10.17.2012

Springer Tortoiseshell (and Acceptable Poufs) at Wright

Ok, fine:  I admit it.  I do like Karl Springer, and luxe interiors of the 1960s -- blame it on my grandmother and all of her Dunbar furniture, silk velvet upholstery sectional sofas in fawn brown and silver bibelots scattered around.  In an abstract sense I understand good taste and know that I'm supposed to live austerely with a lot of Serge Mouille and Charlotte Perriand, but frankly I find all of this recherché 60s crap a lot more comfortable.  I would file Springer, Jansen and Mendoza in the pantheon of designers who favored luscious materials, good proportions and classical references over good taste or at least progressive design work, and I would rather have their works because they remind me of home, even if I would feign recommend their pieces for a client.

I mean, come on -- scoot over that pouf and get me a cocktail.  Time for a tete a tete:


Silk velvet walls?  Ribera St. Francis on the wall?  Onyx obelisks, aluminum trim and crown molding, baseboard and coffee table all in tortoiseshell?  Yes, please.  Throw in the signed 18th century fauteils.  It's all so terrible and expensive and perfect.

Well, lucky for me I could recreate this room, or at least poach some of its contents -- Wright is putting several on the block October 18th.  Though not in this image, these 7 foot obelisks were doubtless somewhere in the same room:



And I HATE most poufs -- but these, in a moss suede, oval in form and contained in a slimming aluminum band are exactly what I'd like in my own living room, used in exactly the same way:



But really the best thing would be the tortoiseshell coffee table.  Thankfully there are very, very few of these floating around -- Wright says "very rare" and honestly, I wonder if there are any others.  The entire thing has a veneer in true tortoiseshell -- almost certainly the baseboard and crown molding are faux.  God knows how many centuries-old tortoises bit the dust to cover this silly table, but isn't it gorgeous?




Feel free to bid on my behalf -- I'll forward my address to any interested parties.

UPDATE:  Obelisks sold at the low end of their estimate at 5,000, the poufs sold for about 7 times the high estimate and achieved 20,000, while the coffee table went for a respectable 27,500.   Sigh.


8 comments:

mamacita said...

Whose place is that? I'm pretty sure I see Betty Catroux off in the corner there.

Mouldex Mouldings said...

Those crown mouldings look fantastic, but I am glad that mouldings are made of plaster or foam instead these days! Poor tortoises. Great pictures though.

Urban Earthen said...

Yeah but look at the restraint in that color palette- I say bravo

Design*ByProxy said...

This happens to be my mother and father in-law's apartment where we stay every time we come to New York. This room is truly an amazing space. We had our wedding party there. The apartment is for sale and when it sells it will be truly missed.

Design*ByProxy said...

Oh yeah, hard to see in this pic, but the room has stainless steel floors as well. Insane.

Nick Heywood said...

Design*ByProxy,

Insane indeed! How could you bear to let all of this marvelous junk go!

Please tell me you have other pictures of the interiors -- I would so love to see them. You are very lucky to have known so beautiful a space well.

And I'm not kidding about the pictures -- was it ever published?

Design*ByProxy said...

I would hardly call it junk. A little dated maybe, but the details are incredible. There is a listing for the apt.
Where did you find the photo you posted?

Anonymous said...

I love how low that table is. It forces you to sit down when you use it. Major cuteness points for that one.

-Zane of ontario honey

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