Robert Kime

Carnation Fixation…Ottoman Inspired Textiles

Location really hones the eye and I find that as I settle into my new home, certain design motifs are coming to the forefront of my vision. It’s not that I am abandoning my love of sho-chiku-bai, ami, kamon or the rest of the lexicon of Japanese pattern, just that I am deeply interested in adding to it. Long time unexplored favorites, such as the stylized Ottoman carnations seen on this 17th century Turkish cushion at The Museum of Islamic Art here in Doha are catching and fixing my eye. Similar velvet cushions and fragments of this pattern can be found in the collections of museums worldwide, from here to here to here to here and I’ve stumbled across it in a few antique shops. I honestly think this velvet was the equivalent of the modern-day cushion covers we see on benches in the souq.

During the reign of Sultan Süleyman I (1520-1566), also known as Suleiman the Magnificent, there was an incredible flowering – literally – of artistry in the nakkaşhane, the imperial painting studio, credited to Şahkulu and later pupil Kara Memi, who was responsible for the new naturalistic painting style which incorporated spring flowers, such as tulips, carnations, roses and hyacinths. The embroidered cover above, part of last year’s The Sultan’s Garden exhibition at The Textile Museum is such an example. Stylized versions of these flowers grew out of the more naturalistic designs and both were adopted by artists and artisans in other fields including the weavers and the potters (which we will hear more about later this week). Ottoman textiles were greatly admired and collected by Europeans, and as this post will show, that has not really changed. And while the fan-shaped carnations became standardized and somewhat formulaic, it is that very simplistic repetition that makes them read as modern today.

No surprise at all to find carnation patterned fabric at Carolina Irving‘s place – in this case a double whammy in the red pillows on the bed and the softer colored panels on the closet doors.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she found some of it over at Robert Kime‘s shops in London, where antique ottoman textiles intermingle with his modern-day interpretations, including the Palmette Blue and Palmette Red seen here on pillows.

David Hicks Herbert’s Carnation Weave is probably the best known Ottoman inspired carnation pattern and comes in numerous colors. Here, his daughter India has it on the headboard in her Harbour Island bedroom in a soft neutral.

You’ll also find it in India Hick’s childhood home The Grove where a bold colorway on the wing chair stands out in the richly appointed library…

…as well as some drool-worthy marbelized paper lampshades. The spectacular Oxfordshire estate was featured in great detail this winter in Domino and really must be seen!

Herbert’s Carnation Weave pops up in this pretty living room from Angie Hranowsky…

…and I spotted it in blue on a chair in a Tory Burch interior.

Schumacher also makes a carnation patterned fabric and wallpaper called Ottoman Flower. It comes in a few muted colorways, like this soft gray Moonstone and the repeat is huge…

…which you can see clearly in this wallpaper application. Ingenious dressing up of plain closet doors, no?

If you need an inexpensive fix of carnation, there is quite a bit of it to be had on the flash sale sites right now, from this pillow on Jaypore with its more traditional embroidered look…

… to this bright contemporary version over on One Kings Lane.

Back on my own home front, a large remnant of a crazy colored outdoor fabric from Raoul Textiles (called Dianthus I believe) covered in giant Ottoman carnations had suggested a bright color scheme for my kitchen, designed to overcome its severe limitations and make some cohesion out of the colors already in play. The fabric is thick, durable and cleanable, making it perfect for chair cushions for the crumbling rush seats on the Hitchcock chairs.

The super fun and small-scale Rohet Multi from Mally Skok that I mentioned in my last post is a perfect counterpoint to the large Raoul print and will be used for the large Roman shade over the sink. Add in an unexpected find – this woven rag rug in just the right colors – from the amazing Zara Home (on the top ten list of great things in Doha that aren’t in the USA), and a kitchen scheme is born. Necessity does breed invention!

I mean if you can’t fix, what else can you do but distract?

Watch for more posts on carnations as well as pomegranates and cintamani. I’m just getting started.

Image Credits: 1. my Instagram, 2. The Textile Museum, 3. Lonny Magazine Oct./Nov. 2009, photo credit: Patrick Cline, 4. Loi Thai via Tone on Tone, 5. Domino, date unknown, 6-7. Domino Holiday 2013, photo credit: Brittany Ambridge, 8. Angie Hranowsky, 9. Tory Burch credit unknown, 10. F. Schumacher, 11. Martha Stewart Living September 2011, via Tilton Fenwick, 12. Jaypore, 13. OKL, 14-15. my Instagram, 16. me.

Jan 28, 2014 By tokyojinja in Design Motif, Doha Move, Interior Design, Textiles Tags: Angie Hranowsky, carnation, Carnations, Carolina Irving, David Hicks, India Hicks, Mally Skok, Ottoman, Ottoman textiles, Raoul Textiles, Robert Kime, Tory Burch, Turkish Textiles

Custom Furniture in Hong Kong with a Little Inspiration from Robert Kime and Carolina Irving

On my way out the door from Tokyo two weeks ago I grabbed my Brigitte Singh fabric samples from Aleta Online – not our birth certificates or my marriage license mind you – but fabric samples! Just what everyone needs when leaving their expatriate home for an unspecified amount of time. Having arrived in Hong Kong on Saturday to be with my husband while he finishes business this week, this has turned out to be a stroke of utter genius. Desireable new furniture is very hard to come by in Tokyo and one end of my living room has long had an entirely empty space where a coffee table should be. For years I justified it with little kids dancing or playing Twister, but secretly have been wanting to finish it with an ottoman much like the Robert Kime one in Carolina Irving’s New York apartment. If you are a blog junkie then you know that her apartment, featured in Vogue, Lonny and now on the cover of Rooms to Inspire in the City by Annie Kelly is one of those absolutely perfect spaces. If you are not familiar with it, I highly recommend taking some time to check it out.

The ottoman is actually a very simple octagon, with wooden legs and stretchers along the bottom for support. She has customized it with a beaded fringe trim.

On the Robert Kime site, the ottoman is more of a rectangular octagon with simple nailhead trim.

I had ordered the Indian block print fabric samples from Aleta a while ago as I am planning on using one of the Cream Hibiscus patterns for the beach house. But I couldn’t resist getting a sample of my favorite, Grey Jali Buta, even though I didn’t think it would work there. A few weeks ago I had an epiphany and realized it would be the perfect covering for an ottoman in my Tokyo home. The only question was how? Presented with the opportunity here, I just can’t pass it up.

So today I took my trusty sample and went to Horizon Plaza out in Ap Lei Chau, home to many furniture warehouses and designer outlets. At the recommendation of a designer friend, I visited Artura Ficus, a furniture maker and seller. We had a chat and made a plan and I’ll be receiving sketches later this week. Later that afternoon, I ran over to Altfield Interiors, formerly in the Prince’s Building and now in the Galleria. One of the premier purveyors of high-end fabrics in Hong Kong, I was quickly able to find a casual Zoffany walling trim for my project. I want something to give the ottoman edge that extra punctuation, but decided against a tassle fringe. I’ve got so much going on in that room – Chesterfield sofa, kilim rug, antique bamboo altar table, ebonized Aesthetic Movement chair – that simpler is better. I also want to be inspired, but not to copy. While I forgot to photograph it, the trim is the picot shown below but in a dark blue-ish teal like the leaves in the fabric.

Quick addendum: I went back today and took a photo of the trim with the fabric. Here it is…

Having furniture made in Hong Kong or China can be much less inexpensive than in America or Europe, but it can also be fraught with shoddy workmanship and mistakes. Join me in monitoring this project carefully.

Image credits: 1. Not sure of this one, will update when I can, 2. Vogue October 2006, photo credit: Francois Halard, via Style Court, 3. Robert Kime, 4. Aleta Online, 5. Zoffany

Mar 29, 2011 By tokyojinja in Furniture, Interior Design, Textiles, Travel Tags: Aleta Online, Brigitte Singh, custom furniture, Hong Kong, Robert Kime

Gorgeous Green…Rooms Inspired by a Bamboo Forest

I am dreaming of swaying poles and rustling leaves and the deep but soft grey green of a bamboo forest. I have dug deep into the inspiration files as this is not an everyday kind of color, but when it works, it is spectacular!

It is no accident that many of the following images are from British magazines or are attempting to create an English feel as this seems like such a quintessentially Anglo color. Suzanne Slesin’s library/dining room may be in New York City, but the light fixture, chairs and glass doors give the room an “English library atmosphere”. Combining the dining room, which tends to get little use, with a library is such a typical NYC trick, but one that would be useful anywhere. Books are always the best decoration!

This library, painted Farrow & Ball’s ‘Sutcliffe Green’ is in England, on the Norfolk/Suffolk border to be exact. Called Blo’ Norton Hall, it is the home of Charles and Rachel Morris. The cozy room occasionally serves as the dining room too. I love the white slips on the chairs and the thick white molding with the rich green paint.

Yet another library, this one by Martyn Lawrence-Bullard, is a favorite of mine. Too many black and white photos hung together can be stark, but these are set off so perfectly by the green wall and the unusual green Persian carpet. The warm golden-hued Biedermeier desk and chairs provide just the right contrast.

It’s hard for a room to go bad with a wall of french doors and transoms, and this eclectic beauty doesn’t disappoint. I imagine it to be as pleasant to sit here in the summer as it is cozy in the winter, with the great mix of textures and textiles. Unfortunately I have no idea who designed this room – please let me know if you do!

This is an image I have been holding on to for years and it continues to inspire me. Calling the look “Swamp Palazzo,” interior designer Rosemary James has packed her tiny New Orleans house with amazing French furniture. The dining room is painted a shade she calls “Empire Green.” I love the simplicity of the bare plank floors and the perfect lines of the furniture paired with the opulence of the silver and mirrored cabinetry. The rest of the house is equally charming, including the pale lilac bedroom which will have to wait for a future post.

This dining room by Gregga Jordan Smieszny is renovated in a “twenties rendition of Adam style.” Beautifully proportioned but a little formal for my taste, I couldn’t help but include it as it has bamboo wallpaper, Asian porcelain and those yummy velvet chairs.

There are few people more elegant than Carolina Herrera and her interiors are a reflection of her persona as she designs them herself. The painted Italian chairs make me swoon and the whole room feels like an extension of the garden.

Green kitchens are unusual, although there have been some very bright, very contemporary ones featured lately (Miles Redd anyone?). This English country kitchen in Brynderw Manor has such a casually assembled feel, with mismatched cabinets and chairs, blue and white transferware and those fabulous Majolica dishes on the table.

Compared with the manor house above, this kitchen, with its rustic beams and cheery toile curtains, feels like a country cottage. Again, I wish I had more information and details on location and designer.

This Hamptons (as in Long Island, not England) bedroom looks like it might be right upstairs from that kitchen! Designed by Fox-Nahem, it has just the right ingredients for a summer house – spool bed, striped linens, and airy voile curtains.

One of my bedroom fantasies is a tented room. This Paris apartment has trompe-l’oeil wallpaper to replace a real tent (which gathered too much dust). With the craze for all things Indian and Moroccan unabated, expect to see more of these!

This pretty, pretty bedroom was designed by Renzo Mongiardino for Contessa Christiana Brandolini (a sister of the late industrialist Gianni Agnelli). Somehow I am crazy for any decor that has anything to do with the Agnellis, and I think it is his doing! Click here to read more on this legendary designer.

Is it cheating to add garden rooms to a post on the color green? I don’t think I care. The Paris garden of Pierre Bergé is simply divine…

…as is the conservatory dining room of Robert Kime. I want to have a party under that Venetian chandelier and all those paper lanterns.

For more green (of a very different shade), check out Habitually Chic’s post Green is Good. And thanks to her for the Carolina Herrera photo as I couldn’t get mine to scan properly!

Image credits are sketchy on this post as many of the photos were torn from old magazines with no further information recorded. Please let me know if you have any dates/names, etc. 1. House & Garden, December 1996, British House & Garden, June 2009, 3. Martyn Lawrence-Bullard, 4. unknown, probably House & Garden, 5. The New York Times Magazine, March 17, 1996, photo credit: Antoine Bootz, 6. Architectural Digest, date unknown, 7. House & Garden, November 1999, 8. unknown, probably British House & Garden, 9. Elle Decor, date unknown, 10. designed by Fox-Nahem, publication unknown, 11. Domino, February 2008, photo credit: Miguel Flores-Vianna, 12. unknown, probably House & Garden, 13. House & Garden, date unknown, 14. Architectural Digest, January 1995, photo credit: Derry Moore.

Jan 20, 2011 By tokyojinja in Color, Gardens, Interior Design Tags: Carolina Herrera, color, Contessa Brandolini d'Adda, Fox-Nahem, green rooms, Gregga Jordan Smieszny, Iksel, Martyn Lawrence-Bullard, Pierre Berge, Renzo Mongiardino, Robert Kime, Rosemary James, Suzanne Slesin