Today I continued the clear-out of my office and resource room and whilst disposing of magazines dating back to the 1970s I opened the September 1998 issue of Architectural Digest because I recognized a photo on the cover as belonging to an article written about one of my favorite designers from the 1990s - Terry Hunziker. Mr. Hunziker is based in Seattle but works nationally and internationally. A few months ago apropos something else I thought of him, googled, and called his office asking if there was a website I could access. Apparently there was not.
However, all that apart, I'm really pleasantly surprised to see how little in eleven years Mr. Hunziker's own flat in downtown Seattle had dated. Eleven years is a long time in interior design and little that is described as classic actually lives up to the name. Classic of one period is not the same classic as that of another - in fact the classic interior design of the 1980s screams loudly of big hair and shoulder pads as much as it does of chintz. Try that look today!
In 1998, I was very impressed by this flat and I still am - it still works and I think that after all this time it can be described as classic though there isn't a stitch of damask or brocade to be seen.
What is to be seen in these photos is an exciting mix of materials, some of them industrial in origin: paints, scrap metals and recycled glass; others showing the hand of the craftsman - hand-troweled plaster, high-gloss automotive paint, ancient lumberyard wood, polished concrete and leather.
One of the qualities I look for in a favorite space is tranquility and this flat has it. There's tranquility in the Northwest palette of color, greens, beiges, creams and other colors intrinsic to materials rather than applied.
For me there is a poetry of line, form, texture and color in the combination of early 19th century Russian chairs and the contemporary form of the table they surround - a table made of oak and steel. The mix is even more exciting with the addition of Chinese ceramics, contemporary American pottery, African stools, modern abstract art, Art deco chairs, a Modernist (50s) drinks trolley, and black and white photography.
Eleven years later it still works and that is the essence of classic.
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GREAT AND INSIGHTFUL POST.
ReplyDeleteTerry is a low-key designer--with his own point of view.
He does not publish a lot, keeps a low profile (thus, perhaps, no website...goodness).
Thanks for this comment and post.
Its that personal point of view that makes his design so attractive - affable, culturally referenced modernism. I say there's no website because whoever in is office answered the phone said there was none. I wish there were. Nice comment to wake up to ... thank you.
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