It is, perhaps, a hallmark of the times that people have become increasingly interested in interiors, dedicating as much attention to the design of their homes as they once did their fashion choices. After all, decorating a residence is just one more way to let your personality and point of view shine. But in the age of social media, it’s little surprise that trendiness sometimes trumps creativity in the process, and the speed at which ideas are embraced and abandoned can leave true design aficionados lamenting the state of affairs.
In her new book The Alchemy of Things: Interiors Shaped by Curious Minds, Australian author and lifestyle editor Karen McCartney presents an antidote to the fast design that has seized the public imagination in a series of highly curated homes that reflect their owners’ passion for collecting and pairing unexpected, one-of-a-kind pieces. “I write about trends for a living, but it seems to me that through platforms like Instagram we are rushing through ideas and objects at the speed of light,” she says, though she acknowledges being a fan of the medium. “What is ‘in’ and highly sought-after is soon ‘out’ and people are over it, so good things get lost in the churn.”
How to Decorate with Soul
Antwerp gallerist Veerle Wenes channels a respect for cross-pollination in her live-work space, a 1979 concrete building that is merged with an ancient workshop for nuns. “All aspects of my life are connected, and I want to live and work in the same place and show people that art and design can be part of daily life,” she says. In the living room, the wall displays artwork collected over time and serves as a backdrop for lamps by Muller Van Severen.
Belgian interior designer Frederic Hooft displays antiestablishment tendencies alongside an appreciation for artistic furnishings in his idiosyncratic home in Ghent. “To the untrained eye it is hard to know what is an inspired flea market find and what is a valuable and rare item,” writes McCartney. The dining room skews toward the rarefied: Chairs by Chapo, Grcic, and Gevers surround a Maarten Van Severen table.
The Parisian apartment of Michael Coorengel and Jean-Pierre Calvagrac blends classical details and a modern aesthetic. In the living room, a fur-draped Mallet-Stevens chair sits beside a silk velvet sofa by Jansen and Breuer Wassily chairs reupholstered in green duchess satin.
A simple timber-and-tin cottage on the coast of New South Wales, Australia, houses a mix of 20th-century furnishings and one-of-a-kind artifacts curated by furniture restorer and retailer Rodney de Soos and Patrick Carrick. “Letting someone in your house is like letting them read your diary; your obsessions become apparent quite quickly,” says De Soos. Here, a teak table from India is juxtaposed against a steel cabinet topped with a collection of Scandinavian glass.
“Our goal is not to finish, but to keep on changing and evolving,” says Hubèrt van der Meer of the home he shares with artist Henk Duijn in southern France. “Decorating can be different in time; different furniture will create another story.” In a workroom that doubles as a guest bedroom, the bed and throw pillows were covered in remnant pieces from Van der Meer’s fabric collections.
“Over ten years I have gathered objects, placed and shifted them, hung them up, taken them down, and gradually a series of decorated spaces have emerged—often with different identities,” says antiques collector Geoffrey Hatty of his house outside Melbourne, Australia. Hatty purchased this chair, attributed to Francis Jourdain, at auction in Paris. “This is a place of marvelous rejections, of pieces that I know to be great, but for whom I have never found the right buyer. It has developed as things failed, and so isn’t one look. I don’t like to be pigeonholed, but rather, try to find the virtue in a wide range of things.”
“There is nothing apologetic in Tamsin’s world of things, and she likes her furniture and art to be gutsy, robust, and have a high level of craft,” writes McCartney of Sydney interior designer Tamsin Johnson’s Darling Point home. One look at her office reveals that Johnson has an eye for quality and reveres the offbeat over the trendy: She repurposed a former kitchen table as a desk.
“Living in a Victorian terrace means that space and scale are limited,” says Ronan Sulich, a veteran of the auction house Christie’s of his Sydney home. “While I still love the art and culture of the 18th century, I’m also drawn to the contemporary art of our time, and increasingly add small modern pieces into the mix, where they speak to each other across the ages.” Here, an abstract Clement Meadmore sculpture plays off more classical figurative works.
In her 1930s-era apartment in Milan, architect turned visual designer Elisa Ossino balances new designs with classic pieces, all united by a serene white-and-black palette. “I only want things that I like forever, pieces with history and objects where their story makes them something special,” she says. In the living room, an LC7 chair by Charlotte Perriand for Cassina and La Chaise by Eames for Vitra offset the rusticity of the wood accents and the laid-back lounge seating.
The Alchemy of Things: Interiors Shaped by Curious Minds.
These homes, however, seem to defy the current formula for what’s hot. “I was drawn to these spaces because the people are not looking left or right for approval—they have a devil-may-care confidence, which is incredibly appealing,” says McCartney. “What is remarkable is that they all manage to err on the side of humanity over pomposity, with a passionate attachment to the space they live in rarely defined by dollars spent.” Also appealing is the message of self-determination throughout the book. “To me the takeaway is that your interior can be anything you want it to be if you apply large doses of care and conviction,” says McCartney. “The care bit is to inform yourself and buy from a position of knowledge, and the conviction is to know yourself and stick to what pleases you.” She goes on, “What I appreciate about this style of interior is the freedom that it brings for people to truly express their passions and their personality whatever their interest. It taps into something more interesting and layered.”
Here are eight spaces that display style and soul in spades, interiors that are, according to McCartney, “the result of a combination of a flair for aesthetics, an ability to collect and curate, and a distinctive personalized style that rises above trends.”
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