right: Live Like You
left: Jonathan Adler
Thank you Nancy
How my mother influenced my design career
When I was a young girl I admired that my mother sewed her own clothes. She taught me how to sew and I was fortunate enough to be able to whip up a new outfit in a few hours with a fabric remnant. We perused fabric stores often where she taught me about the 'hand' of fabrics, i.e., the quality and feel, the way they hung, and I admired the tailored patterns she chose. I loved those translucent ochre paper patterns and wanted to wallpaper a wall with them!
When she remarried in her 50's, her new life as a dentist's wife involved entertaining, a lot of social functions and travel. Her sewing elevated to couture patterns and fabrics and I loved to watch her get dressed and accessorize herself! I remember this more than I remember her decorating our home growing up, until I was in college. That's when mom started adding Scandinavian furniture {mid century modern now}, Marimekko fabrics, and "modern" pieces to her traditional collection of family antiques. This is when my eyes opened to design. I studied fine art in college and became an art teacher and furthered my own art career as a serigrapher and painter. In the 80's I became an interior decorator and my love of home design coincided with my art career. Now I'm back into Interior Design after years of working the family display business.
I consider my style "transitional" in my own home decor. I have recently added a family antique or two since my mother passed away several years ago. I love that I have some of her mid century pieces as well, and one unusual piece we call ZEEBEE.
She was ahead of her time with Zeebee. People thought she was nuts buying this ceramic zebra, that I remember cost a fortune back in the 70's {around $200}. I saw it as 'artsy' and loved it. My daughter Bethany solely equates Zeebee with memories of her grandmother, who is a huge influence in her design tastes today. Zeebee plays in many spots around the house:
My mother's heirloom mahogany tilt-top table :
The "box"purse my mother carried off and on for 20 years that she owned in 3 or 4 colors:
Her Scandinavian wall hung teak buffet with her antique Balinese carved window {that we DIY'd}, along with some rosewood chinese water buffalo my father brought home from Korea
It was my mom who taught me the value of good pieces, both in fashion and in furniture. She reupholstered furniture often and changed with the times. She was a style icon to me, and I see now that my daughter is carrying on the family tradition. I will forever honor my mother as one of the people who influenced me the most in my life today. Among her other attributes that I share were her love for dogs and horses, gardening and entertaining. I have her Haviland china, that reportedly I never really liked until I was older, but now adore:
Just writing this post makes me miss my mother; her wonderful qualities and all that she brought to our family. I hope your mother was a positive influence in your life. I would love to hear what quality you inherited from your mother--please tell me!
- Nancy