I was lazing around after my graduation and confused about what to do in my life. I love travelling, so, I decided to go on a trip with some friends. After much discussion, we all decided to tour Barcelona. Barcelona is a vibrant, colourful and lively city in the world and is one of the famous tourist attractions of Europe with many tourists thronging this city. So, after a few days we were in Barcelona.

 

Rambla de Catalunya

After checking into a hotel we all decided to start the tour with Sagrada Familia. We hired a cab and arrived there. Cabs are not too pricey here; you can also take the subway to travel in Barcelona. Anyway, this place is a beautiful work of art and a creation of the great architect Antoni Gaudi. It is under construction even now and will take another thirty years or so to complete. Here, one can visit the tomb of Gaudi and see the remarkable architecture style will leave you in awe. The next stop was Eixample. This is a large area with several beautiful buildings to appreciate; many of them designed by Gaudi like the Paseeig de Garcia, the Rambla de Catalunya. The place has many cafes and restaurants as well. So we all decided to have some lunch – Fideua a dish made up of small noodles having a combination of vegetables, chicken and shellfish. It’s a perfect dish along with which we had another delicacy xuxos (pastries filled with custard) as dessert. In the evening we just walked on the streets soaking in the liveliness of the place.

The next morning we went to see La Seu Cathedral. It is a beautiful Gothic cathedral with a tranquil atmosphere. The windows of stained glass here are more than 500 years old. After that, we were off to see Las Rambla, Barcelona’s famous street. The street has various restaurants and cafes lined up. You can sip on some sangria and enjoy the colourful dance performances here. It was great fun but beware of pickpockets! The Canaletes fountain here is famous for a legend which says that if you drink from it you will visit again. We all eagerly drank from the fountain to seal our comebacks, because we had fallen in love with this city.
The next day was reserved for the beaches. We were ready to get ourselves tanned up and have great fun at the beach. So, the third day we spent loitering on the beach and at night we decided to explore the nightlife. Las Rambla is the place to be, so we headed there. So, after a great night we went back to the hotel and hit the sack.

As the night embraced the city we were saddened at the thought of leaving the next day. This trip was one of the best I have had and we made a pact to come back again and bask in the beauty of this lovely city.

 

drexel-declaration-clockDrexel Declaration furniture is one of our favorite midcentury designs, because of the lovely way it bridges modern and traditional styles. This Drexel Declaration grandfather clock, though: Decidedly modern — heading toward flower power even! All photos: UrbanAmerica on ebay.

drexel-declaration-clock-faceI hadn’t even focused on the fact that there was a Drexel Declaration grandfather clock — although now that I go looking I see it in our catalog (link below).

lanshire-clock-movementThe clock is 60″ tall, 14″ wide, and 9″ deep. The clock movement is Lanshire.

drexel-declarationdrexel-declaration-1964Looks like this was cutting edge in spring 1964. We love it!

Thank to ebay seller urbanamerica for giving us permission to show these photos. They have the clock for sale, pickup only in Long Beach, Calif, here.

More stories about Drexel Declaration:

  • A catalog in my collection and a bit of history on the designers.
  • Catherine’s brochure and some reader photos.
  • Vintage furniture — 10 of our favorite designs.

The post Drexel Declaration grandfather clock — 1964 beauty appeared first on Retro Renovation.

 

London-based Alessandro Isola & Supriya Mankad from I M Lab have designed the Torque Desk.

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Description from the designers:

A twisting take on a traditionally formal product. In this instance the desk has been transformed into a dynamic spatial object in tension with the straight walls of the space it occupies.

The tensile stresses require the desk to be constructed in a malleable and ductile material. Bringing together clever engineering and hand craftsmanship, all the components of the metal body are structural as well as functional.

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The flat plane of the desk is folded to support itself at one end while seemingly resting on a stack of drawers at the other end. The rotating drawers are cantilevered around the spine which performs multiple functions of a support, a pivot and a cable management system connecting a floor point all the way up to the desk surface. An malachite letter and pen holder completes the design.

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