Category: Personal
Modernist Pilgrimage returns
After not having posted anything in over a year (and not having been anywhere in over 18 months), the end of lockdown has meant that I’ve been able to get out and about to actually generate content for Modernist Pilgrimage.
In addition, the shabby bathrooms that we left out of our house renovation project for budgetary reasons have packed up after three years (the ensuite is currently being held together by tape) so I’ll be documenting the renovation of these as well over the coming months.
Thank you to anyone still reading Modernist Pilgrimage!
Dad in the Sixties
Remastered November 2017
When it comes to making sartorial, design or general life decisions, the question I usually ask myself is: what would my dad have done in the sixties?
Poul Cadovius Royal System
Royal System
Wall-hung storage system
Designer: Poul Cadovius
Year designed: 1948
Updated in 2017 with better pictures
One of my most prized possessions is the rather imposing rosewood Royal System shelving unit that spans one of the walls of my living room.
The Royal System was conceived in 1948 by Poul Cadovius, a Danish designer. One of the first wall-hung storage systems, it’s comprised of a series of vertically hung wooden rails onto which shelves and drawer, cupboard and work station units can be attached using a screw-free system of interlocking brackets, precisely-angled pegs and slots. The extent to which this system of rails and pegs is relied upon to bear the weight of the solid wood units, the shelves and all of items on the units and shelves (big hardback books, knickknacks, a TV) still confuses and worries me a bit. I still half expect to come home from work to find the whole thing on the floor.
The Royal System has been a constant and reassuring presence in my life. My dad bought the unit from Heal’s on Tottenham Court Road in the 1970s and it has followed him (and later on, our family) from home to home until he kindly bequeathed it to me when I bought my first place.
Whilst it looks pretty modish in these 1970s photos (when it was fully assembled, complemented by furniture of a similar style and sparsely populated with my dad’s (now) stylishly retro possessions), my 1990s childhood memories are of it partially assembled (we used the drawer and storage units as random bits of occasional furniture in various rooms of the house) and otherwise crammed full with rows and rows of TDK video cassette boxes containing recordings of my mum’s Chinese soap operas. I remember thinking it looked a bit unsightly and dated and wondered why my parents couldn’t replace it with a nice bit of flat-packed Ikea. It has only been in recent years that I’ve come to appreciate what a great piece of mid-century design it is and I feel very lucky to have it hanging in my living room.
The Royal System has been reissued recently in more modern finishes (oak and walnut rather than the original rosewood and teak options) and with a slimmer, slightly more refined profile. I am probably biased but I prefer the chunky original (and best), which you can occasionally find knocking about on eBay.
Modernist Pilgrimage
Hello
As a longtime admirer (and daily visitor) of the excellent blogs modernistestates.com, doorsixteen.com and manhattan-nest.com, I’ve decided to start my own blog to document the visits I’ve made to various modernist properties through the years and my amateur attempts at recreating the modernist/mid century look at home.
A few disclaimers:
- I am only in possession of an iPhone camera at the moment so the quality of my photos will range from acceptable to downright poor.
- I have absolutely no original interior design ideas of my own – if something I’ve done in my home looks familiar, it’s probably because I’ve stolen the idea from something I’ve seen on doorsixteen or manhattan-nest. I am also a complete cheapskate and am definitely not above buying cheap knock-off mid century furniture (though my objective is to replace all of my knock-offs with genuine articles one day in the distant future) so if something looks like a knock-off, it probably is.
- All photos of other people’s properties were taken on Open House tours or at properties preserved as museums. I have tried to obtain the explicit consent from property owners in relation to being featured on this blog but where this has not been possible, I have assumed a degree of implied consent (on the basis that the property owners have kindly permitted the taking of photographs within their homes). I will of course take down any posts/photos if I receive any objections.
- I do not come from an architecture or design background and do not profess to be an expert on either. My observations are therefore likely to be less than illuminating from an educational perspective and are more likely to be along the lines of “Isn’t this layout/window/cork flooring interesting? I’d quite like to live here!
Modernist Pilgrimage 