Discipline + Revolt

When I heard of Andrée Putman passing last month, it brought to mind my first knowledge of her work.  Designing Morgans in 1984 (the first American boutique style hotel), she introduced us to a sophisticated sober elegance that was both serene and emotionally evocative. Minimal but never spare.  These were the early days of my design life, and Putman's celebrated work was a beacon extolling the virtue of design principles + theory, over tricks + trend.  As she noted "the perfect balance between discipline and revolt."  For me she has always been the model design citizen........ inspired and inspiring.  x x

Photograph leaning, Rodney Graham

To anchor and compose the unlikely, but functionally practical flat screen placement we created a stealth media unit, spanning the architecture window bay.

"Of course style and money have nothing to do with each other, good design is pure and simple, and I am interested in that family of things that will not date."  Andrée Putman 1925-2013.

Putman Style

Library

My fascination with books started as a young child.  They have fostered my desire and my ability to form a way of seeing.   Throughout the years I have continually collected books in an effort to better understand the world, and experience the way others see it. Although devises like the iPad are changing the way we think about books, my delight is still found in turning pages and pondering both image and text.    Via Amazon I've enjoyed creating a personal book shop, including many of the titles I own and many more to be acquired + pored over.  Knowledge and beauty there can never be enough.  RBI Book Stack, here.

Serendipity

Savage Beauty

By happy coincidence, when I was in New York last month (to begin a new project), my client asked if I'd like to accompany her to an Alexander McQueen fall preview luncheon.  I've been an admirer of McQueen from his early (rather dark) break out days, and Savage Beauty has topped my coffee table since the Met exhibition (2011). Sarah Burton who now leads the house of McQueen hosted the event, in the SOHO showroom of BDDW.  It was an extraordinary pairing of visual uniqueness.  In addition to the beautiful feathery garments on mannequins we were treated to the an inspiring runway presentation.  The innovative BDDW showroom was the perfect foil, for these fluid silhouettes.  As an interior designer every visual experience is stored in our collected memory, playing a role to fashion our own aesthetic perspective.  This one rocked.

Fall 2012 Alexander McQueen 

BDDW SOHO, NYC

Pas de Deux

There are a multitude of design decisions required in the forming of a great bathroom.  Perhaps it is the scale of this room which demands such a heightened process and attention to detail, constituting one of my favourite design exercises.  In this shared master bath we strove to achieve a harmony in performance.  Balancing material, form and appliance, to create a functional space for two, that is also a beautiful retreat.  The bathroom is part of an extensive (gut) renovation to a heritage home, where we created new classic spaces to demonstrate a notion about time-honored quality and style.

The large format limestone tile anchors and bookends all white fixtures and cabinets, imparting warmth to the minimalist geometry.  A series of Vistosi spun glass wall fixtures add beauty light, and a glamourous gesture.

'The basic rules of proportion and scale are unchanging.  They are reinterpreted according to the needs of the time.  I like simplicity and I believe in restraint.  Above all, there should be harmony-of proportion, line, colour, and feeling.  The most important element in decorating is the relationship between objects-in size, form, texture, colour and meaning.  None of these is in good taste in itself but only in relationship to where it has been placed and what purpose it is to serve.'  Eleanor McMillen Brown.  The legendary interior designer's contribution is documented in the book Sixty years of interior design; the world of McMillen.

Mirror Mirror

Following the history of interiors train of thought from my last post, and the longevity of so many original concepts;  Dressing tables originated in eighteenth century France (think Marquise De Pompadour), then called 'table de toilette'.  Like so much of the new convenience furniture of that day, they were purpose built for specifically designated spaces and activities.   They lost favour in the latter part of the 20th century, but have since come back into fashion, as part of the civilized ritual of dressing and preparing for the day/night ahead.   In our modern world these purposeful tools, create graceful service. I'm a firm believer that such elegance should be brought to all aspects, of the act of living. 

In her book, Geography of Home (writings on where we live), Akiko Busch writes, 'A dressing room is a place to indulge one's fancies and compose one's soul'.  Pictured here, various RBI dressing room vignettes.

The Age of Comfort

RBI French inspired dining room

I'm a huge fan of bringing history to life via connecting personalities and actions that have shaped the way we live.  One such read is The Age of Comfort by Joan Dejean, a short history of how the modern interior came to be.  In a favourite chapter, The Original Interior Decorators and the Comfortable Room, Dejean writes: 'The new field was a match made in heaven for the archetypal house-proud age.

Interior decoration thus came into existence as a subset of the new architecture of private life.  For this reason, its discovery marked the origin of a concept that has had currency ever since: the domestic interior could and should be the expression of its owner's personal taste; it should be styled to complement the owner's life and with his or her comfort in mind.  From then on, "taste" became a buzzword in interior design........... the original interior decorators reinvented the room.  They made it a space designed no longer strictly to impress others, but above all with the wellbeing of its occupants in mind.'  Joan Dejean, The Age of Comfort.

It's amazing how radical these pivotal years were in the fashioning of domestic protocols, we continue to apply today.