#13 Let the light in: candles for fall, gaetano pesce foot chairs, Janie Korn olives, and more
The genius of Krystel Liliana, Eros dining chairs, and yhomebaby.
Hello! Welcome to McLotto, a furniture newsletter for pieces from the tri-state area and beyond. All typos and grammatical errors are, of course, intentional. Find the perfect club chair, celebrate lucite, buy an old Comme button-down, and delve deeper into Craigslist. If you enjoy McLotto send it to a friend or keep it a secret. 💋
THE MCLOTTO AGENDA
How to let the light in, courtesy of the genius Krystel Liliana! Brutalist candle holders, tomato scents, painted lamp shades, ssense finds, and more.
Verso’s Black Folks in Design Exhibition
Surrealist furniture from unlikely places, AKA, yhomebaby
Some news
Verso’s Black Folks in Design exhibition is closing this Friday! On view at their Tribeca location featuring works by Nifemi Marcus-Bello, Norman Teague, Mabeo Furniture, and more. Go check it out.
The comments on this Tiktok of a woman showing how she redecorated her boyfriend’s apartment.
If you don’t have LC3 Corbusier sofa money right now this Ethan Allen one with chrome finishes is an easy buy.
I have a furniture fixation fueled by the Instagram account yhomebaby, which features gargantuan sofas and ornate chairs destined for a Hans Christian Andersen protagonist. Their videos of men slapping sprawling coffee tables and attempting to push over bloated rococo living room sets are mesmerizing yet so divorced from the actual site’s inventory, which includes the regular homeware stable of jute rugs and white linen sofas. I often see surrealist furniture in the realm of Gaetano Pesce foot chairs or this Studio Tetrach Tovaglia tablecloth coffee table I saw on Live Auctioneers last week, but it’s fascinating to see pieces that look so unsure of their purpose in such a traditional furniture floor setting.
Search terms used for the finds below: brutalist candle holders, trompe l'oeil table, standing candelabra, antique hand-painted lampshade, wrought-iron candle sculpture
How do you let the light in?
As the sun sets at an inhumane hour and you force yourself to head out into the world at 6 PM, it’s time to seek out light in all of its forms. This is a collection of lights that delighted me this week from eBay, ssense, Mociun, 1st Dibs, and a few other independent stores. There are the typical status candle brands or lamps you see on strategist gift guides and in wine bar bathrooms — I’m partial to Malin and Goetz’s Cannabis candle and a Noguchi Akari — but these are for thinking outside of the box to give yourself or someone in your life for holiday parties, dinners, and birthdays. And when you’re looking for a way to shut it all down, check out this fantastic antique candle extinguisher or relive your altar boy days with a candle snuffer.
Emily Sundberg’s newsletter Feed Me also featured some incredible renter-friendly shades from Tulip that you can put over the terrible boob light situation that’s in every NYC living room.
I love Krystel Liliana’s work and you should too. In a sea of chunky candles with bold black fonts and insane names, it’s refreshing to find work that feels so spiritual and present. I’ve included a collage down below of my favorite pieces of hers but please check out all of her work here.
Delving into status candles briefly — these Diptyque candle sticks are insane and funny but would be a sweet gift for a holiday or housewarming party you have coming up.
Candelabras are the future and the past! If you don’t have the space or time for a floor one, this chrome and stone one has a nice weight and contrast to it for a bedside table or a centerpiece for a dinner party.
As for standing candelabras (a great eBay watchlist term), this one is great with or without candles and a little over $300.
Don’t hate the lamp, hate THE SHADE!!! If you’re looking for a lamp or have one that you hate, do a quick eBay search for antique hand-painted lampshades. The easiest way to get a lamp you love is to buy a cheap base and add a fun shade. I love this cowboy-themed one but there are so many beautiful well-crafted pieces going for $30-50 like a sweet painted pastoral, this Hawaii fringe one, a beautiful tulip tribute, another landscape….time to do a whole post about these. There’s also nightshade studio in NYC for all your custom lampshade needs!
For the friend who has every status candle or a wealthy mom/ aunt who loves gardening, there’s always the delightfully heinous Flamingo Estate tomato candle. Also great for a dinner party where you need a conversation starter right off the bat.
Janie Korn creates maybe THE best gift candles. I got my friend a Bart Simpson-shaped candle from her for their birthday many years ago but you could send her a photo of your friend’s dog or your mother and she could craft an excellent custom candle. She also has some pretty aperitivo candles on ssense right now.
A lot of crazy good iron-wrought candle holder sculptures on eBay for under $50, including this one. (These two are also so unbelievably fun, especially this brutalist daisy flower candle holder that’s a little less out there than some of the things on this list.)
There are plenty of chrome candle stands on eBay (here are some of my picks if you’re curious) but if you’re gifting something and want to be sure of quality these ones from Mociun in Williamsburg would be cute.
Wavy candle holders can often verge on being too twee, but this pair in dark metal stick safely within a Bruises-gallery-like whimsy. These two wrought-iron ones are also incredible.
Some more of Krystel Liliana’s work!
Thanks so much for reading.
XO
MC
P.S.
I saw these two Eros chairs listed on FB marketplace for $420 but you can get 5 for that price from Craigslist, probably for a lot less with some haggling since they need some polish. Get some corduroy or red velvet cushions on Etsy and you’re set.