Bridge for Design

As an antique dealer and an avid collector of post-war contemporary
art, I have been privileged to travel far and wide in my pursuits.
With this came the opportunity to meet a great many wonderful
fellow dealers and collectors and often to visit their amazing homes,
which was a revelation for me – to see how such people lived and, in
particular to witness how they lived with their things.
I observed a common characteristic running through each of these
individuals: they were skilled editors, certainly, and they gathered
effortlessly around them the extravagant and the simple in such a
relaxed and unfussy manner that art, furnishings and objects appeared
to be arranged in almost naïve combinations.
These dealers were not in search of perfection or elegance, but
rather they sought the serenity of a simple, pared down composition.
Inside their homes, I found there was a great deal for me to learn,
for these dealers and collectors, who had been immersed in history
and culture virtually their entire lives, manifested a very different
view to the placement and juxtaposition of objects and possessions
that I had found in America.
My immediate thought was how I could capture a little of this
interpretation and implement it back in Los Angeles. How could I
learn to emulate this European style of design?
I began to realise that for me the terms ‘design’ and ‘decoration’ were
almost inappropriate, since what I was seeking was a philosophical
zone of spirituality and expertise. This did not mean that I eschewed
beautiful things, precious things, expensive things; on the contrary, I
loved them all, if, and only if, they both belied and ►
TOP LEFT: A view of the large library-like master bedroom, which has several
seating areas and houses a large portion of Shapiro’s collection of reference
books
MIDDLE LEFT: Richard Shapiro perched on a 16th-century French Henri II
banquette below a 1962 Gunter Uecker nail piece.
LEFT AND ABOVE: In a corner of the living room an early 18th-century French
cabinet is hung with one of Henri Michaux’s “Mescaline” ink drawings. Tables
in front of the Studiolo white linen sofa are made of Japanese roots acquired
from Axel Vervoordt. Over the sofa hangs a 1953 Herbert Zangs tissue collage
painting.