Artful Assimilation: Artifact In A Space

The Charles Rennie Mackintosh Armchair comes directly from the Arts and Crafts movement in the realm of 20th century design. Following the explicitly outlined principles of the Arts and Crafts aesthetic, the chair itself was constructed by hand and made from the finest materials available during the early part of the century. This movement and theory design required the constructs of any piece to be of the utmost quality and detailed perfection. Pieces were to be hand-made, and painstakingly tailored to marginalize any flaws in the details. Fittingly, the homes that housed these crafted marvels would be fine and grand in nature.

To bring this piece into a modern environment, I used a space that celebrated eclecticism as well temporal reverence. For the ideal locale of my space, I chose PX, an upscale speakeasy in my hometown of Alexandria, VA. It embraces the modern, while harkening back to a forgotten time. In terms of my own aesthetic for design, I cannot simply live within one specific period of design or style. As human beings, we are influenced by history every day that we’re alive. For example, in our relationships with our families, their stories, their experiences, their tastes, we develop our own ideals of what we enjoy and identify with which carry into the rest of our adult lives. This appreciation of time is what influences me to enjoy the many facets of design through decades and periods in the pieces I place within any living space. Because the lines of the Mackintosh chair are stylized in an angular fashion, it compliments the angles that exist in many contemporary spaces. To highlight the singular nature of the piece, I placed the chair in front of a bay window that looked out onto the streets in the main bar. The rest of the furniture in the room contained hard, clean lines, so the chair nestled in nicely with the look of the room. The low chandeliers compliment the arts and crafts aesthetic with their handcrafted nature, and ornate details. The look is overall lush; art deco meets art nouveau, meets modern opulence. Very befitting indeed.

Corey Fitz