Sparing Yet Daring
How modernistas do “traditional”
Maurice and Sally Blanks, owners of a 1905 Prairie-style Kenwood home in Minneapolis, know what they like in a room. He is a co-founder of Blu Dot, the hip and affordable hometown furniture manufacturer that recently opened its first free-standing shop in SoHo. She possesses an equally discerning eye, informed both by her public relations work for a contemporary art museum in Chicago and her current position on the board of a Minneapolis nonprofit, Midway Contemporary Art. “We obviously have a contemporary sensibility, but we liked the original espresso woodwork, the grid of the paneling, and the dark beams against the white ceiling,” Sally says. “But the house is quite masculine and the room needed something organic and fluid.” Enter designer Janet Gridley, principal of Gridley Vaughan Interiors, who worked with the Blanks on colors, pattern, and layering throughout the home. Sally gives Gridley credit for the great wallpaper. “It’s pink!” she says. “Of course, everyone knows that pink light is flattering, but it also adds an unexpected feminine palette to the room.” Maurice, Sally, and Gridley each contributed to the fundamental wisdom at play here: Know when to be sparing with the past and daring with the future.
1 Lighting
The “Light Shade Shade” chandelier, by Dutch designer Jurgen Bey for Moooi, was Maurice’s pick for center stage in the dining room. Its “more than meets the eye” magic offers a super-sized contemporary cylinder when the lights are off; when the lights are turned up, a traditional chandelier appears like an apparition from within.
2 Table
Maurice designed the table himself. He gave the piece a mass reminiscent of the substantial Jacobean style that once may have graced this room, but his form is strictly modern.
3 Seating
The Blanks had a long wish list for their dining room chairs. They needed to be comfortable. (“These are incredibly comfortable,” Sally testifies.) They needed to be easy to care for, since a large, extended family of friends with children takes its place at this table regularly. And, of course, they needed to be modern. The solution: The chalky white leather chair by Piet Boon, another Dutch designer. The white brightens an otherwise dark, moody room, and the leather is eminently childproof.
4 Wallpaper
With a background in art history and a talent for unearthing extraordinary resources, Gridley maneuvered skillfully between stylistic periods to find just the right paper for this room. This “Fresco” wallpaper, by Timorous Beasties of Scotland, draws on the artistic period of the early twentieth century, when the English Arts and Crafts movement was giving way to Art Nouveau and its plant-inspired motifs. “It’s challenging to work with clients with such incredible taste and sophistication,” says Gridley. “Maurice sees it all.” But she pulled the rabbit out of the hat. Embossed on top of the traditional organic pattern are silvery metallic dots that glow in candlelight—adding yet another overlay of modern on traditional to the ultimate allegory of this room.
Alecia Stevens is a Minneapolis writer and interior designer.
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