Join Alex Papachristidis and Me at Design aDAC

I hope you'll join designer Alex Papachristidis and me at Design ADAC, where, on Tuesday, April 25th, we will be discussing "The Eye of the Collector".  An inveterate collector himself, Alex has much to say about the ins and outs of collecting, including how his collections and those of his clients have influenced his work.  Following the 1:00pm talk, there will be a reception at the new Cowtan & Tout showroom, where Alex will be signing copies of his book, The Age of Elegance.

For more information on Design ADAC, one of the design industry's premier events, please visit the ADAC website.  And to join Alex and me at our conversation, click here to register.  We hope to see you on April 25th!

Printed Fashions: Textiles for Clothing and Home

The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum at Colonial Williamsburg debuted a new exhibit last week, one that should appeal to anyone with an interest in fashion, fabrics, or design. Organized by Linda Baumgarten, Colonial Williamsburg's Senior Curator of Textiles and Costumes,  Printed Fashions: Textiles for Clothing and Home presents an array of printed textiles, including an impressive selection of Indian Chintzes, that were made between 1700 and 1820.  With an emphasis on printed cottons and linens that were used for both apparel and furnishings, the exhibit includes dresses, such as the c. 1790 frock seen above, bed coverings, and curtains.

I was not able to find much about the exhibit on the museum's website, but I did manage to find a video on YouTube that featured Baumgarten discussing the show.  As the exhibit's textiles flashed onto my computer screen, I was reminded of how fashionable people of today continue this tradition of decorating their homes with printed fabrics, whose origins can be traced back to centuries-old chintzes.  Take, for example, this c. 1770-1790 Indian Palampore quilt, which is surely the star of the Williamsburg exhibit:

Quilt, India (center panel) Europe (quilting), 1770-1790 Mordant-painted and resist-dyed cotton, silk Museum Purchase, 1930-690

I'm sure that most of us immediately think of Braquenié's much-loved tree of life print, Le Grand Genois:

Perhaps used most famously by Givenchy, the fabric has also been used to great effect by Caroline Sieber at her home in London...:

...as well as by designer Alessandra Branca at the 2015 Kips Bay Showhouse, where the fabric was made into a throw for a sofa.:

Also part of the exhibit is this chintz curtain panel, which dates to sometime between 1750 and 1790:

Curtain Panel India (center textile), France (borders), 1750-1790 Printed cottons, silk trimming Museum Purchase, 1937-165, 6A


The panel bears a striking resemblance to Ménars, a document print offered by Brunschwig & Fils...:

...which was memorably used for upholstery in Jayne Wrightsman's Palm Beach home, whose sumptuous interiors were assembled by Denning and Fourcade:

Any idea what the textile is below?  It's a c. 1750-1775 barber's apron, which gentlemen wore to protect their clothes while being shaved or having their wigs powdered:

Barber's Apron, printed, 1750-1775, France (probably), Tabby cotton, block printed to form with pencil blue and overprint green. Museum Purchase, 1951-482


The apron's red flowers, reminiscent of poppies, brought to mind Robert Kime's oft-used poppy prints, including Opium Poppy:

and Field Poppy,...:

...with which Dallas designer Cathy Kincaid swathed this room, using yards and yards of it:

And last, but certainly not least, the exhibit includes yet another example of stylish attire, a banyan, which was a dressing gown worn by a gentleman.  This example dates to the late eighteenth century or early nineteenth:

Man’s Banyan East Indian textile Worn in Britain, 1770-1790 mordant-painted and resist-dyed cotton, trimmed with silk Museum Purchase, 1954-1010

Again, my thoughts turned to Braquenié and its tree of life companion print:

which got the stamp of approval by designer and architect Daniel Romualdez, who enveloped his bedroom (located in the former Connecticut home of Bill Blass, no less) in both Braquenié prints:

As they say, everything old seems new again, especially when used in such stylish, classic ways.


Image at top: Woman’s Jacket and Petticoat East Indian textile, worn in New York, ca. 1790 from an earlier textile, Mordant-painted and resist-dyed cotton, lined with linen, reproduction kerchief Museum Purchase, 1990-10, 1-2



Image credit: Williamsburg images: Courtesy of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg. Both the Sieber and Romualdez photos by Oberto Gili; Kincaid photo by Miguel Flores-Vianna.

The Joy of Flowers

Spring is here, the flowers and trees are in bloom (and have been for quite some time here in the South), and that annual layer of yellow pollen covers everything, my dog's feet included. Irritants aside, Spring is the time of year when flowers, in all their vibrant glory, seem to especially command our attention, both in their natural habitats and indoors, where they add bright notes to our homes' interiors.

Today, many of us limit our houses to a vase or two of peonies, a potted orange tree, or even a ubiquitous fiddle-leaf fig, but back in the early part of last century, the enthusiasm for indoor plants and floral bouquets was unabashed, so much so that plants were often incorporated into interiors in inspired and splashy ways.  Take these 1933 House & Garden images, for example.  It was not uncommon for flowers to be the main decoration of a room- and this didn't only occur in expected spots like sunrooms.  Below, you'll find a living room where a floral chintz banquette was crowned by a generous number of potted plants and flowers, lacing a large bay window.  In another, a Chippendale-style bird cage and window boxes- so cheerful and gay, to use a popular phrase of the day- stand prominently in front of a window, which gazed out onto a rather stifling view of neighboring high-rises.  Even a dining room was made to feel like an indoor garden, this time with an imagined design of planters and trellis, built to flank a window.

In fact, flowers were such an important part of indoor decor that many homes had shelves built inside of windows, where plants had the luxury of basking in the sunshine, blurring the line between indoors and out.  And while I think these indoor window shelves look a little dated, I appreciate the way in which they allowed plants to command a room's attention.

As Dorothy Draper once said, "It isn't enough just to love flowers- you do them an injustice if you don't make the best possible use of their beauty"- a sentiment obviously shared by the owners of the houses seen here.  But beware of the predilection to decorate with a profusion of flowers, at least, according to the late decorator Michael Greer: "Too many flowers in a room imply the presence of a corpse and should be avoided unless there is one, and even then too many flowers can distress anyone of delicate taste."

New Offerings from Jim Thompson and No. 9 Thompson

I recently spent a pleasant morning at the Jim Thompson showroom at ADAC, perusing the new collections from both Jim Thompson and No. 9 Thompson. Both collections featured such vibrant colors and pattern that I was aching to recover my furniture in anticipation of summer.

First up are two collections from Jim Thompson: Leo de Janeiro and Negresco, an outdoor fabric collection. Ou Baholyodhin, Jim Thompson's Creative Director for Home Furnishings, conceived Leo de Janeiro as a marriage of Chinese culture ("Leo" representing a Chinese lion) with the exotic, exuberant energy of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. One of my favorite introductions is Leo de Janeiro, the namesake of the new collection, which features a whimsical Chinese lion that is up to mischief. This particular fabric strikes me as the type that, no matter how long it's in use as curtains or upholstery, you'll continue to cherish it until the fabric is in tatters. Other favorites of mine include Ming Ming (especially the version in black), Heliconia Dreamin', a sumptuously embroidered fabric, and Cala, which is a fresh and colorful update of a traditional silk moire.  Equally as tempting is Belize, a bamboo print from the Negresco outdoor collection.  It looks like a fabric that might have been used in the home of Betsy Bloomingdale or at Sunnylands, the Annenbergs' Palm Springs estate.

Leo de Janeiro

Menagerie

Ming Ming

Marquise

Heliconia Dreamin'

Pomare

Cala

Harrow

Jim Thompson Negresco Collection of Outdoor Fabric:

Patron

Belize


No. 9 Thompson

For his new No. 9 Thompson collections, Colourfield and All Aboard (an outdoor range), designer Richard Smith cites inspiration ranging from painter Lucio Fontana's slash series and Matisse cut-outs to 1960's Pop Art and African textiles.  The mood of the collection is upbeat, which is an outlook that we could all use these days.  Prints such as Breton, Matelot, and In a Twist strike a nautical note, while Zig Zag seems like the kind of print that would have appealed to Albert Hadley.  The collection is fun, not too serious, and just right for the warmer weather ahead.  Of the selection I'm showing below, all are outdoor fabrics with the exception of In a Twist, Decoupage, and Areso.

For both the Jim Thompson and No. 9 Thompson collections, I'm only showing you a sampling of fabrics.  To see the full range, visit the Jim Thompson website or your local designer showroom.

Breton

Matelot

Zee Urchin

Diamond Life

In a Twist

All Aboard

Decoupage

Areso


All images courtesy of Jim Thompson