Lady Diana Cooper

House and Garden, June 1988.  Love a woman who isn't too stylish to pull weeds.

Insufficiency

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.                                                                                                                                                      -Ira Glass 

Additions

I added a new "Flea" section to the (I)D store, for one-off vintage pieces that I've reworked (painted, embellished, etc), and interesting objects, furnishings and accessories that I run across (because much as I'd like, I can't keep it all.  Although I may try.).  It'll be updated frequently, too.

Because there's only one of everything that's listed, there's no wait time for the shipping.  

Reworked vintage lucite bags, id-taste.com.

Mannequins

In conjunction with the site relaunch (see my last post), I shot some of the things I've been working on and crazy about (nude feet, boxy lucite bags!!, warm palettes (I'm a little sick of cool?) , gold chains, brass...). The nude body suit (dancer's unitard, actually) is a shocker. I wasn't expecting it to be the most practical garment in the universe, but I want to wear it with everything! Blazers, skirts, giant fur coats, leopard, leather, lace...

Also, I finally got around to making a crystal spine harness.

Painted verdure, styling, table, photography, upholstery, harnesses, etc. by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE. Thanks, Cristin, for the help photographing and styling.

Guess What?

EDITED: Due to a ton of confusion, I'm moving the blog back to www.indecoroustaste.com.  (But you can still get here via indecoroustaste.blogspot.com.) The site is  now located at www.id-taste.com.  I hope this will make things easier!

Updated: Launching on Tuesday.
Hey hey hey! First thing's first: Update your bookmarks: bookmark (IN)DECOROUS TASTE at its blogspot url, indecoroustaste.blogspot.com . WTF WHY!? Well...

In case you've been wondering what project has swallowed me alive for the past month, I've been prepping for the launch of an (IN)DECOROUS TASTE site and shop. The site will be located at indecoroustaste.com, and it'll be a more organized place to keep images of my work, along with a continually updated selection of pieces I'll make available for sale.

Guess what? It's ready, finally, and will be up on Monday Tuesday for orders.

Because it was important to me that everything be perfect, I'm starting small and launching an edited down collection of 6 harnesses. It's been a trip, just sourcing materials to find the best quality hardware and leather imaginable (I practically live in a heap of leather!)... prepping the site, photoshooting, ironing out all of those pesky incidentals. But yeah, you can now rest assured that the leather is gorgeous and the brass hardware is lush, and the straps are long enough to wear them on...anything. Also, the crystals are plexi so that they don't shatter when you wear them. You'd never know by looking at them or even feeling them though, I swear.

Here's a preview:

UPSIDE DOWN

It was already during his studies at the Royal College of Arts that the London designer, Khashayar Naimanan, designed the Hidden Wealth service for Nymphenburg – a service which turns the conventions of porcelain painting on their head: Nymphenburg's mark is located on the top of the simple service with the complex paintings of Nymphenburg's designs being hidden underneath. Naimanan selected two floral patterns for HIDDEN WEALTH: one from the rococo period with naturalistic sometimes stylised blossoms in warm brilliant colours and leaves made from 24-carat gold as well as a classical empire design with a gilded vine that was originally used to adorn a tea service. Experts must usually check the marks on the bottom of porcelain pieces. But this design makes the actual value of the pieces immediately apparent on first inspection. While the splendour beneath the plain appearance of the mark remains concealed to cursory glances.

While I'm not crazy about the idea of plastering a logo on the TOP of a dish (yuck?), the painted undersides are genius, as is this lucite/mirrored dining contraption they obviously necessitate. I have a mirrored desk top with more brick-a-brack on it than Princess Margaret's had, and I often marvel at the undersides of the dishes and ephemera sitting on top of it.  It's a whole side of stuff you don't normally get to see.  It'd make for a novel dining experience,  at the very least...

Nymphenburg "Hidden Wealth" Service, by Khashayar Naimanan. Images via Nymphenburg and Stylepark in Residence.

PURPLE HAZE

Another enormous pillow in progress.  The leather I've been using is this wonderful powdery white shade, with a chalky appearance that lends itself nicely to hazy, dreamy pastels. Which is perfect, because as much as I loveeeee me some studded biker jackets, chaps and straps, lately I've been really into ethereal incarnations of the skin.

Painting and photography by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.

LARGE LEATHER + PAINTED ... PILLOWS?

Lately, my love of leather knows no bounds.

My experiments in painting leather pillows spawned this.  Surprisingly, even after the paint, the leather is still exceedingly buttery soft.  Who knew?

It's glorious because it's a real beast, at 27" or 30" square.  Have I mentioned that I LOVE positively ENORMOUS pillows?!!!  Large, and in charge!!!  No, in all seriousness, they command about 1000043294x the presence of those itsy bitsy 20 inchers that could easily fit in a... dollhouse. And plus, you can really sink into these monsters.

Photography and pillow, by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.

VILLA VERSACE

Just got the Sotheby's catalog for the 2009 auction of Gianni Versace's Lake Como residence, Villa Fontanelle.  As you can see, I managed to resist the urge to scan the entire catalog.

Dirty clothes never stayed on the floor for more than a few seconds and beautiful gowns kept arriving, I had this fantasy that I was in an Antonioni film. I felt like a spoilt princess.  The Versaces really know how to live.
                                                                                Madonna, UK Vogue, October 1997.

An opulent version of Camelot?

Scans from Paintings, Furniture and Works of Art From the Collection of Gianni Versace, Villa Fontanelle, Lake Como, London 18 March 2009.

INSTANT GROTTO-FICATION

'Cause what's more sultry than a steamy grotto in the summer sun? HM? Nothing, obviously.

Below is probably one of my favorite examples: a hidden grotto at the 14th century Villa La Pietra, in Italy.  Look closely, the decor is composed entirely of pebbles and seashells.  I wonder how long this feat of magnificence took to complete...

Below two images: The grotto pool at Deering's Vizcaya, in Miami, Florida.

Below, 18th century Italian elements form the exterior of a small grotto with fountain, at Vizcaya in Miami, Florida.

First image, from Villas and Gardens of Tuscany, by Bajard and Bencini. Images of Vizcaya from Vizcaya: Museum and Gardens, Miami, Florida. Photographer: Steven Brooke.

METAMORPHOSIS

I've never had a sister, but my LAMPS have been borrowing my accessories! This one—my desk lamp— is dripping in chains that I created for shoes.  And then, there was the brooch lamp, wearing what was once a corset...  What's with that, anyway?

Maybe the infamous leg lamp from A Christmas Story deserves more credit than we give it?

Photographed and styled by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.

JUXTAPOSITION

I'm in New York for a couple of days! And so, I'm just going to be a hot, sloppy mess (forgive me) in presenting this image since I don't have access to my magazines and can't remember whose room this was, or in which particular issue I found it (I think it was World of Interior's "Gold Issue"- December?).

Why did I save it?  Because A) I love collecting, collections, and collectors and B) half the fun of collecting is in the display and it's fantastic how the owner of this room chose to display her collection of antique lace behind a glass wall with bizarre orbs hovering in front of it. How's THAT for juxtaposition?

How do you display your collections?

SPARKLERS

Lucite confetti candles.  They look like candles.  They even have wicks! But you can't light them.  God knows what would happen if you tried— they have a rather frightening all-caps warning to that effect wrapped around their bases.  Egregiously decorative. Yes, I'm in love!!!

Even if they are one of the sillier inventions of the 20th century (evidently, popular in the 50s).  And even if I can't light them. 

BLUE CURACAO

This reminds me an awful lot of one of those light blue curacao cocktails.  Although, I generally go for...straighter liquor that doesn't glow under black light, ha.  Worth trying? Something about matching my walls is pretty appealing.

Oh, and deepest apologies for bringing back the zebra...again.

Styling, photography, upholstery (minus antique fragment on seat), carpet, backdrop, pillow by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.

GRAPHICS

I'm not quite sure why, but there's this three year old in me that has a very... emotional... gut response to graphic touches like stripes, polka dots and checks.  Especially stripes, the thicker, the better.  Seeing stripes is like having someone plop one of those swirly hypnotic devices in my face.  I become embarrassingly transfixed.  I can't look away!

My saving grace? Taking comfort in knowing that I'm not the first to suffer from this graphic fixation.

Dorothy Draper's library, in her residence at Manhattan's Hotel Carlyle:

 Gilded structure Is (1989) in a neoclassical setting, by James Lee Byars:

Above, from World of Interiors, Dec 09.

William Pahlmann's Empire inspired tented room at Lord & Taylor, 1939: 

 

PATTERNS

Most amazing use of patterns, in Henry Wilson's London home.  Does it surprise you that his stencil of magnolias was developed into a wallpaper range for Osborne & Little?  Glorious.
   

Scan from World of Interiors, December 2009.

NEON + METALLIC

Latest project: floral chintz upholstery.  Well, it's upholstery now anyway.

And, in search of a not-quite-so-80s way to make neon work (read: not black and neon), I've come to the conclusion that neons and metallics are naturally the dearest of acquaintances.

Oh, and the weird serpent piggy bank? That thing has NINE LIVES, and now, evidently, a mohawk (see below), which previously belonged to a shoe.  Hahaaaaaaaaaaa.

Styling, photography, painted screen, fabric, and pillow by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE. Chair also painted by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.

SOMETHING MAD

I'm fond of the Geoffrey Bennison quote that I've got copied in the column to the right.  He was a proponent of the idea that one should always put "something mad on top of something very good, or something very good on top of something mad."

THIS IS DEFINITELY THE "MAD". It's out of control. What is it? It's a plaster cast serpent piggy bank (didn't even realize until I shot it), courtesy of a recent thrifting expedition. 

Don't laugh!!  Actually, feel free to...that was my first reaction.  But now, I think I quite like it. Something about it.

Styling and photography by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.

THE DARK SIDE

Modern man, in his well-lit house, knows nothing of the beauty of gold; but those who lived in the dark houses of the past were not merely captivated by its beauty, they also knew its practical value; for gold, in these dim rooms, must have served the function of a reflector.  Their use of gold leaf and gold dust was not mere extravagance.   Its reflective properties were put to use as a source of illumination...gold retains its brilliance indefinitely to light the darkness of the room.


...Lacquerware decorated in gold was made to be seen in the dark; and for this same reason were the fabrics of the past so lavishly woven of threads of silver and gold.  The priest's surplice of gold brocade is perhaps the best example.  In most of our city temples, catering to the masses as they do, the main hall will be brightly lit, and these garments of gold will seem merely gaudy. 

                                        Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows

I can think of a few things that are better in the dark...

SHELTER MAGS OF THE WORLD, ARE YOU LISTENING??

Styling, photography, and hand painted metallic screen by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.

SHRINE

Clearly, I love baubles. More is more.

Did I ever tell you how I feel about minimalism? Sensorial starvation is supremely unappealing.

Styled and photographed by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE. Hand painted screen and crystal stalactite table also by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.