A blog of aggregated miscellanea and things I like uncovered from my daily travails. I'm @jacobjay, a peripatetic designer/developer of British persuasion, having interests in gastronomy, fashion, technology, interiors and sustainability. I'm currently living between New Delhi and France, working on a Lua web platform and e-commerce. I dig Macs, mountain biking and smelly cheese.
↩ Jacob's Ephemerata
I bought an apartment. In a rather unloved French building dating from the 1700s. I shall be blogging about my efforts to make it lovely. Or habitable. One or the other…
Although I’m some way from being able to photograph the elements of my decor together, this glimpse emerged from under the plaster dust that’s been covering everything (including me) since I got the keys. I’d almost forgotten how nice parquet is, even if only after just a quick wipe! (I’ll be sanding and oiling it…sometime.)
The shot gives a little taster of the style I’m aiming for and demonstrates the princples that I’m putting to work—the juxtaposition of natural with contemporary, both in form and in finish. But I’ll also be supplementing this with a bit of historic ‘French look’ (think wrought iron and decorative ceilings) to preserve a little of the apartment’s original (but long since mostly erradicated) decor.
In the photograph:
- Point de Hongrie (chevron) parquet floor, of an unidentified hardwood. I much prefer this chevron layout with its clear straight lines to the busy interlocking herringbone. I’ll be reflecting these lines and angles in a few other things. This was original with the apartment albeit in well-used condition; can be found reclaimed from around €50/m2, and of course new…with less character and a higher cost, but a better fit.
- Barleycorn weave Harris Tweed sofa fabric. With flecks of burnt orange and mossy green amongst cream, it gives a lovely consistent mottled texture that can almost be mistaken for herringbone. You need to get up close to really appreciate it. Natural wool is both warming and wicking, so should be perfect for a living room that’ll see both hot and cold periods. Woven by hand in the Harris islands of Scotland, this particular weave and colour is hard to find but I managed to nab 16m from a private seller on Harris itself at just €38/m via eBay. A fairly significant but durable investment.
- Pieper Concept ‘Club’ coffee table and magazine rack, in white steel with black foot. It’s extremely sturdy, swivels, and very practical whilst looking supremely minimal. Not quite big enough for laptop and coffee—but just high enough to swivel over the sofa. €325 from Germany.
By Hungarian painter and illustrator, Kuizs Lilla. Made during her travels through Asia.
Barbour waxed women’s jacket in Liberty ‘forest’ print (£230, discontinued). Feminine practicality. Frankly I’m sad they don’t use more flamboyant prints for the men’s line, the tartans get a bit trite. Styled here with a neat town and country ambivalence, by Yewon at girlsack.
Life Behind The Picture: Picasso ‘draws’ with light
In 1949, LIFE magazine’s Gijon Mili visited and documented Pablo Picasso in the South of France. Mili was known for technical innovations, and Picasso, appear of Mili’s talents, wanted to try and few experiments of his own. Alas, these light drawings were part of the documentation.
As LIFE explains, “This series of photographs, known ever since as Picasso’s ‘light drawings’ were made with a small electric light in a darkened room; in effect, the images vanished as soon as they were created - and yet they were perpetuated in these amazing photographs.
Clock face by Dieter Rams for Braun; animated GIF by Bibliothèque of London, from their works for a Design Museum exhibition in 2009.
‘The Two Wolves,’ an illustrated narrative of an unattributed aphorism (not necessarily American Indian); from the Zen Pencils weekly cartoon by Gavin Aung, a freelance illustrator in Melbourne.
“I Have Your Heart…” with illustration by Molly Crabapple (NYC), music by Kim Boekbinder (NYC), and animation by Jim Batt (Melbourne).
The Riddle of Epicurus
The Riddle of Epicurus, or Problem of evil, is a famous argument against the existence of an all-powerful and providential God or gods. As recorded by Lactantius:
God either wants to eliminate bad things and cannot, or can but does not want to, or neither wishes to nor can, or both wants to and can. If he wants to and cannot, then he is weak - and this does not apply to god. If he can but does not want to, then he is spiteful - which is equally foreign to god’s nature. If he neither wants to nor can, he is both weak and spiteful, and so not a god. If he wants to and can, which is the only thing fitting for a god, where then do bad things come from? Or why does he not eliminate them?
Epicurus’ view was that there were gods, but that they were neither willing nor able to prevent evil. This was not because they were malevolent, but because they lived in a perfect state of ataraxia, a state everyone should strive to emulate; it is not the gods who are upset by evils, but people.
Parallels may be drawn to Buddhism, which similarly emphasizes a lack of divine interference and aspects of its atomism. Buddhism also resembles Epicureanism in its temperateness, including the belief that great excesses leads to great dissatisfaction.
The Best
In his blog post Dustin Curtis (Villain. Creator of Svbtle.) puts words to the philosophy that I also follow: «when you have trust in everything you own, you don’t have to worry about anything. “The best” isn’t necessarily a product or thing. It’s the reward for winning the battle fought between patience, obsession, and desire. It requires that you find the best thing for yourself, which means you need to know what actually matters to you.»
