Now and forever: a conversation between old and new
Across time, design is a representation of ideas. For the creative, it is a way to showcase, engage and sometimes challenge our interpretation of beauty - reflecting the world and our commentary of it through subject, form and fashion. The way we shape our homes and layer our interiors should be a communion between one object we adore and another - a conversation of ideas: inspired, tussled and at times opposing but a discourse, nonetheless, that is interactive and ever-unfolding.
A 1930s Nancy Daum table lamp finds belonging in a Rose Uniacke interior.
Styling antique furniture alongside contemporary pieces understands this. A Spanish baroque table and Art Brut vase can occupy the same space as a Rachel Donath Safari Chair or Anna Charlesworth light just as French aluminium lamps can happily coexist alongside the opulent texture of a velvet couch or bouclé chair. From the polished, refined edges of a modern interior to a home already heavy in antiques, balance and rebellion can be found in opposition as much as resemblance: a point of depth and interest executed through detail; a richness created in part by the addition of mystery but also, the introduction of something unexpected.
Via Adele Veltri, Ian Felton in an Olivier Garce home heavy in antiques.
The juxtaposition of old and new also represents tension between limitation and possibility. As techniques develop and evolve over time, so too does the expression of ideas and the ways in which manufacturing, fabrication and craftsmanship are built on the back of everything that has come before. Provenance and rarity exist because of the use of techniques that are now inimitable, instructing a deeper appreciation for distinct periods of design and their anchorage in era.
Sculptural union between old and new with Dem Holm.
While the liquid light of Murano glass belongs to old-world Venice, a piece of its history lives on in the designs it inspires and its residence in place. Informed by the watery atmosphere of ‘città d'acqua’, it can flood a room with the echo of its origin - a playful dance of light on water. But, of course, there are infinite ways for the interaction between object and environment to be articulated. The undulating curve of the Rachel Donath Wave Chair speaks, too, of the ocean. Coupled together, two very different objects, old and new, find harmony and relevance amongst the others. Good ideas after all, cannot be exhausted. Rather, they inform and reverberate, finding kinship and connection in their many manifestations.
In residence: a Murano 'Rostrato' vase, sourced from Rachel Donath amongst more contemporary furnishings as seen on the March cover of Belle Magazine. Interiors by Lucy Montgomery.
However eclectic, our unique approach to objects becomes the connecting force in our interiors. As with the maker's mark or any signature style, something of our own personality becomes evident in the ideas with which we align. Saving us from the monotony of same-same, seen before and discardable furniture, our love and attachment to objects gives our home authenticity - a currency that is relevant now and forever, as we reinvent and evolve over time.
Mystery and interest in unexpected detail, weaving together modern and antique furniture. A mid Century velvet chaise lounge sourced from Rachel Donath, paired with a contemporary rug in a design project by Tamsin Johnson.