There is a mantel in Wuthering Heights that I cannot get out of my head.
It is equal parts romantic and macabre but it appears in the film as little more than a background actor. Characters walk by it as if it’s commonplace, any old thing. And I guess it would be an otherwise unassuming fireplace mantel, were it not made entirely of carved hands.
These hands are fully formed—stacked, reaching, and emerging from the wood as if the house itself is alive, making their way all the way up to ceiling.
I wrote about what I’m calling the “handtel” online and got a litany of responses from others as taken by it as me.
Some speculated that more hands were added to it as the film went on, and asked me what I thought it signified. I can’t be sure but it seemed to serve as an analogy for Cath feeling trapped in her home and in her circumstance, unable to be with her one true love. And also a physical manifestation of Catherine and Heathcliff themselves — hands everywhere, reaching, grasping, unable to let go.
Because this is what great set design does. It tells you how to feel before a single line is delivered. The room is already haunted by desire, which is carved into the very architecture itself.
It’s also worth pointing out that hands pop up in other places in this Wuthering Heights room, too — making shadow puppets to line the ceiling and holding lights to form sconces.
In short: this is a movie that is full of hand stuff (iykyk), and it has me desirous of some hand stuff of my own.
Hands are one of the oldest symbols we have, often used to signal protection. They appear in prehistoric cave paintings as ghastly silhouettes pressed into stone — proof of presence, the “2good + 2be = 4gotten” of their time. In religious art they bless, ward off, heal. In modern painting they become expressive and distorted, sometimes more emotional than faces themselves.
Hands have been used over lifetimes so, unlike most decorative trends, they don’t date themselves to a specific decade.
All of the objects featured here prove the point.
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Ramonn Vieitez de Lima, Eden, Hands Painting; surrealist monumental purple leather hand chair; Maison Arlus silver hand sconces with white opaline shades; Carl Auböck brass hand catchall bowl
You can add hands to your home in myriad ways. A hand-shaped bowl is functional first, theatrical second. It holds keys, matches, citrus on a bar.
The best ones have weight and simplicity — white ceramic, aged plaster, maybe a subtle glaze. Avoid overly literal skin tones. You want sculpture, not mannequin.
Manon Cleary, Photo Realistic Diptych Hand Painting; Pedro Friedeberg gilt hand table; Walter Bosse hand bowl
If a full three-dimensional hand feels like too much, the motif can be introduced more quietly through art: a charcoal study of clasped hands, an oversized photograph cropped at the wrist, even a vintage print where the gesture is exaggerated and expressive. Framed properly, these read as graphic and emotional rather than themed.
The hand chair, meanwhile, is a greater commitment to the motif. But when styled properly, it reads less as novelty and more as Surrealist sculpture you happen to sit in.
1970s surrealist hand chair; hand wall art; green hand pillow
The lesson here isn’t to turn your living room into a Gothic fever dream à la Wuthering Heights. It’s to allow one object to carry feeling.
Do you have any hand stuff in your home? Have you ever thrifted any of it? I’d love to see it, if so!
ODDS & ENDS
I am having a moment with boat shoes. The leather version by Freda Salvador is gorgeous but I also love these Larroudé tassel-topped loafers.
In my hunt for bathroom sconces, I came across ceramics brand SIN by Virginia Sin (great name) which is really resonating with me. These look like folded pieces of paper! Simply delightful and sculptural.
Every time I share my Edie Parker polka-dotted catchall on my coffee table, I get at least one DM about it. It’s on sale for under $100 currently.
I was literally obsessed with the handtle. I never pull my phone out at the movie theatre, but I took a photo in the dark just for that piece. For some reason as I was growing up, I'd pay attention to the features of those I was attracted to, taking very close note of their hands every time. I have some dark finished metal handgers for coats that I plan to hand by my front door, but I'm finishing a still life to cover my electrical panels first so I know how much wall space I can play with. Really comforted to know I'm not the only one who stopped for this incredible set piece.
I was also obsessed by the fireplace! I think it is also symbolic of tge yearning and need to escape tgat oppresses so many of the characters, but especially Cathy. I have a jewellery stand with 3 hands which I hang my necklaces off..now I will look at it a little differently.