EXAMPLE: while stomping up Park Avenue past a particularly austere limestone apartment building (not to the strains of Sara Bareilles' "Love Song," which Mugatu teasingly says is my anthem) I start with, "What's that brick action on the sides called, the kind that gets smoother as you go up? Oh yeah, rustication. Rustication rustication rustication RUSTICATE MY LOVE rustication."
Then later that day whilst sifting through the sample bins: "Oooh, I love these discontinued Oscar de la Renta fabrics with the squiggly design ... what's that called again? Oh yeah, vermicelli. Like the pasta. Hey didn't some salesperson at Cowtan & Tout call it a 'go-with' when I was last there? I just love archaic terminology! Like when my dad told me something 'wasn't worth a tinker's darn' and the then he didn't even know what a tinker did! Vermicelli, vermicelli, go-with me vermicelli ..."
I really should seek professional help.
But then I saw Diogo's post on the Musée Océanographique de Monaco in all its goopy, rusticated glory and got reinspired. And the next day in a cab I passed the Versace flagship on 5th Avenue:
A former Vanderbilt mansion with Keith Haring-esque squiggles incised into limestone blocks ... two obsessions in one! Wikipedia tells me this style has its own name: vermiculate rustication, a chiseling process in which the rough is purposefully made to look rougher. Take heart, Courtney Love! Seriously, I love how modern this looks. Maybe Studio Printworks could vermicul-ize their lovely "Le Temple Des Grecs" wallpaper? Sadly both Haring and Stephen Sprouse are gone, but the world needs more cheery loop-de-loops. And more Renaissance Mannerism. And more 25-cent words!
Posts
Definitely not gonna write you a love song. Definitely not. Wapner. Definitely.
ReplyDeletePasta. Pasta water. Definitely pasta water.
Sorry. I couldn't help myself. It's not right, but it's okay.
That reminds me of this slightly neurotic version--a Vermicelli Chair:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/lp83bv
My daughter, a near genius, repeated words under her breath as a child. She now retains most all she reads and sees and is a walking encyclopedia. It's genius, you own it well!
ReplyDeleteI like your job, can i have it? LOLO!
ReplyDeletethat's an odd habit repeating words or lyrics, and saying it out loud in public. kind of funny to me.
ReplyDeleteAnd more stream of consciousness from you. Delightful.
ReplyDeleteLooks a little wormy to me.
ReplyDeleteMary Poppins would have loved this. So would have James Joyce. I think the next thing is to make word dances.
ReplyDeleteThis is just like going to the flea market or antique show. You see something you've never noticed before, and then all day long, you see it over and over again. It's what i miss about the great flea markets and triple pier shows we had here in New York City. It's hard to stumble over something new to you on ebay.
ReplyDeleteNow if only Versace sold pasta your week could go full circle!
ReplyDeleteomg...I about died when I read your post. I'm an interior design student, currently studying for my history of interiors and architecture final....turns out the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi by Michelozzo was the first residential structure to use the rustication techinque. I too made a song about it...to help me memorize it for my test. Love your blog, want your job :)
ReplyDeleteRustication - I love that. A new architectural term for me to obsess over. Vermicelli - one day I will have that F&B pattern in my powder room - the only place in my future house that will have wallpaper, despite the resurgence of the trend. How on earth did you dig up that post? Possibly one of my more obscure posts.
ReplyDeleteOh, that limestone on the Versace=Vanderbilt (have those two words ever been paired?) building - vermiculate rustication - beautiful.
my pa used odd words too, and when i had to work with him during the summer i became their constant companion:
ReplyDeletedog gonnitall
geez oh christmas!
jimminy crickets!!
son of a monkeys uncle!!!
i've never had to spell them out before,
don't forget the ten penny nail
ReplyDeleteGreat pic collection, amazing architecture. Its wonderfull.
ReplyDeleteRita
Cash Online Get Easy cash at your door step
Vermi Vidi Vici.
ReplyDeleteNick, you never fail to crack me up. I have the same weird thing going on....sometimes I see words or real estate agents names on signs and they are stuck in my head for days....going round and round unconsciously. Bizarre. Hopefully, this will one day benefit me or someone else in some way. If I could only figure out a way to purge all the babyboomer ear worms down here in FL that are playing in all of the stores and restaurants like "The Doo-Ron-RON" (SP?)Mercy!
ReplyDelete"like "The Doo-Ron-RON" "
ReplyDeleteThe woman who wrote that song, Ellie Greenwich, just died today.
This is hysterical! You are highly entertaining and I love the insights!
ReplyDeleteNick- On your old Domino blog you wrote a blurb about David and Dash, and posted a red and white print with strawberries. Would you be willing to repost this prettiest please?
ReplyDeleteI was too lazy to register on Double X, but I loved the moldings post!
ReplyDeleteThanks Eliza and urrybody! Liz, did you get my email about those fabrics? They were by Dek Tillett. Now to post for the first time in, er, three weeks. I been takin' a li'l blogcation!
ReplyDeleteI never got the e-mail, but thanks so much for responding back on here!!!
ReplyDeleteJust want to let you know that that's not an example of rustication. Unless the angle of the picture is playing tricks on me.
ReplyDeleteGood One..Keep Posting
ReplyDeleteJack
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