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Light My Fire: How Objects of Function become Markers of Identity · Design Darlings

• Design Darlings: Hello darling. Allie Miller: Hello, darling, I'm Al. Design Darlings: And I'm Robin Richardson. Together we are your design darlings. We are two dorks with master's degrees in design and we are truly obsessed with what makes, breaks, or bakes a good design in the world. In today's episode, as we record just after Valentine's Day, we thought it would be fun to talk about lighters, candles, and things that make sparks and make flames. ⁓ Because even though we have mastered fire, we are still obsessed with keeping fire. Closely by I mean cuz you honestly you never know when you just might have to set something on fire But before we get started but let's go to the news desk and see what is the hot gas and the design to long this week? Alright, so first thing on the news desk, we're to do the hot goss from the design world this week. Wuthering Heights did an architectural design set tour and it was pretty fabulous. Allie Miller: Yes, very fabulous. So, Wuthering Heights directed by Emeril Fennell, the set designer here. have Suzy Davies. So she also did Conclave and Saltburn. So, you know, her and Emeril, you know, go way back. did this fabulous 80 tour of two of the sound stages for Wuthering Heights, specifically Heathcliff and Kathy's house. So just a quick backstory. If you have not read Wuthering Heights, ⁓ I, like any good self-respecting nerd, ⁓ read it my own time because ⁓ why not? But Wuthering Heights basically it's set with these two families. You have ⁓ the Heathcliff He is adopted as a small child, forms a romantic connection with Kathy, who is sort of the daughter of the man that lives at the manor. Heathcliff, he, as they grow old, he sort of mysteriously vanishes one day, comes back years later, has this sort of mysterious level of wealth, no one really knows how or why, and has sort of had this like, sort of romantic glow up, so to speak. In the meantime, Kathy, she's been married off to this other family. So the majority of their adult life is spent between these two locations. And I think what is sort of really fascinating is just like the way in which Suzy Davies has brought in all of these elements of design to create, to build the sort of narrative storytelling and the narrative arc between these two families. And so the first thing I think was really fascinating is These are both set on sound stages, which especially in like today's production era, having a movie with such a high budget on a sound stage and to not have it be all like green screen and special effects or not having an actual practical set that's somewhere else. There's this level of artificiality with sound stages that for a lot of movies would read super inauthentic. Design Darlings: Mm. Allie Miller: or would read as sort of fake, but at the same time, being in a soundstage, there's this like, contrived element of a soundstage, I think symbolically and metaphorically builds that tension of like, they're literally in a fishbowl, like these characters, they're isolated from society, they're in these very controlling environments. Design Darlings: Okay. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Allie Miller: they're in these controlling relationships. like building an artificial sound in an art of like a set that almost looks artificial, I think just happens like the tension between these two families. Yeah, go ahead. Design Darlings: Mmm. Yeah. Well, it's like so over the top when you look at the design, like it's extreme in some aspects because thinking about the design, like the time setting that it's in, ⁓ some of that stuff resonates as true and then it is like, ⁓ I can see that being of the era. And then some of it is like very dramatic. It almost to me has like a Beetlejuice camp kind of vibe. ⁓ When I was watching these and seeing how Allie Miller: Mm-hmm. Design Darlings: ⁓ There's like starkness in his house. Her house has this like the wild pink wall and like literally they use Margot Robbie like a picture of her skin to make the panels on the wall. So those panels are literally replicas of her skin, which is weird and gross also. It's so strange. ⁓ then, you know, Kathy talks about the tiles that are used there are tiles that would have never been, they weren't ⁓ Allie Miller: ⁓ yeah. Mm-hmm. ⁓ Design Darlings: indicative of the location of the set at the time, but they also took on the sea spray. So things were dripping and they were wet and they were sweating. there's also this, you know, like you can be schvitzing for good reasons or bad reasons, you can be nervous, you can be excited, but like all of that is coming together and it's heightening the way the story is being told also, right? Allie Miller: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I also wonder with the soundstage element, if that's referencing back to the sort of one of the first major, I think it was the first major make of Weathering Heights was by Laurence Olivier and Mura Oberon in the 1930s, which would have at the time been set on a soundstage. And so I also think there's parts of Emeril Fennell's aesthetic where she is pulling from. Design Darlings: and Okay. Allie Miller: notes of like historical Hollywood, right? And, and fun fact, mean, not fun fact, well, just a fact. So really interesting about Mora Oberon, at the time, she was actually, I believe, I don't want to mess this up, but she was half Indian. Design Darlings: That's cool. Allie Miller: And this was a time in Hollywood where you basically to be in Hollywood, you had to be white. You had, and she was very white passing and her agents made up this whole backstory, how she was from this well to do family in England. And she was of British ancestry and they created this entire faux story about her. And for most of her acting career, it wasn't until the 1970s where she started to actually share Design Darlings: Mm-hmm. Wow. Allie Miller: her actual ethnic origin. And I think what's really interesting about that is in the movie, Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff typically is a person of color. It's not defined specifically, what his ethnic history is, but I just think it's really interesting that it's a very small kind of niche tie into like the original Wuthering Heights, the racial aspect of it, Mar-a-Baron, the Golden Age of Holly. There's a lot in there that I just think is really interesting. Yeah. Design Darlings: Right. Yeah. parallels. I saw an article about that this week actually that was saying Heathcliff was actually considered Romany and so there would have been considered like a gypsy at the time like of that writing that was you know ⁓ this yes like a background that was not of the gentry white people which okay so yeah interesting. Allie Miller: Yeah. Yes, Yeah. So a few other things I think I just want to call about the design of the sets. One is just the focus on numerology and numbers and symmetry. And again, these are all things that just heighten. Design Darlings: Mm. Really? Allie Miller: the emotional state of the characters, right? So Cathy, everything in her house is ordered. It's all symmetrical, right? And she's in this incredibly controlling, rigid environment. We're in juxtaposition. In contrast, you have Heathcliff's home. Everything is asymmetrical. Everything is unstructured, uncontrolled, unordered. And so again, this sort of schism between ordered and disordered, control, no control. Design Darlings: Okay. And then. Allie Miller: predictability, unpredictability, how that just relates to kind of all the characters, sort of emotional states. ⁓ Design Darlings: Yeah, so it reflects, the design reflects and it creates a tension and there can be too much order and too much symmetry. like, this feels too perfect. I don't like it. Then you also have like, this is slightly askew and that's slightly askew. to me, keep feeling this beetle, like when I saw the black and white floors and the red, was like, ⁓ it has like that beetle juice can't feel where things just feel a little askew. And the eye looks for symmetry and resolution. we, you know, we'll get into eventually I'm sure like Allie Miller: Yeah. Right. Right. Good. Design Darlings: balance and order and how you can do intentional ⁓ asymmetry and you can create structure. But it's like you're saying the psychological state of where they're captured, where they're trapped, is this like too much order, too much structure, too much symmetry, and then you've got his situation which is slightly askew. There's also the darkness you can't really see into the home in the same way, the lighting design. Allie Miller: Mm-hmm. Design Darlings: is also indicative of the mental state of what is happening in their own psyches that they're dealing with and having to battle. Allie Miller: Yeah. Yeah, and not being able to what you just said about not being able to see the house, I think it, or not being able to see well, like the darkness, that kind of brings me to sort of one of my last points, which is like the use of the color red. So obviously red, somatically, it's carnal, it's desire, it's love, it's passion, it's all these things. And typically, whenever you're seeing red in its sort of purest, most opaque form, Design Darlings: Hmm. Mm. ⁓ Allie Miller: It's Cathy, right? Cathy is wearing a solid red cloak. The floors are the solid lacquered red. The windows are solid red, right? It's always Cathy in this like big, bold, bright red, where when Heathcliff is seeing red, he's seeing red through some sort of transparency. And even like in his house, there's like panes of red glass, but they're never fully. Design Darlings: Mm-hmm. Hmm. Allie Miller: opaque, right? And so red is again this thing of desire. like something that's like Heathcliff has to like look through another medium to see or it's like something that's slightly out of reach. It's never fully like something he's chasing whereas in Cathy's world it's fully saturated, it's fully accessible. And so I just think the way that they've used red as a like an object of desire like pulling out that out. Design Darlings: Mmm. Hmm. Yeah, it's almost like an indicator. So like she's got all this red and she's also very highly desired. She is also a female, right? She's an object of property of like, ⁓ she is, you know, she's a broodmare. And then you've got this red for him. His red indicates like a love for her, but also his angst. And so the red for him is like you're saying this longing is something you can't really reach, but he's looking through to try to get to her and she's out of reach, literally, in a lot of aspects. Allie Miller: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and I think my like my sort of last thought on this is just thank you to Margot Robbie and you know, Emeril Fennell and the production design team because I think so rarely today in movies do you have the opportunity to just sort of be gluttonous with color and design and production quality. Like everything now is just about money and efficiency and time like da da da da da. So just ⁓ Design Darlings: So, okay. Bigger effects. More things blowing up. Allie Miller: Bigger fix, yeah. so just to be able to let these incredible craftspeople just be incredible craftspeople is just a delight. And even just thinking about how, yes, it's gluttonous, but at the same time, it still kind of follows the principles of good design, right? It's thorough. It plays into aesthetics. It's using design in a way to help you understand the characters, the plot, the interiority. So like it's not excessive for the sake of being excessive. Everything is still incredibly intentional and thoughtful and they're using incredible craft, but it's still just visually a delight to the eyes. Design Darlings: gonna say I feel like gluttonous is I'm like that's a mean word here I'm gonna say that you're saying they don't take shortcuts they're not taking a shortcut like a green screen and all that stuff is like a shortcut when they actually did the time they took the time to hand create these sets these designs so that it would pay off in the translation to on screen which it does make a huge difference ⁓ and that sort of craftsmanship that that returned to like Allie Miller: Mmm. No. Design Darlings: The trade of set design is not as common, but it really does make a difference because the characters interact with it differently as well. You're not just in front of a green screen pretending that you're in some mansion or in some dark, weird place. You've got that setting. You're in this terrarium that you can respond to. And the psychology of being in a room that is completely pink wrapped in the walls of your skin is different than pretending that you're in that room in front of a green screen. Allie Miller: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Design Darlings: That's so different. So you get a different response out of the actors as well. okay. I agree. Brava to the producers and the folks who, yes, like, oh my God, design snaps, design snaps. Well, I think that's actually, this is a good shortcut from no shortcuts into shortcuts, which is about fire. Since we're talking about light my fire. Allie Miller: of a Gen Z clap, Gen Z finger taps. Design Darlings: ⁓ Firemakers, candles, things that spark and can make big flames. humans, we have mastered fire. That is no secret. And a lighter is a shortcut to making a fire. I love lighters. I collect them. I think you do too, also. Allie Miller: Okay, I would say it's less of a collection, more of I have acquired just very silly big lighters and match books. And I love when I go to a restaurant and there's just like a cute little match book. Like, do I use them sometimes? But I just love them. I just think they're, Design Darlings: Mm. Okay That's, I feel like that's coming back. that you have matches to take away. used to be like steak houses, I feel like always did matches, like really fancy places. And now, ⁓ I do know that you are a pyromaniac. You and I are both pyromaniacs because we grew up around cool dads and uncles who taught us how to set things on fire in a very safe way. I think there, can have safe fire, bonfire things. ⁓ But yes, there's something about having a little, little Allie Miller: Yeah. Yes. Mm-hmm. Design Darlings: little pocket fire makers that is inherently satisfying to me, I have to say. Allie Miller: Yeah. No, a fire. Yeah. Born and raised by pyromaniacs. Like, you you had old construction, some old cabinets covering, you know, polyurethane and lacquer. Like, watch out, because that fire, we were making it as high as we could. Design Darlings: That's right. ⁓ my gosh, have you ever put an old Christmas tree on a bonfire? Allie Miller: Mmm, ⁓ just the immediacy and then just like whoosh like all at once Design Darlings: ⁓ highly recommend. Yes. ⁓ my gosh. The like turpentine and that move 10 out of 10. agree. ⁓ well, okay. So the design of lighters, it's something that is like so ubiquitous and everywhere lighters and matches. But I wanted to start thinking about like, how did we get here? ⁓ so we don't have to worry about fire anymore. But people when lighters and matches, I was like came online. ⁓ Let's go back. People were using candles and lamps because electricity was not ubiquitous in the US until the 1920s and in the 30s for the UK. So you had to have matches. You had to have a way to start fire to keep your stoves going, to keep your lamps going. ⁓ That was something everyone relied on. And so I wanted to see when this cool design became so ubiquitous, how did it roar into the place that it is today? Allie Miller: Mm-hmm. Mm. Design Darlings: ⁓ And so thinking about people having lighters or matches to do their lamps, their candles, ⁓ and their cigarettes, there's an interesting ⁓ correlation here. So even though electricity started in the 1880s, ⁓ cigarette rolling machines also started in the 1880s, making them cheaper and more accessible than cigars or pipes. So you've got cigarettes. Like, how are you going to your cigarette? You need something to do this with. ⁓ And I was like, ⁓ my gosh, this is, of course it makes sense, but we have come so far from from having matches in your pocket to a cool bit to flick my dick. the first slider actually, there was this thing Dobrenner's lamp and it was made in 1823. And it was super cool. It was this thing that you could make a flame with, but it made a hydrogen gas using platinum, which is kind of awesome. Allie Miller: Mm-hmm. Design Darlings: However, it could also unexpectedly explode. So, womp womp. We don't... Allie Miller: That's not good. We don't want, we don't want combusting. We don't want little bombs in our pockets. No thank you. No. Design Darlings: We don't love this or on our desk. So three years later, 1826, English chemist John Walker made the first truly portable, like instant fire lighter. And that was great, but it could ignite by lighting on rubbing on any surface and it would sometimes almost explode when lit or also throw sparks. Then it wasn't until 1844 that a safety match was invented by these two dudes in Sweden. I'm just going to call them two dudes in Sweden. That's totally fine. Allie Miller: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm, Hans and Franz. Design Darlings: ⁓ and Hans and Franz, Gustav and Johan actually, and they made a safety match, which you still see it. I never understood why it says safety match on there. I'm like, what does that even mean? And it's because the chemical on the striker and the chemical on the tip of the match were separate. So you had to strike one against the other in order for it to light. So you wouldn't accidentally start a fire in your pocket. Allie Miller: What's up in your hand? Mm-hmm. Design Darlings: ⁓ And these got a lot of notice at the world exhibition in Paris in 1855, which is crazy to think about that. ⁓ You and I talked about this before you go to this exhibition and people have like these small little things, excuse me, they can light in their pocket and like, boom, you've got fire. Allie Miller: Yeah. Yeah, mean, just World's Fairs in general are just fascinating to me because, you know, this is before Google. Maybe people had books if you were like lucky or you had access to information. just, yeah, I mean, like the simplest things would just truly remind Boggling to people. It's like, this is the first time I've seen a match and it's just basically a glorified, like really nerdy science fair. ⁓ And yeah, like whether it was like a forked or like a lighter or a spinning machine, people were like, oh my God, like this is the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. Design Darlings: Yeah. Yeah! Yes. What do you think? I feel like in a way the modern version of the World's Fair is one like an Art Basel or Venice Biennale because you get a lot of technology and innovation in the art world, things that people are playing with before they maybe become mainstream in technology. And I don't even want to say conferences because yes, there's like tech world conferences and stuff like that. Sometimes people do an unveiling. Allie Miller: Mm. Design Darlings: But I think the art world is more akin to a world's fair than anything we have today. Allie Miller: Yeah, or like I'm thinking about it's like the Japanese stationary convention that happens every year, which just happened. But innovations and stationary. If you're not following it, kids, you need to follow it. So Design Darlings: Mmm. Are we going beyond paper? Is that what that means? Like we're going beyond stationary paper? Allie Miller: ⁓ do you, okay, do you not know what the Japanese Stationery Convention is? Okay, so you know like what CSN is? Design Darlings: I mean, I want to know how you innovate stationary. Allie Miller: I didn't know there was ways to innovate this issue, but apparently there is. Like, highlighters. Like, there is a way that you... Okay, so like, there's innovations in highlighters where you can have, like, the tips can be certain designs and have certain, like, ridges on it, so you can do a thin line, a thick line, you over-highlight, you can under-highlight. Innovations in washi tape distribution and ripping. Who knew? Stamps, multi-layered stamps. The possibilities are endless. Design Darlings: Mm. Wow, okay. All right, well. Allie Miller: Yeah, so that's my policy as a world's first stationary stationary convention. Design Darlings: ⁓ I mean, the kids are going back to analog these days. We grew up with analog and we are coming full circle back to handwritten letters and sending things with with stamps and with wax seals. ⁓ I feel like that's a cool. There are certain things in design that last and that like haven't been designed out into obsolescence yet. And I think that the hand. ⁓ The tactility, like what are words, the tactility of stationary, the tactility of paper, the tactility of striking a match or even using a lighter. There is something in that that is so ⁓ rewarding and like gives you that dopamine boost of like, I press this thing, boom, this thing happens. Like a lighter is that instant like, boom, yes. So there's like, there's a high five in your brain that happens. Same thing for like the highlighter. You uncap it, use it, boom. Allie Miller: Hmm. Design Darlings: It did the thing. I'm so excited. It's such a simple pleasure. Same with a match. You strike it, it lights up. That's just like it very instant dopamine in an analog way, which I really love. Allie Miller: But, and I think to the lighter and just the idea of striking a match, like when are you striking a match, right? You're striking a match when you're lighting a cigarette. Oftentimes it could be a social avenue, right? So you're doing it, you're lighting a match or you're lighting a cigarette for somebody else, you're lighting a match for somebody else. So there's a sort of like communal aspect of it. And then I think to share it, right? It's a thing you can share. Design Darlings: Mm, to share. Mm. Yeah, yeah. Allie Miller: It's also a, it can be a status symbol, right? It can be a way to show power. can be a way to show. how you're cool or there could be a way to show sophistication. Like I'm thinking there's a certain kind of lighter that was sort of popular in the Gilded Age where it was like kind of one continuous flame and then you could pull a little part out of it that was on fire and then light your cigar or your cigarette. It would sit on the desk, right? And it could be glass, it could be bronze. It just was an object of yes, utility, but also an object that made you. Design Darlings: Mm-hmm. Mmm. Mm-hmm. Allie Miller: that said something about who you were and maybe your class, your aesthetic, your brand, you know? Design Darlings: Yeah, I mean that makes me think if you can afford to have a lamp sit on your desk and just burn. Like if you're in the room and you can just burn through that kerosene, that's more expensive than a quick match, like a really cheap match. Because those were incredibly cheap and easy to use it, it burns out and that's it. But with that oil lamp lighter sitting on the desk, yeah, you have to pay for that kerosene and that is not cheap homie. Allie Miller: Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. No. Design Darlings: No, you know when you were talking about like you light a match to light somebody's cigarette, that is such a common that's like think about those scenes in movies. Someone always do you light the girl's cigarette, you light the person's cigarette and then act of like almost chivalry. That's so crazy. But it's like, do you have a match? Do you have a light or like a pickup line? That is like a moment where two characters now coming together. Yeah. Hey, you got a light. That's so funny to think about. Yeah. Yeah. Some dudes like you are some woman's like, Allie Miller: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, you got a light? Hey, girl. Design Darlings: You got a light or even if they do reverse it, there's the Garbo movies where, you know, the man will ask the woman, do you got a light? Like that's a those that is like key intro moments, literally setting a spark or a flame or a moment that we're keen into now. Guess what? Things are about to happen between these two people because they just shared a fire. Allie Miller: Mm-hmm. And I think when you think about when are people lighting cigarettes, oftentimes these characters, especially in like movie, right, they're sort of like misfits. Like I think about your, you know, whether it's like two waiters like outside back of a restaurant or if you have two people who are like at their wits end, strangers that meet, the sort of meet-cute quote unquote over like lighting a cigarette. And it's always... Oftentimes there is two people who are kind of like on the fringes of society and there's this like bonding moment that happens where you're having a cigarette at a point of like distress. or a time when you need some sort of stress relief and then like what, know, these sort of two typically, right, in the movie and the trope, right, they go on their whole journey and there's destruction and chaos and toxicity, but they're bonding, they're like, hey, we're two misfits and we're seeing each other. Like the cigarette is that symbol, like connecting us, like we have some unspoken bond of where we are in our life. Design Darlings: Well, that's like very Joseph Campbell, like you have the two people coming together, like that's like Shrek and Donkey, like Donkey gets introduced to Shrek and they have to go, ⁓ it's real, like you get your sidekick. And so it's usually your people who are like, they're rebels or somehow they are like outsiders because they see the world differently or they experience the world differently. And so they end up becoming our heroes. They're going to save us because they're the people that have come together and bonded and now they have to go off on a quest. They will be changed in the quest and then they return home. Allie Miller: You Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Right. Design Darlings: And it's like in the, 1913, Camel actually started to market cigarettes to make them fashionable. So it's, it was the thing that the cool people did. And you remember when four out of five Dockert recommended Camel and cigarettes were widely distributed during the first and second world wars to soldiers. like what 1915 to 1945 in the 20s, it became socially acceptable for women to smoke. then like we see things on screen, how much interest, how much. Allie Miller: Mm-hmm. Mm. Design Darlings: influence has cinema and television had on smoking. And so the way that you position those characters and how suave they are or how maybe evil they are and the way that they smoke and how they smoke. Yes, like there was a lot of things to set on fire back in the late 19th, early 20th century because you didn't have the reliance on electricity. Cigarettes were becoming popular and more consumable, more mainstream. Allie Miller: femme fatale. ⁓ Design Darlings: and then women were allowed to smoke. So you've got these moments that kept happening where it was cool and okay for you to have, you needed, well you needed some fire in your pocket or accessible to you. ⁓ And then it became a status symbol like you're saying, and the way that you, there's always also that, ⁓ there's the trope of like the hobo trope, and I'm saying this knowing it's a trope where the guy's like trying to scround a cigarette off the ground and he finds like a half smoked cigarette and he's just scrounging it to light it. And so, Allie Miller: Mm-hmm. Design Darlings: the way that people even acquired or had their tobacco products indicated so much of who they were. so, mean, yes, I'm with you on this, like, the Gilded Age of making people really interested in these desktop lighters again, and it's a nostalgic object instead of the BIC that you can get literally anywhere. And it's cheap, and now it's disposable, where it used to be something that... I mean, you can still get Zippo lighters, which is... its own really cool ⁓ subculture of collectors. mean, I have a couple, suppose, but girl, isn't it crazy to think about how we went from cave people, cavemen trying to start fire. Then it became something that was easy for us to do to maintain. And then now, now you have like little pet fires in your pocket to like, whatever. Yes. Cigarettes are coming back. So, you know, we're lighting cigarettes again. ⁓ the nineties are back. Allie Miller: Whatever you need to, just let the world burn, you know? Mm-hmm. ⁓ the 90s are back. I'm watching the Carolyn Bassett, JFK Jr. love story series right now. Okay, it is, mean, Ryan Murphy, I love his success, the man can do no wrong. I know the man can do wrong, but I just, I love his cam. And in it, you have Carolyn Bassett, and it just... Design Darlings: Ha Ooh, I started it last night. Allie Miller: I mean, one, just totally romanticizes the 90s in New York. And I'm not going to pretend. mean, I was like... Design Darlings: It does. I'm like, God, I wish I was there. Allie Miller: Yeah, and I was a child at the time, but in my head I'm like, ⁓ yeah, that's so glamorous. And you have Carolyn Bissette, she's in these gorgeous black silk slip dresses, and they're just running around New York, and it's like 2 a.m., and they're going to all these clubs, and she always, she always has a cigarette in her hand. She always just has some gorgeous, long cigarette, and has some cool little lighter. Design Darlings: Parties! ⁓ Allie Miller: Like I'm trying to imagine just how the ultimate cool girl, right? What if Carolyn Bessette, just like in one of these scenes just whips out like a big lighter with some tacky like sailboat design or like a picture of like a little pug on it or some, never, never. Or even there's, know, Naomi Watts, her with no notes on her accent to, you know, the late great Jackie Kennedy. Perfect, perfect. ⁓ Design Darlings: She would never... my God, that Jackie O accent is so funny. Allie Miller: But yeah, Jackie Kennedy, she's sitting there in her gorgeous New York penthouse, smoking her cigarettes, the 50-packs cigarettes she smoked today. And she always, of course, has a gorgeous lighter. again, just this idea of the lighter, this accessory being a symbol of who you are and your class and the status. She would never have some tacky lighter. It only has to be the finest of accessories. Design Darlings: Mm-hmm. I'm sure it's gold, you can still find really expensive lighters that people give as gifts. can get a gold lighter. They're like 250 bucks, you can get them, ⁓ which is really cool to think. It also harkens back to beginning, about design is an indicator, aesthetic is an indicator of status. Allie Miller: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Design Darlings: you see it. It's just something that humans do. I'm this is just a human trait where we surround ourselves with objects and things that indicate status and who we are or who we want to be perceived as in the world. So, mean, girl, we've been doing the same things for thousands of years. Allie Miller: in I don't condone smoking, but I just, I want to know, did she have a lighter? Was it glamorous? Was it, did she use match books? Like what she use? Design Darlings: I agree. Why not? Who cares? I'm gonna go track that down. Alright, I'm gonna find out. And did she like, I mean, everyone let their own cigarettes back in the day, but I bet it was gold and metal and like slender. When I was in France once, I got this lighter and it was like, it's long and skinny, it's square. It's like a half inch diameter and it's a perfect square and it's tall like a column. And it's like Donamon cigarettes made it. It's so cool. So I bet all that is to say. Allie Miller: Mm-hmm. Design Darlings: I her lighter was small and compact and ⁓ shiny. I bet it was shiny, girl. I bet it was shiny. Do you think she lit her own candles or do you think she had someone do that for her? Allie Miller: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think she had staff to light the candles. Maybe she had one like tasteful candle in her room that she would light, you know, on her own. But yeah, I'd like to think that she's surrounded by, you know, her staff to light the candles for her. Her candelabras on the wall, you know, her fine antique goods. Design Darlings: Mm. Okay. Yeah, I'm thinking that she might have. ⁓ What about candles? mean, candles is another one of those things where, okay, it was an object of necessity for so long. And if you lose power from a nor'easter or a hurricane, then yes, we have a lot of LED lights nowadays. But I mean, there's a vibe about candles. Candles are also that... Allie Miller: Mm-hmm. Design Darlings: They went from being an object of necessity to now a fun design object. They're aesthetic. Allie Miller: Yeah. I did little deep dive into the history candles ⁓ and ⁓ the first record of candles. So since the days, we've been burning candles with wood or we've been burning things like with wood, right, kindling, things like that. ⁓ And then the sort of, ⁓ the sort of prehistoric of our modern day candle was anything that had like ⁓ animal fat or Design Darlings: Mm. Bless. Allie Miller: plant fat or plant oils in it, right? But it didn't really resemble what we think of as like the modern day candle, right? But it was basically a blubber and like a reed. That was sort of the thing you would just use to have some continuous form of burning that wasn't like an actual fire pit, right? Design Darlings: Mmm. Yeah. That makes sense. Okay, like a lamp, okay. Allie Miller: Yeah, but then our first actual evidence of candles was from the Bronze Age. So this is around 3000 BCE. this is, you know, think like ancient Mesopotamia, you know, the ancient Greek Mediterranean areas, Egypt, right? That's where we start to see actual artifacts of candles in their kind of modern form, right? Like, for example, in the tombs of Design Darlings: Hmm. Hmm. Okay. Allie Miller: Egyptian pharaohs like Tutankhamun you don't necessarily see the candles themselves, but they're buried with things that are basically modern-day candlesticks candelabras accessories that would be Used for burning candles that you might theoretically need in like the afterlife right and the Bronze Age right you're seeing things to be built out of metal so you can actually build visit more sturdy reliable things That's not just like blubber and fat to like hold the candle ⁓ Design Darlings: Okay. Mmm. Allie Miller: There's innovations in material so people can actually have a candle that's a little more structured, a little more stable. And then as we get closer and closer, then you start to see a more, once we get closer to the modern age, you see evolutions in just the actual physical design of a candle as we better understand materials. ⁓ Design Darlings: So it's kind of like the first Industrial Revolution over in England, see, well, there's mass production. So I guess you could do beeswax dipped candles with a wick. You could do those because people would use beeswax with wicks. then in the 1800s, would start to see, with industrialization, now we're mass producing things. So that's when mass production started to change. the form and function, like did it start become more uniform or common? Allie Miller: Well, I think what's interesting is that pre pre-guilded age, so pre mid 1800s, you had candles that were primarily for either like religious purposes or you had candles that were for ⁓ purely like functional, like they're like lighting. That's where you have like the candelabra because you massive amounts of candles to create enough light to actually function and do things at night. Also to candelabras, right? Design Darlings: Okay. Okay, yeah. Allie Miller: Also relegated to class, because that's a big, heavy, sturdy object you need. So the richer you are, the more physical candles you can have. Burning at one time, you know, there's a whole bunch of issues there with like class and access to light at night and what that means for just social mobility, right? And what's interesting is in the Gilded Age, you actually see a flip-flop, like an inverse, the candle industry actually decreases. Design Darlings: Mmm. Mmm, yeah, true. Allie Miller: because you have like kerosene lamps, you have other more sustainable ways to burn for longer, and you start to have the invention of light bulbs. So the candle industry actually takes like a sharp dive, and then coming out of the Gilded Age in like the early 1900s, candles start become more primarily used for aesthetic purposes. So they become more decorative because we have electricity for a lot of people. Design Darlings: Hmm. No ⁓ okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Allie Miller: and we have lights and we have different ways that we can burn, like kerosene lamps can burn longer than a single candle. So candles actually become either really just become more for religious purposes or become for decorative purposes, but they become much less functional. They're used less functional reasons post, you know, post industrial revolution. Yeah. Design Darlings: Definitely. That makes sense. Okay. So now they're a vibe. So they went from being functional to now they're a vibe. ⁓ Allie Miller: Yeah. Yeah. But they always kind of were a vibe. Even way back in you know, 3000 BCE, like, there's evidence of scented candles all the way. Yeah. People wanted to smell good 3000 years ago, you know, 5000 years ago. So there's evidence of people putting in like flowers or oils or things that smell good into their candles, basically, since candles were created. Design Darlings: Okay, yeah. Allie Miller: people wanted candles to smell good. So, and they were always like for religious purposes, they were always meant to be sense of ornamentation. There's always meant to be sense of ornamentation and, you know, aesthetic and ambiance with a candle, you know, even in addition to sort of its functional purposes. Design Darlings: ⁓ Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, well, and I think about like architecture too, right? Like as you lose the light or when you're in a city, I mean, God, when you're in New York and like, it's depending on what part of the city you're in. Like if you're behind a lot of talk, like you're like, ⁓ it's sunset and it's four o'clock. It's only cause the sun is behind the buildings. So, you know, it's that's Gotham city now and dark. And so in the, can imagine like in London pre industrialization as you're in these. Allie Miller: Yeah. Design Darlings: houses and they only have a certain amount of natural light, you also need that for indoor light. And then as gas lamps and other things come in, you don't need as much of it. But yeah, depending on how much natural light you could get into your house, you wouldn't need those candles until evening time anyway. And then you need some little mini suns in the house. if you are in a Gilded Age mansion, you've got a lot of natural light all day long, babe, because you have tons of windows and windows were expensive. And so that Allie Miller: Yeah. Yeah. Design Darlings: Thinking about the architecture of light, that too is kind of crazy to consider the tie in. Anyway. Yeah. Allie Miller: Skylights, mirrors, yeah. And then big cities, right, you had your lamp lighters. Your British, your lamp piles. It's getting dark. Mary Poppins, light your lamps. Design Darlings: Yes. have you...I don't know if you've seen this video of...they call it the last fart lamp in London and it's because it's a burning gas lamp that runs...it burns methane gas off of the sewer and so that's what it is. It's the very last one and they're talking about why it hasn't been decommissioned. It's the oldest lamp in London and I think they might keep it going. There's some weird... Allie Miller: Mmm. Design Darlings: Underground structural reason why they haven't turned it off. But also now at this point It's a it's its own thing. And so to get rid of it would be I mean, it would be terrible because now you're just killing history. Yes Yes, now it's history. Now. It's like, you know, it's part of part of their lore. You can't kill the lore Allie Miller: People will be distraught because they've grown attached to it. And literally, its only job is just to burn the methane from the gas, like in the sewers. Design Darlings: Yes. Yes. It's people powered, literally. Allie Miller: like the little engine that could, the little street lamp that could, it's just doing its thing, doesn't know the difference. It's like the wall-y of street lamps. It's just burning and doing its thing, and it doesn't know. It's been left behind. ⁓ Design Darlings: I mean... The Eternal Flame. The Eternal Flame. ⁓ my gosh. This is so cool. Thank you for talking with me about like, for the history of candles because like, I mean, these are just everyday objects that we... I don't take them for granted because I have a deep love for candles and a deep love for lighters and matches and setting things on fire. But you know, wow, we don't have to really... go out of our way to find ⁓ methods for doing light for lights or okay first world problems let me say that all right privilege let me do the privilege marker of yes we have electricity we have power we have we have fire because now we can do grills if we want to grill you know like it's a luxury to have an outside fire ⁓ but this is a cool deep dive to think about our everyday objects and the very long histories that they have so thank you for lighting Allie Miller: Thank you. Yeah. And yeah, I think, ⁓ yeah. And I think what's really exciting is just to think about something, the innovation within the design of lighters and candles, right? Things that are just so simple and so ubiquitous in our life that for literally thousands of years, we've been innovating on. Design Darlings: lighting it up with me. Keep going. Mm. Allie Miller: how we burn candles, how we light candles, how light, how matches our design, the physical form factor, the chemistry behind them, the production of them, just constantly, you know, every little thing that is surrounding us right now, just the idea that it can all continue to be tweaked and evolved and be innovated on based on the materials that are available to us and the production techniques that are available to us at any given time. Design Darlings: Yeah, well because arc lighters are now a big thing where you, ⁓ you know, they have like two little prongs in them and you press the button and you can charge them with a USB port. Like, ⁓ my gosh. And then you, that arc, it creates your spark and you can light a, I have a couple of those. It's like, ⁓ this is so cool. So we're, we're still even innovating lighters ⁓ for candles and other things. I mean, and I know this is also a very Western look at this. I'm not, I did not do a deep dive into like, ⁓ into Eastern culture and if there were really cool functional lighters, I'm sure that there were. So I will make up for that in a later episode. There could be a cool Jade lighter that I missed out on from the 1600 Ming dynasty, sure. So I will acknowledge that. But yeah, man, it's so cool that we're still continuing to use technology to innovate those things as well. You don't need... Allie Miller: Yeah. Design Darlings: Butane for your lighter. You can just plug it into a USB. What? ⁓ my gosh. Allie Miller: Wow, innovation. Design Darlings: All right. So final closeout topic and culture light my fire. We started with the movies. Let's end with the movies. Give me a favorite ⁓ light fire scene from a movie ⁓ and I'll give you one and then we'll say goodbye. Allie Miller: Hmm. Yeah. My moment of culture around lighters goes to one of the kings of excess. We started with Emerald Fennell and Wuthering Heights, but I'm to give it to Bas Lerman for the 1996 Romeo and Juliet. If you were a millennial child in 1996, that movie left an indelible impression in your brain and just like Design Darlings: Mmm, snow. Yes. Allie Miller: the most over the top scene where it's the death scene of Juliet and she is walking, Romeo is walking to her. He thinks obviously, spoiler alert, she's not dead, she's just poisoned. If you haven't read William Shakespeare yet, but he's walking towards her. Design Darlings: You Allie Miller: and you have these sort of neon crosses, but then those are juxtaposed against just this massive, excessive amount of candles. Like I genuinely want to know how many candles the production crew bought. It is so over the top, but it just gives this heightened sense of drama. And they're teenagers, and so again, the excess is sort of mirroring just the raw emotions. Design Darlings: Yeah. Allie Miller: and just the genuine love and heartbreak and pain of these like characters. It's massive. And then you have this gorgeous music playing. So everything just comes together to build this beautiful, you know, scene and then state. And then he's lying on the bed with her and it's beyond over the top melodramatic, but the candles really do a lot of the lifting. And I just got to, yeah, yeah. Design Darlings: The candles do the heavy lifting. That's true. Yes. Yes, snaps to the candles. It did feel like a Guns N' Roses video. I'm pretty sure there's a Guns N' Roses video from like 1993. It's not CGI. Like someone, you're right. Someone went in there and lit all those candles. And can you imagine all those like all the little assistants on set had to run around. I wonder what kind of lighters they used to or if they took. Yes. Allie Miller: You All the production interns just... Design Darlings: Yes, they had to light on those candles and I'm like, did they take a candle with them to light the candles? Like, ⁓ my gosh, that's so funny to think about. Allie Miller: I wanna know, was Claire Danes laying there just profusely sweating, trying not to just, the makeup artist is constantly coming up every five minutes and just blotting her face for oil. So yeah, yeah. Design Darlings: It could have. It could have been hot in there. ⁓ my gosh, that's so funny. ⁓ I'm going to also invoke a 90s movie here because it's one of the most memorable, again, for all of us millennials, elder millennials, ⁓ Angela Bassett waiting to exhale when she lights her cigarette and throws that lighter into the Mercedes and sets it on fire. That gif, we still, ⁓ my gosh. ⁓ my gosh, I raised my hand and my computer must have effects turned on because it just had balloons raised. Allie Miller: Mmm. This happened like five minutes ago. I don't think you saw it. It happened like five minutes ago, but your face was turned away from the camera and I laughed, but you didn't like catch it and... Design Darlings: Stop it. No! Oh, funny. Oh my gosh. So I'm giving like praise to Angela Bassett with my hands raised and Apple wants to give me balloons for that. That's cute. We love that. Hilarious. But yes, okay. So that is one of the best fire scenes. I, you know, what's it? Christopher Nolan? No, who's like one of the big people, like lots of explosions. I think we love explosions on the big screens because we don't really see them in real life. That's a whole nother tangent. I will not go on. But yeah, I think people... People are obsessed and there is a lore for fire in our psyche that just is, that's always going to be there. That we, there's something about fire that we inherently love and fear at the same time. Cause it's also an element of nature that we had to learn to control. But when fire is out of control, it's also pretty scary. So, all right, I'm going to be quiet. ⁓ Enough waxing poetic. ⁓ But I think we did, we did a rundown on fire, light my fire. Thank you. Allie Miller: satisfying. Design Darlings: Darling for this sparky episode. You all can join us next time where we will wax poetic again and prolific about design in everyday life. Thank you, darling. Bye bye. Allie Miller: Thank you, darling. Bye.