Schemes for a Room: Vogue Regency [with a twist]

It seems that the only thing out there today is still mid-century modern, but while I think it's great that the Jetsons and Happy Days is going strong there are many different styles that coexisted together and I am entirely against following 'trends' .....anyhow,you can always mix a few mod pieces along the way if you have to follow fashion.

A huge pair of Chinese export papers 19th c 

A pair of chartreuse shaded boulliote lamps

A leopard upholstered chaise

Streamlined pedestals

Gueridon table

A pair of mercury glass screens

A cowhide rug for a kick

A Mod copper chandelier by Winnie Liu

a few more chairs and you could have a pretty grand room.

More Bienale

A few very large candles

Cement sculptures

Silk panels

best to just look at them and not think too much is what I say.......

What I'm Looking at Today: Silkwork

I love collections and I always encourage my clients to find something they love and to collect as many as they can. I have a few ladies that have taken a shining to textile pictures or silkwork, woollies [ done mostly by sailors] and stumpwork [raised work].

Back in the olde days fine ladies were taught to sew. Queen Catherine, of Aragon, Henry VIII first wife went so far as to make the king's shirts. So fine sticthery was looked upon as an accomplishment to which every young lady of quality should aspire.

The pictures were at times quite complex and often based on popular prints of the day. They are generally quite colorful and the best ones are exquisitely done with various stitches. More complex than needlepoint and not loomed like tapestry, the work encompasses drawing, painting and craft.....and expense as they were made mostly of silk. 

Two 17th century English embroidered panels of Biblical scenes in period frames.

18th c American picture. very fine quality.

18c scene of a young boy in a garden

A pair of 18th c wax and silk embroidered panels.

An 18th c. embroidered panel

Love finding these....they are becoming scarce and it's getting harder to find them in good original condition.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I.

Venice Biennale. Zen and then some....Future Pass.....From Asia to the World

The courtyard of the Pallazo angilli-Valmarana

Everything else was 'cute' in that cartoony kind of way....and a bit disturbing.

Happy Halloween!

Photograph that I took while on the Hudson......spooooooky

What I'm Looking at Today: Some Pretty Faces

It depends on what is is......

It's always fun going to museums. I'm always amazed at how modern some of the people in the paintings look.....In fact I'm sure I know some of them.

Obviously a poet

Jaded queens

Chelsea boys

More Chelsea boys

At the gym

OWS

15th c Wall Street

My two moms

 Too odd

I know her!

I know him!

Aww....just kidding

Venice Biennale. San Giorgio Maggiore and Anish Kapoor

I've been a little busy finishing a house in Westchester, NY, so I haven't had a chance to post recently. Add to that that we were at the Biennale in Venice and a furniture exhibit in Versailles, so things have been busy. I thought that I would share some of the beautiful things that I saw while abroad starting with the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. The church is set on an island given to the monks of San Giorgio by doge Tribuno Memmo in 982. The first church was consecrated in 829 but the current building, Palladio's masterpiece was begun in 1529. The monastery was abandoned after the Republic fell in 1812 and  is now headquarters of the Cini Foundation arts center.

The Camapnile is very similar in style to the one at San Marco, it has spectacular views of Venice and the Veneto right to the alps.

The maze

View from the top to San Marco

From the Vaporetto stop looking at Venice

The amazingly simple and elegant interior by Palladio was one of two masterpieces on display. The other is the installation by Anish Kapoor called Ascension. 

Not Following Fashion

I am lucky enough to have had a Parson's education and the years that we were there the school had re-established a 'real' Interiors program...meaning decoration under the supervision of some Parish Hadley Alumni. Now, in the 'old days' decoration was not considered a bad thing but, now everyone is a 'designer'  some with letters after their names, which I always find amusing.....not that there's anything wrong with that. One of the hallmarks of what our teachers tried to ingrain in us was Albert Hadley's dictum "that we should never follow fad or fashion" and to always use elements that are appropriate to the project and the site. Looking back at some of my work and that of my friends from school, I can clearly see the hallmarks that were impressed on us all....don't follow fad or fashion and suitability! You may take issue with the style....maybe you don't like traditional or regency pieces, you may not like deco or you might prefer brutalist or maybe minimalism or clutter...but you can't fault the design behind the work. Scale, calibration of color and texture....or you might! there's no accounting for taste....which we were taught was not good or bad but different...just things used incorrectly. So I go out now and make the world better one room at a time and keep in mind this image of these two nice ladies.....and I remember that it's not about selling stuff it's about making beauty.....I can't help it....I like beauty....and no it's not always in the eye of the beholder.....there are some things that are just ugly! ......you just need to be brought to that point of view.

What I'm Looking at Today: Stone

I've been working on a project in Westchester, NY and part of the program involves stonework. I like using natural materials and we're keeping everything pretty simple. A few different marbles a few different granites and a limestone.

Kennedy Marble is supplying all of the slabs for the job. I've been working with them for about 10 years now and Rudy and my great installer Michael always pull thru.

Calacutta

A really great granite it looks and feels like shale but feels like leather. It will be honed so very flat to the eye and super soft t the touch.

White Carrara slabs

They have a really huge selection of very nice stone....not your usual selection and all very high quality.

They first template then finish everything and then install.

Limestone blocks on the facade

Granite fireplace with very tight application.