Design Inspiration

I had no idea that my Blue Christmas post would lead to a little chat with Dick Bories and James Shearron of Bories and Shearron, the architecture firm behind the renovation of the Fifth Avenue apartment that Miles Redd decorated. The entire apartment is featured in the December 2009 issue of Elle Decor but it was the library dining room that intrigued me most since the paneling was copied from Marie Antoinette's private mirrored Boudoir at the Petit Trianon since I had just visited this very place and room in September! (I took over 900 photos so I am still working on posting some of them.)

The couple who owns this apartment both have European connections and the wife specifically asked "that there be books in the dining room since it reminded her of the manor houses in France where she spent a lot of her childhood," according to Dick Bories. "We were thrilled to combine the two because there is no better wallpaper than books. I also lived in France for a time and found that they do, in fact, often eat in their libraries which create an amazing sound quality as the books absorb much of the sound." I wish this would become the new American tradition since many families don't even use their dining rooms and maybe if they served a dual purpose more would actually use them!

Bories mentioned that he was given a first edition of the book "The Petit Trianon Versailles" by James A. Arnott and John Wilson from 1929 by his firm partner James Shearron. "The two architects completely documented the inside, outside and gardens of this amazing pavilion. While flipping through, I noticed that the proportions of the Fifth Avenue dining room and the Boudoir were almost exactly the same! The room heights are within an inch of each other."

You can in my photo from the Boudoir or "cabinet des glaces mouvantes" that the mirrors can be lowered into the basement to completely block out the light and create a private area for Marie Antoinette to "nap" or have complete privacy. If you travel to Paris, I highly recommend a visit to Versailles! It was an amazing place and I can see how the architects could be very inspired by it's design!

Bories goes on to say, "I literally copied the scaled details of the mouldings and applied them to our room, without all the carving and gesso appliques of course. The mill worker simply imported my CAD drawings into their computer and had the knives cut from my details! Amazing technology today!" I love that the advanced technology can help to create architectural details that match those of the past since there aren't many artisans and craftsmen left to do it by hand!

"We copied the finish from original rooms that James saw as a child growing up in Lake Forest, Illinois in a couple of the beautiful David Adler houses from the 1930's. The finisher used bleach, a wire brush, light stain, and hand rubbed wax to get that dry 'thirsty' finish on the quarter sawn white oak. It's truly gorgeous in person." I can imagine! Especially since Dick says that the clients decided to forgo a chandelier instead opting for dinner by candlelight! It must be even more spectacular at Christmas too! Above is a detail of the door in the library and below is one of my photos from the Petit Trianon and you can see the detail.s are very similar, although the hardware is less opulent now!

I want to thank Dick Bories and James Shearron for this glimpse into this amazing project. I told James earlier that sometimes readers have no idea how much work goes into those pretty photos that they see in a magazine and this project took about a year from start to finish. It was such a pleasure to speak with them both since their passion for architecture and design is as inspiring to me as the Petit Trianon was to their design!

Photos: Miguel Flores-Viana for Elle Decor, Randall Bachner for Bories and Shearron, and Heather Clawson for Habitually Chic

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Perfectly Pumpkin

Architect Gil Schafer's apartment in the West Village mixes orange and black but there is nothing scary about it! In fact, the burnt orange pumpkin color of the living room walls mixed with the espresso wool felt upholstered gallery walls and black scagliola mantle is positively divine! And then there are the Ionic columns and classical details that add to it's appeal and has me swooning. After he renovated the space, Mr. Schafer had a little help decorating it from his friend Miles Redd. Neither of them can do any wrong in my book and when I need an architect for my own home someday, I definitely know the first person I am going to call! Until then, these images are going into my orange wall color file! It's perfect!

Images from Gil Schafer

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Gentleman Architect Peter Pennoyer

It's one thing to chat via email with a fabulous designer or just post images of their work that you love but it's quite another to get invited to their office to speak with them in person! When architect Peter Pennoyer did just that recently, I jumped at the chance! Peter is known for his classic style but when you really delve into it and learn more, you realize that it's actually quite inventive.

Peter studied at Columbia and Columbia Graduate School and while there worked for Robert A.M. Stern but established his own firm in 1984 after graduation. He showed me one of his first projects and it was much more modern than his current designs but every designers eventually finds their way.

Peter not only practices architecture but writes books, gives lectures, champions preservation and reads a lot! It's always a pleasure to meet anyone in the creative world who is passionate about their chosen path and it is clear just from the bookshelves of the office that he is just that.

One of the things I found interesting is that not only does the firm embrace hand rendering and still create watercolor drawings but they also embrace technology. One of their programs for computer rendering is the same that Pixar uses! The three dimensional images were so real looking that I thought they were a photograph at first. It is certainly easier to fine tune a design before the construction begins and the advancements are amazing!

Another interesting fact I learned was that the firm creates many of it's own designs for mouldings and other architectural details. They may look to the past for inspiration but they are creating the future and also in the way that certain architectural elements are manufactured such as stair rails and grates. I really hope I have the chance to attend one of Peter's lectures because I know they must be fascinating!

I don't know if everyone knows that Peter Pennoyer and interior designer Katie Ridder are married and actually share office space on the same floor. There can sometimes be issues and friction between architects and interior designers when they work on projects together and Peter and Katie are lucky that they can seek advice from the other when they face these kinds of situations. They also have been lucky to be able to work with each other on some very beautiful projects.

You can always get a sense of a designer or architect's style from their work place and Peter's office is as you would expect, very well designed and full of wonderful details. I loved all the hand drawn renderings, watercolors and models that lined the back walls.

It was clear from meeting Peter that he has a profound respect for the history of architecture and design.

One thing that I thought was so interesting is that Peter sometimes makes up stories about a certain buildings that he designs that create a reason as to why the design might have elements from different periods, such as someone built the home in one style and then a subsequent owner added onto it later in a different style.

One of my favorite quotes from his website is the following, "We don't practice architecture by the book. We know the book. We know, say moldings and cornices so well that we can hold the pattern book stage, which is what frees us to be imaginative in our responses."

I wish I could have stayed all day and looked through the vast library of architecture and design books! I'm sure there are some amazing treasures along those walls!

What stuck me as interesting is that the bookshelves that Peter designed were very modern and simple didn't have any details.

Wouldn't you just love to sit in that chair and pull a book out and read. In the background is Peter's office that he shares with his partner.

I loved that the red leather chairs in the conference room related back to the red in the library when you opened the door.

There were beautiful details around every corner and in this little niche. It was truly a pleasure to meet Peter Pennoyer in person and talk about design and I really appreciate the time he took out of his busy day to meet with me. I hope you will check out more of his work online. I know once you do, you will be even more impressed and inspired!

On my way out, I was able to pop into Katie Ridder's office and say hello to Laurie Reynolds. My favorite color is orange so I loved the pops of orange throughout the small office.

Anyone who has worked in an interior design office knows that fabric samples are the bane of the existence of anyone who has to keep them organized so I was very impressed by this wall, and not at all surprised that Laurie is the one that keeps it looking so good!

I hope you enjoyed this profile and tour as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you!

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Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater

The only good thing about your family having a house in the middle of nowhere is that it's only an hour away from one of the most famous houses in America, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, also in the middle of nowhere. I first visited the site over 20 years ago so I thought it was about time for a second look, which is what I did this past weekend. Although, wearing Christian Louboutin flats on the tour probably wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had so if you plan to visit, I suggest taking along a pair of sneakers since a lot of the tour is outside.

"Fallingwater is recognized as one of Wright's most acclaimed works, and in a 1991 poll of members of the American Institute of Architects, it was voted "the best all-time work of American architecture." It is a supreme example of Frank Lloyd Wright's concept of organic architecture, which promotes harmony between man and nature through design so well integrated with its site that buildings, furnishings, and surroundings become part of a unified, interrelated composition."

Fallingwater was designed in 1935 for the Edgar J. Kaufmann family of Pittsburgh, who owned the famous Kaufmann's department store and vacationed in the Mill Run area of Pennsylvania. The family asked Wright to build a home near the Bear Run waterfall that they loved. What they didn't expect was for Wright to design the house over the waterfall but they agreed to the plan and it was built almost exactly as it was planned. The interesting part of the story was that it was the Kaufmann's son, Edgar Kaufmann, jr. who brought about the collaboration with Wright, who's career was in a bit of a slump at the time.

"After having read Frank Lloyd Wright’s An Autobiography (1932) on the advice of a friend, he was inspired to join the Taliesin Fellowship, which Wright and his wife, Olgivanna, had recently founded as an institute for artistic growth. In September, Edgar jr. traveled to Wisconsin for an interview with Wright, and a month later he was officially inscribed as a member of the fellowship. His stay at Taliesin only lasted six months, however, and he returned to Pittsburgh in 1935 to take his long deferred place in the family store. Over the next seven years, he played a pivotal role in integrating the family’s interest in progressive design, in Wright’s work, and business." He later went on to work for the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the family's story is so interesting that it's definitely worth reading online.

One of the things that almost all visitors notice upon arrival to Fallingwater is how modern and contemporary it looks for a design that was finished in 1939. It is also the only great Wright house open to the public with its setting, original furnishings, and art work intact. Almost all of the original Wright-designed furnishings are still in place. Fine art, textiles, objets d'art, books, and furnishings collected by the Kaufmann family from the 1930's through the 1960's are on view, and represent the eclectic tastes of a sophisticated, world-traveled family. Included in the collections are works by Audubon, Tiffany, Diego Rivera, Picasso, Jacques Lipchitz, Richmond Barthe, and woodblock prints by Japanese artists Hiroshige and Hokusai - gifts from Frank Lloyd Wright to the Kaufmanns.

"There in a beautiful forest was a solid, high rock ledge rising beside a waterfall, and the natural thing seemed to be to cantilever the house from that rock bank over the falling water....Then came (of course) Mr. Kaufmann's love for the beautiful site. He loved the site where the house was built and liked to listen to the waterfall. So that was a prime motive in the design. I think that you can hear the waterfall when you look at the design. At least it is there, and he lives intimately with the thing he loves." -- Frank Lloyd Wright in an interview with Hugh Downs, 1954

"Given the contour of the land, Wright located a house anchored in the rock next to the falls, jutting over the stream and counterweighted by massing at the back. Wright oriented the house to the southeast as he preferred, extending floors in horizontal bands which echoed rock ledges. The house would hover serenely over the water. Just uphill in a quarry on the property, native Pottsville sandstone was available to compliment the reinforced concrete Wright had in mind for the cantilevered floors. With these materials he needed glass, framed to give pattern and rhythm to the outlook; finally, the chosen trio of materials called for bright, warm coloring to offset the deep grays of the stone and visually inert concrete."

A few of my favorite aspects of Fallingwater is how the house follows the contours of the landscape and nature as seen in the beam that is curved to allow for the trunk of the tree above and how the boundaries of inside and out are blurred. The stair below start in the house and go directly down to the water above the waterfall below.

Building Fallingwater was a complicated and detailed operation, yet the resulting house seems to belong quietly in its setting. It fits into the hillside and extends out over the falls as if it has always belonged there. Within it, the areas for social life, privacy, and service are clearly separated but conveniently linked. Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece continues to unite human life, architectural form, and nature.

Even though it is in the middle of nowhere, it is definitely worth making a pilgrimage to Fallingwater to see one of the finest examples of architecture ever created. Just make sure you wear proper footwear!

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