Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/106708
Samara exterior, West Lafayette, Indiana WRIGHT is RIGHT ON Candy Each time I'm poised to pronounce skulls passé, something makes me love them all over again. My latest obsession is a meticulously cast human skull sconce in bronze, part of a capsule collection of furniture, lighting and accessories created in collaboration between Grange Hall and local sculptor Robert Wohlfeld, long considered to be the city's ultimate go-to for made-to-order furnishings. Wohlfeld has much experience working with precious metals, but his otherworldly explorations are fairly recent — "I wasn't the goth kid," he says. Yet he's embraced the organic side with a certain amount of fervor: He's been working on a rearticulated horse skeleton clad in 24K gold. Sconce $7,500, by special order, at Grange Hall. Amy Adams A Change in the LEATHER HAPPY Camper Boathouse Stripe in Berry Patch Reminiscences of Hill Country summers may spark memories of tribal campfires and short-sheeting your counselor's bed. But designer Ann Sutherland does nostalgia one better with Camp Wannagetaway, a newly launched collection of vintage-inspired stripes and toiles for Perennials Outdoor Fabrics that evokes lazy summer days spent near a favorite watering hole. The large-scale Boathouse Stripe has a heavily slubbed hand; Vintage Stripe alternates two colors for a rustic linen look; Ticking Stripe provides perfect companionship for solids and prints; County Fair showcases a pastoral countryside; and the softly textured chenille Crepe de Jour offers a homespun feel. All boast Perennials' Nano Seal finish for extra protection against dirt, fading, rough-housing and, assumedly, the occasional dropped s'more. To the trade at David Sutherland Showroom, Dallas Design Center, 1025 N. Stemmons Freeway, Suite 340, 214.742.6501; davidsutherlandshowroom.com. Amy Adams Any noun becomes infinitely more proper when preceded by the word "bespoke." Enter Cowden Bell, a purveyor of bench-made leather and hide furnishings who's produced everything from wall panels to alligator-clad settees from his Weatherford, Texas, studio. The artisan's T-backed chairs (a recent addition to his collection) can be had in a dizzying array of leathers and leg finishes — which means every custom fiend can design up a storm. To the trade at I.D. Collection, Dallas Design Center, 1025 N. Stemmons Freeway, Suite 745, 214.698.0226; interiordesigncollection.com. Amy Adams MARK ANTHONY NELSON Vintage Stripe in Hello Sailor Frank Lloyd Wright's Samara, 1954-1956 BEST SEATS in the House Tucked amidst the antique shops on Lovers Lane dwells Christy Drew Designs, the city's newest residential interior design firm and furniture gallery. Owned by long-time designer Drew and her husband and business partner, Paul Johnson, this boutique brims with everything from French Country chic to contemporary classics — amongst them, these gorgeous circa-1840s Gustavian-style wing chairs hand-carved in walnut and washed in cream and gold milk paint. Their newly replaced seat cushions are the only things that belie their Swedish origins — even their burlap backs are as original as an Ingmar Bergman film. Christy Drew Designs, 5019 W. Lovers Lane, 214.353.7575; christydrewdesigns.com. Lacy Ball © ALEXANDER VERTIKOFF, COURTESY SAMARA SKULL A must-see exhibit of the New Year is "Frank Lloyd Wright's Samara: A Mid-Century Dream Home" at the Arlington Museum of Art. This unexpected gem shines light on one of America's most iconoclastic and immortal architects vis-à-vis a slice of the Usonian life: an intimate portrait of a house in West Lafayette, Indiana, that is one of the best surviving examples of Wright's later work. Samara, which dates back to the mid-'50s, is an innovative 2,200-square-foot, cantilevered casa named by Wright after the winged seeds of pine cones from the evergreens that ring the one-acre property — a motif further abstracted throughout the home's furnishings. Samara mirrors a moment in modernism when a middle-class couple tapped the world-renowned Wright to design their dream residence. In fact, Samara is still owned and meticulously maintained by its original family: Dr. John E. Christian, a 90-something retired Purdue University professor, and his wife, Catherine, who also worked at Purdue back in the day. The exhibition, organized by Scott W. Perkins (curator of the Price Tower Arts Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma — the only FLW skyscraper ever erected), relays the Samara story through original furniture, archival materials, period photos, video and even architectural fragments. Through February 17 at the Arlington Museum of Art, 201 W. Main St., Arlington, 817.275.4600; arlingtonmuseum.org. Catherine D. Anspon MARK ANTHONY NELSON JOSHUA MARTIN © ALEXANDER VERTIKOFF, COURTESY SAMARA DECORATION