What Nobody Tells You About Interior Design

Decorator's Insider –

What Nobody Tells You

About Interior Design

 

The trends and style in furniture,

antiques, fabrics and accessories.

 

It's about ideas, taste

and designers.

 

It's about digging the details of

decorating and its problems.

Past Articles

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Trend Trekker – The Milan Furniture Fair

posted April 23, 2012

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TREND TREKKER

European

  Edition 2012

         It's About...

 The Milan

Furniture

     Fair ~

I’m thrilled to be here.

It’s exciting and fresh

with lots of colour.

Very 50’s and 60’s –

but with a new edge. 

 

Lots of style, curves and

soft corners. New materials. New technologies.  And the Euro designers have decided to have a lot of fun and whimsy with their collections with outrageous style and colour.  The legendary designers of the 50’s and 60’s, Joe Columbo and Vino Magistretti, are being reproduced again, showing the simplicity of their great styles.  And the new generation of top designers – Phillippe Starck, Ron Arad, Piero Lissoni, Patricia Urquiola, Ronan and Erwan Bourellac, and others, – have some exciting designs with a number of the big European suppliers.

Mask Chair by Driade (side view)

But before I begin, I would like to take a moment to congratulate

Dutch designer

Bertjan Pot,

whose Stairway to

Heaven lamp

(pictured here)

was selected the

winning design for

the 2012 Frame

Moooi Award.

 

We’d also like to

congratulate the

other nine Frame

Moooi Award

finalists: Pablo Martinez Diez (Spain),  Lab 3 (Netherlands),  ZMIK (Switzerland),  Shl Design (Denmark), Facet Studio (Australia),  KEIKO + MANABU (Japan), Ypsilon Tasarım and Yesim Bakırküre (Turkey),  Studio Makkink & Bey (Netherlands) and Lee Broom (United Kingdom).

Stairway to Heaven by Bertjan Pot of The Netherlands

Urquiola for Moroso

It’s About… HANDWOVEN and HANDKNOTTED in MACRO WEAVES – OPEN WEAVES from RATTAN to
FAUX EFFECTS on ALUMINUM ~

 Handwoven Gandia Blasco

 Vittorio Bonacina

 La Cividina

 B&B Italia

Meritalia

 It’s About… Excess and an Overflowing Quest for Extreme Comfort and Casualness ~

Moroso

 Diesel for Moroso

Boa by Edra

Normann of Copenhagen

 It’s About… Shape – Seams – Welts and Some Biiig Shoulders — Stitching and Edge to Edge Seams, Curves and 50’s to 6O’s

 Molteni&C

 Ron Arad for Magis

 Interlubke

 Patricia Urquiola

    for Moroso

Nils Holger

Classicon

 Ligne Roset

 Joe Columbo for Kartell

It’s About… Puffed and Quilted Continuing ~

Ligne Roset

Patricia Urquiola for Kartell

 Puffed Effects

Missoni Ottaman

It’s About…
Outdoors and at Home - Fun, Colour and Pattern ~

 Missoni at Home

Missoni Sleigh Chair

 Dedon Sun Seats 

 Driade Peacock Chair

 Living Divans

 It’s About… Great Groupings of Tables - Plexiglass and Glass-Coloured See Through Chests with Natural Reclaimed Wood Interior Drawers and Cabinets ~

 Magic Box by Piero Lissoni

Coloured Plexiglass

Moroso

It’s About…
Fun and Whimsy

 Bench by Opinion Ciatta

 Mask Chair by Driade (front view)

 Meritalia Love Sofa

 Remember Me. from Bla Station

 Umbrella Stand

AND SOME COURAGE!!!

 Boffi F* the Classics

Boffi

Boffi

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 20 TERRIFIC TINY TABLES FOR GREAT INTERIORS

I’m talking about the SNAPPY, 

FLASHY, little "MUST" tables for

Interior Design. These are 'de rigeur' when it comes to placing a tiny, useful, smallish,  flat

surface just at the arm of every sofa or chair.  It sounds a bit like having “a chicken in every pot” because, well, it is. It's just good design, and they make a room complete with both comfort and a handy kind of convenience.

Now... I am not talking large.  These are seriously

small but very high-styled, tiny tables with a real

presence about them. Not one will be intimidated by

their fellow furnishing partners. In my view they

deliver “the goods” and work harder than most

of the other pieces you've put in a room, figuratively

speaking.

            They can range from eight-inches in

            diameter to a (mighty!) twenty inches

              and the styles range from traditional

              to contemporary, from gilded metal to

            Chinese Lacquer, from plastics to

              painted finishes, and from Syrian and

              Indian inlay of bone and marquetry patterns.

When I was trawling the markets recently, the styles of

Dessin Fournir just blew me away – by the high style diversity

of at least a dozen designs and astonishingly ALL of them would have answered to my parameters. They are not bargains by any means but for style? They are fabulous and blessed with great details. 

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2

3

5

Twenty Terrific Tiny Tables

For Great Interiors

posted April 30, 2012

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          There’s also some REAL style to be found in the group from Profiles starting with a dazzling little table that has a glossy

"petrified wood" top and a classy display of 

splayed metal legs. There is also a series

of brass oval rings engineered to hold

a sleek glass top with pizzazz. And 

Bunny Williams and her BeeLine are 

humming along with her chic group of 

        great little tables. Several of them

         only 12 inches in diameter.

 

And then there's that brilliant Tara Shaw of New Orleans, Houston, and LA., who has three gorgeous, tiny, twisted, metal tables that can be bought separately or as a trio that

are just so chic. 

 

Ligne Roset has a fun, flurry of white metal moveable shelves that play Hide-and-Seek – terribly useful and reminds me of a mobile, three-armed Balinese dancer.

 

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   Chelsea Furniture adds a drawer to some

   of theirs bringing super style in soothing,  

   deep off-tones with wrapped handles.

 

Plus look at their perennial group of charming, Gustavian-inspired pieces that are very cool.

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Paul Ferrante always has tasteful metal pieces just as does John Saladino. And there are at least a dozen tables to be found at Andrew Martin. But to be seen in THIS article they were all just a tad over the 20-inch-size... so didn't make the cut. I wanted you to see the great style of these splendid LITTLE tables that work so hard.

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Finally, there are, of course, many sources for them but as I am a lover of the exotic, the East, and the fanciful, I have a particular penchant for 

         inlaid-bone and -horn tables as well as

            slivers of mirror from Syria and India. 

             Also the gaily painted round and

            hexagonal Moroccan and Indian small

         tables with mystical swirls and cutouts and a cacophony of colour. These little beauties can often be purchased for as little as $100 to $150 which allows one a little fantasy and a lot of fun! 

1.   Profiles Polished Wood – www.profilesny.com

2.   Morrocan Painted Table at Bada Designs – www.badadesigns.com

3.   Gerard's Paxico Table by Dessin Fournier – www.dessinfournir.com

4.   MID 030 Chelsea Furniture – www.chelseatextiles.com 

5.   Marquetry Cube Table by BeeLine Home  – www.beelinehome.com

6.   Camrose at Dessin Fournir – www.dessinfournir.com

7.   Dessin Fournir – www.dessinfournir.com 

8.   Dessin Fournir Gilt Bamboo – www.dessinfournir.com

9.   Bottoms-up from BeeLine Home – www.beelinehome.com

10. Profiles Petrified Wood – www.profilesny.com

11.  Profiles Oval Rings – www.profilesny.com

12.  Ligne Roset White Metal Table – www.ligne-roset-usa.com

13.  Tara Shaw – www.tarashaw.com 

14.  MID 039  Chelsea Furniture – www.chelseatextiles.com

15.  MID 087 Chelsea Furniture  – www.chelseatextiles.com 

16.  MID 113 Chelsea Furniture  – www.chelseatextiles.com 

17.  John Saladino – www.saladinostyle.com

18.  John Rosselli – www.johnrosselliassociates.com

19.  Morrocan Painted Table from Bada Designs – www.badadesigns.com

20.  At SOFA Wexler Gallery by Schreiber, Black Ice Tables – www.wexlergallery.com

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Extra! Extra! - New York 20th Century Art & Design Fair

posted April 14, 2012

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EXTRA! EXTRA!

This just in

                 from the Editor!

Go direct, in fact run –

New York’s

Great New Little Show 

is a charmer.

1stdibs certainly chose its 36 top dealers well. They brought lovely 20th Century Treasures to New York’s doorstep. Lighting was superb – knockout jewelry – some wonderful chairs and eyecatching wall art. A tapestry by Sonia Delaunay was divine from Vojtech Blau.

 

La Lampade – great lights. Patrick Dragonette from

LA, with his eye for Glamour, did not disappoint.

Christopher Anthony of Palm Springs had some

extraordinary collections of decorative art.

Caira Mandaglio from London and Bridges Over Time showed some captivating pieces and sure fire exhibitors Liz O’Brien, Lost City Arts and favourite Downtown certainly did not lack exciting collections of 20th Century treasures.

Go. It’s worth a visit.

Under the tent on W. 62nd St. at Lincoln Center. The show runs from

April 12th – 15th.

1. Light at Caira Mandaglio UK                                 

2. Sculpture at Lost City Arts                                    

3. Sonia Delaunay at Vojtech Blau                              

4. Dragonette LA.

5. Christopher Anthony Jacks Collection

6. Dragonette LA. 

7. Coffee Table at Downtown

8. Palumbo/Anderssen Modern                       

9. Side Table at Downtown

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Cover to Cover - Walls

posted April 11, 2012

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Wall - Nicholas Howey Mannequins Blank

His new book, simply called WALL (Glitterati International), shows how he's moved deeply into the "conceptual art" phase of what his true-to-life mannequins were paving the way for.

Wall and mannequins by Ruben Toledo

Ralph Pucci is one

of the original

Game Changers...

of an entire industry.

 

And when you're talking fashion...

that's no easy feat!

 

Two fabulous books

we are reviewing now

IT'S ABOUT

CONTRAST...

 

WALLS – 

OUR LIVES AND OUR STYLE

'WALL'

 

 

 

 

THIS IS ORIGINAL.

A VISION!

 

 

(Something we love at

Decorator's Insider)

 Wall by Roberto Dutesco Furniture by Jerome Abel Seguin

The book is an extraordinary study of the interplay between High Art, gallery presentation, and how YOU might translate it right into your very own home. In the late '80s Mr. Pucci originated a concept of the "live" mannequin – a more natural posture, suggesting active-movement, a "faithful-to-life" expression for the display of clothes which has guided him towards his concepts of today.

 Wall by Jerome Abel Seguin

His roster of modern artists is

drawn from the first rank:

Patrick Naggar,  Andrée Putman, Vladimir Kagan, Paul Mathieu,

Herve Van Der Straeten,

Kevin Walz, Vicente Wolf,

Kenny Scharf....

 Wall and Furniture by Patrick Naggar

 Wall and Furniture by Robert Bristow

The book illustrates how a simple, flat, empty backdrop, a plain wall, can transmogrify into

a stunningly original expression of your own

artistic sensibility with paint, chalk, fabric,

photography, sculpture, clothing. Whatever catches your imagination.

 Wall and Furniture by India Mahdavi

Not for the faint-hearted.  We understand that you don't live in a showroom or a museum gallery where you can re-paint on a whim.

BUT...

 

His point is that, you can create an expression that is true to your own style if you can "free up" your notion of a WALL.  With some courage and a lick of colour (or non-colour) to make your WALL a work of art that is totally yours.

 

 

 Wall by Malcolm Hill Furniture by Jens Risom

 FASCINATING WE THINK –

           NOW READ THE CONTRAST!

WALLS: The Best of

Decorative Treatments

by Florence de Dampierre

(Rizzoli)

ON DECORATIVE WALLS IT’S THE BEST BOOK

Just so good, in fact, we are back for a second review.

 

But this time we are

discussing Wall Coverings, Murals, and Frescoes in contrast to the review above.

 

WHY?

Because they cover it all!

It was featured in "Cover to Cover" last fall, showing Stencils and Wood paneling. It merits our return visit owing to its content of beauty, history, relevancy, and sheer inspiration in the vast coverage of highly diverse but related areas for Walls. Oh yes, we liked it.

Beautifully written, Mme. de Dampierre's pride in her subject expresses the joy of her own discoveries.  With an abundant display of both erudition and Hands-on Know-How.

 

A great combination!

 

But, I repeat.

These two books are about contrasts – IN LIFESTYLES.

The glorious extravagance of PAST AND TRADITIONAL WALLS surrounding our lives.  And the NOW AVANT-GARDE of art painting directly onto the interior, sometimes exterior, surfaces of walls.

And its marriage to the simple furniture of contemporary daily life (see above, Ralph Pucci’s book WALL).

Florence de Dampierre is an interior designer who has that enviable je ne sais quoi which lifts her to the level of a curator. She has a desire for scholarship she wishes to share with her readers, stressing skill, skill, skill.

Starting with murals of the High Renaissance as well as frescoes – 

an elaborate process of applying 

some natural-colored pigments

to quickly-drying, freshly-placed plaster grounds – she then moves onto oil painting on canvas in the Baroque, then the Rococo,  onto the Neoclassic 

and the Romantic (think Marie Antoinette at the Chateau de Fontainebleau).

 

It's all here to savor.

Hand-painted wallcoverings also get their due from the 18th Century through to the contemporary, from the Chinoise influences to Zuber, de Gourney and Gracie wallcoverings, whom I adore. There are the toile de jouy of the French,  Art Deco and Ruhlmann, William Morris, borders and friezes, and embossed leathers. All leading us to the great traditions of wallpaper produced by Colefax and Fowler, Brunschwig & Fils, Clarence House and Scalamandré.

NOW, if a room has, in fact, six walls, Mme. de Dampierre's book illustrates the glory of covering five of them – we're including the ceiling (the "sixth" being the floor, of course).

 

At the risk of making you think everything in the book is Italian, it isn't. She toured the French countryside, New England, the UK, and generously provides modern, up-to-the-minute rooms of her clients for whom she has produced these stylish traditions.

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Editor's Word April 2012

posted April 6, 2012

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TREND TREKKER - Spring 2012

posted April 6, 2012

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All The World's A Stage

posted March 5, 2012

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Individually Collected

by Karim Ghidenelli at

Cheryl Hazen Contemporary Art

A special genius —

stage designer extraordinaire,interior designer, architect —

all facets of design where the brilliance

  of his star shone brightly.

ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE
Oliver Messel by Chippy Irvine, guest editor

As a fashion student at the Royal College of Art, I discovered that Messel’s theatrical designs had been admired since the 1920s as had those of his friends Cecil Beaton and Rex Whistler, both of whom I’d heard of since childhood.  We endlessly discussed the Messel suite at the Dorchester, admired his elegant décor for Edward Rayne’s shoe shop, the top name for fashionable shoes at the time, and his bijou theatre for Nicky Sekers - the most touted fabric man of that era.

I first became aware of Oliver Messel as a stage designer in 1949 after seeing a trio of plays in London:

Christopher Fry’s verse play "The Lady’s Not for Burning," Fry’s adaptation of Jean Anouilh’s "Ring Round the 

Moon" and Nancy Mitford’s translation of the French sexy, sophisticated comedy "The Little Hut." The plays were entertaining, but it was the sets and costumes that glued themselves onto my brain.

Cover to

Cover

                In the ravishing new book OLIVER MESSEL:  In the

               Theatre of Design, by Rizzoli (edited by his nephew

              Thomas Messel) a list of distinguished writers

           contribute various aspects of Oliver’s life and

           versatile talents.  Among them are author/illustrator

          (who sends charming, personal, illustrated Christmas

         cards each year) and self-described dandy Stephen   

        Calloway, who wrote a deliciously gossipy piece on 

       Oliver Messel and friends; Sir Roy Strong - a friend

      since the 1950s - who came up with a concise and

     touching tribute: and English interior designer Nicky  

    Haslam - a natural heir to Oliver Messel’s genius – who 

  also gives him due homage.

Messel’s inventiveness never stopped, even though

his stage designs were no longer in sync with public taste following

the gritty 1957 John Osborne play "Look Back in Anger," and the “kitchen sink” trend in British art.  Messel later retired to the Caribbean shores for his health where, in Barbados and Mustique, he created beautiful tropical houses with taste and theatrical daringThey were comfortable, not big, and never pretentious, but all had a romantic, illusory flavor due to the contrast between their Palladian symmetry, the azure sea setting and the surrounding lush vegetation.

I visited many Messel houses in

Barbados when writing an article

for Town & Country in the 1980s.

I got to know Leamington

Pavilion best because Derry

Moore photographed it for the

magazine. Leamington had been

improved by Oliver Messel’s

unerring eye plus the skill of

his inventive master craftsmen

who used devices such as

shell-shaped urns as roof finials created from mixtures of concrete, volcanic rock, even

coffee grounds, to deliver antique textures. New wings had been designed by Nicky Haslam who captured the Messel magic to perfection. To go there for dinner on the socially competitive Barbados Gold Coast was dreamy. Candles led to the open entrance, looking out through the house to the sea beyond. In one of the symmetrical side-wings flanking the indoor-outdoor drawing room, a dining room with four arched niches holding statues were framed in sea shells. A white-painted neo-rococo table was surrounded with casually tied white loose covered chairs. A rosy glow from the setting sun lit the scene.

Messel understood that that these islands were innately theatrical. In season, the star players gather here but whether full-time or seasonal residents, the best show always takes place at home.

 What’s New

         What’s Edgy

     What’s Easy

Spring Report

                2012

Martini - Clarence House

ZINGING WITH

A '20’S TO '40’S  MOOD,

EXCITING INSPIRATIONS AND

CUTTING-EDGE STYLE.

Lines by Jack Lenor Larsen

Then right along side the “new” are the

   TRENDS OF LAST FALL –

          they too have been “Kicking Over The Traces.”

 Expanding, Modifying and Emerging as Exhilirating Finds.

 

                  The '20’s to '40’s influences of Sonia 

              Delaunay, Picasso and Braque’s Cubism –

        all the way to Matisse and the Bloomsbury set.  

  Colour sizzles and Abstracts swing with geometry.   

   ALL wonderful accents OR for that sofa or chair if 

   you really want to shock the visiting gentry. 

       It’s spring and soft, splashy colours

         and very pretty flowers have arrived to

           open the 2012 season in smashing pastels

              and mid brights from powdery blues, cerisy 

               pinks, celadon greens, palest greys, mauvey

                 lavenders, amethyst and chartreuse.

 

                  And in the opposite direction, the FLASHY FLOWERS.

                   BIG, BOLD and there’s NOTHING subtle about

              these attention grabbers. They intend to make

        a statement and they DO; on cottons, velvets,

         tapestries and linens.

 

               Pairing strong rusts, tan, black, navy, grey

               and beige, chartreuse and dark brown,

                 scarlet and orange with plums.

And then talking about LINES, there’s a whole lot of PREPPY PLAIDS, GINGHAMS and CHECKS – very cleancut in very pretty PASTELS and BRIGHTS to go with those pretty flowers!!

 

    Very, very acceptable!!

That ripple, curve, swoop and swerve – often interrupted, often textured, often painterly but they're not continuous – they are the UN-STRAIGHTENED stripe. And when they are STRAIGHT? They are NOT simple. But show themselves off in super-shock colours.

Never SEEN so many (except on the trees). Big, small, stylized '20’s and '40’s. Very pretty, easy to live with – lacy, sheers, satins, linens, textured, often embroidered, often printed and, many times, half and half.

A natural after the super two

seasons we have had with IKATS.

After all, geographically it's just

around the corner and the

EXOTICS have scorched a path

into our DNA of Decorating.

What is really new is Paisley in

pale tones from greys to neutrals. 

There are some gloriously embroidered flowers overflowing with colours from small charmers to rhapsodic giants, geometrics, even swirls and stripes this year.  Additionally, there are many partial embroidery details on printed fabrics giving a very classy look to familiar patterns, contemporary and old.

And the coolest thing I’ve seen this season for beauty, totally embroidered in pale elegant monotones? Toile de jouy! The most fascinating is the amazing propensity for FISH from minots to coral fish, embroidered and otherwise, around the leading collections!!!!  Keep your eyes open!

Crisp, clean, midsize or small, they are the best. Usually in two colour prints, mid to deep tones and lots of black and white, navies and dark brown – that make great contrasts and accents for the loads of solids and textures on all our current

seating.

     REVAMPING THE OLD –

              mixing up the status quo of fabrics and pattern.

           making exciting, casual changes.

Velvets sheared and positively whooping with youthful designs
The return of Paisley
Traditional motifs blown up sky high
Damasks where you least expect them
Radiating new vigor and SMARTS

And gorgeous Flowers from flashy to deliciously pretty hit the scene.

 

  Benares Safran 1 at Pierre Frey

Giant geometric silk taffetas

Call it what you will but from wool upholstery to velvets,

embroideries and satin-stitch

to canvas or miles of cotton,

it just looks right on everything.

Essentials this season.

Oh yes, we're talking about all

those tired old traditionals that

needed a facelift. Well, the design

doctors are "in the house" and they

have done it! They mixed up the grounds and the patterns, put the

casual on the formal and vice versa. Overhauled the silks, the damasks,

the taffetas, the velvets, satins, linens and cottons. Blown the hell out of

proportion et voila!

Some really gorgeous, BIG 

motif patterns will grace

many a young and old home

these next seasons.

 

My advice? (since you asked)

Keep Going. There’s more to

be done!

Fabulous Greens, limes, chartreuse and yellowed green

and a little celadon to boot. Blues, navies cerulean, royal and a

gorgeous group of pastel heavenly washed out blues. Great accents are the lovely bright Oranges, Mandarin and Tangerine tones. But just as many Plums, deep Carmine Reds, Cerisey Pinks and Mauvey Pinks colour the Spring landscape. While just appearing are some magnificent golden Yellows. Wonderfully noteworthy this season are the many young fabric designers combining VERY UNUSUAL COLOURS with absolutely divine results. BUT these beautiful palettes are totally opposite to the vast sea of No Colour tones that has gripped so much of the upholstery world recently. It will be worth watching to see if the two will be used together with

                                                   the chic and the panache they deserve.

 

                                                          THE ESSENTIAL colours this year are the

                                                          NO COLOURS. They are the MIDs- and

                                                          DEEP-BASE CLOTH NEUTRALS. Greys

                                                   in every tone are everywhere and   

                                                   following on from last fall one watches   

                                                          the power and depth of the deep Greyed,

                                                          Tan, and Brown tones in their multi variations

                                                          of NEUTRALS, PUTTYS, MUDTONES and

                                                          UNDYED NATURAL FABRIC GROUNDS. 

                                                          They make easy and beautiful base colours

                                                          for any room and especially for upholstery.  And what is new? The arrival of other strong colours used as base colours which includes the DEEP BRASS and BRONZE tones and the SILVERY-TONED GREYS.  All influenced from the ever-so-popular metallics. 

Festive Floral by S Harris

Dear Readers – TREND TREKKER will return with further comments about the furniture and accessory trends in upcoming April and May postings. You have my best, Lemeau

Abstracts

1.  El Sol by Studio Bon at Schumacher 

2.  Bloomsbury at Clarence House 

3.  Sanderson - Still life

4.  Metropolis at Pierre Frey

5.  Lady bird at Boussac

6,  Motley Blocksat S Harris

7.  Roger Arlington at Jerry Pair

 

Flowers

1.  Jack Lenor Larsen

2.  Salamanca by Colefax & Fowler

3.  Roger Arlington

4.  Andrew Martin bessarabian kilim

5.  Magnolia tree by Designers Guild 

6,  Abstact Floral at S Harris

7.  Flower power at Scalamandre

8.  Amrapali by Designers Guild

 

Lines

1.  Flying Ribbons by Groundworks 

      at Lee jofa 

2.  Current silk at Groundworks

3.  Marietta at Pierre Frey

4.  Pavo by  Le Lievre at Lee jofa

5.  Gypsy Stripe at Vervain

6,  Yucatan by Pierre Frey

7.  Oblique by Kelly Wearstler

      at Groundworks

Leaves

1.  Laurelwood by Clarence House  

2.  Pukalani at S Harris 

3.  Lillita by Harlequin

4.  Fitzroy by Sanderson

5.  Ventana Leaf at Lee Jofa

6,  Plant Life at Vervain

7.  Pebble Leaf by Lucy Rose

 

Paisley

1.  Odessa at Pierre Frey 

2.  Rhodes at Clarence House 

3.  Pasha Paisley at Schumacher

4.  Costes by Susan Kastler at Lee Jofa

5.  Heirloom Paisley at Mulberry

 

Embroidery

1.  Coral Fish at Colefax & Fowler

2.  Wonderland silk by Harsey

       at Donghia

3.  Poisson de la Mer at Travers

4.  Nimes at Manuel Canovas

5.  Less & More at Scalamandre

6,  La  Mamounia by Grey Watkins

7.  Serenita by Pierre Frey 

8.  Charlotte at Manuel Canovas 

9.  Nolita at Lee Jofa

10. Mojito by Pierre frey

Geos

1.  Renata at Stroheim

2.  Comoros at Travers

3.  Lucy Rose Zig Zag steps

4.  Aquarius By China Seas

      at Quadrille

5.  Stark /Gavin

6,  Sahara 2 by Alan Campbell

       at Quadrille

7.  Lucy Rose /Muscat   

8.  Meditation Reverse by Home Couture   

       at Quadrille

 

Zig-Zags

1.  Herringbone at Schumacher

2.  Bargelo by Mokumat Holly Hunt 

3.  Alan Campbell / Mojave Zig Zag

       at Quadrille

4.  Melrose Lavender at Donghia

5.  Ziggurat ocean by Zinc at Romo

6,  Zig Zag at Schumacher

7.  Salinen herringbone at Ralph Lauren  

8.   Emmett at Stroheim

 

Big Motif

1.   Agra silk weave at Schumacher

2.   Chevillon at Vervain

3.   Groundworks /Bengal Bazaar

4.   Pavo at Le Lievre 

5.   Pienza at Vervain 

6,   Gondola at Stark Fabrics

Madame Butterfly
by Designers Guild

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The Eye of the Collector

posted March 21, 2012

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7

MID CENTURY.  OLD CENTURY.  NEW CENTURY.

It does not matter. We still need LIGHT.  And as anyone knows that goes looking for lights, for any period, it is a trying task.  And if you’re shopping the regular lighting stores, most of them are horrorsville. For my own personal quest the mission is to find the most beautiful style or item or product to use. Now we all know that’s very subjective.

However, I’ve had enough years editing for many dozens of clients, for Vogue Australia and for the Times. So that I now trust my own eye (most of the time) to find beauty where it can be found. Smart when called for? Yes. Functional? No doubt. But one thing you can guarantee, even in a blind test I will NOT have chosen the least expensive –

it sort of goes with my territory.

Whereas in fashion with the birth of the House of Christian Dior after the Second World War, it was the renaissance of beautiful clothes for at least thirty five years. Large numbers of lights for this period seem

to lack elegance, style, beauty; whether chandeliers, table lamps, floor lamps or sconces. There are, of course, dozens

of exceptions but to me they appear a little heavy or brutish, industrial – or just fixtures with no distinction.

I have been intrigued lately with finding really beautiful lighting for Mid Century Decoration – the 40s to the 70s –

not a time with great beauty in interior design. Fortunately some of the Beauty and spectacular design found in the Art Deco earlier period spilled over into the 40s and later.

I set myself the task to find a group of (in my view) BEAUTIFUL or really smart lighting fixtures, chandeliers, table lamps, sconces in the Mid Century idiom.  40s to 70s – I culled through dozens of Antique dealers and hundreds of lights to come up with thirty or so stylish and beautiful chandeliers, sconces,  and table lamps – there will be a score of roars I am sure but as Harry Truman said, “if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

Now you be the judge.

 1.  Carlos De La Puente Gilt metal & glass chandelier

 2.  Radiant glass rod chandelier Bakalowitz and Sohne Austria 1960's  

         at Dual  Antiques Center 44

 3.  Tosoand Barovier Murano glass sconces !st Dibs 

 4.   At Carlos de la Puente Art Deco silver plated light fixture 

 5.  1940 emerald green glass lamp with brass collars Marvin Alexander 

 6.  French Design Inc,  1st Dibs  Art Deco by Petitot 1940's

 7.  Pr of Lucite Lamps 70's late 20th C – Jones Clark & Co Center 44

 8.  Showplace Antique & Design Center,  black and white art lamp  

        1st Dibs 1950

 9.  1960's vintage sculptural lamps at Re Chic Center 44

10.  Pulled feather glass lamp by Smith Glass House (signed 1979)

        at Dual Antiques  

11.  At Vanden Aaker 1st Dibs

12.  A pr of Art Deco chandeliers at Trove 1st Dibs

 

13.  Tubular lamp by Reggiani - Mix Gallery Center 44

14.  Barovier 2 prs Murano wall sconces at Amy Zook

15.  A pr Brass sconces French 1940 Marvin Alexander

16.  Rare Modernist Table Lamp by Karl Hagenhauer

17.  1st Dibs by Gae Aulente Pipestrello Lamp

18.  Pr of glass rod lamps  Roslyn Raphan Center 44

19.  52 Meters a pr Italian Venini chandelier on 1st Dibs 

20.  French Design Inc – Art deco bronze Petitot chandelier

21.  Paris 1st Dibs 1970's Butterfly Lamp

22.  Swank lighting  vintage cherry striped Murano lamps by Seguso

23.  Carlos De La Puente nickel plated with glass inserts 1960, Suente

24.  Marvin Alexander French polished iron & brass table lamp

25.  Jacques Adnet leather bound brass arm sconces 1940 at Marvin Alexander

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Extra! Extra! It's Got To Be Spring –

posted March 9,  2012

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