oh no it's the mezuzah syndrome!


I ordered it, a very well priced reproduction. I mentally noted the dimensions and it seemed fine.
When I saw it I thought I had made a mistake by ordering it at such a low price, that somehow because it was so inexpensive they had skimped on the size.

I went to several sites at many price points, and the dimensions were the same as the one we got.

I went to 1stdibs to see if the real thing was the same size (costing $3200), and it was.

I went to the official Eames web site to read about the original design, and the size is exactly as it is on the reproduction!

And more confusing, I read a couple of parenting blogs gushing about how great this rocker is for the nursery!

The rocker looks almost child size, and Caroline who you see sitting in it, is also a new mother herself. She laughed at the idea of rocking a baby or feeding a baby in this rocking chair.

What do you guys think? Do any of you have this rocking chair?

We really learned something new today about Mid Century design that we didn't know!

Stay tuned - we called the client today to come in, and to let her see the rocking chair. We of course want to order a larger chair, but we can't resist seeing the look on her face. Caroline is going to keep the rocker for her toddler son.

We all sat in it, and actually though low to the ground, it's pretty comfy. It just looks so odd with other normal size furniture.

"It was a real man cave, with a lot of heavy metal" - The Home of Robert Isabell

A few of my friends were collecting mid century modern long before I got it. Suzanne & Jeffrey from Second Hand Rose bought and sold it way before anyone else. Friends Steven, Robert M., Bruce, Michael. DiG., Philip, and Scott would fly to Miami and Los Angles in search of the great stuff. Steven ended up a curator for the Wolfsonian Museum in Miami. I would look at their apatments and think these guys are uber cool, but I was still an acolyte of Mario Buatta.


Among them was another collector named Robert Isabell, who was criss crossing my radar. We were both event designers at the same time in New York City. He and Preston Bailey were the big boy guns, and I was the little girl gun. My mid century collector friends all knew about Robert Isabel and his burgeoning collection.

Robert passed away a few months ago. Suddenly. Age 57. Heart attack. Shock and sadness are still palpable.


Now Sotheby's is auctioning off Robert's lovely things.

Buoyed by the success of his party design business (and believe me he was uber successful), and before it became fashionable and expensive, he had acquired 1940s furniture by Jean Prouvé and Charlotte Perriand and lamps by Serge Mouille. By the mid-1990s, he was developing a passion for the more robust work of Paul Evans, Harry Bertoia, George Nakashima, Phillip Lloyd Powell and Klaus Ihlenfeld.

When he began collecting heavy, metal-encrusted furniture designed by Paul Evans — buying prodigiously from Secondhand Rose, a downtown antiques store, and bidding successfully when the collection of Shari Lewis, the ventriloquist and puppeteer, was sold at Sollo Rago Modern Auctions in Lambertville, N.J., in 1999 — it was selling for as little as $800 a piece.

The eye-catching pièce de résistance in the room was the “Nickel Couch,” a sensuous metal confection by Johnny Swing, a Vermont designer, who spent three months welding thousands of nickels onto a patinated metal frame. (The couch, Lot 52 in Sotheby’s sale, is expected to sell for $15,000 to $20,000.)

The interiors that Robert devised for his own amusement at 16 Minetta Lane — in an aesthetic he jokingly described as “Blade Runner” meets “The Jetsons” — have now been disassembled. But the objects he cherished will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York on Dec. 17 (and will be on display there in advance, beginning on Dec. 12).


To read more about Robert and the auction at Sotheby's, go to the New York Times HERE, from whence I got these photos and information. It's well worth the read to have a glimpse into the very private life of the wonderful Robert Isabell.

Mid Century Modern in NOLA by Guest Blogger Laura Casey

Laura Casey who has the blog Laura Casey Interiors left a link to the following post for us on the comments HERE. I liked it so much, I thought I'd reprint it for all of you...enjoy!

Mid-Century Modern in NOLA

by laura on February 19, 2009

This mid-century modern house once stood in the beautiful neighborhood of Metairie (New Orleans, LA). It was built in 1950 by Johnny M. Gabriel, an architect from Lake Charles, LA. The ranch style house with its low slung roof and different sized limestones on the exterior was one of the first houses built on Woodvine Avenue. The entire house was furnished with original pieces from the Chicago Merchandise Mart by contemporary furniture designers such as Herman Miller and Charles & Ray Eames. The floor plan, materials used, and furnishings were all quite modern for the time.

Using the exterior limestone on the inside was a way of bringing the outside in, originally one of the priniciples of Frank Lloyd Wright’s organic architecture. You can see on the right how there are three sizes used which makes for interesting patterns. A variety of natural materials were used in the construction of the home. The slate which was used in the front hall, living room and dining room was brought to the house from North Carolina. I love the original front door with the windows centered on the mullions.

The house had a very contemporary floor plan for the time. The public spaces- the Living Room, the Dining Room and the front hall all were in the center of the house. The private spaces included a wing with the bedrooms to one side and the kitchen, a playroom and back entrance to the carport were on the other side. The ability to go from the kitchen to the bedrooms without having to go through the public space was somewhat of a new concept. The frosted glass wall and connecting partition to the left also allowed for greater privacy in the Living Room. Only some of the original furniture is here. The house was featured in a local magazine on August 27, 1950 and the article says “Mrs. Davis and her decorator chose an ebony coffee table and ebony Eames chairs with a plush red sofa for accent.” Sounds extremely hip, note the Noguchi coffee table which is a classic today.

The original table, chairs and sideboard. My mother-in-law is the left portrait.

The division between the LR and DR also had a fireplace. Mr. and Mrs. Davis wanted a division of space, an open feeling and a fireplace. The architect solved it by centering the house around the fireplace, also a concept that stems from Frank Lloyd Wright.

Originally the play room, this room had cork flooring as did one of the girls bedrooms. A sustainable and durable material, cork is used today and considered to be eco-friendly. Gabriel was ahead of his time.

Cork flooring and built-ins in one of the girls bedrooms.

One of very few houses in NOLA to have an O’Keefe and Merritt gas stove. When the hurricanes would hit and the electricity was out everyone wanted to come over to boil water. The stove is currently at one of the sister’s houses in FL. It is a vintage treasure.

The frosted glass was also used in the kitchen as an interior window. Behind the window was the playroom. By sliding the center bottom window pane mom could see the girls in the playroom and send snacks through.

All of the other furniture was custom designed by the architect to fit each room. Built-ins like these were an incredibly modern feature. LKD was my husband’s grandmother. I do not have a picture of the master bedroom but one of the most forward technologies of the house was that all of the lighting for the house could be controlled from the master bedroom. There was a cabinet built around the headboard so that one could turn on any light in the house before getting out of bed.

An on/off switch for heat in the bathroom. I love the art nouveau inspired grill work.

The open floor plan, full width open doors and a greater connection between the house and nature signaled a trend of houses incorporating more modern elements. The house had a great screened in back porch with sliding doors. The lightweight awning type aluminum framed windows allowed for maximum ventilation throughout the house.

The pool was added to the house a few years later. It was great to swim in the pool and then go play cards and have some lunch on the back porch.

After being sold, the house was torn down to our sadness in 2004. Thankfully though when Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005 the house and all it’s family treasures were spared. I was fortunate to be able to visit the house many times and love the wonderful woman who called that house her home for five decades.

Mid Century In Old Louisiana

There are small pockets of mid (20th) century houses in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Quite a few were wiped out in the Lakeview neighborhood in New Orleans by Katrina. The few remaining are coming back in all their glory. But there are several intact mid century beauties to be found in Baton Rouge just one hour from Lakeview.

The wandering, asymmetrical nature of these homes was nothing short of an alien encounter in neighborhoods filled with antebellum and post civil war homes. Surely there is something special to behold, though most traditionalists typically regard these homes as outdated eyesores in an otherwise normal neighborhood.

Decades have since passed, and many have found themselves gravitating towards mid-century architecture. Does this phenomenon stem from the rebellious tendencies identifiable in each emerging generation or is there, in fact, some common thread that inexplicably and fundamentally connects us to minimal design? Do we subconsciously find solace in a unified, simplified, and well-organized environment?

The vintage 1967 hardwood GE turntable and stereo system—a prized musical artifact that fills the home with a distinctly sumptuous texture of warm sound.

The dining and living areas are furnished with vintage pieces, local artwork, and re-editioned classics like the 1956 pedestal table by Eero Saarinen. The elegant marble topped table is flanked by a set of 1958 Cherner chairs designed by Norman Cherner. The graceful lines of the dining furniture are anchored by an oversized painting on panel by Ashley Longshore.

Minus a few minor cosmetic upgrades, including the addition of ceramic tile flooring and the removal of a breakfast bar separating the kitchen from the dining area (another typical modernist feature), the authenticity of the structure circa the early 1950s remains utterly unchanged.

Miraculously, most of the organically formed kitchen, and the original chrome appliances including the Toastmaster hot food server (a built-in drawer system intended for thawing, heating, or reheating a variety of American classics like Apple Brown Betty, Frankfurter buns, and Harvard beets) survived the numerous technological upgrades of the last five decades. In addition, new home designs of this era repositioned the kitchen as the nucleus of an open living area by pulling it out of its previous walled-in confinement, a trend still popular today.

Another great feature of the home is the unification of interior and exterior spaces popularized by the famed German architect Mies van der Rohe in 1950. Post-war Modernism emphasized a feeling of openness and interaction between the two realms.

Hope you enjoyed this mid century gem in old Louisiana!

Click on images for a larger view

Excerpts and photos from Louisiana Homes and Gardens