Tag Archives: Vintage Design

Punctuation

Uncategorized,

Thomas Jayne is blogging for Interior Design magazine and one of his posts contains a couple of pictures of Albert Hadley’s sitting room, which appears as the last project in the book. Like a spoonful of shaved ice at the end of a meal, it leaves one with a refreshing feeling of satisfaction – a sense that talent and restraint can be as significant as budget.
Jayne has received a lot of positive feedback on the inclusion of this room and it is endearing to note that Hadley did not think the room should be a part of the project. “I asked him,” recalls Jayne, “and he said he did not think it was worthy. I asked if we could shoot it anyway, then he could look at the pictures and decide. When I showed him the proofs he relented, but he still didn’t think it should be included.”
rssrss      FacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmail

Points of Interest

Uncategorized,
My plate is full to overflowing and when that happens my thought process, which is not all that linear to begin with, starts to pop like corn. It’s a sort of crazy connect the dots, though the end product looks more hypotrochoid than picture. Unfortunately, those symmetric lines and loops are a little harder to translate into words. So, this draft has sat, unattended, for the last three days. I plan to give it a go and if it seems a jumble forgive me; my life is currently a jumble.
As a lover of needlework I fell right into Olympia Le-Tan’s clutches in World of Interiors. Combined here is a passion for creation and stitching with a love of first edition books. How could she go wrong? Handiwork of nearly every kind appeals to me because of the work itself – the time devoted, the process – and the role of the stitcher. It has largely been women’s work and past-time and hobby and it is interesting to see the craft translated from busy-ness to business. And art.

Oddly, at the time I received the issue I’d been trolling the pages of old HGs with the same sort of nostalgia most people feel flipping through their childhood photo albums. Open on my desk was a story of a home decorated by Pierre Le-Tan (Olympia’s father) from April of 2003. The living room is still remarkable fresh, though that was not the page that stared back at me just inches from my right elbow for over a week.

I had meant then, and still intend, to research Line Vautrin who created these fanciful bronze boxes, right and bottom (the painting on ivory is by Le-Tan.) I did hit Vautrin’s site and expected to cull images and information, but at a time when I am winnowing my list to things that must be done it just seemed that I could point you there from here.

As near as I can tell, it takes about a minute and a half to read one of these posts, and I can’t suppose the lack of them makes all that much difference, but things may be a bit spotty over the next couple of weeks. I just wanted to let you know and hope that you will, please, stand by.
Images from top, World of Interiors, October 2010, photography by Bruno Suet; next and bottom, House and Garden, April 2003, photography by Francois Halard.
rssrss      FacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmail

Simply Divine

Uncategorized, ,

It’s been bookshelf bounty around here the last couple of days. I have neglected everything else and have been reading Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom when not toting or driving or fixing something for someone else.


Today’s post was supposed to be about finding cool stuff for yourself instead of letting catalogue companies reproduce it and deliver it to your mailbox, but I took a turn at Spivey’s Books and never made it to the River Market Antique Mall.

There I found this tiny little pamphlet-like thing, Interiors, Character and Color edited and written by Van Day Truex. For $3. Wonderful. Being so close to Half-Priced Books I stopped in to see if Vreeland’s Allure was still there. Was. Truly, I don’t need to be spending $50 on a book, but it seemed some kind of divine intervention so I lugged it around while making a quick dash through the design section. There, completely unaware that it is fashion week, was The Fashion House with no price tag. “How about $2 since the jacket is torn?” said the nice woman behind the counter. Um. Great. Thereby justifying the alluring Allure.

So while the youngest did his math homework and spelling, I was tutored by Vreeland and Truex. After all her musings on style and photography and attitude she declares, “…really, we should forget all this nonsense and just stay home and read Proust.”

Then, with iCarly in the background, I noticed Yves Saint Laurent’s note in the Fashion House that his entire home was conceived around Rememberance of Things Past. But I can’t possibly return to Proust right now as Franzen has my fancy and in the meantime I must ponder the allure of Bill Blass’s white walls.
All images Bill Blass’s home in The Fashion House by Lisa Lovatt-Smith. Photography by Fritz von der Schulenburg.

Jonathan Franzen will be at Unity Temple on the Plaza, thanks to the wonderful Rainy Day Books, September 22nd. Information here.
rssrss      FacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmail