Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/779424
I n a way, the glass house where he now lives takes Taylor back to his design roots as a student in the 1950s — the Bauhaus movement in full swing. "The house is a very simple statement," he says. "I've tried to respect that." In every direction, glass walls and doors overlook peaceful, Zen-like court- yards and a backyard koi pond surrounded by potted ornamental maples. "I love the openness and its connection to nature," he says. Rather than blocking views with furni- ture, Taylor focused on displaying beauti- ful Asian objects and books on stunning cinnabar-hued interior walls. There's a smattering of antique lacquer furniture and upholstered mid-20th century pieces to keep it all comfortable. "I could have gone more contemporary," he says, "but I liked the idea of surrounding myself with old things … You get a certain vibration — a chit-chit-chit — from things that people have loved and lived with. They tell you about the life and the people who owned them." The stories his collections tell span centuries and continents, much of them originating from ancient Chinese Buddhist temples and Tibetan lamaseries, whose contents had been pillaged and dispersed throughout England and India. The couple started buying pieces in the 1970s and '80s, and over the years sold much of it back to the Chinese. What Taylor has held onto is scarce and precious, including dozens of 19th-century religious artifacts, such as gilt copper Guanyin statues and mandalas, many studded with rubies, opals, sapphires, coral, and turquoise. There are ancient, gnarled spirit stones,, mounted on pedestals like modern sculpture. A glass case displays impossibly large faceted gemstones such as fluorine and smoky quartz. On his desk, a circa-1950 gold Tiffany & Co. box is topped with a huge cut and polished citrine. "I've always had a fascination with minerals," he says. His antique Asian furniture includes a pair of early-19th-century lacquered cabinets, similar to a pair in Consuelo Vanderbilt's New York apartment, which he admired in Vogue as a child. A pair of cinnabar Burmese altars have been turned into side tables, and newly acquired furni- ture, such as Chinese Chippendale-inspired chairs from the mid-20th century, update the Asian influence. After Gremillion died, Taylor sorted through hundreds of books they'd amassed together over 50 years. Shelves in the living Clockwise: Mid-century walnut dining table, vintage McGuire chairs. Peking enamel ducks. Nineteenth-century Tibetan jade, coral, and turquoise candlesticks. Ancient Chinese spirit stones. From left, Paxton Gremillon and Loyd Taylor in their Athena apartment, circa 1980. Pair of 19th-century bronze cranes from Chandor Gardens in Weatherford. Jade Buddhas and 1950s gold Tiffany box. 72