From Arty And Eye-Catching To Truly Off The Wall – How A Touch Of Surrealism Can Transform Homes | ewmoda
 

From Arty And Eye-Catching To Truly Off The Wall – How A Touch Of Surrealism Can Transform Homes

Bicycles in the bathroom, fish in the sink and bowler hats hanging from the roof... Anything’s possible

Posted on

27 January 2019

Surrealism

All Credits: PA

Tired of tables with four legs, porcelain sinks, and rooms that stay the same colour when you turn the lights off? No, we didn’t think you would be – but hear us out.

These surrealist home improvements will make you question all you thought you knew about your living room and, perhaps, your reality.

The Collins Dictionary describes surrealism as: “A style in which ideas, images and objects are combined in a strange way, like in a dream.” We’re not going to stick to this too rigidly here (full disclosure: We just want to show you stuff that’s cool and weird), but it’s worth keeping in mind nonetheless. It worked pretty well for Spanish artist Salvador Dali; it may do the same for your kitchen.

Surrealism

For those unconstrained by the laws of gravity (Thinkstock/PA)

You probably won’t want to seriously consider full-blown surrealistic style for your next decor update, but these out-there looks and quirky designs might inspire a few new touches…

An Artistic Tradition

Surrealism is steeped in avant-garde aesthetics, so the designs themselves fit well into a modern interior. A quick Google search yields René Magritte-themed cushions, Salvador Dali curtains, and mugs adorned with the works of Max Ernst.

More overtly domestic are the sculptures, and replicas of Salvador Dali’s iconic ‘lips sofa’ (it’s exactly what it sounds like) are as comfy as they are mind-bending.

Surrealism has its own category in print shops and poster websites, so any bare stretch of wall can be easily filled with melting clocks, abstract collages and contortionist portraiture.

Not As They Seem

Surrealism often sets up an apparent contrast between what something appears to be, and what it actually is (see Dali’s aptly-named ‘Lobster Telephone’), and Red Candy’s quirky furniture store (redcandy.co.uk) is filled with bits and bobs that are not quite what they seem.

Surrealism

Their best designs are laced with irony: A jar in the shape a giant tooth, which, when de-lidded, reveals a cavity to be filled with sweets or cookies, or a giant pencil sharpener hollowed out to make a pen pot. Other highlights include a stone camera whose long lens functions as a vase, and a laboratory flask whose warm glow emits from test tube-shaped light bulb.

Giant Champagne Cork Stool

But our favourite accoutrement is the Giant Champagne Cork Stool (£150/AED 727), a slam dunk party piece sure to impress even your most humourless guests. We’re all thinking it – if those are the corks, what fun could be had with the bottles.

Furniture Of The Absurd

Surrealism can be a purely aesthetic experience, and the best designs play tricks on the eyes as well as the mind. Think optical illusions or portraits that look different from different angles: Anything offbeat enough to elicit a double take from an unsuspecting guest.

Sometimes, it’s what you can’t see that makes a product so peculiar. The Umbra Conceal Floating Shelf (£10.74 /AED 52, Amazon) is a slim, transparent platform that protrudes from the wall just far enough to bear a stack of books, which appear to hover suspended in mid-air.

Jeeves Bowler Hat Pendant

Jeeves Bowler Hat Pendant, £175 / AED 848; Lost at Sea Side Table, price on request; Flux Console, price on request, Jake Phipps (Jake Phipps/PA)

The designs of Jake Phipps (jakephipps.com) are yet more inscrutable. An attractive glass-topped table rests not on four legs but a single undulating loop that twists and turns in on itself, like a snake that’s bitten its own tail.

The Lost at Sea Side Table comes encrusted with golden barnacles, as though newly salvaged from the ocean floor. For lighting, bowler hats hang from the ceiling masquerading as lampshades, a warm glow pouring from beneath their brims.

Jake Phipps

A direct homage to the man himself – Salvador Mirror, price on request, Jake Phipps (Jake Phipps/PA)

But most mind-bending of all is his aptly named Salvador Mirror. The frame literally peels back from the mirror’s surface to reveal its contents – in this case, you.

Even the most mundane of domestic fixings can be given a mysterious makeover – the household radiator comes in vertical slats, giant bronze plates, and wavy wall installations, as much modern art as heating appliance.

eye-catching radiators

Can you spot the radiator? A selection of eye-catching radiators from Aestus.co.uk (Aestus/PA)

Bizarre Bathrooms

A unique part of any home, your bathroom has an expansive scope for surreal designs. For a truly au naturale bathing experience? Check out the Living Moss Bath Mat designed by Nguyen La Chanh as part of her degree studies – covered with real, living plant, it’s watered by the moisture that drips from your body as you dry yourself.

The humble sink can come in a catalogue of strange styles, too. See-through glass numbers barely visible at first glance, arctic-inspired offerings that resemble cracks in the icecap, or concentric circles that funnel water down into the floor. One mystifying but popular design requires fixing your sink to the saddle of a disused bicycle, with a little ledge on the handlebars for toiletries (you’ll need to Google this one to believe us!).



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But perhaps even better than the ‘Bike Sink’ is an ‘Aquarium Sink’: Imagine a literal sink-cum-fish-tank fashioned entirely from glass. Aquarium sinks have that wonderfully surreal quality of starting in the right ball park (fish; water; sink – it makes a certain amount of sense), before spiralling off into the utterly absurd.

A Warped Reality

So much for surrealist decor – for those willing to make more structural alterations, a brave new world of eccentric design awaits.

Fake windows are now all the rage, thanks in part to the proliferation of basement flats beneath bustling cities, but also because their LED displays can use realistic natural light to reflect the time of day and show ultra-HD ‘views’, from soaring peaks to plunging valleys.

Hungarian artist Bogi Fabian (bogifabian.com) travels the world painting unique murals on clients’ walls, with a special kind of fluorescent paint that can only be viewed in the dark. Wait ’til sundown, snuff out the lamps and enter a dream world.

For daytime designs, Zurleys (zurleys.co.uk) offers matching sets of reflective furniture to create your very own bedroom of mirrors.

Clear Mirrored Chest of Drawers

Mirror, mirror on the floor…. Clear Mirrored Chest of Drawers, £364/AED 1,764; Clear Mirrored Round Coffee Table, £266/AED 1,289; Clear Mirrored Dressing Table Set, £430/AED 2,084; Clear Mirrored 2 Door 1 Drawer TV Unit, £379/AED 1,837, Zurleys (Zurleys/PA)

And for furnishings that seem to have dropped straight from the walls of Tate Modern, direct your attention to Dust Furniture (dustfurniture.com). All their units come with cartoonish colour schemes and stylised swirls and spikes – which in some cases, bring to mind the cubist contortionism of Pablo Picasso. Cupboards, wardrobes and shelves are precariously stacked atop one another, like a circus balancing act.