Bobby McAlpine: On Intimacy

The seating area of a Nashville master bedroom is nestled beside windows at one end, and the bed sits atop a dais of antique wood. Photo credit Richard Norris

“Intimacy begins in the lap of parents where we once sat, held close but also emboldened to venture out, knowing that we were backed by love. In architecture, this experience is found within alcoves, bays, a fireside inglenook, and the spaces beneath low mezzanines or beams—all sheltered spots existing adjacent to loftier ones. Without thinking about it, we are drawn to them.

“In the language of cathedrals, we are more likely to allow ourselves to be vulnerable in chapels and side aisles; a timid person who might evaporate standing alone in the middle of the nave thrives along its shadowy edges. We experience this constantly and unconsciously in restaurant booths, which are far more intimate than tables in the middle of the room. When we sit buried in a banquette, we dissolve in safety and the conversation changes.”

Robert Adam: Country House Design, Decoration & the Art of Elegance

By Carl Dellatore

Mention English Neoclassical architecture and decoration in a room of serious design aficionados, and several names dominate the conversation: James Wyatt, John Soane, James Stuart and John Nash among them. But it is Robert Adam (son of William Adam, another of the period’s most revered) who is often noted both for his superlative ornamentation and for his voluminous record of published designs and drawings.

Adding to that record is Jeremy Musson’s new volume Robert Adam: Country House Design, Decoration & the Art of Elegance, due to be released by Rizzoli New York on March 21st. I received an advance copy earlier this week….
Continue reading “Robert Adam: Country House Design, Decoration & the Art of Elegance”

Matthew White & Frank Webb: On Juxtaposition

“…Electricity is exactly what successful juxtapositions produce. Whether furnishings are complementary or contrasting, their pairing generates a palpable current that evokes a desired feeling or ambience. In the same vein, rooms are called lifeless when poor juxtaposition either fails to generate a pulse or electrocutes with overenthusiasm. The late Albert Hadley was a master at juxtaposition because his interiors were said to produce a wonderful frisson—a brief shiver of excitement—for all who experienced them. It was energy at its finest.

“Igniting that spark also involves a certain degree of risk; informed chances inject a degree of freshness, and ideally a whiff of welcome imperfection. Even the most tailored interior benefits from the errant extravagance, and the most sumptuously decadent from a touch of austere rigor. For us, we find our risk taking typically involves the introduction of a bit of humor or wit, and it’s fascinating where it can lead. If you respect the medium but never take yourself too seriously, you’ll give yourself the freedom to create risky pairings that can truly break new ground and surprise you in delightful ways.”

A History of Plaster in the Decorative Arts

Sculptor Philippe Anthonioz and Stephen Antonson in Paris

By Stephen Antonson, with Kathleen Hackett

A few months ago, I found myself standing in the Paris atelier of the sculptor Philippe Anthonioz, who, to my mind, has always represented the living connection to the Giacometti brothers Diego and Alberto, whose names are synonymous with plaster and bronze furnishings, objets d’art and lighting. I had just spent several hours in the Picasso Museum, housed in one of the hotel particuliers in the Marais, strolling rooms filled with its namesake’s work paired with that other giant of modern art, Diego Giacometti…. Continue reading “A History of Plaster in the Decorative Arts”

Westweek 2017 Keynote, Presented by Traditional Home

Please join me and Krissa Rossbund, Senior Style Editor at Traditional Home, for a Keynote Panel Discussion at Westweek 2017. We’ll be joined by 3 of California’s finest designers Martyn Lawrence Bullard, Timothy Corrigan, and Suzanne Rheinstein. It promises to be an exciting afternoon.

The event is free to attend, but requires a registration, which you can find by following this link.

The panelists and I will be on hand after the event to sign copies of Interior Design Master Class in the Reagan Hayes showroom. I hope to see you there!

#westweek2017

Sal LaRosa: On Framing

A doorway focuses the solid geometry of an interior view while measuring the path of ephemeral sunlight overhead. The tall, narrow portal tapers to amplify the depth of a wall and the drama of penetrating its mass. When empty, the frame conjures up the sense of an invisible human body passing through. Photo credit Scott Frances

“When I was a young designer, every photo shoot with my mentor, Joseph D’Urso, was a master class in the art of framing a view. Photography, as he saw it, should aim beyond merely documenting the appearance of a finished work: “Construct an image to relive the intentions that moved you to make it.” Joe had me peer through the camera lens and study Polaroid test shots, a must in those pre-digital days, to gauge how even the subtlest rearrangement of objects within a specific field of vision—“An inch more table here . . . less water in that vase”—can reveal powerful relationships within a room.

“The eye, I learned, has emotions, but the hand needs a steady frame of reference if it is to communicate intensely personal feelings and elicit a response from others. “Frame of mind,” as Joe taught me, can be far more than a figure of speech. This was a lesson that, centuries earlier, an artist like Johannes Vermeer might have conveyed to his pupil through the mirrored microcosm of a camera obscura.”