Last week’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair was armed to the teeth: Somehow, home décor became gun-obsessed this year. Philippe Starck led the way with gold-leaf, Beretta-shaped lamps (starting at $1,200). But he wasn’t the only one packing heat. Other objets included glass revolver paperweights, militarized wallpaper, and gun-shaped vases from Britain’s Suck UK (below).
Why anybody would want this in his house is another question. Though unaware of this trend, NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam thought it made sense. “We’ve seen an increase in the number of people, especially women, who’ve picked up hunting and other shooting sports. It is reasonable to assume that this translates into an increasing number of folks wanting to incorporate shooting motifs in their décor.”
Murray Moss, who’s hosting an installation of the lamps—called “Domestic Violence”—in his Soho store, says the NRA has it half-right: “Guns have become so common that we can entertain the idea of having them be cozy, even as a bedside lamp. Are we so comfortable with them that we don’t look at them horrifically anymore?” In a statement, Starck says the collection “represents the collusion between money and war. The black shade signifies death. The crosses on the inside are to remind us of our dead ones.”
Arulanandam sort of likes the lamps. “They’d certainly be conversation starters, especially on the Upper West Side.” Now just try to tell him that the vases are meant to recall the photograph of that Vietnam protester who put a daisy in a soldier’s rifle.