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READING
LIST
Enduring
Inspiration
A beautifully executed tutorial on interior design's most influential
and lasting styles.
If the
name Judith Miller doesn’t ring a bell with you—it should.
The author of more than 80 books, including The Style Sourcebook,
A Closer Look at Antiques and How to Make Money Out of Antiques,
Miller is also a regular on television programs such as BBC’s
The House Detectives and contributes regularly to newspapers and
magazines.
Her love of antiques transcends multiple decades. Since the late
1960s on, when her interest in antiques was fostered by the purchase
of inexpensive plates bought in a London junk shop, Miller has become
a world-renowned expert in antiques, interiors and all things connected.
Her most recent effort is Influential Styles: From Baroque to Bauhaus—Inspiration
for Today’s Interiors, and it’s beautifully executed.
Layouts in the book are divine; photographs, shot by renowned photographer
Simon Upton, are crisp, bright and well set-up; and the typography
is to die for.
TIMELESS APPEAL
The book offers four chapters: Neoclassical (including Early, Grand
and Simple), Decorative (including Walls, Eclecticism and Exotic),
Country (including Grand and Rustic) and Modern (including Minimalism,
Classic Modern-ism and the decades of the 1960s and 1970s). Each
chapter and sub-chapter presents examples of each of these “influential”
styles; then offers photographs to bolster these assertions.
The writing is straightforward; certainly not clever—but Miller
states the facts, offers an example and moves on. It’s a terribly
good tutorial. A nice touch is the inclusion of plain color swatches
to illustrate the predominant colors of each style.
Her selections for emphasis in this book are due to her contention
that each style has been proven cyclical—and enduring. Her
choices are right on, showing timeless appeal in a fresh and relevant
manner.
I do have quarrels with the book in some instances. For example,
some of the writing is imbued with a certain snobbish implication.
Miller finds it, for instance, “ironic” that rural poor
created the country interior design classics, as if to say that
“poor” and “rural” have no imagination.
Another problematic area is the Modern Minimalism section. While
the information is viable, a certain amount of credibility is lost
in the pictorial examples. While beautifully photographed, there
are too many taken of the same interior. You will see designer Poal
Kjaeholm’s main living room in Denmark, for example, at least
five times shot from different angles, as well as his PK9 chair
three times. Additional pieces of Kjaeholm’s furniture—tables
and chaises—are also shown. Additionally, Walter Gropius’
daughter’s bedroom is exhibited twice. Considering there are
only 37 photos to illustrate this movement, it seems largely one-note.
Other sections fare better, in particular, Neoclassicism, with its
wealth of gorgeous photographic examples, cacophony of color and
intelligent narration.
A coffee table book at the very least; an informative and worthwhile
book at its best, Influential Styles deserves a look.
Kathleen Stoehr is president of Chemistry Creative, based in Minneapolis,
MN. She has more than eight years’ experience covering trends,
window treatments and interior fashions, and is a former editor-in-chief
of Window Fashions magazine. Stoehr can be contacted for comments,
queries and trend information at kstoehr@chemistrycreative.com.
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