A Touch of Copper

Hello,

Back from a most wonderful, relaxing and inspiring holiday in Italy.  I'll be referring to it in a few posts but promise not to bore you to death with acres of holiday snaps.

The wifi we were hoping for turned out to be a dongle, which was not much use with my ipad, so I rather feel like I'm starting from scratch on learning how to post.  Never mind, I'm sure it will soon become second nature.

Never having been to Rome, we decided to take advantage of landing at Rome airport to at least get a glimpse of some of the most famous sites.  When I should have been marvelling at the wonders of the Coloseum, I couldn't help noticing how the addition of a simple band of copper to the planters on the pavement nearby really lifted them out of the ordinary.  (Isn't there some scathing comment, I think by Henry James, about tourists going to marvelous places and recounting tales of an interesting dog they saw there? - Springs to mind, not sure why...)

Anyway, I'm afraid I didn't take a photo of the planters, or of the fabulous copper doorway I passed later that day, but it did get me thinking about copper and how beautiful it is.  Fortunately, by the time I got to Pompeii and Sorrento I had my wits about me and took some snaps of a couple of lovely examples of copper.  The images are below, as is the one and only image I will inflict on you of me on my holidays.  (The eagle-eyed among you may spot the lovely copper-coloured corsage detail on my handbag:


Super stylish street lights in Pompeii with copper in the upper section: 
A beautiful copper hotel sign in Sorrento:





I used quite a few warm copper details in this rather smart sitting room.  I placed two complementary copper coloured ironwork mirrors, one vintage, the other more recent, over the consoles flanking the window and kept it contemporary with the Habitat Ribbon table lamps in copper. 

http://www.habitat.co.uk/table-lights/lighting/fcp-category/list?resetFilters=true#productsPerPage=56





We also added the Fantome Ghost clock by Innermost in bronze... (I love this clock in all its incarnations.  I used to stock it in my shop and I have the smaller faceted version on my mantelpiece at home.  I think it really sums up the mixing of the old with the new.)


http://www.awhiteroom.com/innermost/innermost-small-fantome-ghost-clock.asp
... and some original metallic artwork by Laura Richardson (Nee Barker) who is one of the artists I'm hoping to feature in a future post.

http://www.craftanddesign.com/studios/laurabarker

I can't focus on copper without mentioning the Tom Dixon Copper Light.  I put one of these in the bedroom of a sixth former two or three years ago and feel it was a good choice as it still seems so right now that he is a young man at university.  It was quite expensive for a young person's room but I mitigated it slightly by teaming it with a pair of copper lamps from Ikea.

http://www.tomdixon.net/products/uk/copper-shade


There is more to say on copper  but I'll have to leave it there for today.  Triciax

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