Tuesday's Design: Mosquito Nets

Despite what is seen in many western magazines, mosquito nets don't instantly conjure up images of luxury and glamour for me. While their history goes as far back as the 1700s, I didn't really get them on my radar until 2004 when I moved to Kenya and subsequently Sudan. At the time, it was 95% about the practicality of the net and 5% about the fact that I loved feeling cocooned in at night. Unwrapping the net, sneaking under as quickly as possible, and inevitably having to murder one or two mosquitos that would somehow sneak in along with me, all became little rituals that I gladly performed each night.

These days the closest I come to mosquito nets are the ones that come across in magazines or blogs and during the summer when I fantasize about being about to sit on my pouch after work without being chewed alive.

While the idea of the mosquito net as a luxury interior design item still sinks into my head, I think a part of me will always associate it with the time I spent alone in a hut at night with the windows wide open...

{Photos: Gina Argentina, Coco+Kelley, unknown, Irene2005, Afton Halloran, JPDodd}