Pondering the Porter

When the wintry wind is whipping around outside, wouldn't you wish for a chair to keep you warm and protected?  Centuries ago, if you were on call in a cold castle awaiting and admitting guests, you might fantasize about how you might be most comfortable. Happily, some clever soul came up with the idea of enclosing a wing chair.  Central heating and double-paned windows were far in the future.

Ah, the romance of a piece of furniture! At about the age of fifteen, I remember seeing a porter's chair for the first time.  Situated near the front door of an elegant furniture showroom, I recall being enthralled, and having delusions of grandeur, desired to possess the thing. I mused that if I could only afford the $500 or so that it cost, it would make me happy. Suffice it to say that I couldn't afford it.

Versailles Burlap-Backed Chair

Restoration Hardware

The chair was believed to have originated in England, where it then jumped the Channel to great estates and palaces in France. These chairs look fit for a king, but for Louis XV,  I doubt he didn't so much want to make his servants more comfortable as ensure that his guests were suitably impressed and intimidated by his excellent taste and style!

The porter's chair signified your station in life as a servant. Today, it does not discriminate, and in fact, you will find it in the thick of anything regarding high style.

Chesterfield Porter's Chair

When the trade of upholders became upholsterers, all manner of comfort and cushioning was unleashed. Just imagine how much this chair must have helped the poor porter feel cozy and content!

 

With the passing of time, the porter's chair (along with the porter) joined the unemployment rolls.  In the Victorian era, it was  reinvented and reinterpreted as a beach chair.  Here you see an entire herd of them doing hard labor sheltering the well-to-do from the sun and wind. Quite a far cry from the cold castle!

 

 

And why not double your fun and double your pleasure?

 

 

 Atelier Lounge offered by Dauphin

 

In a leap of imagination, the porter's chair has leapt from residential to commercial use, evolving as new needs are required.

 

Another army of porters at work in present day times. This design makes excellent use of the chair's acoustical benefits.  It also lends intimacy in a large restaurant with diners shoulder to shoulder.

Wander's Tulip

Cappellini

Here is an amazing interpretation of the chair disguised as a tulip by the wonderful Marcel Wanders. It is a revolution in design as it revolves on its stem.

 

ID Trim Cap by Antonio Citterio, 2012

Vitra

Another full evolution for the porter's chair.  At work in the office, this ergonomic task chair provides all the basic accoutrements such as helping the poor worker concentrate better in an open office space.

 

Massaud Work Lounge with Canopy

Jean-Marie Massaud for Coalesse

 

Now we're really cookin'!  This pod offers a table, built-in lighting, optimized acoustics, and is totally wired for integration of your techy devices.  You can have total privacy or take a conference call in a completely public space. Added pluses are that you can take a snooze and nobody is the wiser.

 

Haworth Windowseat Chair

Mike and Maaike Studio 

 

I read a silly book in my youth about a woman who became possessed with the notion of owning a Dior gown.  It ended as a sad story, with nowhere for the dress to be worn, and was left hanging in her closet.  Happy to say, the porter's chair is definitely back and enjoying a new lease on life. So why not sit in one and put up our feet?



Cheap Cheap Cheap!

Pecking for crumbs in this crummy economy,  we as designers are reduced to begging for one-size-fits-all, if we're lucky, of taupey linen-look swatches.   Yes, I am like a magpie,  flitting hither and yon, scouring the landscape for bits of flotsam and jetsam with which to feather my clients' nests.  That it has come to thumbing the various high style catalogues available to everyone and anyone has me stupefied.  I marvel at design that was formerly available only to a select few, now being offered at bargain basement prices.  As an elitist snob since birth, this is a new twist for me to adapt to.  But adapt I will, to survive, because at heart, democracy and equality has always been my clarion call.  

The deafening chorus of clients cry "Cheap, cheap, cheap!"  And they want it "Now, now, now!"  China, India, and Viet Nam are ever ready to heed the call.  Where did it all begin?  About 30 years ago, I wager. 

I could look to the democratizing of interior design with such pioneers as Philippe Starck.  And then Michael Graves started designing for Target, too,  and who else did  I see there recently but Marcel Wanders! Martha Stewart embraced K-Mart of all places. That doyenne of taste-making jump-started the do-it-yourself business that has culminated in such phenoms as HGTV.  These names of sophisticated, functional design are now on the tips of tongues of millions.  How could I complain about everyone finally singing in tune?  How could I complain about a chicken in every pot?

First IKEA store in Sweden, opened 1958

IKEA, has been at the forefront since 1943.  Today it is the largest furniture retailer!  This is a brand that oozes high design with unbelievably low price points.  The multitudes can have an extremely stylish interior for next to nothing. 

  

It's a brave new world.  And one of disturbing extremes when the great divide between the rich and the poor becomes greater and greater and the middle class erodes on both sides.  The bible of interior design I would say is Architectural Digest.  Though started in 1920, it was a stodgy quarterly publication that didn't garner much general interest until Paige Rense took over as editor in 1971.  I remember being completely converted to the field of interior design as a career choice when I first got hold of an issue, and no, it wasn't in a black plastic cover!  It is amazing that peons are permitted to enter into palatial homes where cost is not an issue.  Art and antiques alone shoot into the stratosphere.  These are interiors, furnishings,  and designers that the catalogues try to copy on the cheap.

Which came first:  the chicken or the egg?  And this barn sells a lot more than pottery!  Though started in 1950, it wasn't until GAP purchased it in 1986 that a lifestyle brand was created and a whole new game plan for interior design.  

 

And then there is RH. When the "new look" of the catalogue came out a few months ago, I was shocked.  The Dutch have invaded and conquered!

Restoration Hardware in St. Louis during remodeling

I felt taupe-i-fied when I walked into the new St. Louis store. Gone were the little gimcracks and knickknacks.  It looked very much like it was trying to be a designer showroom, but open to the masses. I was wanting to purchase some gray towels, but was thrown off by the taupe ricocheting around.  Taking them to a window for the natural light allowed me to see the real color.

Bottom line, all this stuff in the catalogues looks great in their fantasy stage-sets, but how do you put it together in your own home?  How do you coordinate a design concept appropriate to your home's architecture, evaluate scale, do a floor and lighting plan, harmonize textures and colors, put in the right art and accessories, and personalize it as well? How do you make it look like you didn't just order the Sears #5 Living Room?

At the end of the day, I say, you still need a good designer to put it all together.