Rico Amor

Mexicans. We love 'em. I am one. Valery insists on picking these up every chance she gets because they allegedly remind her of me. How could anyone deny the majesty of the following trio: an Italian shoe brush, a bandido with rope arms and a butt-plug sombrero or the splendor that is Hans Bolling's Señor Kahlua? No further explanation needed.

Valery recently purchased these sal y pimienta shakers from Phoney Fresh. We don't know anything about 'em, other than the fact that they're excellent examples of 60s ad merch. Do you?

Lights Out

We've had a pretty good run at turning up vintage space age lamps and light fixtures lately and we figured it was time to update y'all to our progress. The fixture above was purchased at the same store where we picked up our Umbos last year, and it sure was nice to return to the shop after an extended absence and walk out with something yet again. Details are scant, other than the fact that it was made in Switzerland. Any additional information is most welcome.

This was the eyesore we were determined to replace.

Here's the new and improved hallway.

A healthy portion of Valery's workday is spent slogging through photographs, and she couldn't believe it when she saw a vintage Lightolier lamp lurking in the background of a photo she was proofing. A few frantic text messages and a favor from Valery's friend Kim got this one hand-delivered to us in under three days. Not bad ...especially when you consider that the lamp was originally for sale in Charlotte. Thanks again, Kim!

We scored this one a few months back, though we've refrained from posting it until now. Here's a Dalu lamp by Artemide that we found it at a local antique store for $30. It appeared unused and still had the original tags attached! Oh, and that glowing orange orb in the background is another fixture we've picked up, but we're saving that for the dressing room renovation exclusive Valery's got in queue.

An Italian Knight-light from the same line as our Viking from a few entries ago? Yes! A very fine topper for this installment.

I Can See You But You Don't Know

Here's another longstanding want that's finally materialized for us. Valery and I spotted this fiberglass chair a few years back, and we'd always check up on it when we stopped in at one of our favorite antique haunts—knowing full well that it would still be there, since it was stored overhead and was buried under a giant display mask. A few weeks ago, we finally mustered up the courage and asked the shop owner for a price ...the figure he quoted us was way too good to pass up.

We've only been able to find one other example of this floor-hugger online, and we don't really have much to go on—except for the fact that it was produced by Asko, the same Finnish company responsible for manufacturing Eero Aarnio's designs. Any information regarding its designer or production date would be much appreciated!

You can expect its reappearance once we wrap up our ongoing project: the home office renovation. Until then, this'un's headed straight back into deep storage.

***Update: The kind folks at Asko just provided the following info regarding our mystery chair:

The chair You asked about is called Valkoinen Kissa which translates as The White Cat. Markku Kosonen designed it for Asko in 1968. It first appeared in the sales catalogues in 1970.

Many thanks to Hannele for passing along the Asko contact address, and Päivi for supplying the much needed information.