Daniel Nenchev is a journalist, host of the "New Culture" programme on Darik Radio and "The Day Begins with Culture" on BNT 1, author in media such as Capital, Dnevnik, Egoist, Artizanin, etc.
Home Ideas
After a 6-month battle with several companies and Her Majesty Fortune, my wife Annie and I finally managed to look at the clouds in the sky from our new skylights. The battle resembled that of Waterloo and included flooding, fire and the ever so popular practice for "handymen" - procrastination over time. There are two main companies that offer skylights - Velux and Fakro, but the authorised installers are of a varied calibre - you might get experts, you might get the typical Balkan charlatans. At the beginning we came across the second type who installed the windows in 2 days, they gave us a 10 year guarantee, but after the first rain - my artist wife's studio under the windows in question flooded. We hired a second installation crew. They started the job all over again, they did a perfect job, but they installed the windows in... 2 months. In the meantime, they made a fire while they were taping the sheathing on the windows, which burned our lovely wooden staircase underneath. We were mega lucky to be within feet of the accident, put the fire out in seconds and shine in my wife's eyes like Clark Kent.
Finally, the foreman and I sat down to smoke the pipe in peace and, lit by the skylights, read Georgi Gospodinov's short story "8 Minutes and 19 Seconds" - the time it takes light to reach the Earth. In this short story, the writer asks a question of readers - "What would you do if the sun suddenly stopped and you were left with 8 minutes and 19 seconds of light?". I asked the same of the master, and he uttered the Zen phrase, "I would sit and wait."
I tell this story about the purifying power of water, fire and light as a prelude after which new ideas come.
After the successful mission with the windows, our home came alive with the weather outside. The light settled brighter in our home, and with it Annie's inspiration to paint in the studio. This beautiful energy rubbed off on me and I decided to update our home with more new things.
I'm sharing with you some of the ideas my wife and I have for renovating our home. The guiding factor in our choice is that these are products of creative Bulgarians, which are also relevant in a global, contemporary context. This is our way of creating an island of normality around us and making us feel comfortable that we live in Sofia, Bulgaria.
NEW TABLE
The idea for the skylights actually came to us after a conversation with our friends, the amazing architects from the DONT DIY collective. Svetoslav, Hristo and Stefan are smart, show high taste in everything they create, and anthropologically look like mannequins from Fashion TV. Some time ago they had won an award for their use of skylights in particular. Among their many successful projects is the designer furniture brand Almost, a series of Scandinavian-style products made from birch plywood. They have won other awards with them - from the European Product Design Awards, A'Design Awards and the Balkan Mixer Festival. We chose their iconic "4th Armchair", in its latest version from early 2018 - "Soft". It combines natural oak and soft upholstery. This furniture is Bulgarian, but with a cosmopolitan character. They are inspired by the spirit of the Japanese pagoda, but through them you can comfortably settle into the atmosphere of Stockholm or even better - Copenhagen, and without leaving Sofia - at home. Because, as the architects at DONT DIY say, "Good design is unexpected, but always on point."
NEW PLANT
We have always lacked enough plants in our home because of the lack of time to grow them, but also the lack of experience and knowledge to do so. It is clear that we have a fine particulate matter problem - both in the city and indoors. In homes, and even more so in offices, according to current studies, the air is often 2 to 5 times worse than outside. An easy and inexpensive solution to alleviate the situation - are plants. Of course, they also have an aesthetic effect.
We meet Nusha Svetoslavova, who is the founder of Cactus Lab and Botanic Lab - two brands united by the idea of improving the quality of life in urban environments thanks to plants. Cactus Lav advises people on how to choose their plants according to the characteristics of their interiors and organises events for hands-on experiences. And Botanic Lab transforms urban spaces - such as offices, restaurants and public spaces - with interior landscaping. So far they have beautified 15,000 square meters in Sofia. They are also one of the finalists in the world's largest green business competition ClimateLaunchpad in Edinburgh with their innovative product Botanic Room, which, however, will not be for the Bulgarian market.
Annie and I can think of specific problems to solve at home, such as - dust from the many books and damp in one of the rooms. Nusha offers us specific supporting solutions. The Scindapsus plant, for example, is a kind of domestic maid that collects dust with its leaves. Plants with large foliage in general have this option. The Chlorophyte plant absorbs moisture, mould and mildew. These two plants are also in NASA' s Top 10 list of plants that favorably affect the microclimate in confined spaces.
Succulent plants and cacti have reverse photosynthesis, i.e. they give off oxygen at night instead of during the day. Which is great, because you can put them in your bedroom. Cacti absorb electromagnetic energy and it's nice to stand next to the computer. Really good ideas.
NEW POSTER ARTWORK
For the past 5 years Annie and I have been supporting leading Bulgarian graphic designers, artists, visual artists - to promote their original works on the plakatkombinat.com platform. For a while I worked for Plakat Kombinat as a hamaline ("homme de peine" - "man of pain" as the world champions - the French say), bringing framed works to their exhibitions in Rome, New York, Vienna, Plovdiv, Prague, Sofia. The great thing about these posters is that they are new, contemporary, designer and often with a cool twist and visual joke to delight you. For example, I bought a poster for myself that glows in the dark and contains a fragment of London Eye by the designer Marian Jin. I also have an original poster for the film The Godfather by Ivan Hristov-Fontan2 that recreates the Michael Corleone murder scene with two dots and a caption. I often buy Yassen Zgurovsky's pop-kitsch posters as gifts for friends. For our current living room renovation, however, Annie and I decided to buy two of the more abstract works in the Poster Combine collection. It contains over 250 limited edition prints. The artworks are on 310gsm paper, 100% cotton, acid free, meaning - the print is high quality, does not fade or yellow. In fact, we are still arguing about what new thing to put on the wall. Not for anything else, but because the opposite wall will have Christo's work on it.
NEW LAMP
We've been wondering for a while what floor lamp to put in the living room. So far, we've settled on the Lesse floor lamp from the Lock Furniture brand. Created by designer Konstantin Achkov, the "flat-pack" furniture is characterized by its self-locking systems and puzzle assemblies that are easy to put together. They are made of high-quality beech plywood. But most importantly, they look both graceful and stable. In fact, Achkov presents his impressive products at the world's leading design events - such as DESIGN.VE in Venice, the London Design Festival or the Stocholm Furniture Fair. This travel story also contributes to a more special perception of the soft luminous halo of the Lesse lamp in question.
Its competition, in our case, are the Wolfram luminaires. Often on our way home we pass along the newly renovated Tsar Asen Street in the centre of Sofia, where Wolfram's office is located. The studio specializes in designing and crafting unique lighting for specific spaces. They create complete concepts, but also specific lighting fixtures that attract with their design. The Ten Pin ceramic ceiling lights, for example, are very cute and look like a sugar cookie, an airplane and a focussing hat all at the same time. However, we are looking for a floor lamp such as - Kumar. It is a modification created as a result of an idea of their customer to use the floor lamp as an exterior lamp and in extreme conditions - on the terrace of a yacht club, on the beach.
A NEW MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION
We haven't bought a lamp yet because of my desire to own a Half Bike. The innovative half bike, invented by Martin Angelov and raised a million dollars through Kickstarter. Great idea to get outside and get some exercise after you've renovated your home.
But I'm not going to fight the Battle of Waterloo with my wife over this. Because home renovation is mostly about mutuality, understanding and balance.