Pure as the driven snow…Raise your hand if you’ve heard the expression above before. Raise both hands if you know what it means. The expression, an idiom, used to describe the unsullied, the pure and the innocent. Also to be in “original” state.
The quest for originality is a compelling streak for all who are in any artistic endeavor. Heck, it’s a compelling streak for anyone wanting to be an individual on their own terms and hopefully noticed as a result. After all, we are all unique individuals right? But how do we get there? How do we get our own style? Much of it involves inspiration and what Picasso famously said, “There is no originality anymore, it has all been done before. We take from each other inspiration and then form our own interpretation. Bad artists copy, good artists steal”
If that is the case,….then none of us are innocent!
Since we work on vintage furniture, revamping it’s style into something that fits current trends; it’s pretty clear that we are not the original designer or creator of any given piece. We are just adding our own touches to someone else’s previous work. Some people may think what we do to these items is sacrilegious; transforming each chair, dresser, sofa into something that was never intended by the original maker. That’s okay, they can have their opinions and we in turn can respect that. Some are traditional in tastes while others are not. If we all had the same style, wouldn’t life be a dull ride at best?
A chair being transformed
At Omforme, our daily mantra is “change is good”. As a matter of fact, it is a full-on celebration. Something to harbor and utilize to our advantage to bring forth artfully re-designed furniture. Are we harkening back to an era of innocence when we pick up an item for transformation? Yes. Do we always stay within that original style? No. Updating a piece of vintage furniture, for us, is like getting a new haircut,….out with the old dated hair and in with the new. If you’re still sporting the same hair as you did 20 years ago you may not care about revamping anything but we like the challenge of creating new looks for old furniture pieces because we feel we can bring joy to them and subsequently to you.
This is our passion, it is our creativity, our humble gift we can offer to others. The gift of not only resurrecting furniture, but with enough ingenuity to elevate each piece as art. Art that can be as useful as it is beautiful in the eyes of the beholder. Yes, striving for originality can be a tough and sometimes murky road, but it is one worth taking.
preview of our newest chair transformation
Change is an inevitable and natural part of life – even if we consciously try to keep it the same. There will always be someone who will forge a new path from the old. Open our eyes to what can be. That’s how society progresses for better or worse. And that’s the realm of dreamers and artisans who help create new versions of familiar things to push us all into the here and now. None of us are innocent and all of us have the ability to be original. At Omforme we like that kind of push,……now if you will excuse us, there’s a new blanket of snow on the ground we have to drive through.