Lee Stanton Blog

Living In A Flat World

Image of the guest room from my home in Los Angeles. ELLE DECOR, March 2015.

Flat screen TVs, computer monitors, laptops and smart phones have become a necessity in our lives today.  We are inspired from images on Pinterest, Instagram and HGTV.  We shop for furniture, clothes and even the food we eat on line.

Have we progressed into a flat world of design that has lost a sense of dimension, texture and experiential beauty? Has design become homogenized?  Do we really believe that creativity is limited to what we see online and that we cannot explore our own identity without falling off the edge?  How often do we look at the same chairs, tables and bookcases made on an assembly line, etched with lasers and assembled in China with a spray finish that everyone can purchase from an online catalog?  Is knocking off items and tweaking them a bit our idea of being creative?  Have we lost our sense of personal style and identity? Are the things in our homes or the homes we decorate void of relevance, provenance and emotion?

 

Image of the kitchen & dining area from my home in Los Angeles. ELLE DECOR, March 2015.

Imagine the days when people believed the world was flat and they couldn’t travel it without the fear of falling off. It seems we have regressed to those thoughts in design.  I challenge us to look beyond those flat screens and explore the multi-dimensional, infinite and creative world of design. 

Think organically. Search for one-of-a-kind objects from different eras or origins, embrace texture and explore different materials. Let’s stop drinking the kool-aid. Let’s pick our own fruit and let our own creative juices flow. Let’s go out and not only explore a multi-dimensional design world, but let’s also contribute to the diversity of an even greater world of design.

 

England circa 1930's Palladian Mirrors (AV124),
France circa 1920 industrial desk (AW188)
France circa 1880 terra cotta fragment as a desk lamp (B67),
England circa 1880 globe on mahogany stand.
France circa 1880 collection of artist molds (BA162),
England circa 1880 green leather desk chair (BA193)

 

I define my space and assembled a collection of things I love. The collection spans more than 3 centuries from around the world and every object tells a story. In perspective I created a space that defines me.

 

View my story in the March Issue of Elle decor online and on shelves now.

View more at leestanton.com or stashla.com