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Posts Tagged ‘miles redd’

Charlotte Moss and the Perfect Green

Posted in Books, Movies & TV, Interior Design, Textiles, tagged , , , on October 11, 2012 | 8 Comments »

The new issue of Lonny is out and it has some lovely features on top designers including Charlotte Moss and Miles Redd, both of whom have books coming out this fall, both of which look to be spectacular. Redd’s The Big Book of Chic is his first and looks to be a more typical decorating tome, if you can call anything he does typical, while Charlotte Moss: A Visual Life: Scrapbooks, Collages, and Inspirations seems more like a personal pathway into her creative mind and process. As a master of the single room showstopper, her ability to mix disparate things has always amazed me and I would love a chance to see what inspires her. Her office featured in Lonny is no exception and as it is a working space, it is more casual and livable than some of her more formal projects.

Charlotte Moss has a particular flair for one of my favorite colors – green – and in this case has pulled off the magic perfect green wall color in her office. It is exactly the shade that I have always dreamed of for my own living room, an ambiguous watery color that makes you ask, is it green? is it grey? She has mixed in a variety of fine antiques, all sturdy and workable, with great art, simple lighting and floor covering. But it is the elusive color of those walls that has caught me and I am dying to know what it is!

I know this is her office but it reads like a modern-day dining room, multitasking as no one seems to need a devoted dining room anymore.

She is a master of the gallery wall and this one is truly amazing. You know there are a lot of very fine pieces up there too. And this color green looks so good with old gilded frames.

The details are all there – custom colored Arbre de Matisse curtains and a lampshade of Les Indiennes.

I love fabrics with silhouette reverse colorways like many of the China Seas fabrics.

And speaking of green, gallery walls and one room showstoppers, who can forget her Kips Bay sitting room/bedroom in 2009 that is on the cover of her previous book Charlotte Moss Decorates. One of the best gallery walls ever and again the use of green with elusive shades of grey and old gilt. There are numerous items here, including the desk and some artwork, that are now in her office.

And for those of you who are up to your ears in hearing about ticking, this is the last time for a while. Upcoming posts on blue and white porcelain, the CWAJ Print Show and a new shrine sale schedule are in the works, I promise. But in the meantime, I can’t help myself! Look at the bathroom in Moss’s office! Ticking plus Chinoiserie and a little gilding – that great casual/fancy mash up.

And on One Kings Lane today a French settee covered in silk ticking – yum!

Now the challenge is to find out the name of that paint color. You know (and I know, sigh) that it is the quality of the light in the room that makes the color so perfect and there is no guarantee that it would look the same elsewhere, but you can’t blame a girl for trying.

Related Posts:
Gorgeous Green…Rooms Inspired by a Bamboo Forest
Views To a Room…Green Guest Bedroom at the Shore
Ticking Takes The Stuffiness Out
The Mail is Always Late Part II…More Ticking From Carolina Herrera Baez

 
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Ways to Display…Porcelain on Brackets

Posted in Interior Design, Porcelain and Pottery, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 2, 2012 | 11 Comments »

A few great shrine sale finds and a good friend’s decorating plans got me to thinking about blue and white porcelain again last night – as if that is an uncommon thing for me to think about…

I had long been saving photos of groupings of porcelain on brackets or corbels, a classic way to present a collection en masse. For example, this 1959 photo of Jayne Wrightsman’s Palm Beach library designed by Maison Jansen, with a grouping of what looks to be Meissen figurines.

Figurines not withstanding, Asian porcelain, whether Chinese or other, blue and white or polychrome, tends to be the most commonly presented in this fashion. Aerin Lauder inherited this collection as well as the house from her grandmother Estée…

…and it still looks fresh today in that East Hampton home.

Carolyne Roehm went completely blue and white in her bedroom, even painting the brackets to fit in with the decor. Can’t imagine doing this in Japan, as the earthquakes would be sure to give you an unpleasant surprise one night.

Thomas Burak went with an all out chinoiserie theme in this Bridgehampton bedroom, pagoda bed, and all.

And another view.

Designer Mary Watkins Wood simplifies the look with a white background, white linens and white brackets, using mainly Chinese ginger jars. I think Japanese jubako (stacked lunch boxes) would give a similar effect. Gotta love that fantastic Portuguese bed!

Did Dallas store owner Betty Gertz have this niche custom designer for this amazing grouping of Chinese vases or was it already there? The vases themselves are Ming dynasty antiques, part of the Hatcher trove. Now how’s that for provenance?

I had never seen this show house hallway by Mary McDonald before – thanks to Jennifer at The Peak of Chic for the photos.

I love the blue and white against the grey.

Not limiting the post to blue & white, here Robert Goodwin uses a collection of Blanc de Chine figurines in a similar fashion. The fabulous wall color is Benjamin Moore’s Iron Mountain.

Miles Redd turns up the modernity a notch in this celadon dining room with a grouping of simple celadon vases on plainer matched brackets.

Here Oscar de la Renta does the same with coral in his Punta Cana home.

And perhaps the most tongue in cheek is this simple bathroom with the grandest of porcelain displays.

My question for you readers, is whether you like this look? Do you find it traditional? Elegant? Fussy? Do you like the brackets to all be the same? Or a variety? Painted like the wall color, contrasting or gilded? I am thinking on it too, considering it for an upcoming project…

Related Posts:
Colors of the Rainbow…Blue and White Porcelain is Neutral

Image credits: 1. via The Peak of Chic, , 2-3. Elle Decor, 4. Veranda via Chinoiserie Chic,  5. via The Enchanted Home, 6. House & Garden via Chinoiserie Chic, 7, 11-12. House Beautiful, 8. scanned by me from magazine tear sheets, but credit unknown, 9-10. via The Peak of Chic, 13. via Habitually Chic, 14. Martha Stewart Living via The Enchanted Home.

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The Altar Table Reimagined…From Worship to Workhorse

Posted in Furniture, Interior Design, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 25, 2012 | 10 Comments »

So after you had their portrait painted, where were you going to worship your Chinese ancestors? At your very own altar table of course! Now truthfully, many of the larger pieces come from shrines and temples, but individuals did own them, and they were considered the most important piece of furniture in the home. Portraits and scrolls were hung above them on the wall and offerings such as food or flowers would be placed upon them, as well as decorative objects. During the Cultural Revolution, traditional Chinese furniture became a liability – a connection to the old ways – and much of it was destroyed or carted off, only to be rediscovered and deemed desirable by, you guessed it, westerners!

While we no longer use them for ritual worship, they tend to be incredibly functional and attractive in modern-day homes. The tables could be made of hard or soft woods, sometimes lacquered on top and often having upturned flanged ends. Bamboo pieces like this one tend to come from the Shanxi region of China. Long and narrow, set up higher than a dining table, altar tables fit well in a variety of spaces, perhaps nowhere better than an entryway, where they can hold display pieces, corral shoes and serve as an all around command center for the home. I love the items on display and the high contrast in this photo. All the accessories are linked back to the color black painted above the white beadboard. The fine bamboo table and the floor runner provide just the right amount of warmth.

Perfect along a long narrow hallway, this bamboo piece has a lacquered top. The mullioned window panes seem to mimic the shapes in the bamboo.

I would normally consider painting an antique bamboo altar table to be heresy, but this one looks so fresh against that great Florence Broadhurst peacock feather wallpaper.

I love the mix of the very sharp and spare lines of this simple table with the curvy Thonet stools below. Altar tables are perfect for stashing extra seating in the entry…

…as seen here again. Their height also makes them perfect for holding lamps.

Moving on to the redoubtable Miles Redd, I cannot help but admire the extraordinary combination of color, style and period in this dining room with the bamboo altar table providing the visual anchor amidst all that paleness. It also makes a great buffet, able to hold dishes, cutlery and numerous serving platters along its 7 foot or so length.

Tablescaping is an art that achieves perfection on an altar table, as the height and breadth give it stature while the space below is perfect for tucking just about anything. The contrast here between the symmetrical arrangement on top and the asymmetric one below is genius.

From a practical perspective, they make great bars! Note the blue and white porcelain hibachi, or maybe a fish bowl based on the painted motif, being used as an ice cooler…

…and here again, a lacquer one being put to the same use.

One of the best places for an altar table is running along the back of a sofa as a console table, perfect for holding lamps, books and magazines in easy reach. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos illustrating that so you’ll have to use your imagination. I do have a few more unusual placements, like this example of a very wide one being used as a kitchen island…

…and this small narrow one being used in the bathroom as a dressing table.

Have you noticed a bias towards bamboo examples in this post? That is because bamboo altar tables from the Shanxi region of China are my favorites as evidenced by this late 18th century one in my home. One piece of advice I give often is to buy less, but buy better. This table was one of my main purchases when I lived in Hong Kong – I was very young so I scraped and saved to buy it. There has never been a moment since in which I did not love it and I know I will have it forever. When I came to Japan 7 years ago I assessed every house and apartment I saw for placement of the table as it is over 7 feet in length and didn’t fit in my NYC apartment. Now it has the pride of place and you see it immediately upon entering.

I hope you are enjoying these Chinese New Year week posts!

Image credits: 1.via Eclectic Revisited, 2. via decorpad, 3. Domino September 2006, photo credit: Corey Walter, 4. Elle Decor March 2006, photo credit: Pieter Estersohn, 5. House Beautiful September 2007, photo credit: Pieter Estersohn, 6. House Beautiful April 2011, photo credit: James Merrell, 7. House Beautiful September 2007, 8. House Beautiful November 2009, 9. Markham Roberts, credit unknown, 10. House Beautiful May 2010, photo credit: Thomas Loof, 11. Elle Decor June 2010, photo credit: Simon Upton, 12. me.

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To Ancestor Painting or Not?…That is the Question

Posted in Artist Spotlight, History, Interior Design, Textiles, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 23, 2012 | 14 Comments »

In honor of Chinese New Year, I am going to be writing about Chinese antiques this week, starting with one of the more unusual items – ancestor portraits. Commissioned by loved ones of the deceased, they were privately displayed and worshipped as the Chinese believed (and continue to believe) that the spirits of their ancestors could bring them health, long life, prosperity and children. Funerary statues and art date back to early Chinese history, but most of the surviving portraits date from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). During the 20th century, westerners began to buy up old portraits as photography became the medium of recording departed family members. In particular, Richard Pritzlaff, a reclusive horse breeder from New Mexico put together an extraordinary collection throughout the 1930s and 40s, which were then acquired by the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC in 1991. But it was the exhibition Worshipping the Ancestors: Chinese Commemorative Portraits there in 2001 that sparked a changing viewpoint of the portraits as works of art and interest in them rose tremendously as a result. The museum continues to display the portraits fairly regularly, with an exhibition Family Matters: Portraits from the Qing Court just having closed.

Tear sheets of Virginia Witbeck’s apartment from the early 1990s were saved by me in great part for this small image of her in front of an ancestor portrait with a pair of stacking Japanese lacquer tray tables by her side. My interest in them was piqued. When I moved to Hong Kong in 1997, they were not yet that talked about and quite readily available for reasonable prices at many of the antique stores there. Copies and fakes had not become the problem they are today, nor had prices for the real deal risen as high as they have now. But there was great debate about whether or not it was appropriate to hang them as art in a stranger’s home. I had many friends who argued against them, feeling it was a form of sacrilege, while others wanted them for their incredible decorative potential. I was always torn by this argument and decided against one. I think I may rue that decision today.

As the faces in the portraits were painted posthumously, often from verbal descriptions and sample feature books, they are usually impassive and quite similar looking, so it is the fabric of their clothing and the textiles they are seated on that catches my attention. By studying the motifs and details, the iconography of rank becomes clearly readable by scholars and experts. For instance, yellow robes were reserved for the emperor while embroidered badges with different animals and colorful hat knobs proclaim the subjects status and position at court. Ironically, there seems to be an over abundance of high-ranking officials, leading experts to believe that loved ones often fudged and had their ancestors painted with elevated status.

There are some examples of designers using ancestor portraits in their projects throughout the 20th century and Jennifer at The Peak of Chic has a great post showing them in numerous mid-century homes. More recently, they have become even more popular. In this living room designed by Miles Redd, the richness of the color and detail in the furniture and carpet corresponds directly with the paintings. I cannot imagine that he did not have a pair of ancestor portraits in mind when he started.

The same goes for this Santa Monica home designed by Michael Smith. The similarities between the two really stand out.

In paler spaces, the colorful images become vibrant additions, focal points, you might say…

…as shown in these two images from Julian Chichester‘s West London house.

This stylized Chinoiserie room by Michele Bonan uses what looks to be reproduction paintings very effectively. (And who else out there is reminded of my chartreuse dining room in Hong Kong? Wish I had a photo of it!)

Julie Murphy uses bright yellow chairs and a scrubbed wood table to create a casual and cheery kitchen – complete with ancestor portrait – in her home.

As a lover of all things pale and patina-ed, I think this faded portrait is wonderful in this softly subdued space by Kristen Buckingham.

This pair is actually a Korean couple, but I couldn’t resist including them as they also anchor a simple color palette in an elegant London living room. And while we are looking at Korean art in a celadon colored space, I can’t help but mention the Sackler’s current exhibition Cranes and Clouds: The Korean Art of Ceramic Inlay.

So, where do you stand on the issue? Is it disrespectful to display the ancestors of someone you don’t know as decoration? Would you hang one in your home?

For more on the Sackler’s collection and the challenge of restoring damaged paintings, see the fascinating article on conservation in The Book and Paper Group Annual.

Gung Hei Fat Choi!!!

Image Credits: 1. Portrait of Oboi, Collection of Freer/Sackler, 2. credit unknown, 3. Elle Decor March 2006, photo credit: Simon Upton, 4. House Beautiful April 2009, photo credit: Mikkel Vang, 5-6. Elle Decor November 2006, 7. Lonny July/August 2011, photo credit: Patrick Cline, 8. via Design Sponge, 9. via Kristen Buckingham, 10. credit unknown.

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Has Imari’s Reputation Been Resuscitated?

Posted in Interior Design, Porcelain and Pottery, tagged , , , , on November 22, 2010 | 6 Comments »

I have had a half written post called “Can Imari’s Reputation Be Resuscitated” sitting around in my drafts folder for weeks and now it is time to bring it out, rewrite it, and change its title to the one above. I am not talking about the simpler blue and white underglaze only Imari (which has never gone “out” of style), but instead Ko-Imari (old Imari), the polychrome and gold in-your-face with color Imari. Sometimes accused of being “old-fashioned” and “traditional,” I think it is finally having a well deserved revival in modern settings.

Let’s be clear – People are still collecting Imari, beautiful pieces are in demand and it is often featured in classic interiors. Some designers have been using it all along. You can often catch a glimpse of a piece in a Michael Smith interior. I am referring to using Imari in a new way by pairing it with unexpected partners.

This is the more “expected” model of porcelain display – a bit hard to pull off  if you don’t have a grand country manor with generations of accumulation and original paneling.

 

First to catch my eye was the October 2010 House Beautiful apartment of Nancy Tilghman designed by Daniel Sachs. Amidst the ethnic mixed but modern living room of this Park Avenue apartment sits an Imari bowl on a side table, filled with citrus fruit. Underneath the same table stands a large Satsuma urn (which is basically the same thing for my intents and purposes here in this post).

Then there was the Eddie Ross Thanksgiving tablescape in the October/November issue of Lonny Magazine which featured Imari plates and serving pieces that I wrote about in my last post.  The color and design of the decor took its cues from the vibrant colors in the Imari, but what makes it unusual is the unexpected combinations Ross uses. While a crystal chandelier is an expected pairing, rustic wooden beams are not.

The beginning of November brought this Miles Redd designed bedroom featured in New York Magazine. I believe I spy a large Imari charger from John Rosselli above the closet door in the riotously colored bedroom designed for David Keiser.

This third week of November brought the Wendy Haworth Tastemaker Sale on One Kings Lane. She had a number of Imari dishes and bowls listed. All sold out immediately!

I’d love to hear from you with your ideas on how you have or would use your Imari. And don’t limit it to that….What other design ideas or decorative items have you “resuscitated”?

Image Credits: 1. The World of Interiors, February 2009, 2. House Beautiful, October 2010, photo credit: Ngoc Minh Ngo, 3. Lonny Magazine October/November 2010, 4. New York Magazine, November 7, 2010, photo credit: Thomas Loof/Art Department, 5. One Kings Lane

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A Curtain’s Leading Edge…a New Idea for Kaku-obi

Posted in Interior Design, Shrine Sales, Textiles, tagged , , , , on September 19, 2010 | 3 Comments »

Vintage and antique obi (the wide sashes tied around Japanese traditional dress called kimono) abound at shrine sales and markets. Most purchasers plan on wearing them. Others buy them just for the beauty of the textiles as they are most commonly made of silk, cotton or rayon and use many different weaving and dyeing techniques from brocade to ikat.  Still others see the decorative possibilities in these long strips of fabric. 

Note the obi fabric pillow on the small red banquette in Cecil Beaton’s London townhouse living room, photographed for Architectural Digest circa 1969.

Fashion designer Trina Turk uses an obi as a table runner in the dining room of her Los Angeles home (Elle Decor Aug. 2007).

While women’s obi have long been collected and made into throw pillows, table runners and the like, men’s obi, called kaku-obi, are not seen in interior design. I have long thought that their narrow shape, stiff feel, and simple graphic patterns would make them useful for some other purpose. But what?  Today, at the Oedo Antique Fair, they caught my eye at a number of booths. 

How they are tied was a mystery to me, and frankly, the dealer selling them did not know either. In classic Japan style, another customer overheared our discussion, and offered to teach me how. The dealer’s partner served as the model and I got a great lesson on how to tie kaku-obi.

My somewhat credible (according to them) second attempt.

Thanks ladies! They also had great kimono and indigo dyed fabrics.

A charming detail found on some of the best curtains is a contrasting leading edge or decorative tape. Two wildly different style rooms below illustrate this design. Both make use of a greek key tape on the curtain edge and, in the case of the Miles Redd dining room, on the bottom edge as well.

Grant K. Gibson’s San Francisco bedroom via The New York Times.

Miles Redd designed dining room featured in Elle Decor Jan./Feb. 2009.

Don’t you think one of the simple two tone kaku-obi would be perfect to edge a curtain? Trim a bedskirt or a chair? Finish off a valence?

Image credits: 1. Architectural Digest, 2. Roger Davies for Elle Decor, 3-6. me, 7. Peter DaSilva for The New York Times, 8. Simon Upton for Elle Decor

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