Designing Across Eras
How Eberlein Design Consultants Blends Historic Architecture with Collections from Another Era
How do you stretch the boundaries of “period-appropriate” interiors? What if you wrote a new rule book? What would happen, for example, if you introduced Art Deco antiques into a Richard Neutra modernist masterpiece? What would happen if you injected a notable collection of early 20th century art into a 1930s Georgian Revival house? Will the styles clash, compete, or create a new kind of visual conversation?
At Eberlein Design Consultants, we make the most challenging ideas take form in strikingly beautiful ways. Compelling interiors emerge when history informs the creative process rather than proscribing it with a fixed set of rules. We take the unexpected and make it feel inevitable by creating interiors in which different eras, materials, and sensibilities respond to one another rather than compete.
Come explore this dichotomy through our lens.
Cairncliff
The new owners of Neutra’s 1962 landmark “Cairncliff” wanted something truly different. Rather than default to the expected midcentury modern furnishings, we chose to create a dialogue between the bold modernism of the architecture and the vibrant personality of Art Deco design without starting an argument between the two.
Bringing a collection from another era into a historic house begins with listening to its inherent architecture, its materials, and its character then engaging it in a different voice. If the house speaks in a rustic tone, we respond with refinement. When it gives us matte surfaces, we introduce high polish. When it’s defined by hard edges, we bring in soft curves, countering angularity with sinuous, flowing forms.
It is not about making one era conform to another; it’s about exploring the tension between them and then celebrating the visual excitement in what happens as a result.
Neutra’s architecture poses a challenge because it is such a powerful, self-sufficient statement that presents itself as a complete thought. We took a very conscious position, saying “We understand your language but want to use different kinds of aesthetic descriptors and then see how you respond.” This requires balancing those two voices continually to discover a lyrical connection.
Looking at these images reveals what is compelling about Neutra’s design. There is a constant reinforcement of the connection between the indoor and outdoor worlds. The original reflecting pool in the foyer and the mirrored wall behind creates an undeniable connection with the flowing waterfall outside the entrance. This scene, anchored by an ancient Roman bronze statue, creates a meditative moment as you enter the house, setting the tone for revelations that unfold elsewhere. Visually, the vertical channels in the bronze rendering of the fabric recall the architectural columns that punctuate this space and draw your eyes upward. Floating spine-like wedges mimic the diagonal sweep of the top of her dress, making the powerful scene reinforce notions of the past, connecting inevitably to the unmistakable – we see the world all around her as she looks out beyond us, inviting us to do the same.
Fluent French
Our clients wanted to celebrate a new phase in their lives in a recently acquired Georgian Revival house. Again, we tapped into the inexhaustible richness of early French Art Deco furniture and 20th century art to create a compelling dialogue. We were given free rein to explore the intersection of unexpected surfaces and precious objects. In some rooms, we created evocative plaster wall finishes with a craqueleur surface to reveal an underlying wood grain pattern. In other rooms, matte and gloss surfaces intermingle to catch light in a painterly tableau.
The geometrically articulated mantle almost demands that you focus on the grain of the walnut in the 1935 Dominique table. To heighten the effect of the Dominique dining chairs, we turned the bespoke Prelle fabric sideways so that the weave would mirror that of the table itself, creating a sinuous, wave-like motion throughout.
Sometimes, a light tough is the secret to a convincing aesthetic statement. Rather than removing all the Georgian architectural details, we were selective and maintained the original floors, doors, and millwork. The telltale dentil moulding, however, was replaced with a simpler crown that accepted the Art Deco aesthetics more readily. All of the Georgian paneling is preserved but treated with a series of strié glazes whose final coat is heat treated to force the craquelure, recalling the rich surface of antique porcelains. We don’t take the architecture away; we add to its history some elements that would not have been part of the original finish. When those elements settle into the background, almost like camouflage, the room’s true tour de force of ideas and powerful geometry expresses itself anew.
The most interesting thing about Art Deco stylistically is that there is a tendency to think of it (particularly in its earlier forms) as feminine, lightweight, and flowing. Here, it is anything but. We choreographed an explosion of every kind of geometry imaginable. Zigzagging patterns at different scales meet intersecting rectangles and interlocking circles in the carpet that was reproduced for this room based on an Ivan da Silva Bruhns original.
We deliberately created a subtle backdrop for the character-defining Jules Leleu cabinet so that its sumptuous materials – amboyne, ivory, and bronze – maintain the starring role. Seemingly simple in its design, it is so powerful in the way it’s rendered in exotic materials; one of the hallmarks of Art Deco design. The floral motif appears three dimensional and yet the surface is flat, almost creating a “painting” in inlaid materials that reveal a level of true ingenuity and artistry.
In-depth research of the period led us to original documents by some of the greatest designers of the time, such as Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Maurice Dufrêne, Paul Follot, and Ivan da Silva Bruhns, whose designs and color palettes provided the inspiration for textiles and area rugs custom made in France by skilled artisans.
By celebrating the beauty of the luxurious woods and inlaid materials of the Art Deco period, we controlled the aesthetic by enveloping everything in shimmering palettes of violet, cocoa, amber, celadon, and silver. Walls lined with handmade paper, macassar ebony, and textured silk complement the collection and maximize its visual impact.
The result is a dynamic blend of elegant modernism in a house of classical proportions.
In the end
By orchestrating environments to showcase refined collections, a new visual language between two eras becomes an elevated dialogue expanding on the concept of “appropriate”. The result is a dynamic and surprisingly fitting marriage of styles, a 21st century conversation in which the architecture, furniture, and art thrive in one another’s orbits.