Today is the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1994. The UN sought to draw attention to the devastating degradation of fertile land into arid desert—which has huge ramifications for food production, social order and geologic stability. Despite the clunky title, the effects of desertification can be deadly. Both natural phenomena and human activities contribute to the problem. Drought can be caused by failures in human water management as well as by climate change. Last year, Saudi Arabia used the occasion to highlight its planting of 115 million trees across the country.
Shown above, a handsome pair of cast iron camel bookends, finished with a (now aged) copper patina. They were made in the Twenties.
Camels are called the "Ships of the Desert" for good reason. First of all, for centuries, they were the only way to transport people or goods across the wide and inhospitable expanses of desert. Camels are beautifully designed to cross hot stretches of sand—often without water or food. The hump on the back of a camel contains fat which can be utilized (like a battery) when food and water are scarce. Their feet are wide and flat which keeps them from sinking into the shifting sand. And camels are fitted with furry ears, long lashes and nostrils which can clamp-shut—all of which keeps sand from irritating their ears, eyes and noses. Finally, the gently-rocking gait of camels walking was not unlike the rolling of a ship in the ocean, hence the appropriateness of the nickname.
Click on the photo above to learn more about these handsome bookends.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
To arrange a visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only), please call 917-446-4248.