SOMETHING DECORATIVE

Concept Collaboration by Interior Architect Colby Vexler and Seamus Phelan

All images by Colby Vexler
Florals and Direction by Seamus Phelan

Something Decorative With Colby Vexler

Without purpose finding place becomes even harder. That isn’t to say that decor doesn’t hold value, but it is a value clearly different from that of function, practicality and fitting in. And yet things still feel right, when well arranged. Probably because there is a long standing history of not only flower arranging, but finding their place within a room.

I think Ishigami saw the table as a garden plot, a place to meticulously establish a kind of temporary planting plan, at least in one or two projects.

Maybe decor or any soft furnishing shouldn’t be overthought but carefully considered, on its own terms.

Mikael Bergquist said that “Accidentism to Frank did not mean arbitrariness or submitting to fate. Instead, it suggested creating as if something had occurred by chance.”

Alison and Peter Smithson’s used their conception of the “Eames' Aesthetic” to “select and arrange” an organisational logic of relatively simple objects within a room, “a design method, [which] is close to flower arrangement and to good taste in the furnishing of rooms with collector's pieces: it uses things for what they are, each object being enhanced and speaking more clearly of itself by virtue of the arrangement.” I often wonder if they had a display logic for flower arrangements themselves within a room.

Florian Beigel and Philip Christou said something about not designing the picnic, but considering the qualities and placement of the rug. Maybe seeing the floor, a niche, any table top, shelf, cupboard, mantle, window sill or ledge as a flower stand is enough. After all, Florian and Philip displayed a bouquet of flowers on top of their washing machine.

Teshigahara principles’ saw flower arranging become an art practice rather than a matter of decoration, even though he noted that the most beautiful flowers don’t always make for the most beautiful arrangements.

The intellectual arrangement of references gives more material to work with but doesn’t outline a clear composition to arrive at.

Putting things together is hard work, not just because of the manual labour and efforts of moving things around but for the effort it takes to settle on finding a nice arrangement.

Thinking about making flower arrangements and where to put them in a small room on Collins Street with Foms.