I have many visitors to our site asking about this beautiful period . They will find design elements throughout their Victorian homes especially carved on the fireplace mantels that are expressly Aesthetic in origin and baffle the homeowner as to what inspired this design.

I thought you might like to learn a little about this period overall so I have taken the text on the period from my website,www.thehistoricinterior.com and placed it here on my blog. The text is by Judith Gura, a very talented writer and scholar who also wrote a must have book “The Abrams Guide to Historic Interiors” from which this text is attributed. Hope you enjoy and that this helps you find Aesthetic period details in your home.

The Aesthetic interior is beguiling in its exoticism, and almost dizzying in its mix of color, pattern, and decoration. It resists classification, mixing elements from diverse sources in idiosyncratic renderings according to the designer’s whim and client’s preference, but it invariably provides a surfeit of visual stimulation. It is either the subject of instant attraction, or immediate dislike.

Wallpaper is at the height of fashion for Aesthetic interiors, in coordinated patterns that enable designers to create intricate decorative effects. On walls divided into three sections—dado below, field or filling above, and frieze just below the ceiling—a different pattern and variation of color is applied to each area. The dado pattern is the most intense, the frieze the most elaborate, and the field the most understated, since it also serves as background for hanging paintings or prints. The frieze is often defined by a wood rail that serves also as a shelf for china display.

Colors, in wall covering, textiles, and carpets, lean toward deep, subtly shades, such as dull greens, browns, and blues, with citrine as a frequent accent. Often there are shimmery accents.

Window treatments probably have patterned fabrics, often in motifs that suggest the Asian influence, which is a common theme of this period.

In accessories, Japanese and other Eastern sources provide many of the forms as well as the decorative inspiration for striking ceramics and metalwork—the Aesthetic era produced many objects of exceptional charm and originality.

Chandeliers and lamps are as important, or more important, for their decorative value as for their efficiency as illumination. The concept of “art” furniture, rejecting the commercialism of most industrially made design, is an important contribution of the movement. Aesthetic furniture generally avoids the weightiness of most Victorian-era pieces, and its light-scaled forms reflect the influence of the Eastern aesthetic. The silhouettes of chests, exemplified by William Godwin’s Anglo-Japanese designs, may suggest Japanese cabinetry. Others might be painted or incised with images of stylized birds and foliage. Many items of furniture are painted or lacquered black or, later in the Aesthetic period, made of light-toned mahogany or satinwood. They are often carved with openwork motifs drawn from Oriental objects.

- text by Judith Gura, author “The Abrams Guide to Historic Interiors”

I ran across this blog while going thru my notes recently and after checking it out I was so impressed with the scholarship and information that I felt it was important to give everyone a chance to visit it and learn from the authors impressive knowledge base. I do warn you that you need to be prepared for getting lost in the wide breath of information on not only historic textiles but textiles in general. Enjoy!

The Textile Blog: Interior Textiles of the Mid-Nineteenth Century

There are many great things about this job but one of the best is finding wonderful artisans who are revitalizing the art of the past with talent and innovation. I am so proud to announce a new “Feature Artisan” to the site.

Thistledew Merchantile is a lovely site that sells the historic scissor art by Kim Frey. One of the 2009 artisans featured in the Directory of Early American Craftsman that is published by Early American Life magazine (another one of our favorites) Kim is a very talented addition to our growing list of American Craftsman.

Since 1990, the Freys’ artwork has been shown at local Art Leagues, in traveling exhibits with the Guild of American Papercutters, in special exhibits with Delaware State Museums, and in museum and gift shops across the country. Thistledew Merchantile can produce the “very thing” for your gift list and is a wonderful historical addition to any historic house museum’s gift shop.

The site features the following historic scissor art genres-

Scherenschnitte…

…a Pennsylvania German folk craft, literally meaning “scissors snipping.” Scherenschnitte was used to create Valentines, Christmas tree ornaments, cake stencils, artwork for the home, and shelf decorations.

Fraktur…

…an artistic form of important documents such as birth, baptismal, and wedding records. Fraktur were also given as rewards of merit for good students, house blessings, and bookplates.

Silhouettes…

…sometimes called “shades” or “shadows,” silhouettes were the common man’s portrait before modern photography was invented

The Freys live in Delaware with their daughter Katelyn, two goats, a whole bunch of chickens, and Oreo the cat. (Daughter Jordan, son-in-law Luke, and grandboys Jackson and Derik are staking a claim way out west!) Their artwork…and often the Freys themselves…can be seen in person at Hudson’s General Store, in Clarksville, Delaware

I urge you to take a moment and visit this site it is truly a new american treasure.

thistledewmercantile.com

We are so pleased to announce the addition of a wonderful company to our Featured Artisan’s page. Heritage Lace has been around for awhile providing beautiful lace products for the home for over 50 years. I love companies that are based in long standing traditions of community and customer service and this is one of them.
Our site has a wide timeline for historic interiors from 1680-1930 and as such has only a handful of artisans and companies that have products that can span all the periods from Early American Colonial to Art Deco. Heritage Lace does this and beautifully too. These products could certainly be used for a Historic House Museum in any number of sites around the country and because of their affordability they are great for product placement in Museum gift shops. I really liked that so many of their products were under $50.00 and that they are 90% made in the USA is also important to me.
I have always said that a simple lace panel will give you a beautiful inexpensive look that will dress your window and give you the time to decide how or if you want to do a more formal treatment.
The nice thing about Heritage Lace is that even if you decided that you didn’t want to or could afford to add more to the window you wouldn’t need to, it is really that pretty a product.
Please take a moment and visit them on our Featured Artisans page or go directly to their website,
www.heritagelace.com but make sure you block off some time for your visit, I warn you once you get on it is hard to get off, you just want to see everything!

One of our most talented and celebrated artisans is Tom Hooper of ASL Pewter in Louisiana, Missouri. His work is very beautiful and can be found in homes of any historic period from Early Colonial to Arts and Crafts. Assisted by his lovely wife, Pat, the Hoopers have carved out a niche for themselves that is to be envied by anyone in the historic artisan field they make their own molds and use them for casting pieces unique to ASL Foundry. They have also acquired and use a collection of historic and antique bronze, aluminum and steel molds. Using traditional lathe work, they create their own plates and goblets. That process includes cutting their own wooden forms to each desired shape. The result is an inclusive line of wholly innovative and exceptional pewterware that is functional as well as decorative.

The Hoopers emphasize that all of their pewter is 100% lead-free, so it can be used with food without worry.
By using a variety of marketing venues from print ads to showing at many of the historic home shows, their company is largely regarded as one of the best, if not the best of the practicing American Pewtersmiths.

The prices for their work is very reasonable and I love the heavy, smooth beauty of their pieces. They are often featured in the magazine, “Early American Life” and has been featured in that publication’s “Directory of Historic Artisans”. This Christmas take a moment to explore their site for the perfect affordable gift for that person “who has everything”. Chances are they don’t have a piece from this very special artisan.

www.aslpewter.com
ASL Pewter
123 South Third St.
Louisiana, Mo. 63353

Home
573-754-3435
(fax) 573-754-3461
1-866-3Pewter
(1-866-373-9837)
sales@aslpewter.com

For some reason when the scent and sights of fall begin I often notice how the beautiful lines and colors associated with the Arts and Crafts style are all around me.

The Arts and Crafts movement celebrated and used icons taken from nature such as the pine spray, thistle, and acorn as their recurrent themes.  Arts and Crafts colors mirror the natural world with their rich palette of muted greens, golds and rusts.

Through historic interior design you can see how much the world around them influenced designers and architects.  From all periods this is true, with the brilliant blues, reds and golds of the very patriotic Federal period, to the rich jewel colors of the Victorian period so influenced by the industrial machine age and the great wealth that came with it.

Color is a powerful emotional indicator of what was going on during a particular period so it is no wonder that at the beginning and throughout the Arts and Crafts movement you find the soothing hues taken from nature by the designers.  With the world increasingly in turmoil and a World War looming, these colors gave our ancestors a calm and nurturing environment in which to live.  Nature, the true constant, gave them the center of their design.

In historic design you become a sleuth that would rival Sherlock, clues to a house’s past life are everywhere, especially that of its past color palette.  I urge you to acquire a great book that is the relative bible of anyone who is working in this field or just starting on a personal project.

Recreating the Historic House Interior by William Seale is so good at taking you through the steps from research to restoration for any historic interior. The author is a legend in this field and the very first book I read as a young Park interpreter working on my first design project for the National Park Service.  Many tried and true rules for recreating the period perfect interior can be found within its pages and you will find a veritable road map for how to find the resources you need to complete your project.

One thing about history, the old adage “everything new is old again” is particularly true when it comes to design, be it architecture or color, and luckily with our website, thehistoricinterior.com, you have access to all the resources particular to your specific period.