When I run across someone who is truly gifted in their field I always want to share their talent with my readers and friends. I have a new advertiser whose work I saw recently and I was so impressed. Stephan of Stephan’s refinishing here in Fredericksburg, Va is a very talented artist. You don’t often associate the word “artist” with the field of furniture refinishing but he truly has the touch of an artist. He managed to take a very mundane 1930’s table of mine and make it positively glow. You can find these tables at any flea market or basic “antique” and maybe pay around $100.00 for it. After Stephan applied his magic touch to my much scarred and battered hall table, it was fit for the finest of rooms. I am honestly impressed and I urge you to entrust him with your most precious pieces as I am certain that whether you are a curator of a museum, antique dealer or homeowner you will be thrilled with the result.

www.stephansworks.com 540.710.2221 or 540.645.5612

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

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

Anyone who is interested in historic interiors or the social history of the Colonial period should take a moment and find a copy of Early American Life. I just got a chance to sit down with the new edition of this magazine. What a treat this publication is from articles on hearth cooking to their Directory of Artisans. The latest edition has information on Rockinghorse collectibles, a colonial wedding, Washington crossing the Deleware, two different house interiors, and twelfth night celebrations in the colonies.
How many readers are left after reading this magazine from cover to cover inspired and energized to either start or finish that project they had been thinking about. Or maybe they had always loved theorum painting and now they know where to go not only to purchase these beautiful pieces but to also learn how to practice this art.
This small publication is one to be savored by the fire, tea in hand. I do suggest however tempting, not to try and read by candlelight, you are not going to want to miss one bit of this treasure.

The commercials and ads that are in the media about “natural” and “organic” evoke the principles and properties of a past world when the main energy used was the physical effort of the farmer or craftsman and the forces of nature. By its very definition, green industry or the ability to produce a beautiful or useful product with a near zero carbon footprint is worthwhile and beneficial to our environment.
As is usually the case we have a lot to learn from our ancestors. No matter whether they are many generations behind us, their knowledge stands before us much of the time. I have often smiled at the newest kitchen gadget that really does the job no better (and sometimes worse) than the old tool that our grandmothers used (now I will concede that the dishwasher, stove and refrigerator are blessings our grandparents would be beaming over). But it is true particularly in today’s political climate that “artisans” perhaps deserve an outright grant or at least a tax break for these businesses that bring so much to our modern world by producing worthy and authentic “green” products.
I am thinking in particular of an old hometown friend who has a farm that his family has owned for more than 200 years. He had the foresight to start organic farming years ago before “it was cool” and his farm produces the best beef I have ever tasted (his vegetables are also wonderful). Knowing this friend as I have all my life I have the impression that he probably was farming as his family always did taking good care of the land, it’s just that the trends finally caught up with ancient wisdom.
His cousin owns a natural trout farm next to his which is equally innovative and whenever I go home I find my way to the Tudor Hall stand at the local Farmers Market. My point in sharing is recognizing that, no matter what you are doing—be it cabinetmaking or farming—is a nod to the original “green” artisans—our forefathers.

Tudor Hall Farm Market
6280 Middleway Pike, Kearneysville, WV, 25430
304-725-3149
Aqua Green Trout Farm
Rte 51, Kearneysville, WV, 25430
304-725-6518