How to Live with Objects: A Guide to More Meaningful Interiors

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A refreshing, and necessary, counternarrative to shop-this-look consumerism and the aesthetic sameness that afflicts so many interiors.” — Vulture Are you sensing a theme? I love a butter yellow and it’s mighty hard to find in contemporary objects. These coffee tables combine laminate, which I’ve long thought needed a second look, with chunky legs and a top big enough for board games or a pizza box. I see these as a riff on 1970s dorm decor in the best way.” Photo by Brian W. Ferry Kelsey Keith, editorial director, Herman Miller In How to Live With Objects, we'll introduce you to four categories of objects — vintage, contemporary, handmade, and sentimental — and guide you through the process of finding and identifying good ones and incorporating them into your space. We'll teach you how to find and identify makers and styles you love, which questions to ask when purchasing objects, and why it’s okay to have at least one thing in your home that no one else understands. So, it comes as no surprise that when an agent approached the duo to write a book, Jill and Monica knew they wanted to focus on objects. How to Live With Objects—out today!—is a highly visual manual for improving your home and building your confidence in collecting personal, unique objects that you love. “You don’t have to be scared of putting a home together that’s personally meaningful to you,” explains Jill. “We focus on vintage, contemporary, and handmade objects. Plus, there’s advice and house tours where you can see how people live with these objects.” Essentially, this is a book to obsess over. A refreshing, and necessary, counternarrative to shop-this-look consumerism and the aesthetic sameness that afflicts so many interiors." -- Vulture

I have the Max Lamb bowl and use it every night that we cook for salad or vegetables. We love both designers at Home Studios, and the bowls are good examples of why: great balance of whimsy and rigor, very tactile, and you can feel and appreciate the process of shaping the material.” Leo Forsell, Arranging Things Vintage (top): Wooden bowls in all shapes and forms by random enthusiastic wood lovers “I love the warmth these bowls add to a space. They also come in very handy, I have fruit and vegetables in them, receipts, keys, makeup, sunglasses, nothing, or all of the above. They serve a purpose beyond the aesthetic, but obviously the main reason I can’t stop buying them is because I love how they look and feel. Above all else I love a freeform burl bowl.” Thrifting has become so on-trend not just for the unique and inexpensive objects, but because of the whole treasure hunt experience. What are your top tips for vintage hunting?This lamp is such a work of art. When you see it in person, you get it; it makes any room instantly modern. The light you get from it is warm and nice, and the finish is so different from other lamps — the craftsmanship is outrageous. I collect Paulin, and I bought this lamp the same day my son was born thinking that this is something I could pass down to him. It was a scary thing to buy because of the price but there was this magic in the air and that was a way of celebrating, in my own way.” Photo by Clement Pascal

I love how they have reduced the design to its absolute minimum, three basic elements, exploring the archetype of a lamp with dimensions and combinations of color. I have used different pieces from the collection in my last two interior designs and I just love them, how the graphic elements play together with my color combinations and the interplay between 3D and 2D, realism and abstraction.” Emily Forgot, designer I love the use of graphic wood tone placement on this stool by Fort Standard. It’s so clever, timeless and feels like it can fit seamlessly into so many spaces!” Meaghan Roddy, head of design and senior VP, Phillips From the editors of Sight Unseen, an anti-decorating book that champions a new approach to interiors--simply surrounding yourself with objects you love. After the Marie Kondo-inspired craze for purging unnecessary objects, this book is a welcome antidote to the idea that accumulating and appreciating stuff is bad." --Artnet Creative and fun, this will be invaluable to readers looking to foster a more meaningful connection with the objects they bring home." -- Publishers Weekly

My Book Notes

I found this sculpture in Rome and could not leave without it and an extra bag just to get it home in. It’s a good conversation starter since it’s hard to say if the carved couple are having sex or if they’re just hugging each other.” While we did envision How to Live With Objects as a (highly visual) manual for improving your home, we’re calling it the “anti-decorating” book, because we’re firm believers in the idea that, in this day and age, it matters far less whether your interior is perfectly appointed, and more whether it’s authentically personal, unique, and filled with objects you have a connection to. In our object-based approach to interiors, anyone can build an authentic, layered, and beautiful home by personalizing it with meaningful art and design objects — regardless of space limitations, style preferences, or budget. How to Live with Objects] is a useful, illustrated guide for all the Marie Kondo challengers who find joy in amassing beautiful objects—but most of all, it’s a welcome reminder that there are as many definitions of ‘beautiful’ as there are humans on this planet.” — Fast Company

From the editors of Sight Unseen, an anti-decorating book that champions a new approach to interiors—simply surrounding yourself with objects you love. Because it’s like a fluid forever ongoing dream….and yet a functional, modular sofa. I saw it the first time in velvet olive green, very 1970s-style and still how I picture it every time I hear about it, and how I would want it if I could ever afford getting one. Or at least green, I love it here as well in the home of Trine Kjer.Mostly I collect furniture, and the objects I do tend to be functional, so I’ve chosen two bowls. One designed in 2012, and one in 1995, both being made currently. I don’t have the Gaetano Pesce but it’s on my wish list.” consultants. Khemsurov is a contributing editor for T: The New York Times Style Magazine and a contributor to Bon Appetit, Bloomberg Businessweek, and W, while Singer's writing has appeared in PIN-UP, Elle Decor, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, W, and more. Both live and work in New York City. After the Marie Kondo-inspired craze for purging unnecessary objects, this book is a welcome antidote to the idea that accumulating and appreciating stuff is bad.” —Artnet Full of wisdom from professional interior designers. Learn how to discern between originals and reproductions, bargain at antique fairs, and navigate estate sales.” —Airmail

With How to Live with Objects, an objet d'art in itself, the founders of the magazine Sight Unseen have created the bible of modern home decor and style; a design self-help book, made to aid in up-leveling the intent and impact of your space. How to Live With Objects is a well of inspiration." -- Vanity Fair A highly visual manual for improving your home and building your confidence in collecting personal, unique objects that you love.” — Architectural Digest There’s a reason we chose the word styling as the title of our final chapter: Whereas decorating refers to creating a holistic vision for a space at the macro level, with the objects acting as supporting characters in a larger story, styling is more about how you arrange things at the micro level, creating moments and vignettes that highlight the objects in the most interesting and aesthetically pleasing ways. You decorate a room; you style a shelf. While the most aspirational interiors admittedly nail both, there are plenty of books about decorating out there, and this isn’t one of them. If you’re truly an object lover, focusing your efforts around your favorite possessions may feel like second nature anyway: “I’ve never opened a decorating magazine for inspiration in my life,” says Linda Meyers of Wary Meyers. “First, we find something, and then we create a space to organize it or display it. The interior is created to house the cool objects. You want to show them off—even just to yourself.”We just got this in the shop and I can’t take my eyes off of it. It combines my love for metal and craft, brutalism and minimalism in a very successful way. (If I owned this I would absolutely put a wooden burl bowl on top of it.)” Josh Itiola, planner, Vitsoe A highly visual manual for improving your home and building your confidence in collecting personal, unique objects that you love." -- Architectural Digest How to Live with Objects] is a useful, illustrated guide for all the Marie Kondo challengers who find joy in amassing beautiful objects--but most of all, it's a welcome reminder that there are as many definitions of 'beautiful' as there are humans on this planet." -- Fast Company What is it that defines a home? Is it the perfectly chosen paint colors? The moldings, the archways, or the beams? Is it the matching nightstands, the puddled curtains, the tiled bathrooms, the oak-plank floors? For years, shelter magazines and design books defined a home that was worth having—and, by extension, a home that was worth showing off to the world—as one that was decorated just so, that paid attention to those kinds of details, and that was often brought to life by someone with professional expertise in such matters. And while those homes were often beautiful, they sometimes evoked an uneasy sense of anonymity; you got the same feeling from looking at them as you did from flipping through the catalog of a big-box furniture store. You wondered, “Who, exactly, lives here?” PDF / EPUB File Name: How_to_Live_with_Objects_-_Monica_Khemsurov.pdf, How_to_Live_with_Objects_-_Monica_Khemsurov.epub