Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/579625
OCTOBER | PAGE 38 | 2015 Matt Johns "TO THINK LANCASTER HAD TO MOVE INTO THE APARTMENTS ABOVE THE COLEFAX & FOWLER SHOP TO SHORE UP HER FINANCES." — LAURA HUNT BRECK WOOLSEY, BRECKENRIDGE/TAYLOR DESIGN VILLA PLANCHART BY GIO PONTI V illa Planchart in Caracas, designed by Gio Ponti (1953–1957) is a place that I keep coming back to for inspiration. While you might not look at it and say, 'That's my style and that's what I do,' I adore the way he hasn't left a single thing untouched. The artistry on the floors and ceilings, to the custom light fixtures that command your attention. Everything is special, and you don't feel it's overdone. It's still as fresh and modern today as it was when he designed it. PAOLO GASPARINI LAURA HUNT, LAURA HUNT DESIGN & DECORATION LONDON DRAWING ROOM DESIGNED BY NANCY LANCASTER AND JOHN FOWLER, 1957 T here are so many rooms I covet from different periods. However, for years I have been intrigued by the work of Nancy Lancaster, who is responsible for creating what is known as the English country house style. At this juncture, I am having more clients requesting lived-in rooms with color that are comfortable … not perfect. For me, Nancy Lancaster's drawing room, designed with John Fowler in 1957, and painted in a rich buttercup yellow, is still as stunning as the first time I saw photographs decades ago. I would still consider it one of the most celebrated rooms of all time. Oddly, I have never painted a room that rich yellow, but for me it remains extraordinary. To think Lan- caster had to move into the apartments above the Colefax & Fowler shop on Avery Row at Brook Street in Mayfair to shore up her finances … The room consisted of double doors at both ends and a barrel-vaulted ceiling — the whole, measuring 46 foot long by 14 foot high. The ceiling was painted off-white, mirrors were added to the door surrounds to enhance the height, and festoons were painted above the (also painted) marble cornice. Furnishings came from the store and from her own reserves, and the room was always full of beautiful bouquets of fresh flowers. However, the yellow walls were the room's crowning glory. EMILY SUMMERS, EMILY SUMMERS DESIGN ASSOCIATES HÔTEL PARTICULAR ON RUE DU FAUBOURG SAINT-HONORÉ, DECORATED BY HENRI SAMUEL I have long admired the sophistication of the rooms created by the French master decorator Henri Samuel … for the legendary hôtel particular on rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré (1970s). He was the first to embrace contemporary craftsmen like Philippe Hiquily, Guy de Rougemont and the Lalannes in the '60s and '70s and to integrate fresh, unexpected functional forms into traditional Parisian apartments boasting priceless antiques. He was fearless with color, using oranges and chartreuse as easily as white and grey. The fabulous Balthus painting in this apartment lifts off the orange silk wall. The painting must have influenced the palette — the charcoal velvet and the cream carpet. He challenged designers to embrace a more diverse mix of furniture, objects and art and, in doing so, influenced the next generation of designers. PASCAL HINOUS