Edgy florals from the future and an earthy scent from the past
We’re time traveling this week.
Hello!
I’m traveling again for work this week and each time I land back in the Portland airport, I have to admire the soaring timber-clad ceiling and tree-lined walkways. Thanks to everyone for all your wonderful L.A. recommendations in the comments. I’m returning the favor with one standout spot on my list for not only being full of incredible design moments but also for being set against the most serene backdrop.
Overall, a loose theme emerged for this week’s round-up: unexpected and a little rebellious—whether edgy florals that play against type or an unlikely scent from an unlikely source that instantly evokes my childhood and continues to inspire me. I love when design bubbles up from those individual places. It leads to something interesting and original.
Shall we?
Subversive Florals At The Future Perfect
If you’re in L.A., I can’t recommend a visit to The Future Perfect enough. I always leave full of ideas. (Just make sure to book your appointment in advance.) For those not familiar, The Future Perfect is a contemporary design gallery representing designers, artists, and craftspeople specializing in studio-made furniture, objects, lighting, and art. It’s unique because each of the three locations (L.A., NYC, San Francisco) is housed within a residential structure, which loosely inspires the curation of the beautiful works inside.
The L.A. outpost is in the former Hollywood Hills residence of movie producer Samuel Goldwyn, built in 1916. The rooms are furnished with their intended function (living room, dining room, bedroom, etc.) but every piece is a work of art. Perhaps because it was a sunny spring day, the nature-inspired motifs spoke to me the most—especially the three below that offer a fresh take on florals. Normally botanical prints can look very sweet or fancy, but these designs took a different direction.
Curve Appeal
The curvaceous Owe Sofa by Christophe Delcourt in a nubby, abstract floral upholstery (appropriately named Yell for a bit of a rebel vibe) is the perfect combo of soft lines and structured tailoring. The bubbly furniture trend over the past few years has become a little too amoebic. I love the restrained proportion in Delcourt’s design. Surrounded by the Goldwyn House’s detailed mouldings and plastered walls, the sofa’s simple gestural form was a good reminder to not be afraid to mix styles and eras at home.
Garden Patch
This Collage Rug by Atelier Fevrier had me entranced. I love how the delicate floral pattern has been fragmented and overlapped to create a contemporary patchwork, with the effect (as the description notes) of “one containing many.” It adds tension and edge to something normally quite dainty and traditional.
Portal to the Past
The Mesozoic Mirror by LGS Studio immediately drew me in for its earthiness, grit, texture, and sense of history. The dense stoneware frame is an ode to paleobotany, utilizing the pisé method of compacting clay scraps in the studio over the years to create what appears as ancient flora and fauna. Talk about time travel!
Subterranean Sense Memory
I recently went to a wine tasting at my beloved neighborhood shop Dogwood Wines. Over the course of the night, I was talking with my friends about our favorite wine types: I often ask for something “basementy” and get a puzzled expression, so I’ll try descriptors like “forest floor,” “dank,” “funky”—then I start to get somewhere. That conversation led to a whole tangent on basement smells and how my wife and I both have very visceral connections with that singular subterranean scent in our respective grandparents' houses. Mine lived in Lexington, Massachusetts, and I can instantly teleport back to their basement stairwell by smelling an earthy, woodsy fragrance. Isn’t it fascinating how quickly a smell can pull you to a memory of a place?
Anyway, back to the underground: I can clearly envision descending the stairs and running my hands along the walls, which were covered in flocked wallpaper. I can’t quite remember the pattern, but I remember the soft touch, the orange-y red palette, and (of course) that smell. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), I just hung up some flocked wallpaper scraps in my office, an antiquing find from long ago. The funky pattern and bold color act as the design equivalent of what a “basement” wine should taste like: one-of-a-kind. Imagine planning out a room based on how you describe your favorite wines and scents? Using your senses to inform home design choices really enriches your connection to the space, especially when you’re drawing on memory. (So, what do you think, should we bring back flocked wallpaper?! Everything I’m finding is very ornate, very boudoir…)
A Feast for the Trompe l’Oeil
This series of fruit and veg candles is so charming and playful—I’m annoyed I didn’t buy a few! I would line them up on my kitchen windowsill and smile every time they caught my eye.
Make me feel better with a tale of buyer’s remorse in the comments below :) Are there any other nostalgic designs you think need to make a comeback? (I’m still searching for the perfect modern flocked wallpaper to appease my inner child interior designer…)
Katie xx
You might want to read The Forgotten Sense by Jonas Olafson about the neuroscience of smell. It is a quick read and will engage you even more with the psychology of aromatics. A funny coincidence that I just finished reading it and now this post. I need to go to the SF location of that showcase retailer. It reminds me a bit of a show that takes place in Toulon, France, that I lucked into while visiting neighbors who moved there: it is called the Design Parade. https://toulon.fr/actualites/design-parade-l-architecture-d-interieur-mise-a-l-honneur-a-toulon-8e-annee-consecutive If you were to go there, you could study French at Berenice (the neighbors have a language immersion school and also just take people around. Apparently, Toulon is not known in that area for being "the" place for tourism, but it had a lot of designy exhibits (even a satellite for decorative arts from Beaubourg/Centre Pompidou). I enjoyed your post.
Admittedly, I just had to look up flocked wallpaper. But yes, it absolutely should come back! I had such nostalgia for my parents’ grass cloth wallpaper growing up (I’d sneakily peel an errant string much to their disappointment, I’m sure) and it came back (and is currently scaling my high walls in my most recently renovated room). Since some might consider flocked wallpaper ‘tacky’ it will definitely need to have an updated pattern and boldness to add tension as you mentioned —nothing grandma about the print pls, just the texture. The red graphic piece on your mood board is heavenly and I’d buy right now (to go with all the other Schoolhouse persimmon I have collected!). Please do it!!