Twitter thrift madness.

Photos from Moooi

It’s safe to say that I’m kind of obsessed with Bertjan Pot’s Random Light. A few years ago, I included it on a list of coveted pendant lamps. Shortly thereafter, I posted about a budget-minded DIY version that was in ReadyMade (by the way, the two people I know who attempted that project were met with much disappointment by the result).

I think about this lamp all the time. I lie on the living room sofa and try to imagine how beautiful it would look floating in the middle of the room. Every time I come across a photo of one in situ, I force Evan to look at it and acknowledge how fantastically beautiful it is. Basically, I mentally bow down at the feet of Bertjan Pot regularly to both thank him for creating this amazing thing…and to beg him to give me one in exchange for knowing how happy he’s made me.

L: Photo by Patric Johansson; R: Interior design by Philippe Harden

Shamone, look at that thing!! It’s so beautiful that I noticed it before the poodle sleeping under the desk, and considering how finely-tuned my tiny dog radar is, that’s saying something.

The only problem, of course, is the price. The 33″ medium size (which is what I’d want for the living room) is roughly $1125, putting it way, way, way out of our range. Sure, I guess we could set aside $50/month for the next two years, but honestly? I don’t know if I could ever bring myself to lay down that kind of cash for a lamp. That’s not to say that I don’t think it’s “worth” that much (after all, we’re not just paying for the product itself, but for the fact that someone came up with the idea in the first place), just that I can think of a million more important things that I could use that kind of money for. Like my student loan for example. But I digress.

So anyway, yesterday I was blathering on about light fixtures on Twitter, and I tweeted this:

I mean, I have to keep wishing, right? It’s not like the universe is just going to plop one down on my doorstep. I have to ask for it. I have to really want it.

About an hour later, I was busy crawling around on my office floor trimming a window shade, when I heard a text message arrive on my phone. I’m one of those annoying people who forgets that cell phones are portable, so I didn’t bother dropping everything to go and check it. 20 seconds later, though, my phone rang…and it was Dan from Manhattan Nest, calling from a thrift store. He told me to go look on Twitter. I did.

Friends, a great miracle had occurred:

AAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEE!!!!! Can you even?! Really now. What are the chances of this happening? Zero? One in eight hundred gazillion? Who knows. All I care about is that there is a white, 33″ Random Light wrapped in cellophane in Dan’s apartment right now, waiting to come home to live with me and Evan. And it cost about 1/6 of the full price! Yeah. I’m already getting in shape and growing my hair out into an Afro so I can pose with it nude like in the photo at the top of this post.

Now I can move on to asking the Twitter-universe to allow Dan to miraculously find Prouvé sideboards, Damien Hirst diamond skulls, and suitcases full of cash at thrift stores for mere pennies.