Homenature

At Homenature, we love everything about honest design, natural materials, fair pricing and treating the earth with respect and care. With our own designs and productions, sprinklings of vintage finds and great accessories you will find a treasure trove for any casually hip, modern home. Visit us at www.homenature.com. You can also email us at [email protected] or give us a call at 631-287-6277

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Designer of the Week: Milo Baughman

Along with the furniture designers we love, such as McCobb, Probber, Wright, and Grossman, we can also add Milo Baughman. In our Southampton store there sits a low back sofa with nickel gliding around the edges making it look like a spaceship a person could relax in. It's a functional couch that takes a modernist risk without losing comfort. This was Baughman's M.O.. He used chrome, glass, and leather to form his own idea of how furniture should operate. 

Milo Baughman was born in Kansas in 1923, but was raised in Long Beach California. In his early teens, his parents asked that he help in the design of the family home. 

Like many other designers of the time, he enlisted in WWII. Milo spent his time designing officer's clubs. When he came home, he studied architectural design.

In 1947, Baughman created Milo Baughman Design, Inc. Interestingly enough, he ended up working with Greta Grossman on a few projects. He, along with Grossman and Pacific Iron, created the California Modern Aesthetic. 

The most important collaboration happened in 1953 when Baughman worked with Thayer Coggin, a North Carolina manufacturer. This partnership lasted 50 years. It was this relationship that spawned Baughman's best work.

Baughman died in 2003 at the age of 80. 

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Photo Catch Up - Here are all the photos we took for social media last week.

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Photo Catch-Up: Here are all the photos from last week that were taken for our social media sites. 

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Reading Corner: Ron Galella's Jackie: My Obsession

Today we just received a book documenting Ron Galella's obsession with Jackie Kennedy Onassis. It's called, Jackie: My Obsession. A thick, white book with Jackie in black and white on the cover walking by with the wind whipping at her back. The pages are gold-trimmed and on the back of the book, there is a quote by Galella that says, "Jackie was my golden girl, in a golden era." This line is his brief argument for his personal investment in photographing the American icon. 

Galella was the paparazzi before the paparazzi was a "thing." Before we had our Hamptons starlets and talent-less film actors, we looked to people like Jackie Kennedy to feed our celebrity obsession, as a nation. Galella, to put it nicely, was consumed by Jackie's existence, and that comes through honestly in this new book. He considered it a "love affair with the camera."

Ronald Edward Galella was born in the Bronx, served in the Korean War in the Air Force and afterwards graduated from Art Center College of Design in LA with a degree in photojournalism. Galella became increasingly popular and his photos could be seen in Time, Vogue, Vanity Fair, People Magazine, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Life, and other publications.

After Jackie got into office, Galella found his new, photogenic love. He chased her like you would imagine paparazzi would chase a celebrity. It became so intense that Jackie filed a lawsuit in 1972. It was considered a freedom of speech case, and resulted in Galella getting a restraining order on him. He had to stay 50 yards from Jackie and 75 yards from her children. Galella still photographed her. Their relationship, whether Jackie knew it or not, was symbiotic. The best pictures of Jackie were taken by Galella and they live on today (thanks to this book and the internet).

Galella was always getting into trouble for his methods and one such event happened with Marlon Brando. The rather private actor punched Galella and broke his jaw as well as knocked five teeth out.

This book is a history of obsession and a meditation on paparazzi culture. It's beautiful photos are a reminder that sometimes a little sickness can create great art.

See for yourself, below!   

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Photo Catch-Up Part 3 - Here are all the photos from last week for social media. 

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Photo Catch-Up Part 2 - Here are all the photos taken for social media last week. 

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Photo Catch Up: Part 1 - Here are all the photos taken for social media last week. 

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The Reading Corner: Long Island Modernism

If you're in tune with furniture and what is becoming popular, then you'll know that the mid-century look is booming. It's not like it ever left, really, but people are more concerned now about Modern design aspects because these days, there is nothing quite like it. 

One of the books we carry highlights the Modern movement in architecture on Long Island and how it shaped everything from homes to offices to College Campuses. There seems to be quite a lasting impression of the Modern design on the island and many of the structures built are here today. 

Caroline Rob Zaleski details the work of many important architects such as George Nelson, Richard Neutra, Edward Durell Stone, etc. These men helped shaped the design of Long Island as we know it, and it's quite a beautiful journey. 

Here are some photos from the book:

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Photo Catch-Up: Here are all the photos from last week for all our Social Media sites! Check out those new Napeague Chairs!   

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Harvey Probber: Aging Gracefully

In our Southampton store, we recently added a warm looking coffee table in the back by the counter. It is a table that was designed by Harvey Probber, a man who is less known than say, Nelson or Wegner, but he had such a great influence on the mid-century furniture boom, that we owe him a lot. 

In honor of the late Probber, here are a few details about his life that are interesting: 

Born in Brooklyn in 1922. 

Harvey sold his first furniture design at the age of 16 for $10 (which was good money, then). 

Could not afford college, so Harvey got a job in New York's Trade Upholstery. 

During the second World War, he was with the Coast Guard for two years. 

The following two years Harvey became a cabaret singer/songwriter. Weird. 

In 1945 he opened his own furniture firm at the young age of 23. 

His most famous design is called the "Modules." It was a sectional sofa that could be taken apart and placed in different ways. 

Ford Motors used his executive desk design for their offices. 

James Zemaitis, the head of design at Sotheby's, had this to say about the life of Harvey Probber: "Harvey Probber is part of the unsung second wave of mid-century modernists. Though he hasn't achieved the recognition of Eames or Noguchi, I think he'll become considerably more important in the secondary market in the next few years."

Harvey Probber died in 2003. He was a shy man and lived a quiet life, and maybe that's why we don't hear enough about him. 

Here are two great quotes of his:

"Good furniture doesn't have to change with the seasons."

"The quality of aging gracefully is design's fourth dimension." 

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Reading Spotlight: Mid-Century Ads

One of our newest, and visually stunning books that we now sell is Mid-Century Ads. It is a collection of advertisements from both the 1950s and the 1960s in all their fully restored beauty. 

In the 1930s and 1940s, money was not going into the ad business because the majority of funds/resources in the United States was going towards the war effort. Once we came out of that terrible time, money started circulating again in the market, and companies were able to invest in ads. 

These two books, which come as a set with a lovely slip-cover, explore the time when ads became a "thing." 

Come in to our stores and check it out! 

1950s:

1960s:

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Photo Catch-Up: Photos from two weeks ago. 

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Spotted this Chrome Cobra outside the front of our Amagansett store, today. Very stunning! 

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We recently rearranged our Amagansett store, so we thought we would keep you updated. Each picture has a caption of the bigger items. Always comment with questions, if you have any! 

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Photo Catch-Up: Here are all the photos we posted from last week. Look at Dexter in the corner. Awwwww

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Your Homenature

Elsa Soyars, a Hamptons, Interior Designer added some of our product to one of her client’s homes.

In this photo, you’ll see our Linen End Tables on each side of the bed and our Pacific Heights Chair on the left with an ottoman.

Here is our Catalina Couch with a Custom Ottoman.

Our two Mulholland Chairs are in the back of the photo. In the center is a Custom Bone Table with a zig-zag pattern that has two of our Tibetan Ottomans on both sides. 

Here is the same photo from above, but in the back you can see our Laguna Chairs with one Ottoman. 

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Photo Catch-Up: Part 2