For a design to succeed, it must be functional and suited to our lifestyles. And sometimes overseas designer items do not translate well in an Australian context, particularly in a sub-tropical Queensland context.
For example:
Our kitchen pendant lights, suspended over the island bench, are apparently 'inspired' by the Poul Christiansen designed Le Klint 172 - originally designed in Denmark in 1971. I actually did not know that when I bought our pendants from a stock standard lighting retailer - it was a quick, cheap and cheerful purchase when we were renovating the kitchen. I just liked the look of them. It was not long after they were installed that I realised they were a knock-off of Le Klint.
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| The one and only original Image from here |
Thankfully it was a cheap purchase, because the lights are a magnet for the multitude of flying bugs which invade the fly screen poor Sow's Ear during the warmer months. It never really occurred to me that the crevices and folds which constitutes the light's design would fill with little moths, mozzies and other unidentified flying objects!
Would they fill up with bugs in Denmark too?
Clearly, I do not vacuum my light fittings as frequently as I should. There must be a year's worth in there. Shudder. I might clean them tomorrow...Please don't judge me...
I still think they are a gorgeous light, but they're also highly impractical for a kitchen. We will definitely replace the pendants lights sometime down the track, preferably with pendants which don't trap our friends from the insect world.
Has something like this happened to you?
I can understand why that style of light would trap bugs, but I'm still trying to figure out how bugs get into the screw-on style of globes. Tricky (and self-destructive) little critters, aren't they?
ReplyDeleteWe had an incident just the other day that demonstrates the problems with design working in some regions and not others. Over the summer, my daughter and SIL decided to get one of those popular three-cornered sails to cover the patio, instead of an umbrella. One of the corners attached to my house. It looked great, gave us good shade, and we loved it.
Our area is prone to high winds during severe thunderstorms in the spring and fall, because the terrain here is flat and has little vegetation to slow down the wind, so we knew we'd have to take the sail down soon. Unfortunately, we didn't do it soon enough. We had a very minor rain the other night and, with it, apparently a freak gust of wind that got under the sail and literally broke off part of the fascia board of my house as it tore the sail down. (I say freak gust, because nothing in the news indicated any high wind in that brief, light shower.) So I'm thinking that sails are not such a good idea in my area. I can't imagine what it would have done in a real storm.
Oh Dana! You poor thing with your shade sail. Yikes! At least you know now that shade sails aren't something you'd attach to your house again! xx
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