ROOMS WITH PERSONALITY

I have a confession to make - I have always found it hard to follow a recipe, any recipe for that matter. Nine times out of ten, halfway through a recipe for a delectable dessert that I really want to try - I will start doing the what ifs - what if I add orange juice instead of pineapple (and nine times out of ten that is out of necessity as I don't have pineapples in my fridge) or what if I add maple syrup instead of brown sugar - you can imagine how these recipes turn out - sometimes heading straight for the bin or sometimes so good that my husband and kids want the same again - but alas! it never turns out the same next time as by next time I have completely forgotten what I had substituted what with! So you can say I am a bit of a hit or miss in the kitchen, but secretly I think that's because I have some deep rooted problem with conformity. Anything or anyone trying to make me be or do just so, awakens the rebel in me - and I always try and give everything a bit of my mark.

And I think that's why I love interior design as a discipline so much, it does not follow any set rules, there is no set method involved - you can choose and alter and mix and match, bring in old, use new  - everything goes, there is a sense of freedom and spontaneity that is lacking in many other disciplines. But like any recipe, if you are a novice it can be a hit or a miss - the room may turn out fabulous and it may even be a total disaster.

Successful interiors and interior designers have what I call visual depth - a room with layers of harmonious elements that blend beautifully while at the same time holding their own, so you are aware of their merits when you are in a room, but they don't scream out me, me, me as soon as you enter it - and top-of-the-ladder interior designers have the innate ability to visualize the dynamics of these layers even before they start rollering the first wall with paint.

Jean-Louis Deniot is one Parisian designer to watch out for, he is at the top-of-his-game when it comes to perception of visual depth.  His keen sense of layering the room with designed elements gives it its very own personality. He has made a name for himself at a very young age and in a very short space of time from designing breathtaking  pied-de-terrs in Paris to city pad in New Dehli, ranch in Aspen, residences in NewYork and mansions in LA. I love, love, love his eclectic mix of interiors and how he always incorporates something from the past - an old table, an aged lamp, old fabric for cushions, old age patina on walls - as he says its the old elements that give the room its character. He confesses he will never design a room just with new furniture because new furniture lacks soul. Here are a few of his designed rooms, for more on him and his designs do visit his website www.deniot.com - you will be inspired to give your living spaces bespoke personality...

CURATING LOCAL COLOUR

In my last post about Lebanese furniture designer Nada Debs I mentioned how increasingly over the years young people have turned their backs on their ancestral heritage and traditions, choosing instead to emerge themselves in an alien culture and traditions they think are more suited to their liking -  but there is also a very small (and steadily increasing) number of young people who are finding the value in their ancestral heritage too precious to ignore or discard lightly. I have tremendous admiration for these young men and women who see their heritage not as shackles that tie them down to a particular way of living and thinking, but as an opportunity to present themselves to the world uniquely.

Summaiya Jillani, is one such very young Pakistani artist, who rose to modest fame in the art circles from virtual obscurity last year after she painted and exhibited her interpretaion of a local Marilyn Monroe. Her Pakistani Monroe  is clad in a vibrant shalwar kameez (local dress), a fusion of colour and pattern, her signature blond hair is in a long plait over one shoulder and big dangling earrings hang from her earlobes - but of course she is striking the same famous over-the-vent Monroe pose.


Summaiya's art is drenched in loud, in-your-face colours  typical of street-poster-art of her country - but she uses global pop icons as her subjects and gives them a local flavor and identity that is interesting to say the least, if a tad comical. There is nothing serious or too deep about her art but that's the beauty of it, it is something everyone gets and enjoys - from an uninformed person on the street to the well-informed intellectual.



Frida Khalo - portrait of an artist best known for her self portraits



The Beatles

MEET DEBONAIR Ms. DEBS

We all subconsciously grow up surrounded by the history of our ancestors and traditions enveloping us in an embrace that sometimes, for young people on a quest to find their own identity, can get oppressive - some try and break free, move to far away places, adopt customs more to their liking, pushing their old age traditions to the far recesses of their memories. 

But as they grow older, into their late thirties and beyond, something strange happens - those childhood memories, smells, sounds and traditions slip through the attic door of their brain cells and start a nostalgia of all things home. A pattern on an old fabric, a faded photograph, a whiff of cooking that reminds them of childhood - they end up reaching to the past, embracing, even devouring age old traditions and seeing their beauty afresh - all the while watching with a wry smile as history repeats itself and the younger generation turn their backs on their heritage. I have seen it happen time and again.

+Nada Debs is one such artist who grew up with a sense of her Arab heritage around her but never paid it much attention as she was too busy finding herself. Growing up in Japan, she was more aware of Japanese forms of art and calligraphy, educated in America, she was more at home with western traditions and culture, living in England, she settled into English way of life effortlessly - but she always had a passion for design, often designing and making furniture pieces for her home when she couldn't find what she wanted in shops. But it wasn't until 2002, when her marriage broke down and she went back to her homeland Lebanon for a respite, that she truly came face to face with the beauty of Arabic forms of art and crafts and Arabic calligraphy. That ignited a passion of introducing Arabic forms of design to the world  - and she does it with a westerner's eye of form and functionality. Her designed pieces are thoroughly modern but pay homage to age old Arabic crafts, calligraphy, art and tradition. She has interpreted her identity through her Arabic-inspired designs and finally found her heritage and through it, herself.

These are some of her designed furniture pieces, you can view more on www.nadadebs.com

DO QUIT MORE

Quitting I think, is highly underrated. Ask anyone on the street, they will most likely tell you that quitting is a bad thing, you should never quit - winners don’t quit and quitters never win. I believed that for a long time as well – I believed you could achieve anything if you just kept going in the face of all niggling hardships -  I remember some ten years past, I passionately tried to talk my son out of quitting cello which he had been playing for a year and a half. I ended up upsetting him so bad that my husband had to intervene and tell me to back off. Oh yes, I was one of those mums, I wanted my kids to succeed in everything they did.

I have since realised that it is simply impossible to be even passably good at everything and neither can your kids – and the sooner you teach your kids that the better (without killing their sense of exploratory adventure, ofcourse) - so they are still keen to try out new things but if things don’t work as expected, they know it is not only OK to quit, it is essential that they do, and make room in their life for something else. Do not keep banging on a wall hoping it will change into a door, were Coco Chanel’s wise words and this lady knew success in an era when very few women enjoyed notable success.

We women, as mothers and homemakers and career women, tend to take on too much. We think it is OK to do that. We take pride in our multi-tasking skills - going as far as to boast about it - and not surprisingly, we become the jack of all trades and end up being the master of none. Men, however are more clever than we give them credit for – they secretly have it all figured out, they focus on one thing  and have a much better success rate than us. The same is true for all successful individuals, gender notwithstanding - think about someone you admire and want to be like, and then emulate their focus on life, I can assure you it will be very narrow but whatever they do, they do very well, they do it with a pizazz and passion that you wish you had. Well, guess what, anyone can have that pizazz and passion if they clear out their life and free their resources, not to mention energy, of abc’s to focus on just one z. So, the secret to success is to do less but do it well – excel in your craft.

The same concept of less is more is true for elegant design. Fashion comes and goes, but elegance whether in interior design or personal attire, stands the test of time. Aim for elegance over current style, I guarantee you won’t have to redecorate ever (unless you really want to). Clutter in design is not elegant, never was and never will be. Having one statement piece in your room creates a focus and has more of an impact than many things dotted around.  Coco’s famous words  - you are dressed when you take off one accessory after you think you are dressed –  is true for elegant interiors as well - pared down simplicity and quality is the key. Aim for less, not more. It actually makes good sense as well, buy less, but buy quality that will last you decades – and do not ever settle for second bests, buy exactly what you want, even if you have to wait a while or save months for it, because then you’ll treasure it even more. But first, quit all unnecessary stuff you can do without in the first place - and do keep the focus in your personal space and your life simple. You'll much happier for it.