|
|
|
The new neutral colors, which can be used in combination with many textures and accents, are anything but bland and boring
by Louis Postel
photography by Jim Raycroft
03/01/2005
|
| Beyond Beige |  |
Outside Los Angeles, craftsmen in
the quietly
purring J. Robert Scott factory outnumber machines. Sally
Sirkin Lewis, who runs
this show, is one of today’s leading designers
and home furnishings
entrepreneurs. Her company has recently teamed
with Benetti to create interior
concepts for a line of semi-custom
yachts (see sidebar).
The palette for
yacht interiors that Lewis
proposes is quite a departure from the typical formal
or “gentleman’s
club” look. Rather than dark veneers, regal blues and regimental
green
and gold, Lewis offers light colors with an air of contemporary sleekness
reminiscent of the beach houses she designs in Southern
California.
“Neutrals
are elegant,” says Lewis. “They provide a
room with a feeling of spaciousness.
I’m drawn to the serenity they
create. They don’t compete with the people or
artwork in the room,
allowing them to take center stage. A yacht’s natural
environment
consists of infinite blue and turquoise seas, magenta sunsets, deep
green mountains and rocky gray shores. “Why,” she asks rhetorically,
“would
anyone want a busy interior competing against that
beauty.” (Click image to enlarge)
Upholstering in
neutrals exposes the geometry of
a given furniture piece and emphasizes its
craftsmanship and quality,
according to Lewis. “I often use ebony or a single
accent color to
spice up a neutral interior. The accent – perhaps a vase of red
tulips
– provides an interjection,” she says. For the Benetti project, Lewis is
relying on black granite and ebonized woods to contrast the neutrals.
But she is
also known to add a touch of yellow or a punch of
periwinkle. Asked to identify
this year’s hot neutral, Lewis says at
the moment, brown is very fashion
forward.
|
|
|
|
|
; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
Email This
Printer Friendly Version
Reprints & Permissions
Most Popular Searches