Bringing Russel Wright into Your Home:
Taking Inspiration from Wright’s Modernist Country Retreat, Manitoga BY SHARON P. CROCKETT
Many Americans’ first encounter with the designer Russel Wright in the last century might have come when they first admired his Depression-era simple wooden furniture, brandnamed American Modern, or spotted his iconic organic forms of dinnerware, cutlery, glassware and table linens or perhaps when they saw an in-store display of his unbreakable Iroquois Casual China. His signature was a relaxed informality that was modern, democratic and individualistic. Today we may know of him from remembering our grandmother’s table settings, elements of which are now collected and proudly displayed as sculptural artifacts of a past era. But Wright was much more than merely an arbiter of mid20th century American middle-class domestic taste. Wright’s design ideas ranged far beyond the domestic table to domestic interiors more broadly. The weekend sanctuary in Garrison, New York that he moved into in 1961 on property he named Manitoga (Algonquin for “place of great spirit”)
reflects the culmination of an evolution of his larger ideas about casual living in harmony with nature. It can still inspire us today as we think about ways of designing our contemporary interiors. In some ways, Wright was ahead of his time, anticipating do-it-yourself and sustainable design concepts even as he embraced the use of post-war man-made materials. He created interior spaces that reflected his ideas about the importance of both organic and synthetic materials and forms, the influence of the change in seasons, the beauty of the hand-made, the different moods that lighting effects can create and his proclivity for Asian decorative arts. These are in many ways timeless concerns, but many were fresh for their time – the 1940’s through the 1960’s – and continue to resonate today. Nature: water, stone, fire and wood The landscape surrounding the abandoned quarry on the land on which Wright built his “experiment”, as he liked to describe his modernist weekend home designed with the help of the architect David Leavitt, was first and foremost a source of inspiration for Wright. One of the first things you notice as you approach Manitoga is the sound of falling water. Wright did admire Frank Lloyd Wright’s modern masterpiece, Falling Water, and either consciously or unconsciously incorporated some of its elements into his own house. Russel Wright manipulated the existing landscape to divert a stream that would then fall over rocks into the quarry to create a pond. His bedroom/studio directly overlooks this 30-foot waterfall, and he often left his windows and doors open so that he could better hear its music. The large, floorto-ceiling glass sliding doors that line the southern walls of the living room and dining room frame views of the trees along the ridge just past the waterfall behind the quarry pond. Transparent colored netting, ribbons or string were Wright’s solutions for window dressings so as not to detract from the views. Wright was interested in natural sounds, such as that of the waterfall he created, and about framing views of the surrounding landscape. In your own home, something as simple as a tabletop fountain in a den or study or wind chime hung near a door or window can create a tranquil soundscape. In fact, Wright placed a wind chime in the ceiling of the hallway near his daughter’s bedroom in which breezes blew through a nearby window.
Summer Dining Room (circa 1965)
If your home is lucky enough to feature appealing outdoor views, by minimally dressing the windows that frame those
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views as Wright did, you can draw the eye outdoors. Simple sheers or tailored flat roman shades may be all that is needed if privacy is not a concern. The boulders that Wright found scattered on his land he used in many ways and sometimes contrasted with the element of fire. They are fashioned into both stairs descending to the dining room from the living room and a large hearth wall in Manitoga’s living room. They re-appear in a wall of rock that houses an outdoor fire pit just outside the double glass doors that open next to the sunken tub in the main bathroom. During colder months or throughout the year during cooler evenings, roaring fires in both the living room hearth constructed of boulders and the rocky outdoor fire pit were sources of cozy lighting and warmth. Uneven stone flooring greets you in the entry hall and is repeated in the lower-level dining room. Most rooms, including the bedrooms, had their own stone terraces off French doors. Rocks strategically protrude from the walls in key places to provide display ledges for artifacts. Some of the doorknobs to exterior doors were crafted from smooth stones found on the property. Wright turned to stone because it was prevalent in the old quarry on his land. Even if your home is not sited in a rocky place where you can salvage old rocks, the textural interest of stone can be a feature in many rooms. Reclaimed stone flooring in a foyer or entry hall area can bridge the transition between outdoors and indoors. Ledger panels in slate can enhance an otherwise simple fireplace surround. The
use of rough-hewn stone wall and floor tiles in a shower stall or along the lower two-third’s of the wall in a bath are other ways of bringing outdoor rocky textures into your own bath.
As for bringing the three elements together – stone, fire and water -, a luxurious touch would be a gas fireplace in the master bath or an approximation of one by installing a sleek wall-mounted electric fireplace across from a large tub. A prominent architectural element in Manitoga is a large cedar tree trunk found on the property that serves as an exposed central support structure, rising up from the lower dining room to support a 28-foot cross beam. Wood ceiling beams are exposed throughout this main space, alluding to Japan’s traditional timber homes that Wright grew to admire from his travels to that country. Tree trunks, branches and bark re-appear throughout the house. A tree trunk supporting a translucent screen containing sparkly mini white lights welcomes visitors upon entry. A tree branch leaning against the wall in the bathroom serves as a handy place to hang a towel. Birch bark adheres to the door to the guest bedroom of his separate studio. Tree branches have long been an element of Adirondack-style interiors and they can be purely decorative -- rather than structural -in any home. An actual tree branch fashioned with simple hooks and mounted on a wall in a mudroom works as a key and coat rack. Tangled branches can decorate a side console table or serve as a centerpiece for a dining table. A larger tree trunk stump can sit next to a soft chair as a side table or next to a low bed as an improvised nightstand. Cabinet pulls made of sturdy branches or of metal fashioned to resemble branches can pull open kitchen drawers to reveal flatware designed to look like branches. A Twig chandelier can soften a sleek, white laminate Eero Saarinen Tulip dining table like the one at Manitoga.
The Organic and Synthetic, Juxtaposed
nearby trees.
Wright loved to experiment with materials generally and to use them in unexpected ways, often mixing the organic with the synthetic. He designed and had fabricated and installed fanciful acrylic panels that sandwich locally gathered flowers, grasses, leaves or a cherished exotic butterfly collection as sliding doors in an upstairs bath and closet and in the doors of a family room built-in storage cabinet. Wright’s own daughter, Ann, collected reeds from the quarry pond and incorporated them as decoration into her bedroom’s sliding closet doors.
What can work in any home interior is the careful balance of the warming texture of organic materials with the slicker, crisper lines of synthetics. So, a wallpaper that has almost a rough feel to it, a small, subtle pattern and in a darker hue would work well as a backdrop in a small entry foyer against a shiny lacquer-like parsons table in lighter hue next to perhaps a translucent Philippe Stark-like ghost chair with curves. A mirror framed by some organic material, such as driftwood or bark or naturally distressed wood, set above the console table would help further ground the shinier, more ethereal plastics in the space.
Recycling or use of functional materials in decorative ways was another idea that Wright pursued, sometimes for economical reasons. He took foil and applied a lavender-colored form of it to the walls and even the ceilings of his housekeeper’s bedroom. The shimmering effect was heightened by sunlight streaming through sheer curtains. Instead of hiding the Styrofoam that he installed in the ceiling between the wooden beams as a source of insulation and sound buffer in many of the living spaces, he left it exposed as a decorative element. As an example of innovative re-use, Wright sliced the cardboard centers of paper towel rolls, flattened them so that they would take on an elliptical shape and embedded them between glass fiber reinforced acrylic so that the result looked vaguely cellular. The organic-looking translucent screen is set into the space above a half wall, filtering natural light into an adjacent hallway.
Organic Forms & Arrangements Russel Wright was not only interested in organic materials and contrasting them with new man-made synthetics, but he was also concerned with organic forms. From the Arne Jacobsen egg chair in beige leather that he used in his family room to the pair of round-edged teal blue cloth-upholstered Danish
In your own home, use of today’s new translucent resin materials that have embedded natural materials could be fashioned by a local craftsperson as opaque cabinet fronts in a freestanding or built-in family or media room storage cabinet. Simple three-panel decorative screens stretched with fabric or covered with wallpaper with subtle natural motifs or salvaged furniture decoupaged with dried plants or flowers you’ve collected near your home are ways to approximate these decorative ideas of Wright. The translucent green acrylic oval chandelier that Wright designed and used above the sleek, white table in the dining room is now lost, but contrasted effectively with the rough, stone floor and boulders visible both in the room and outside through double-height glass windows. In your own home, the placement of decorative lighting fixtures made of plastic, such as clear, acrylic mini-pendants over a kitchen island topped with real granite or wood or a larger, sparkly acrylic chandelier over a rough-hewn dining table made of reclaimed wood allows the organic material to soften the man-made. Plastics are common at Manitoga, showing up in the form of laminate fronts for sliding cabinet doors in the living room and for kitchen drawers, cabinets and countertops n the kitchen. Wright juxtaposed the laminate door fronts on the built-in cabinets in the living room with forest green walls, in which there were carefully embedded hemlock needles from
teak armchairs that he placed in his upper living room, the curves of these modern furnishings provided comfortable womb-like seating. Even the curved, white dining room table, while made of laminate, had an organic form. He typically
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up to three days and the entire household put to work to change over the interiors, and extensive storage was needed to stow away the out-of-season furnishings. This was a rigorous approach that not all of us would want to or even could try to emulate if we wanted to. But, by thinking about where you live and how climates and seasons can interact with interior color, many of Wright’s ideas about seasonal décor changes can give some clues about how to use color in your own home without the hassle and inconvenience of seasonal rearranging.
arranged curved furnishings next to rectangular storage pieces or in groupings with other curved elements to set off the angularity of the rooms. The egg chair in the family room sat near a large, square adjustable-height table that he designed. Beneath all was a large, square rug. The dining room table had a round top that was exchangeable with an oval top for larger crowds, against the backdrop of long angular expanses. By using curves within rooms that have right angles, you can emphasize the organic form of furnishings, even if they’re made of synthetics. Beneath a rectangular rug, such as the Khilim, Moroccan shag and Asian woven matting Wright used in his living room and family room, you can place a round coffee table and surround it with an L-shaped sectional sofa. Placing two curved lounge chairs in front of a small round table atop a smaller rectangular rug is another way both to accentuate the curves of the furniture and to soften the angular floor covering. A curved sofa around a low, round table can create a communal conversation area, reducing the need for a lot of additional chairs. Round ottomans used in lieu of cocktail tables in front of a rectangular sofa is another common way of providing additional seating and can soften the right angles of the room and of the seating arrangement. Color and Seasonal Change Manitoga is located in the lower Hudson River Valley, a location that benefits from the beauty of all four seasons. The heavy snows that coat the surrounding landscape and the evergreens visible during the cold winter months give way to an explosion of new-growth green leaves on deciduous trees, damp moss and pink blossoms of mountain laurel in spring time. In summer, the full-range of summer blossoming wildflowers makes a showy appearance in the heat, which later yield to the reds, oranges and yellows of fall just before many of the trees bare themselves again for winter. Russel Wright consciously incorporated this seasonal cycle into his interior design schemes. Twice a year, it could take 5 spring 2011
If you live in the Southwest, your color choices may differ quite a bit from the interior colors of a residence in the Midwest or Northeast, where summers are much shorter and where winters can be harsh. Similarly, a Florida home’s colors may not be the first choice of someone living in the Pacific Northwest. Wright’s spring and summer color palette consisted of cool blues, greens and white. His “summer” living room at Manitoga featured a white vinyl-upholstered sectional sofa, dotted with a profusion of blue and green and white patterned pillows. The windows were covered with two layers of coarse blue netting atop blue-green plastic. Two armchairs were upholstered in teal. The chandelier in the dining room was, as already discussed, the clear, acrylic green fixture filled with tiny white lights that Wright designed himself. Doubleheight white string yarn draperies were hung in front of the dining room windows. Rugs in all areas were natural, woven sisal-like matting, often from Asia. Cabinet door fronts were reversed to reveal white Formica. The rationale for this palette was to cool off the summer heat and to blend with and, in some cases, complement the outdoors. Blues are receding, cool hues that counteract the effect of bright, summer sunlight in a space that has southern exposure and that features floor-to-ceiling glass. Greens and turquoises, which can be livelier than blues, also blend with the hues of the outdoor plantings, trees and sky. When pink and orange blossoms were in full bloom, the interior greens and blues were perfect complements. A strategy for a home located in warmer climates in the South, Southwest and West could be incorporating these cooler hues in those rooms that receive a particularly strong amount of midday sun. The use of reflective white and neutrals with accents of blue and green would be another strategy. Other rooms receiving less sunlight could feature warmer hues; but those warmer hues should ideally complement greens and blues so that the overall effect is harmonious as you move from sunnier rooms to darker rooms. Very good complements are oranges and red-oranges, which could, again, be accents to neutrals and whites and would blend with the colors of blossoms.
Manitoga’s fall and winter interior colors mostly complemented and in some cases, blended, with seasonal outdoor hues. Wright brought in warmer reds and oranges, plus violets and black. He changed out his draperies in the living room and introduced purple netting layered with blue netting, which deepened the effect of the purple. Italian sheepskin slipcovers were placed on the teak armchairs and they were placed atop a red and blue and grey Khilim rug. An orange-hued Moroccan shag rug with a deep pile replaced the woven sisal rug in the family room. Cabinet fronts in the living room were reversed again to reveal a mottled orange laminate finish. Draperies made of five kinds of red ribbon took the place of the white yarn draperies in the dining room. Wright took down the translucent green acrylic chandelier and exchanged it for a locally crafted wrought-iron chandelier that featured a top central electric light encircled below by real wax candles. The blue and green accent pillows in the living room were traded for red and orange patterned ones.
hidden vertical tracks over a kitchen sink or countertop for task lighting. When lit, the “box” glowed, softening and warming the cool effect of the fluorescent tubes. Sometimes he would even display glassware atop the glowing box when it was in a lowered position.
All of these changes warmed up the rooms when the temperature outside dropped and complemented the evergreens visible through the tall, glass windows. When snow blanketed the terrain outdoors, the reds and oranges and blacks starkly contrasted with the expanse of white outdoors. During fall months when the deciduous trees took on the brilliant golds and reds and oranges, the analogous interior colors blended spectacularly.
The compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs that save energy and that are increasingly used in today’s homes, while an improvement over those fluorescent tubes that were available
In another experiment that softened the harshness of fluorescent lighting, Wright obscured these tubes by screening them with inexpensive burlap draped across and between the ceiling beams of Manitoga’s family room. The result was a muted, cozy lighting. Wright also liked using strings of tiny, white lights like the kind seen on Christmas trees, and used these as a source of year-round decoration. Not only did he encase them within his green, acrylic saucer-like summer chandelier, but he also embedded them within the translucent panels that greeted visitors in the entry hall, creating a starry-like effect.
North-facing and darker rooms in homes in northern climates, such as in the Pacific Northwest, northern Midwest, the Northeast and in mountainous areas of the West could benefit from the use of upholstery fabrics, curtains and pillows in hues of red and red-orange, accented with black, violets and grays. Not only will this use of color warm up these rooms, but also if there are views to the outdoors, the interiors of these rooms will blend with views during the months when the leaves are changing. This color palette will also complement any evergreens that are visible and will enliven the greyer, drab views typical of winter landscapes that are not covered in snow. Lighting Experiments Manitoga benefits greatly from day lighting from floorto-ceiling sliding windows, French doors and clerestory windows. It is when the sun is rising or setting or under moonlight, however, that Wright’s lighting experiments take center stage. Aside from the winter and summer chandeliers he alternated over the dining table and the glow from fires lit in the living room’s stone hearth, Wright made heavy use of energyefficient fluorescent lighting tubes set behind strategically positioned reveals or ceiling grilles made of wood. He created light boxes by encasing fluorescent tubes within opaque plastic that he framed with wood. He could then raise and lower these light boxes using hidden pulleys or
to Wright in the early 1960’s, can benefit from adaptations of some of his lighting experiments. Personal Curation of Decorative Objects Russel Wright’s own product designs emphasized the handicraft required to produce his curvaceous, unembellished tableware, tablecloths, ceramics and furniture. He highly valued craftwork, as reflected in his idiosyncratic selection of a multicolored hand-braided oval rug by Hummel Maid of Oklahoma for his young daughter Ann’s bedroom. He also valued economy and made many items used in his home by hand. During one Sunday afternoon, with the help of his daughter and some friends, Wright produced the doubleheight red ribbon draperies used in the winter dining room by stapling the 2,000 yards of ribbon to tape and then attached
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them to a curtain track.
your mood changes.
Manitoga was filled with handicrafts, and most were of Asian origin. Wright had traveled extensively throughout Asia, especially Southeast Asia, during the 1950’s as part of a State Department mission to help develop the domestic manufacturing of handicrafts for export to western countries such as the U.S. He adapted the treasure trove of what he brought home to fit his lifestyle at Manitoga.
Russel Wright’s design approach, as displayed in his dream retreat, Manitoga, was about experimentation, drawing inspiration from both the synthetic and the natural world and organic materials and forms and being in synch with the cyclicality of the earth and with objects and decoration created both by artisans and by the home’s own inhabitants. The interiors are casual; though contain an element of the theatrical.
He brought back Cambodian Buddha heads and carved figures in ivory, Vietnamese baskets, Indian brass trays and gas lamp, Asian woven rugs, a Chinese silk embroidery square and Chinese and Korean silk paintings and scrolls. He fashioned a large round basket as a lampshade for a custom floor lamp that he devised for his upper living room. He used a Chinese bride’s basket as a laundry hamper and a Vietnamese cylindrical basket with straps as a wood container next to the living room stone hearth. The Chinese embroidery square showed up against the backdrop of the dark green walls in the living room and alternated with a variety of different painted scrolls. The Indian brass tray became the tabletop for a Samsonite stand he had designed. He set carved busts and figures atop rock ledges that purposely protruded from walls in hallways. Wright rotated many of these decorative items, bringing out from storage those items that he wanted to use to freshen up his interiors. He was always trying out new things and viewed his home as a work in progress.
Your home can express these same design ideas while not necessarily replicating the highly specific and rigorous interiors of Manitoga. It just takes thinking about where you live, investigating the natural elements at hand that inspire you, understanding how light and climate interact within your home and what that can mean for color choices and not being afraid to contrast the synthetic with the organic. It also means expressing an admiration for the handmade and displaying elements of your collection of personal decorative objects with the critical eye of a curator. Wright was always proud of the fact that some visitors to Manitoga admitted to him that they could never live in the unusual home he had created. In his view, that was the point. Each home should fit the lifestyle of the inhabitant. His design ideas are just a jumping off point for creating your own authentic spaces.
Sharon Crockett is a consultant in historic interiors research at Manitoga/Russel Wright Design Center. A graduate of Parsons The In your own home, grouping your most treasured collections New School for Design, she began her career in finance and now works in interior design of pottery, glassware, figurines, woven objects, textiles and and historic interiors research. other handicrafts picked up at craft fairs or during domestic or foreign travels atop consoles, along ledges and on bookshelves personalizes your interior spaces and can highlight the hand-made and support artisans. By not displaying everything all at once, stored items become a source of revitalizing your rooms’ decorative accessories at any time. You can also re-purpose handicrafts, as Wright did. So, an exotic textile can become a tablecloth or fabric for a pillow cover. A basket can become a shade for a pendant light in an informal kitchen nook. A richly patterned small rug can become a wall hanging. By thinking of these objects the way a curator would, you can amass a collection of handicrafts and artwork to store in cabinets and closets from which to draw on to create highly individualized and differing looks as your 7 Spring 2011
Key Ways to Bring Russel Wright’s Manitoga Design Ideas into Your Home •
Minimally dress windows that look out onto beautiful natural views. Instead, frame those views with roman shades, ribbons or sheers. • Bring the sound of water into your home with wind chimes positioned near a window or by placing a quiet tabletop fountain in a home office or den. • Use stone. Ledger stone fireplace surrounds, stone flooring in entryways and stone tile walls in baths help to bridge the indoor and outdoor. • Feature tree branches, stumps and twigs for useful purposes, such as a coat rack or side table or for a purely decorative touch as part of centerpiece on a console table. • Juxtapose synthetic materials, such as acrylic and laminates, with the organic, such as dried leaves and buds embedded in resin or sandwiched between acrylic panels. Contrast rough organic textures in wall treatments or reclaimed wood furniture with the smooth, sleeker finishes of lighter, transparent plastics and lacquers. • Artfully mix curves and right angles by grouping rounded chairs and rectangular ottomans or by placing a rounded ottoman in front of a rectangular sofa. Mix womb-like curved chairs with a round dining table in a boxy space. • Choose interior hues that harmonize with where you live. If you live in a warmer climate, feature receding cool blue and green accents against a reflective white backdrop in rooms that have strong midday sun exposure. In less bright rooms, bring in complementary warmer accents in reds and yellow oranges. If you live in colder climates, focus on the warmer accent hues of red, purple and orange. These will blend with fall leaf colors, contrast with snowy views and complement evergreens. Small complementary green and blue accents can help cool off these rooms if the overall effect gets too “fiery”.
Manitoga/Russel Wright Design Center is located at 84 Route 9D, Garrison, New York and is open for a limited number of small group tours May through October. info@russelwrightdesigncenter.org www.russelwrightdesigncenter.org 845-424-3812
• Try lighting experiments to soften the effect of energyefficient compact fluorescent light bulbs. Use indirect lighting by creating reveals along bookshelves or below kitchen cabinets or by screening CFLs behind opaque fabrics. • Support local and foreign artisans by collecting their handicrafts and curate them for display in groupings throughout your home. Store your collection so that you can dip into it to change what’s on display whenever the mood strikes you, just like Russel Wright did constantly. • Re-purpose handicrafts, like baskets and textiles or simply take the useful and transform them into objets d’art. • Experiment, draw inspiration from your natural surroundings and climate and don’t be afraid to mix the synthetic with the organic and to proudly display your handmade collectibles to make your home your own “experiment” that perhaps no one else could possibly live in -- except you, of course.
© Sharon Crockett 2011
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