4 minute read
A Most Sophisticated Spectacle John Loecke and Jason
Photo copyright © 2017 John Bessler.
SophisticatedA Most Spectacle
The charismatic duo of John Loecke and Jason Oliver Nixon are the color- and pattern-obsessed geniuses behind the interior design firm Madcap Cottage. Their home base is an ever-changing design “laboratory” in a former pharmacy in the heart of High Point, NC. “We live and breathe whimsy,” said Nixon. “Our designs are traditional with a buzzy edge—sophisticated yet spectacularly livable. If you are looking for beige and boring, bark up someone else’s tree!” Meet these two “Prints Charmings” as they kick off IWCE in Tampa, FL, with a keynote presentation and book signing sure to encourage a more adventurous approach to design for everyone. We asked them a few quick questions for a sneak peek…
Prints Charming: Create Absolutely Beautiful Interiors with Prints & Patterns, is Loecke and Nixon’s 2017 book that spreads the gospel of colorful, inventive pattern-mixing, Here, they offer their top five suggestions for developing your own pattern-driven approach to design, and encouraging your clients to come along for the ride!
1. Look to what’s happening in the world for inspiration. From the pattern-packed runways at Gucci to print-covered T-shirts at H&M to patterns appearing prominently on the cover of the Pottery Barn catalog and the Instagram campaign for CB2, pattern is back. Join the train before it passes you by.
2. Shop a client’s wardrobe to see what they are comfortable with, and bring those touch points to life in their home. What is it about a print that a client loves in their wardrobe, and how can you interpret that into their home?
3. Discuss how your clients travel, and what was it about a particular hotel that especially appealed to them. How to capture that sensibility that was probably anything BUT beige, and bring it home? Prints and pattern are a great way to bring a storyline to life and can transform a white box of an apartment into a slice of the tropics or a city-slicker aerie.
4. Look to your clients’ collections for pattern prompts. If they collect blue-and-white china, for example, that’s a great stepping-off point to carry these colors and patterns throughout their home. Look to a client’s artwork, books, and other collections for inspiration.
5. Great design books are wonderful for inspiration. Have them tell you what they love about a particular interior featured. Ask your clients clip tear sheets, pull Instagram posts, and create Pinterest boards that really speak to their style. You can drill down on their pattern likes by seeing what they love quickly and easily.
Photo copyright © 2017 John Bessler. Text copyright © 2017 John Loecke Inc.
—ROSE CUMMING
YOU OUGHT TO KNOW R O S E C U M M I N G
AUSTRALIAN-GONE-AMERICAN DESIGN force Rose Cumming’s magical fabrics are swoonworthy, and happily still in production courtesy of the Dessin Fournir Companies. Think iconic leopard spots and tropical leaves seemingly dipped into paint then pressed against fabric. Born to English parents and raised on an Australian sheep ranch, Cumming landed on the US shores in 1917. A fantastic colorist, Cumming once proclaimed, “Parrots are blue and green. Why shouldn’t fabrics be?” She found inspiration among far-flung decades and reference points—channeling Mylar-wrapped walls as ably as she did a spirited dash of Victoriana (top) or eighteenth century French antiques. Cumming loved chinoiserie, invented metallic wallpaper, and was a fan of lacquered walls and smoky mirrors (below). Her Midtown Manhattan townhouse, with its Tiffany-blue music room and drawing room with walls covered in an eighteenth century chinoiserie paper (middle), was known for its ecclectic mix of furnishings and its exuberant color story. Her personal style was equally eclectic and intriguing: She was known for her purple hair and overblown hats as much as for her razor-sharp wit and outspokenness. Or as Cumming said, “I have no time for boring furniture, boring fabrics, or boring people.” Don’t you agree? Life is short, why settle for the banal?
180 PRINTS CHARMING
© 2017 Abrams.
You list several “pattern greats” in the book, with examples of some of their iconic rooms. Are there other ways you can suggest for design professionals to improve their pattern expertise? Animal prints and stripes work with every pattern; those are the only rules that we believe in. Look at design books from forty or fifty years ago: There was barely a whiff of beige in those pages, and you can glean such great inspiration. Go to museums, visit great houses, and take photos of “moments” that inspire you.
Do you have a “rule” or a guideline to keep a pattern-filled room from being “too much”? To quote style icon Iris Apfel, “More of more is more. And less of more is a bore.” Why dip your toe when you can swan dive into an Esther Williams–worthy Technicolor swimming pool packed with panache.
