Respectable B

There are two styles of champagne glasses: one is a flute which features a deep, narrow mouthed bowl which helps to retain the bubbles.




And the second: a saucer with a wide, shallow bowl.




The latter supposedly modeled from the bosom of Mme. de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV.

To those Americans who prefer basketball-sized silicone, I would personally rather liken a perfectly good B cup to a crystal champagne glass...


For more (and always good) info see Emily Evans Eerdmans post.

and for more on the quiet, shy but very active Louis XV see here...


Both images from Dawson and Nye: Morris Plains, NJ, USA. Top - by Baccarat, sold September 23, 2009; and second Lalique coupe glasses sold December 6, 2007.

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Some Things Never Change

I remember this phone always being a challenge in my youth. We had one when I was growing up. It came from my Grandfather’s house. He always had the coolest, but not the most practical, things. This phone was not designed with a growing teenager in mind. My conversations on the phone when I was 15 or 16 consisted of me sitting on the floor frantically sewing the legs of my Levis so tight I could barely squeeze my foot through with the phone resting on my shoulder as I repeated the words ‘ohmygawd no way” to a friend on the other line. Because of its sleek Calatrava-esque form, it was impossible for me to comfortably hold the phone between my shoulder and ear as I sewed or singed my hair with a curling iron. It was heavy and it would often slip down to the floor hanging up on my friends.

There was a big red button on the bottom. With a gentle touch, it would immediately disconnect the line.

The design also caused additional problems, it was bottom heavy and like a weeble-wobble, it liked to sit upright. If a caller was inquiring to speak with my mom, often times I would say “one moment please” then set it straight down accidentally hanging up. Irritated, the caller always called back.

Now that I am much older and spend less and less time on the telephone, I have new respect and admiration for its elegant design aesthetic. But for the record when I am talking to my friends all these years later, I still say “ohmygawd no way”.


Phone by Ericsson, a Swedish telephone manufacturer (est. 1876); phone designed in 1954 by Hugo Blomberg and Ralph Lysell and put into production by 1957. Image from MoMA.