On trend

This year for Valentine’s day, the Boyfriend bought me the wonderfully fascinating A Century of Colour in Design. It’s cover is in shades of red, appropriately enough. I confess to dropping a few hints. I have a list. A long list of books I’d love that somehow never seems to get any shorter. On the back of the book is a quote from Verner Panton, which is now my favourite colour quote of the moment…

“One sits more comfortably on a colour that one likes.”

Which, when you think about it, is pretty obvious. Except that I’m not sure that we do think about it. We may consider a seat’s shape and size, whether it will cut us at the knees, whether it supports our back, whether we feel relaxed and at ease, or whether it causes us to sit uncomfortably to attention. Do our feet reach the floor? And can we get out of it unaided and with our dignity intact? Of course, we must like its colour or else we wouldn’t buy it, would we? I am not sure that this is always true. Bargains, dear peoples, bargains can be treacherous. Be alert to their Siren calls. My old charcoal-grey sofa comes to mind. I was so-so about the colour but…oh, what a bargain it was!

And it was all wrong. It was not comfortable. It didn’t support my back. It affronted my dignity with embarrassing regularity. And it brooded. I discovered all this only after I’d got it home. It had to go. Eventually. I am convinced that had it been in a colour I liked, I may well have overlooked its many irritations. I now have a new old sofa that will be dressed in suitable finery once I have found the perfect house.

Then there is the thorny issue of fashion. Only occasionally do my true colours and fashion coincide. Only occasionally am I accidentally on trend. You will, no doubt, be delighted to learn that I have solved this conundrum by taking to heart this sagacious advice of the great Oscar Wilde… “fashion is what one wears oneself.” Handily, I also apply this to my interiors… and to many other things.

Here it is, my favourite restoration of the moment, the magnificent Convent Saint François by Amelia Tavella Architects. And how about this, a Los Angeles hotel by the inimitable Kelly Wearstler. Just look at that mural. I am tickled to discover Tech Vanitas by visual artist Jeanette May. Delighted to find that my slow learning style, which I had until now considered somewhat problematic, is the reason why I’ve got a good memory. And have fallen for these gorgeously colourful, handmade paper birds by Claire Muth.

I leave you with this… perfectly patterned pasta by chef David Rivillo. Much too beautiful to eat…

A bientôt