Importance of Art, Antiques, and Artifacts

2022

The Importance of Art, Antiques, and Artifacts

When I enter a home, the first thing I notice may not be the furniture, the lighting or even the architecture. My mind needs to make sense of the space and to do that, I desire to see evidence of a life ongoing. A well-traveled, collected art and antique collection is the best evidence of that lifestyle. To have visited foreign capitals, shopped in bazaars and traveled back roads to collect beautiful objects and art, is a noble goal. It is made evident in the home of an owner that places importance on such things. Put simply, artifacts and antiques sew our rooms together with history, in a way that no other furnishing can.

Van der Straeten Mirror with Console and Buddha

Things We Love to Collect

Asian art and artifacts are plentiful and add so much to a project of any size. Thai chofas, stupas and relics of all sorts are a mainstay. Fu's dogs and Dragons from China are serious yet fun… and ancestral portraits have always been near and dear to my heart. If one would like to explore museum quality artifacts, there are Han and Tang dynasty horses and animals of all kinds. Burial artifacts hold their value like nothing else. European art, artifacts and relics are also a fantastic procurement to improve and beautify your interior design. Creche items, candlesticks and figures are very popular and rightfully so. They look great at Christmas time with holly scattered nearby, and there is something truly serene about some religious pieces. These are the ones to hold onto.

French Plaster Cherubs

Odd and Rare Items

Once we had a death mask from an Egyptian tomb for sale in the showroom. It had really resided within a tomb. And we had a Bishop’s mitre from Ethiopia. A complicated brass and glass artwork made this one of our favorite items we ever had the pleasure of procuring.

Buddhas of any type or origin, when treated with reverence, lend incredible importance to any collection, due to their relative rarity and expense.

Egyptian Death Mask

The One That Got Away

Allan and I had a mint collection of red Chinese Screens that we loved but were sold to a friend, and we did miss them. I suppose that we missed them enough for them to come back to us! The designer who bought them asked us if we wanted them back when she moved, and we did indeed buy them back. They now hang proudly in mine and Allan’s new office at the showroom. We get used to the items that surround us. They make us feel connected and, somehow, calm.

Sometimes, the wallpaper one chooses may also become the focal artwork of an interior design, lending considerable texture that will make for a knock-out punch.

Europa Wallcovering by Area Environments

When It All Comes Together

Nothing compares with the feeling we have at the end of a project. The construction teams are long gone, the plaster is perfect, the bathrooms are pristine, the rugs and furniture are installed... It just makes one feel at peace with the universe. The image below is from our project in the Ritz Tower One, Dallas. The way the teal plaster walls worked with reproduction Louis XVI chairs and newly acquired art, well, the effect was dynamite. Collected art, hides (faux of course) and other exotic accessories tends to add a cerebral touch to the mix. That smart, well traveled look is never beyond anyone's reach.

And I just love it when an interior design plan comes together!

Scott's Hallway by the Bar at Ritz Tower One