Lee Stanton Blog

Inside Lake Lugano's Villa Cicogna-Mozzoni, 16th-century trompe-l'oeil frescos abound. Photo: The World of Interiors; A Decoration Book, Minn Hogg and Wendy Harrop, 1988

Like so many things, the French have a word for it. That strange  phenomenon for when the eye sees something it knows is not there. The "trompe-l'oeil," or trick of the eye, is an artistic technique that encompasses a range of sly graphic tricks. From wood painted to resemble marble, to incognito boxes designed as books, the trompe-l'oeil foremost aims to delude the eye, to present one thing as another. A compelling, if artificial strategy, one wonders how its charms so persist. Like the false art of a magician, the trompe l'ceil delights us by its artistry and ingenuity alone. We are conscious our eye has been duped by a highly crafted process, yet the less conscious of it we are, the greater our measure of its success. 

The term "trompe-l'oeil" was first coined by artist Louis-Léopold Boilly, who so titled his submission to the Paris Salon of 1800. His piece depicted pinned up scraps of paper as a sort of moodboard, though the only materials used were paint and canvas. The artistic strategy was not new, however, and in fact its origins might even be traced to the ancient Greek myth of Zeuxis.

Trompe-l'oeil panelling from Polton House. Photo: World of Interiors, Feb. 2004

The story goes that a royal competition was held among artists, to see who could paint the best picture. The famous Zeuxis produced his piece, a still-life of grapes so convincing that two birds descended upon to peck at them. The crowd was amazed, and declared him the unquestioned winner. Then rival artist Parrhasius stood up to show his piece. Zeuxis, with an air of self-satisfied bemusement said, "Come, pull back the curtains and show us what you've got." Parrhasius stared, "Pull them back yourself." Zeuxis tried and tried, and when he could not, realized the trick that had been played him. Humbled and thoroughly impressed, Zeuxis declared Parrhasius the winner, saying, "I could but fool beast. You my friend, could but fool man."

I love nothing more than to find a unique piece of trompe-l'oeil in my travels. There's something so intriguing about the genre as an aesthetic category; the level of craft and imagination necessary to produce a successful piece always guarantees interesting results. Below, I've shared with you some of my personal favorites from our collection, examples I feel have a wonderful mix of understatement and panache. 

These late 19th-century French panels have been skillfully painted to resemble blonde burled wood. Their finish is so naturalistic it makes the eye wonder...

This tea caddy box from Victorian England is a remarkable example of trompe-l'oeil inlay. The swirling floral medallions have a distinctly three-dimensional character, though their surface is completely flat. 

It's not a book, it's a box! A cleverly imagined item from late 19th-century England, the front cover opens to reveal interior storage space. 

Photo: AD Italia N. 79, December 1987

Like a souk or a great medieval hall, the seventeenth-century Palazzo Minoia is filled with hidden treasures. The gallery-apartment is the triumph of collector Achille Armani, who, having spent a lifetime devoted to his greatest passion--sourcing precious tapestries from the Caucuses, Turkey, and China--has appointed his cavernous Piacenza jewel-box with antique textiles of exquisite quality, and antique furnishings brought back from his travels.   

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Photo: Modern Furniture and Decoration (Ed. Robert Harling, 1971)

The iconic New York architect Mitchell Giurgola created a hip and airy loft-like oasis in renovating publisher Sol Melnick's 1880 Philadelphia carriage house. The sculpture overtaking the left-hand wall--Melnick's own creation--feels a bit like Kurt Schwitters' transcendent Merzbau, the living sculpture tower constructed in reaction to the fascist tensions sweeping inter-war Europe. With its dynamic mix of industrial, natural, and luxurious textures, the living room Giurgola has conceived is warm and organic, yet sleek and composed.

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Late 19th-century industrial model of a spiral staircase

Abstract Expressionist painting 

Wooden gate mold

Mid-century red and orange glass studio bowl

Wooden mold as sculpture from Oaxaca, Mexico

A study in texture and tone, the home of Spanish interior designer Belén Domecq is as warm and unfussy as it is shrewdly considered. The combination of traditional antiques with organic and industrial elements creates an artful and laidback atmosphere. We love how the natural color palette creates a sense of continuity, allowing for unique juxtapositions of material and style.

Photo: Montse Garrido for AD España

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Belgian 19th-century wood and auburn leather armchairs

French 18th-century upholstered armchair 

19th-century burled elm side table from England 

19th-century Dutch fruitwood chest

Terracotta vessel from an abandoned potter's studio in Jalisco, Mexico 

Flipping through the pages of AD Italia, something of a lightbulb went off. As I stumbled across the otherworldly gallery cum workshop that Florentine antiquarian Monica Lupi calls home, it occurred to me that our new work-home environments were not such a novelty at all. The need for hybrid space has long given rise to architectural ingenuity, and our reconsidering what that means for the designer/artist/collector/aesthete/anyone really, might even find its antecedent in the salons of turn-of-the-century Europe. 

What with the unlikely alchemies and intuitive eclecticism of her capacious atelier, it appears Lupi is something of a mad-scientist.  Embracing odd juxtapositions of style and epoch, and favoring the unique and personal over the expected and trendy, Lupi is driven by passion and instinct, not by the demands of the current mode. It is this spirit of the artist—an intransigently creative and indvidualistic spirit—that gives shape and color to her home. The material manifestation of years spent researching, hunting, honing and inventing, Lupi has created a space which seamlessly flows between work and home environment. 

I was particularly struck with the way she used statement-making architectural elements to create new spatial and textural relationships, as well as to provide opportunities for the display of art and other curious objects. By sticking to a limited color palette, and with great consideration for scale and proportion, Lupi manages to create a richly dimensional harmony between various contrasting styles and materials.   

I always admire a home that manages to strike a balance between the intimate and the composed, but the way Lupi seems to have been able to divest her space with a degree of the professional and utilitarian without sacrificing a warm and relaxed style, evokes an updated take on the inviting atmosphere of 27 rue de Fleurus, the famously simmering home slash think-tank of Gertrude Stein on Paris’s Left Bank. 

I hope we can all be inspired by the immense spirit of joie-de-vivre and guttural instincts with which Lupi crafts her immersive environment. That spirit of inquiry, of curiosity and conversation—these are the qualities that most connect the needs of the work-space with those of the domestic.

Photos by Francesco Dolfi for AD Italia

"We use antiques in all of our design projects because they add their own unique stories to a room. We love antique pieces with a beautiful patina, the mellowing that occurs over time with age and use, because it connects us to the people who created and used them.”

- Brooke and Steve Giannetti, Giannetti Home 

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A SELECTION OF THEIR WORK

Photos by Simon Upton

Image of Axel Vervoodt

There is no argument that antique furnishings bring a level of experience, knowledge and sophistication into our homes.  They take us to a different time and place.  They bring culture into our homes that we may have never have otherwise experienced. Furthermore, the patina from age humbles that experience, adding texture to an environment and a sense of comfort and familiarity, as would the smile of a favorite aunt, uncle or grandparent.

Wabi-sabi enthusiasts embrace patina of antique furnishings to an even greater extent.  They not only appreciate the natural aging process, but they also embrace the imperfections that incur with age as beauty. They often consider imperfect objects in their pure and natural state as an art form and effectively incorporate them into eclectic, modern interiors. 

Wabi-sabi is a concept that originated in Japan that is based on simplicity, honesty and above all else values the beauty of imperfection. While there is no literal translation, the term Wabi-sabi can be broken down into two distinct roots, “wa”, which refers to peace, harmony and balance, and “sabi” which refers to the natural, on-going movement of time.

As Ben Waver at The London list points out, “Wabi-sabi transcends trends and conventional design movements. It isn’t bound up in any one aesthetic, and is, accordingly, universally applicable across the world of design. Fundamentally, Wabi-sabi is not a style, fad or fast-fashion trend, it is not defined by specific design details, colors or accents to invest in or disregard — it’s a way of life that’s about recognizing, accepting and embracing imperfectness; arguably, it consciously advocates simplicity and authenticity.”

He suggests that design enthusiasts who want to embrace Wabi-sabi should turn to nature as their main source of inspiration and appreciate materials in their honest, pure form avoiding synthetic imitations which, even putting questions of sustainability aside, never come close in terms of character. “In doing so the key is to accept that such materials are often unique with imperfections and never identical.”

In closing, keep in mind that there is no singular or perfect Wabi-sabi “look”. It would be a contradiction to the philosophy behind Wabi-sabi, which wholeheartedly embraces imperfections. “If an object, with its imperfections, can provoke a feeling of serene melancholy and spiritual longing, then that object can be considered Wabi-sabi,” explains Andrew Juniper in Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence. 

Although Wabi-sabi is a concept from Japan, you can experience “A Journey Through Japanese Kagu”at Studio Balestra located in courtyard behind my showroom in Los Angeles.

Lifestyle changes usually happen over years and even decades. If you are like me, you can remember your lifestyle changes at home. Remember when living at home meant living with your parents? And then with roommates? Remember when you finally had a home you could call your own? Remember when you furnished your first home and the compromises you had to make? 

Then priorities changed. You got busy with your career and social life. Long days at the office, lengthy commutes, travel and late nights out with clients or friends limited your life at home. In essence you became an empty nester from our own home.

Recent events have changed our lifestyles once again and more rapidly than we ever expected. We are now spending more time at home with those compromised things in our homes. We are living in a space that we never finished or with things we "just got" to fill a space or serve a purpose thinking they “will do” for the time being. We never really “loved” them. We never really thought of them as a long term investment. We thought that we would eventual replace them. However, we never got around to it because we were busy with other priorities in our lives.

As an antiquarian, I am fortunate that the things that I have lived with in my home over the years have come and gone allowing me to edit and live only with the things I love. Whether it’s by the nature of my profession as a curator of antiques or the joy of being a collector with the satisfaction of upgrading my collection, I have managed to edit and eliminate the things I could live without and keep only the things I still love to this day. As a result, the more time I spend at home, the more I appreciate the things in my home from a different perspective. They have evolved with me. They tell stories. They tell my story. 

Home of late gallerist Karten Schubert 
via World of Interiors

With this in mind, I am reminded of an article in World of Interiors about a gallerist and collector in London who curated his home as he did his gallery. The photos from his home provided a visual understanding of his life through his belongings. As we all look forward to once again have guests into our homes, this story begs a big question. Do the belongings in your home provide an understanding of where you have been and where you are in your life. Are they a proper reflection of your life and what you love?

I feel a sense of pride when clients tell me that no matter how much their home has evolved they still get joy from the items that were sourced from me. There is a sense of satisfaction in knowing that as their lifestyles changed, especially as they spend more time at home, their love for these items remained constant and maybe even got stronger over time.

There is no doubt about it, our lifestyles have changed in a matter of months. We are realizing new priorities. As we spend more time in our homes, we are questioning the things in our homes. With this in mind, I say love it or let it go. Start a new relationship. Move on from the things you have “just lived with” over the years and start living with the things you love. Start realizing the power of love...at home.

- Lee