Know Your Chairs: The Peacock Chair

The origin of the chair for this installation of Know Your Chairs is a little murky and not easily traced to a single source. The classic wicker Peacock Chair has ancestors across Asia with elements and similar shapes being woven in wicker and rattan for much of the 1800s. Extant drawings show rounded bases and seat backs, but it wasn't until 1914 that the first documented photograph of the Peacock Chair was taken. A female inmate in the Bilibid Prison in Manila is shown sitting in one and it is known that prisoners at this prison made chairs and other articles of furniture for export and that could be bought by visiting tourists. This late-stage-Victorian/Edwardian period fell in love with the Peacock Chair which would frequently be placed in a hothouse-like garden room or solarium, where this wicker throne-like chair blended in with its surroundings of parlor palms and orchids, plants cultivated for their exotic appeal. The chair seemed to dovetail nicely into Art Nouveau and into the 20s somewhat.

The chair fell out of favor in the 30s with the rise of Art Deco (previously here) and Streamline Moderne (previously here), but came back in popularity in the 60s and 70s where it found a home in a few new genres. It fit well with the hippie Flower Power culture of the time period, feeling like a piece of furniture that was both organic and ethnic. Meanwhile in a separate cultural moment in 1967, the Black Panther Party's founder and Minister of Defense, Huey Newton had his portrait taken seated in a Peacock Chair holding a spear and rifle, flanked by traditional African shields, all on a zebra rug. It was visually arresting and provocative image, and the chair came to be associated with the Black Power movement. It even showed up as Morticia Addams' chair of choice on the televisions show "The Addams Family" and as a prop for m any celebrity portraits of the time.

Dr. Huey P. Newton, photo by Blair Stapp
(Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of
African American History and Culture)

The cast of "The Addams Family"

Al DiMeola album cover

Cher

Dolly Parton

Julio Iglesias album cover

A pair of Peacock chairs in the Manhattan apartment of fashion designer Arnold Scaasi
Photo from Jan/Feb 1977 issue of Architectural Digest

Now the chair has come back around for a revival of sorts and can found in a variety of design schemes... but clearly works best with a sort of natural, tropical, or Bohemian sense.

Photo by Brave Boutique Ltd

Happy designing!

A Watery Blue Bathroom by Fiorito Interior Design

In March, I showed you a bathroom from a complete home renovation in a condo...that was the primary bathroom but here is a peek at the guest bathroom. In contrast to the gold and dark swirling stone seen in the previous bathroom here, the brief for this bathroom was cool and watery, reflecting the beautiful nature reserve and wetlands nearby.

A blue version of Fusion Wow Dark quartzite tops a deep, saturated blue vanity. Tiles of Statuario on the floor coordinate with a custom mosaic border that picks up the color of the veining. The same material wraps up the walls capped with a coordinating chair rail, as well as gracing the interior of the tub-shower. To reference the protected wetlands nearby, we created two niches, one to be used for showering and the other lower one to be used while bathing, that are lined with special handmade tiles of herons, cattails, dragonflies, lily pads, and frogs. These special relief mural tiles were hand glazed in hues specifically chosen to blend with our color scheme, and add a lyrical touch to this cool, tranquil space.

Photo by Bernardo Grijalva

Photo by Bernardo Grijalva

Happy designing!

Big, Bigger, Biggest: Make A Statement With Indoor Sculptures

Sometimes there is a special corner in a home, perhaps by a large window, where a very special object is needed. And The Phillips Collection has just the thing. I have been longing to use one of these incredible pieces in a client's home for a while now, looking and waiting for the right large empty corner by a window.

All of the pieces I show below are at least 6 feet tall with some, like the large cast stone circles, topping out at a whopping 8 feet! Made from a variety of materials, these statement sculptures would add a breathtaking element to any space.

Check Mate Sculptures in white, black, and gray

Colossal Charcoal Cast Stone Sculpture with
Colossal Double Hole Cast Stone Sculpture

Colossal Charcoal Cast Stone Sculpture

Colossal Women Sculptures

Large Plinth Sculptures

Stacked Wood Floor Sculpture Set

Black Wood Abstract Sculptures

I have trade access to all of these dramatic art objects, and more from The Phillips Collection. If you see something you like, give me a call!

Happy designing!

Know Your Sofas: The Mah Jong Sofa

Welcome to another installation of Know Your Sofas, and here is a sofa you should definitely know!

Created in 1971 by artist and designer Hans Hopfer (1931 - 2009) for Italian home furnishings brand Roche Bobois, the original Mah Jong sofa was called simply the Lounge Sofa (or Forever Sofa). The concept was for a low-slung modular seating system that can be combined in many different ways depending on what the owner wants. This suited the new way of seating that people were discovering in the 1960s and 1970s when the concept of a stiff sofa or settee was becoming obsolete. People more and more were lounging in their homes while watching television, relaxing, gathering, playing...simply living more casually than in times past. You can see that Hopfer's drawing below shows a sort of cloud-like, pillow silhouette.

The final product took the form of three individual elements--a flat square, a back, and a corner section--that can be stacked, combined, laid out, and rotated to form a myriad of configurations. While certainly low-slung, it looks in the first photo below like the Lounge Sofa started out placed on some thicker bases to bring them up from the floor a bit more...

...but the sofa is now known as the Mah Jong Sofa, named for the resemblance of each section to Mah Jong tiles. The concept of stacking, joining, and rearranging is even stronger now. It is still available through Roche Bobois and since 1990, it has been their best-selling sofa! It can be purchased to sit either directly on the floor or to be laid out on low platforms with inset legs that give the whole structure a sense of floating off the ground. The mattress-style cushions are entirely hand-stitched in an Italian atelier.

The Mah Jong sofa can now be ordered in fabrics designed by haute couture houses! Missoni Home created versions based on their iconic flame-stitch and other signature patterns from the house.

Legendary designer Jean Paul Gaultier lends his own patterns: French white and navy maritime stripes and the intricate curlicues of world currency...

...while Kenzo Takada took inspiration from the beauty of Japanese kimono fabrics for his collection.

You can find out more about this classic sofa at the Roche Bobois Mah Jong site!

Happy designing!

History of Furniture: Chippendale Chinoiserie

For this portion of the History of Furniture, let's look at a furniture maker we have seen before...the legendary Thomas Chippendale, previously here, was the first furniture maker to have a style of furniture named after him instead of an English monarch! Born in 1718 in Otley in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, he came from a long line of wood workers. Thomas was trained by his father, and it is presumed he apprenticed with the aptly-named York wood worker Richard Wood.

He moved to London and married Catherine Redshaw at St George's Chapel, Mayfair. And in 1754, Chippendale relocated to 60–62 St. Martin's Lane in London, where he operated his business for the next 60 years. This same year he published a book of his designs entitled "The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director," the first work of its kind solely devoted to the furniture and furnishing of the 18th century British interior, which made him instantly known. He tapped into a certain style that was popular at that time and became the most famous name in the history of English furniture at a time when such craftsmanship was at its zenith. Chippendale’s patrons included aristocracy, gentry and public figures.

His furniture designs include chairs, settees, tables, desks, mirrors, bookshelves, and cabinets. Chippendale designs fall into three main styles: Gothic, Rococo (called "modern" in the book), and Chinese. And while he operated his own workshop and crafted pieces of exquisite beauty, others made furniture and furnishings based on patterns in the "Cabinet Maker's Director," so the term Chippendale refers to English furniture of the 1750s and ’60s made in a modified Rococo style.

For this post, we are focusing on his Chinese-inspired designs, often referred to as Chinoiserie. Although the Silk Road--trade routes that connected Asia with the Middle East and Europe, facilitating the import of silks, jade and other precious stones, porcelain, tea, and spices--operated from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century, the Ottoman Empire closed off trade in 1453. Bits and pieces of Asian objects trickled out for the next hundred years or so and people in Europe became fascinated with furniture and architecture of Asian origin. English and European makers began interpreting these objects from mysterious, exotic locations, creating pieces that were clearly made with a European eye. This style came to be known as Chinoiserie...not actually Chinese (imported from China) but something "in the style of" objects from Asia.

But Thomas Chippendale hit it first and hit it well, with his Chinoiserie designs reigning. Fanciful pagoda shapes mixed with carved wood made to look like pieces of bamboo or rattan lashed, and other details that evoked how the English and Europeans saw--or rather imagined--life in Asia.

Left to right: Design for part of an overmantel and a
wall bracket, Thomas Chippendale, about 1760, London.
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London;
Design for a chinoiserie-inspired chimney piece,
Thomas Chippendale, about 1760, London.
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Settees, chairs, beds, stair rails, all with bamboo-like lattice work (or in the case of the black japanned tall boy seen below, images of an idealized, imagined world of pagoda roofs, Ho Ho birds, and bells): there are a few original Chippendale Chinoiserie pieces left but there are plenty of examples of pieces "in the Chippendale Chinoiserie style."

Happy designing!