Ashtrays historically belonged to interiors designed for lingering, low seating, deep sofas and long conversations. When receiving a message from House of Leon. I previously introduced them in this previous article: Discover House of Léon and the Milan Collection. Saying the Astray everyone apparently wanted is back in stock. I started wondering: is the ashtray making a return? I think so and maybe even for some time! Not necessarily for smoking, but as part of a curated coffee table, in marble, glass or sculptural metal.
I have to confess I smoked for a long time, and I really loved it back then, looking back and having stopped for many years now, it is also one of the things I most regret ever starting. I guess it also was very much the zeitgeist by then. Growing up next to Vondelpark, the walhalla of the seventies it was part of daily life. My parents would add cigarettes to the coffee table when guests came over. At the Cabinet Amsterdam Fair in January I spotted one of those cigarette holders in black bakeliet en silver. A real nostalgic moment, always fun when you suddenly see objects from your youth you had completely forgotten about.
Coffee table styling
The ashtray perfectly fits in as part of a broader shift in interiors. We are still seeing more low lounging spaces, conversation pits and deep sofas designed for lingering. In these slower interiors, small tabletop objects, from stone ashtrays to sculptural match holders, become part of the atmosphere again. And I think a well styled coffee table certainly adds to that atmosphere.
Yesterday I visited two product launch events, both about lounging, and one around a new coffee table. I will show more of these later. One of the sofa’s also reminded me of the last year’s exhibition at Rue Verte. I photographed a sofa with a small table that still comes to mind. A beautiful ashtray with cigarette butts, strangely no ash, next to a cocaine consumer guide and another slightly provocative publication. It made me think about what ‘coolness’ looks like through the eyes of a stylist. Sometimes a table becomes a small still life of attitude. Objects are placed not only for beauty, but for the story they suggest.
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Images House of Leon Last two images ©vosgesparis
Het bericht The Return of the Ashtray | A Small Still Life of Attitude verscheen eerst op vosgesparis.