On the Other Hand

While I will always have an affinity for the perfectly aged, I have also grown to love clean and contemporary. For various reasons.

Isn't this the most calming, serene room? Roche Bobois's marketing department is genius, consistently coming up with inviting design.

Still appreciating the aged patina along side their luxurious, new leather furniture...

and a striking painting. 

(I would love to know who the artist is...)

I think in my next life I shall have a townhouse in Paris, and then I will combine a smooth, sleek metallic wall with the original wood moldings that add so much character to the space. Speaking of townhouses in Paris, if you are visiting there before the 19th of February, 2012, be sure to stop by the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine at the Palais de Chaillot (1 place du Trocadéro 75116 Paris) to visit their temporary exhibit, L'hôtel Particulier. Une Ambition Parisienne (The Townhouse. A Parisian Ambition). It looks so interesting and has had great reviews.

I would have to feel those walls!

When I am in the mood for bright and happy colors, I would love a space like this living room of Stila's creator, Jeanine Lobell and actor Anthony Edwards. The natural light and the various colors all say alive! to me.

Which way do you lean toward in your own home?

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Raw + Glamour= Meet Design 2011

One of my favorite design combinations is mixing raw, honest backgrounds with more glamorous elements. It achieves a certain tension that enhances both components. Many of the current ads that we see in magazines feature this principle.    

MEET DESIGN, a retrospective exhibit with a focus on 60 years of Italian household design in the 20th century, plays up on its location at the Mercati di Traiano in Rome to highlight 150 designers who were overlooked by the history books, or overlooked designs by designers who are famous for other, over-exposed creations.*  From September 15 to October 15, 2011 the show will be in Rome and will then move to Turin from November 5 to January 25, 2012.

The stone arcades of the Trajan Market are part of a unique archaeological site that is thought to have originally built to be the administrative offices for Emperor Trajan. Over the years it has been a military fortress, a convent, a market center and a hall. It sets quite a contrast to the modern, clean lined furniture in the show.

Roche Bobois, the French furniture company founded by the Roche and Chouchan families, excels at blending the old with the new. Francois Roche described the company’s furniture as “art applied to everyday life, with sensuality, movement and femininity.”

What are your thoughts on raw glamour?

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