In love with Gnomeo
As far as designers go, I’ve always been fond of Philippe Starck’s innovative, streamlined styles. I lust after one of his Ghost chairs for my walk-in wardrobe (which I also stand little chance of ever actually having).
Starck’s style has always been humorous with a contemporary twist. But a creation that I’ve just come across takes the mickey out of just about everything that “we with good taste” find, well, tasteful.
Low stool or side table – you decide. It’s hilarious any way you look at it!
He even has a matching tree-table!
But my favourite Frenchman isn’t the only decorista who’s obsessed with short bearded men. This week’s crop of featured ideabooks on houzz.com also features these odd-looking inanimate objects.
Writer Becky Harris asked other browsers to send her photos of their garden gnomes. And people were surprisingly forthcoming. These endearing “little people”, it seems, are being given their place in the sun.
Fact: gnomes were originally used on German farms to ward off thieves. While something tells me that it’s going to take more than an odd little concrete figurine to solve SA’s crime problems, this guy keeps watch over his owner’s chickens in Los Angeles and she seems happy with his performance.
This okie’s owner thinks of him as a gentle sentry: “My little guy must be the ‘evil’ gnome because once I placed him in my hosta beds, and my dogs stopped tearing through them and tossing up leaves like so much salad,” she says.
Catherine Wood says that her diamond miner Phred probably has trouble keeping watch, what with his hat pulled down over his eyes and all, but she hopes that he’ll find the “diamond in the rough” in her garden.
Yet another houzz browser, who calls herself hopengilly, believes that her gnomes have super-powers: “Sugar, the cat, was almost beamed aboard the wheelbarrow of these two gnomes in our garden”.
So, it seems that whether you find them fanciful and fun or just frikkin ugly, the gnomes are making a comeback. Dust yours off (come on, I know you have one hiding somewhere), give him a coat of fresh paint and find a spot for him. At the very least, you’re guaranteed a smile every time you see him.
- Outdoor
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