STYLE COLUMNIST
Minnie Kemp on being inspired by a piece of art or design
Do you remember the last time you were really touched by a piece of art or design? I get a dazzling feeling in the pit of my stomach; it’s a bit like vertigo, the sensation of being taken somewhere else that’s beyond your control. Like sitting in a small wooden canoe at the mercy of a very wide, brown, muddy river. Think the Sepik or Heart of Darkness – the beginning of a new journey and my raison d’être.
In our overloaded, overstimulated world filled to the brim with content, I don’t know about you but for me, it’s getting harder to feel anything at all. Every now and again I’m back riding the wild torrents; one image will inspire an entire scheme, fabric collection or furniture design.
While browsing the Saatchi Gallery Instagram account I came across the Free Soul photo by artist Michael Aboya (below). He’s a self-taught photographer from Accra, Ghana, who followed his passion for photography after his father died of cancer. His work oozes love and life; in his words: ‘I could do a shoot to inspire others; I could create a visual representation of what freedom feels like.’
Inspire he certainly has. I would like to have this photograph set with a floating mount on a black background. The frame would be painted using a combination of Designers Guild’s gloriously sharp chartreuse TG Green No. 99 painted on one right angle and cloudy blue on the opposite side – Edward Bulmer’s Vert de Mer. The wall behind would be painted in Designers Guild’s Chiltern Chalk No. 158.
It would hang at eye level just above a David Seyfried Wave sofa, covered in James Malone’s Zig Zag fabric, Emerald colourway, and a Samuel & Sons Pale Tundra pipe. You can customise the legs to match the blues in your scheme for a tailored finish. It’s the finer details like this that really bring an entire scheme together and makes a room sing.
The sofa side tables are balancing drops of heaven created by Christopher Kurtz. Hand carved from locally sourced wood in the Hudson Valley where he lives, the series was inspired by his treasured time skipping stones on the Hudson River. By applying pigmented oils and milk paint to the wood, he has created a calming palette that will work in any space.
Seeing Michael’s photograph with the glassy leaves and rippling beauty sparked my memory of La Casa de Pilatos in Seville, Spain. If you haven’t been, you simply must go. The place will take your breath away. It’s an example of an Italian Renaissance building with Mudéjar art elements. There are about 150 different 1530s azulejo (Spanish glazed tile) designs made by brothers Diego and Juan Pulido –one of the largest collections in the world. I have always wanted to recreate something like this for a kitchen splashback.
After much research, I discovered Juan Traverso who is a Spanish ceramicist. He can be found on Instagram @ceramicaruiztriana. When a tile breaks at La Casa de Pilatos he’s the man who fixes and restores them. His designs come in four colourways and two sizes. I would install the smaller tiles as a border above your work surface, while the larger ones above will create calm and scale… heaven.
Keep your eyes open, the river of life is ever flowing and you’ll want to be ready for that hairpin bend.
Every now and again one image will inspire an entire scheme, fabric or furniture design