Contemporary Interior Design

• Posted on 21st March 2011 by Nicola Holden

Last week was the French Design Festival, hosted by the Trade Commission of the French Embassy. This was a small fair showcasing the work of just 15 amazingly talented French craftsmen.

I think the stand that blew me away the most was the exquisite marquetery of Marqueterie D’Art Spindler. This family of artists produce incredibly intricate wood-inlay paintings, with a passion for texture that follows the natural grain of the woods chosen. These skills have been passed down through the generations for over a century, and work today includes contemporary and traditional designs.

Lutson Goudleder manufacture beautiful embossed and gilded leather using traditional skills.

I loved the innovative coconut shell tiles produced by 123 Matières from this highly renewable source. The company also specialises in decorative mineral coatings for floors and walls including clay, lime and cement coatings, and they also have a range of stone and pearl tiles.

Ateliers Pinton creates hand-knotted and hand-tufted carpets and rugs, incorporating a range of different materials including silk, wood, cotton, bamboo and metals. The mill works with contemporary artists and designers to create striking patterns.

The combined skills of porcelain maker Raynaud with silversmith Ercuis produce a refined selection of tableware which can be seen at luxury establishments around the world including The Dorchester, Four Seasons and Sketch in London.

All in all, this was a truly inspirational, enthralling and memorable show!

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”
Leonardo da Vinci

Image credits from retrospective companies.

• Posted in French Design Forum, Interior Design | 1 Comment

• Posted on 09th March 2011 by Nicola Holden

Growing up in Zimbabwe there was not a lot for me to absorb in terms of the architectural history, as the oldest building in Harare only dates back to around 1927. It was only after moving to the UK and discovering Europe that I first really fell in love with architecture. I was amazed by Gaudi’s work in Barcelona and the masterpieces that are the Duomos in Florence and Venice. Then I travelled to Rome where I considered what the Romans had created almost two thousand years ago with little more than a hammer and chisel to produce the intricate surface sculptures. And, as my travels have taken me further afield, to the Indian sub-continent, South East Asia and Japan, I have been amazed by a multitude of different architectural styles.

As my passion for interior design has been fed, so too has my love of the external design of buildings been nurtured, and so to further my knowledge I have recently bought a wonderful book – A Concise History of Architectural Styles by Emily Cole.

This book is ‘a visual guide to the history of architecture around the world, from the ancient civilisations of Egypt … to the Industrial Revolution.’ It covers Indian, Chinese, Japanese and Islamic architecture, and takes the reader through the ages from Ancient Greece and Rome to Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo to the Neo-classical architecture of the 18th-19th centuries. The book is filled with finely detailed pencil sketches that I have no doubt will be referred to time and time again for inspiration for my interior designs.

Here are a few photographs of some of the most memorable buildings that I have been lucky enough to admire first hand.

The splendour of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, is a mausoleum built by the emperor Shah Jahan for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The white-marble building is decorated with arabesque carving, and stands on a raised platform. Tall minarets stand sentinel at each corner. It has a gateway at each of the four corners, and is adorned with intricate window detail.

Wat Phrakaew and the Royal Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand has to be one of my absolute favourite buildings. Every time I see it I am amazed by its intricate embellishing in gold leaf, semi-precious stones and hand-decorated ceramic tiles.

I love the striking lacquered orange of this Buddhist Temple in Kyoto, Japan with its carved brackets at the roof soffit and the curved profile of the roof.

This Nepalese Stupa is a relic shrine to Buddha and his teachings. The essential features of a stupa are its hemispherical dome, with a pole supporting umbrella-shaped tiers at its pinnacle.

Known as the Rose-Red City for the colour of the rocks in which Petra is carved, this historical and archaeological city in the Ma’an region of Jordan was established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans.

The largest Pre-Columbian city in South America, Chan Chan is near Trujillo in Peru. Chan Chan was constructed of sun-dried earth by the Chimu around AD 850. The numerous walls throughout the city create a labyrinth of passages.

I just adore Italian architecture. This picture shows the Renaissance architecture of the Palazzo Loredan in Venice, and in the background the Piazza San Marco, dominated by the great San Marco’s Basilica – a wonderful example of Middle Byzantine Architecture mixed with Romanesque styling in the decoration of the church.

And finally to Paris where we have the magnificent Louvre – an example of majestic colonnaded French Baroque architecture. The glass pyramid at its entrance was inaugurated in 1988. I love this juxtaposition of the old the new.

What are some of your favourite buildings and why?

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”
Vincent van Gogh

• Posted in Architecture, Travel | Comments Off