Wherefore ART Thou?

The First Lady of Interior Design, Ms Elise de Wolfe, insists that "a person of sincerity of purpose" would never hang fake "works of art" on their walls and although I disagree with her severity, I do believe that she has a point. But I have gotten ahead of myself. Firstly, may I introduce myself? My name is Ashleigh and I have had the great privilege to work for Mark for the last year. I was greatly complimented by his suggestion that I "Guest Blog" for him while he is on vacation, so Thank You Mark for the opportunity! I wanted to take this wonderful chance to blog about a topic which is quite close to my heart---The Accessibility of Art to Everybody.

Several years ago, I was at the office of Charles Tyrwhitt when my eye was caught by a beautiful and unique work of art. I asked my friend if he knew anything about it and he told me that he was friends with the artist. Long story short, I purchased several pieces from her and have been in love with them since. At that time in my life I was a bit short on cash, so I bartered with her and we both walked away happy. Since then I have added to my collection--Vintage Vogue Magazine Covers purchased in Portobello Market, a burgeoning collection of Butterflies from all over the world and even a line drawing my Boyfriend drew last year. Many times I have been questioned as to how I could possibly afford to collect such an interesting array of art and I am always astounded by the questioner's disbelief that most of what I have was under $300.

It has been many years since I left college but when I visit the homes of many of my friends, they still have those old posters, albeit in new frames, on the walls. Their excuse for these shabby representations of taste and style has always been the same. Art in Expensive. NOT SO!


There are many wonderful ways to create a beautiful collection but, as Troy from TKO Art (www.tkoart.com) so bluntly said to me, the first place to start is to discover your own taste. Not what Tom Dick and Harry like but what YOU really love. Visit galleries and educate yourself, spend some time looking at art--highbrow or not, and then go out there and find the perfect thing for you. Some great suggestions of where to start, at least here in LA, are the Venice Art Walk (www.venicefamilyclinic.org/index.php?view=art_walk_auction), the Art District in Culver City (www.ccgalleryguide.com) and the Brewery Art Walk (www.breweryartwalk.com) which has an event this October. I am sure that there are similar events and districts everywhere! My mother lives out in "Cowboy Town" Arizona but she is not far from Jerome AZ and so if she can find an artist's colony near her than I dare anybody to claim that there is nothing near them!

Finally, let me say that if you insist on having Monet, Turner or Klimt, PLEASE put them in a lovely frame, with matting, WITHOUT the name of the Museum you picked it up at listed across the bottom and maybe try to find something a bit more unique by that same artist. Just for me...please :)

Happy Hunting! Ashleigh

5 Favorite Books: About Books

I love to read other design blogs and one of my favorites is Peak of Chic, they did a post earlier in the week about books as decoration (http://thepeakofchic.blogspot.com/2007/07/books-serve-as-decoration.html), and it has inspired my book post this week. As many of you know books are one of my great passions, and I use lots of them in my designs, so here are a few books that I thought you might enjoy, about the joy of books:

If One is Good, Ten is Better: Displaying Groups

It is a little hard to tell from the image above, but the collection on display in this Family Room, is a series of Instructions on how to make shadow puppets, using just your hands. So whether you have a burning desire to see an eagle glide across your wall, or a snake slither, this is the place to go to get instructions. All of these pieces came from an old book, which I thought, if framed would make a terrific, irreverent collection.

I really like to find things like this, groups of things that you might not otherwise use by themselves, but when put together as a series look tremendous. So as the title says, if one is good, ten is better, it doesn't always apply, but here are some thoughts you might find useful.

• Look for things that you find interesting or unique. A friend of mine created a terrific display in her Guest Bathroom using a collection of old Bakelite hand mirrors that she bought on E bay.
• Try to divorce yourself from it's intended use and look at it as a piece of sculpture. I recently bought an old antique lock from an armoire, it is beautifully made, useless as a lock, but as an object, beautiful. I think a collection of these on my bookcase will be very cool.
• Old Books are great resources for collections you can frame, whether you can get your hands on an antique Alphabet book, or any sort of picture book, is a great place to start.
• Old postcards are a great thing to. You can get them on practically any topic you can imagine. One of my best memento's from my first trip to London was a set of postcards I framed that showed images of different Tube stations.
• Finally, it might help to think of collections that relate to the room they are going to be displayed in. Antique garden tools in a solarium, old plates mounted on the wall in the Dining Room, like my friend, hand mirrors in the Guest Bath.

The important thing is, don't take it or yourself too seriously, have a little fun, and you will smile each time you walk into the room.