Christmas Comes to Nick, c/o Swedish Classical Modernism

So, my mailbox and email have been overloaded lately with fan mail demanding to know what I would like for Christmas. I'm hard to shop for, and I'm not at all surprised that you, my savvy readers, have stepped up to the bar and begun to plan your gift giving to me before Black Friday. I really respect you for it. And to that end, I've decided to simply come out and tell you what I'd like for Christmas, just to make your lives easier.

I'd love it if you could pool your funds and pick this up for me:





Sublime, coolly elegant and even a little whimsical (the curved pom over the glass shade, looking everything like a dandelion pod), this lovely object was created by one of the most important, least well known designers of the 20th century, Gunnar Asplund. Consummate classicist, with the heart of a modernist (or vice versa), Asplund's works have literally brought me to tears, on multiple occasions (Skogskyrkogården and the Stockholm Public Library and the Gothenburg City Hall, each one separately, first in Winter 2006, then Summer 2008. Six weep sessions).



His interiors are simply flawless. And so, dear readers, I must have this chandelier. Or, alternately, this sconce, which is definitely a second choice, but lovely nonetheless:



Subtle detailing throughout:



It's almost as though the light has taken blob-like form and is being wrung through the arm of the sconce.

Both the chandelier and sconce are up for auction in Chicago at Wright, on November 18th. I'm anxious to see how they fair -- he's not at all as well known as most of the big Scandinavian architects, but objects associated to his work almost never come up for auction. It could go either way, but whatever way it goes, they are way out of my league. Sigh.