TRENDS 2020: WEST COAST CALIFORNIA INFLUENCE

DESIGN TRENDS 2020

WEST COAST CALIFORNIA INFLUENCE

For today's Trendy Tuesday post, we’re writing about the West Coast Influence, which we’ve noticed is having significant impact on interior design over the past few years. There also seems to be no end of talent coming from West Coast-based designers who continue to take the interior design scene by storm. From doyenne Kelly Wearstler to Commune Design, Studio Samshiri, Reath Design, The Archer's to Atelier A.M. to name but a few! These idiosyncratic firms embrace history and design legends and re-invent their concepts to make something timeless for today. Yet, we cannot wax poetic about all the incredible talent coming out of Cali without touching on one of Architectural Digests' "20 Greatest Designers of All Time"; Michael Taylor. 

(1) Kelly Wearstler, Seal Beach, Photography by Grey Crawford (2) Commune Design, Oscar’s Green Room, Photography by Roger Davies (3) Studio Samshiri, Untitled Art VIP Lounge, Photography by Joseph de Leo (4) Atelier AM, Los Angeles, Photography by François Halard (5) April Powers,Northern California, Photography by Roger Davies

ODES TO WHICH WE OWE: THE LEGACY OF MICHAEL TAYLOR (1927-1986)

The Beyer House, Malibu CA by Michael Taylor (1983) John Lautner (Architect). Commissioned in 1975 by Shirlin and Stanley Beyer.
Photography by Tim Street-Porter

In the last post on Spherical Cushions, we gave a shout out to Michael Taylor who used his signature cannonball cushions in the majority of his interiors throughout the 70s and 80s. Taylor, (whom Diana Vreeland famously called "The James Dean of Interior Design") is considered the pioneer of the "California Look"; and whose signature interiors are having an impact on the entire industry at large, whether realised or not. And looking at many photographed rooms on social media and the like, we couldn't help but notice Taylor's authority on today’s interiors is categoric even 20 years after his death. He was a master at creating traditional rooms (and brightening them up), adept with colour and colour-blocking, and also the “Grandmillenial”/ “New Traditionalist” styles which are also simultaneous trending right now.

Yet he is most famous for his warm monochromatic rooms. Those were light, airy, sophisticated yet subtly unfinished. They contained oversized chunky furniture with geometric cushions, sculptural forms, natural materials and usually integrated mother nature herself as a part of the scene.

Taylor's philosophy behind the "California Look" begins as an amalgamation of different styles, mixed with his unique twists that has been called; "a posthumous collaboration with some of the great decorators of the past" by designer Mark Hampton. And while it's commonplace to see a mixture of design styles today, it was primarily an unheard-of design philosophy when Taylor began fusing the old with the new.   

(Left): Example of a room in the early days of Taylor’s career showing colour-blocking and over-scaled furniture. While studying interior design under Rudolph Schaeffer at The Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design, Mr. Schaeffer said that Michael was; “wild but extremely creative”.
(Middle): A 1963 card room for San Francisco client Maryon Davies Lewis that to this day has not been changed. (Right): Dede Wilsey’s San Francisco mansion decorated by Taylor which she hasn’t changed since it was completed in the 1980s.  

(Left): ‘Beige Rage’ A canopy bed wrapped in raw silk from the1970’s and driftwood slab desk. (Middle): A bright sitting room featuring a horizontal funky horizontal stripe to counter balance the height of the room and give it a casual intimacy. (Right): From 1978, the rustic simplicity of this contemporary Beverly Hills home looks perfectly modern today.

"The most beautiful rooms are those that retain a feeling of not being quite finished. There is still a place for a painting on that wall, still a chair to be found that will suit that corner...meanwhile the room stays alive, young and growing...(A room) should not be 'too perfect.' Perfection in every detail usually makes a room look studied, formal, rather dull, and even forbidding."

Michael Taylor from "A New Look at Decorating", 1964

When you study the designs of today, especially what's being produced by the interior superstars of now, it's stunning how much of a visionary Michael Taylor was. He did it all! Taylor popularised “bringing the outdoors in” by featuring outdoor furniture as primary living pieces, and used trees as sculpture, slabs of driftwood, tree trunks, stone boulders and plants not only to be appreciated features but many times functional sculpture as well. He subtly mix-mastered using antiques (especially chairs) in an overall modern setting, being the first to break the rules and give us that eclectic old and new mix. He also made popular the all white look which he attributed to originator, Syrie Maugham. Taylor had an unerring mastery with creating warm, indulgent rooms that were sophisticated and informal through his ability to create tone-on-tone, especially beige or all white. His quirky, unexpected uses of chintz, toile and other decidedly "old fashioned" or overtly feminine patterns is also timeless as well as his ability to make overtly rustic elements modern no matter the decade. And his plump geometric cushions and over-scaled sculptural forms are seen all over interiors today. He even pioneered the luxurious Flintstone's look (which is trending now) when he collaborated with John Lautner on the Beyer Residence (mentioned up top). The list goes on!

(1) Pierre Yovanovitch ‘Swiss Chalet’ Photography by: Jean-François Jaussaud (2) Giancarlo Valle ‘Noho Apartment’ Photography by: Stephen Kent Johnson (3) Jamie Bush ‘Butterfly House’ Photography by: Jamie Bush + CO (4) Kelly Wearstler ‘Malibu’ Photography by: Francois Halard (5) Michael S. Smith ‘Rancho Residence’ Photography by: Roger Davies (6) Hallworth Design ‘Kew You’ Photography by: Hallworth Design

It certainly seems to us, that we all have been influenced by Taylor’s designs knowingly or not. It's clear Mr. Taylor's legacy is firmly stapled to the hearts and minds of today's designers and influencers, especially with this re-birth of the California relaxed luxe look that is trending everywhere. Indeed, we cannot talk about the West Coast influence without giving homage to Michael Taylor!