Mirror, Mirror On My Design Wall

Though I do not love looking at myself in mirrors – I do love looking at mirrors. They are beautiful bursts of light in the room, whether in architectural presentations, artistic ones or done in soft acid washed notes. Here are some fabulous mirror finds, as well as a brief history of the looking glass…the mirror.

Mirrors Yesterday
I like to think that some cloth & shell adorned babe caught an accidental glimpse of her reflection in a pool of  water and then immediately asked her honey to make her one for “the house.”   The first mirrors were hand held numbers that appeared sometime in the late 1st century AD. The mirrors of antiquity were simply highly polished and reflective metal surfaces like tin or silver. Venice – a center of glass production –  would come to the rescue in the 16th century by producing sheets of glass backed with a mixture of metals. (Today, a chemical process broadcasts metal on the back of glass sheets in order to produce mirrors.) Though originally used for personal preening, from the 17th century onward, mirrors  – and their frames – would also play an increasingly important role in interior design thanks to the French, the English and the Italians (the grand design trinity!). But, once again…my beloved “French” are credited with having created the first circular mirrors…a shape in mirrors today that I love.

Mirrors Today:
Check out these marvelous mirrored additions. Use them as art; use them to add light to a room; use them to create the feeling of more window in the room.