Interior Design: Gemstones as Decor
We often think of gemstones as something we decorate our bodies with—not our homes and office buildings—but a beautiful trend in interior design says otherwise. Gemstones and other stones, often in the form of geode sculptures and accents and even backlit stone walls, can add a unique, eye-catching touch to any space.
Geode Sculptures
Geode sculpture can range from small pieces that accent a coffee table to larger items that deserve their own shelf in a curio cabinet. Some remain in their natural shape and therefore have an “abstract” appeal while others are carved into recognizable shapes like birds, horses—and even skulls!
Amethyst Geode Sculpture
Brass and Geode Sculpture
Agate Crystal Horse Head
Not quite sure you want an entire geode sculpture in your home? For a more subtle take on the geode decorating trend, try accenting your space with beautiful geode coasters.
Silvered Geode Coaster
Backlit Stone Walls
GPI Design, a firm specializing in lighting and surfaces, has produced luxurious accent walls featuring backlit onyx. Backlit walls have varying levels of translucency, which creates an intriguing effect. The slabs of onyx are carefully selected to effect a sense of organic fluidity.
Lithos Design is another company specializing in this striking decor and drawing attention to the art of backlit stonework.
__
Photos: 1stDibs, Rikoo, Anthropologie, GPI Design, Lithos Design
Best Coffee Table Jewelry Books
Although no jewelry gift can quite compare to actual jewelry, these stunning coffee table books come close. Think of these tomes as the diamonds of the book world--they're gorgeous, beautifully crafted, and designed to last (both literally and figuratively--the incredible jewelry in these books depict will never be passé).
Like a diamond, these books are an investment. However, each one educates as much as it looks pretty sitting in the center of your living room or on your nightstand. Any one of these books would make a perfect gift for a jewelry lover--or just a treat for you!
1. Vogue: The Jewellery, by Carol Woolton
Carol Woolton is the jewelry editor of British Vogue and an expert on historic and antique jewelry. This beautiful collection highlights the most memorable jewelry moments in Vogue and features both costume and fine jewelry. Illustrating the variety of jewelry featured in the magazine over the years, 300 pieces are organized into five sections: Show-stoppers, Rock Chick, Minimalist, Exotic, and Classical.
2. The Impossible Collection of Jewelry, by Vivienne Becker
Jewelry historian Vivienne Becker captures the milestones of jewelry design from the last century in The Impossible Collection. From the Art Nouveau period to the pre-new millennium era, 100 pieces are showcased for their design and the fascinating stories behind them. Featured designers include Cartier, Van Cleef, David Webb, and Boivin.
3. Pearls, by Beatrix Chadour-Sampson
Spanning centuries and cultures, Pearls traces the history of pearls' role as symbols of status and glamour--and in some contexts, purity. The book begins with a discussion pearls in the Roman Empire and concludes with a feature on pearls (and the impact of their cultured counterparts) in the modern era.
4. Jewels of the Rennaissance, by Yvonne Hackenbrock
The European Renaissance is one of the most interesting periods for jewelry design. Written by Renaissance and world jewelry authority Yvonne Hackenbroch, Jewels of the Renaissance overflows with stunning images of some of the most creative pieces from this artistic period. Hackenbroch also weaves in the compelling stories behind the pieces--including tales about who wore the jewelry, who created it, and who commissioned it.
5. Emerald: Twenty-One Centuries of Jewelled Opulence and Power, by Joanna Hardy
Split into three parts, Emerald celebrates the green gemstone that's reported to be 20 times rarer than a diamond. The first section features emerald jewelry worn by celebrities including Angelina Jolie, Princess Diana, and Elizabeth Taylor. This section also illustrates how emeralds have been featured in art and advertising. The second section covers historic emerald pieces--some created millennia ago, others created by the likes of Cartier, Boucheron, Bulgari, and Harry Winston. The final section discusses the emerald trade and features specially commissioned photos from four continents.
6. Bejewelled Treasures: The Al-Thani Collection, by Susan Stronge
This book features 100 of the most spectacular pieces of a single Victoria & Albert jewelry collection, the Al-Thani Collection. Enjoy gorgeous photos of pieces previously owned by the great maharajas, nizams, sultans, and emperors of India from the 17th to the 20th century. Bejewelled Treasures also examines how Indian jewelry influenced theAvantee-Garde pieces of European jewelry designers (including Cartier).
__
Which of these jewelry coffee table books is on your wishlist?
You may also be interested in: How to Sweetly Hint for Gifts
7 Lovely Eco-Friendly Gift Wrapping Ideas
Eco-Friendly Jewelry: DIY Spoon Rings
__
Photos: Amazaon
The Golden Ratio in Art and Design
Leonardo DaVinci was known to use the Golden Ratio in his paintings including The Last Supper.
The Golden Ratio (a.k.a. “Golden Mean” or “Divine Proportion”), a number that’s found in the proportions of starfish, human faces, and hurricanes, isn’t just an uncanny natural phenomenon. Because it is believed to play an important role in the way we interpret beauty (both natural and manmade), the Golden Ratio can be spotted in various arts from photography to architecture. While some artists and designers purposely employ the ratio, it's reasonable to wonder if some of them find it more organically simply because they have a "good eye." In many cases, we may never know the answer!
Examples of The Golden Ratio in Art and Design
Georges Pierre Seurat is another painter noted for his use of the Golden Ratio to compose the landscapes of his pieces.
This clever necklace represents a more literal approach to using the Golden Ratio in art and design!
Is the Apple logo a perfect design?
The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Japanese artist Hoksai is a well-recognized and beloved painting. Does it owe its aesthetic appeal, in part, to the Golden Ratio? Was this a purposeful choice on the part of the artist?
Tara Mastroeni explains that architects take advantage of the golden ratio in their building designs because it allows them to create aesthetically pleasing designs with room for a great deal of variation. Here are just a few examples of homes that both follow the Golden Ratio while still looking quite different from each other.
Now it's your turn!
Want to experiment with the Golden Ratio in your own designs? Follow this guide to drawing a Golden Rectangle, which follows the Golden Ratio, creating one of the most visually satisfying geometric forms. You can also try various programs to help with calculations. A few options include goldenRatio, a program to helps designers plan a general layout; Atrise Golden Section, which, among other functions, may be used in Adobe Photoshop to help you crop visually pleasing images; and Golden Ratio Typography Calculator, a simple tool that helps you determine the most visually pleasing typography for your website.
Is the Golden Ratio really so golden?
There is certainly some debate about whether or not the Golden Ratio really does, in fact, play a role in the way we’re visually attracted to objects and people. After all, as individuals, we have distinct tastes and don’t always find the same subjects beautiful. The Hass School of Business published results of a study that found that participants, on average, preferred rectangles that are in the range of 1.414 and 1.732. This range includes the Golden Rectangle (1.618) but indicates that it’s not everyone’s first pick.
Moreover, there is some speculation that the Golden Ratio doesn’t have a lot of practical application in the real world of design. As John Brownlee explains, many contemporary designers find that they don’t rely on the Golden Ratio, some eschewing it altogether.
What’s more, actually implementing the Golden Ratio in a design is mathematically impossible because the number goes on forever. We’re only able to produce approximations. Others argue, however, that approximations are enough since the Golden Ratio is more about the larger picture, so to speak, and a general aesthetic impression.
A final critique of the Golden Ratio--or rather the obsession with it--is that it's just one more manifestation of humans seeking patterns and logic where patterns and logic don't necessarily exist.
Nonetheless, the Golden Ratio is still revered as a majestic theory and may inspire, if not exactly dictate, the proportions of beautiful designs.
What's your take on the Golden Ratio?
You may also be interested in:
A Brief History of Navajo Turquoise and Silver Jewelry
What Are Cameos and How Are They Made?
Photos: Golden Number, Bonny Rabbit Boutique via Etsy, Notey, Image Kind
What Is the Golden Ratio?
From hurricanes to ancient architecture to the center of sunflowers, examples of the Golden Ratio are all around us.
The Golden Ratio.
Live Science defines the Golden Ratio (also called the Golden Mean or Divine Proportion) as “a special number found by dividing a line into two parts so that the longer part divided by the smaller part is also equal to the whole length divided by the longer part. It is often symbolized using phi, after the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet.” As with pi, the golden ratio is a number whose decimal points go on ad infinitum. 1.61803398875… is just the beginning. Phi is usually rounded off to 1.618. The equation is expressed as a/b = (a+b)/a = 1.618…
Phi.
The Golden Ratio has been discovered and rediscovered by mathematicians throughout ancient history and across cultures. The ratio may be seen in the proportions of great ancient architecture including the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Parthenon. Plato (428 - 347 BCE) described the ratio as the most “universally binding mathematical equation.”
A full-scale recreation of the Parthenon in Nashville, TN.
The Golden Ratio is closely related to the Fibonacci Sequence discovered by Leonardo Fibonacci in 1202. Fibonacci Sequence is a sequence of numbers: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34… The expression is written as xn = xn-1 + xn-2. The Ratio of two successive Fibonacci numbers roughly equal the Golden Ratio--especially as the numbers increase in size.
The Golden Ratio also informs the Golden Rectangle, which is considered the most visually satisfying geometric from. The ratio of the length and width of the Golden Rectangle equal the Golden Ratio. The Golden Rectangle is often employed in photography, art, and design (but more on that in a later post).
Outside of the realm of mathematics, the Golden Ratio plays a surprisingly significant role in the natural world. In nature, the Golden Ratio can be found in the arrangement of flower petals in some flowers, seed heads, pinecones, tree branches, shells, spiral galaxies, dolphins, starfish, sand dollars, honey bees, hurricanes, human fingers, and even our DNA molecules.
Moreover, the Golden Ratio, loosely speaking, can be found on the faces of individuals that are generally found most attractive. A geometric “beauty mask” can help predict whether or not the proportions of an individual's face will be deemed attractive by the average person. Of course, we know that beauty comes down to more than a math equation and it's important to promote concepts of beauty that move past traditional definitions--but it's interesting to think about the way this one equation plays such an important but quiet role in our perception of aesthetics.
You may also be interested in:
What Is Computer Assisted Design (CAD)?
How Does Fashion Trend Forecasting Work?
Photo: Live Science, Wikimedia Commons
