Showing posts with label John Dickinson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Dickinson. Show all posts

Monday, November 5, 2012

Copy Cat John Dickinson

It's amazing how certain things come back. John Dickinson tables are widely collected by design savvy folks. Oly Studio knocked off a version that was a bit pricey. All good things come to those who wait. Now Z Gallerie has a sweet little table for only $99. that is very much in the wheelhouse of John Dickinson.

Z Gallerie Hoof Legged Table $99. - It totted over to my house!

Hoof feet on furniture has been around for centuries. From The LA Times:

Hoof feet on furniture is an early style of furniture foot, carved to resemble a realistic animal hoof (typically that of a deer); it developed along with the cabriole leg, with which it usually appears, towards the end of the 17th century; most characteristic of Régence, William and Mary, and early Louis XV and Queen Anne furniture, although it continued throughout the 18th century - This classic French table has just the suggestion of a foot


"Furniture based on the anatomy of wildlife dates back 3,000 years to the creature comforts of the animal-worshiping Egyptians, whose beds stood on carved bull legs, gazelle hooves or lion feet. Four-legged beasts also influenced the design of chairs and tables of the Greeks and Romans, who used them for strength as well as decorative detail.

This is my dining table with a hoof foot - I have loved hoof feet on furnishings ever since I saw a claw foot bath tub as a child - It was so funny and magical to me -  photo Sara Essex Bradley


Although legs were often stylized representations of animal limbs, feet were rendered realistically. Bird motifs dominated in the early 18th century: A three-lobed drake foot was a feature of Queen Anne furniture, as was the claw and ball, commonly seen on Chippendale and early American furniture derived from Chinese sculptures of dragons clutching crystal orbs.

This is the Chinese version of a hoof foot table

"In the mid-1700s, horse hooves became popular. Lions' paws were common in Continental neoclassical styles of the late 18th century. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, as archaeologists unearthed relics of ancient civilizations, furniture makers revived animal motifs. Big-game safaris made zebra and leopard hides a sign of status, and furniture took eccentric and extreme forms such as umbrella stands made out of hollowed-out elephant legs."

A classic French style hoof

Another classic French style table with hoof feet from queen of all things French  Cote de Texas

Classic hoof footed furniture - love it!


 "Animal feet can be seen even during the Modernist period, says Angela Past, 20th century decorative arts specialist at the Bonhams & Butterfields L.A. auction house. 'T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings and John Dickinson re- created ancient animal motifs for a modern setting,' she says."

Trad and mod mix with a hoof footed table

Contemporary hoof footed dining chairs


Contemporary hoof footed arm chairs

John Dickinson table

Hoof footed stool in a kitchen

John Dickinson three legged tables

Z Gallerie three legged table

I bought the table! It's quirky and fun. It has a more glam high gloss finish than the powdery plaster finish of John Dickinson pieces, and the faux plaster look done by Oly.  I love it, and for $99. how can you go wrong?

Isn't it cute?

Cholo likes it!


Nature always inspires


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Friday, June 15, 2012

Oly Ari Side Table

The Plaster Mania post was so fun, and it was pointed out (thanks Squeak!) that Oly Studios makes a very cute table that brings to mind John Dickinson. Savvy Home has a nice post about the trend.

Oly Studios Ari Side Table

You can get the table from a site called Shop Candelabra. The list price is 832., but the site said to call for the price, and I did and was quoted 614. with free shipping. While not a bargain for most of us, it is still a great look that would cost so much more than the pieces it seems inspired by. You know I like to see nice things for your home no matter what budget you have.

This table is actually discounted t0 614. at Shop Candelabra
I have just the place for this little table, so I think I'll start saving up!

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Plaster Mania

Decorators have been obsessed with plaster objects for many years, and they are once again an accessory du jour.

Plaster dipped chandelier from Trove in Los Angeles - I am thinking of doing a DIY project

I remember an episode on Million Dollar Decorators where JAM and Ross were at the San Francisco Antiques show, making a bee line for a perfect coffee table that turned out to be a small vintage plaster table by John Dickinson. I think it the price tag was ten thousand dollars.

Ross and Jeffrey on the hunt for the perfect coffee table

They coveted this John Dickinson table that sold for $30K

Since then I noticed more and more John Dickinson pieces being featured in designer rooms.

A treasure trove of John Dickinson pieces

Plaster tables are popping up everywhere in designer rooms

John Dickinson lamps are also very popular

Room designed by the legendary John Dickinson
Syrie Maugham was famous for using white plaster objects.

Syrie Maugham with a white plaster palm tree lamp - Love the chevron rug too - This is 1930 people!
"The story behind this literally off-the-wall use of plaster actually began in the '30s. Serge Roche, a second-generation antiques dealer, began making ornate Rococo plaster tables, mirror frames and palm-frond torchiers during the Great Depression to bolster the stock of his Paris shop. Business was bad, so in order to keep going, he decided to design furniture. Not everything was done in plaster, but most of it was. Along with fellow Parisian Jean-Michel Frank—who sold the work of Emilio Terry and sculptors Alberto and Diego Giacometti—Roche became the go-to plaster resource for the decoratrixes of the day, such as Elsie de Wolfe, Frances Elkins and particularly Syrie Maugham, who snapped up pieces for her signature all-white rooms."

Syrie Maugham lobster phone

"In that era, plaster had a touch of whimsy and the surreal—Maugham collaborated with Salvador Dali on a plaster lobster phone—but it was still mostly focused on traditions past. It's no surprise that as the forward-looking '60s rolled in, plaster took a backseat to steel and glass. San Francisco decorator John Dickinson was part of its revival in the '70s with his almost cartoony animal-footed stools and tables."
from The Wall Street Journal

Frances Elkins with her plaster treasures

Here in New Orleans chandelier designer Julie Neill has been experimenting with plaster. She's made a couple of chandeliers. It's not as easy as my DIY idea of dipping a chandelier. She has worked hard in  finding a way to actually make a chandelier in plaster.

Julie Neill chandelier in the restaurant Oak in New Orleans

One of the first Julie Neill plaster chandeliers

Julie said this is the one that inspired her that she saw in a room done by Gerrie Bremermann

There are many other ways to incorporate plaster accents into your decor. A simple one is to use plaster brackets to display smaller objects. The little shelves are relatively easy to find and inexpensive.

Miles Redd uses plaster brackets

Steven Gambrel uses plaster brackets
You can also just place a few plaster objects around your home. I have a plaster lamp purchased at Ballard Designs over fifteen years ago.

I love this photo, an outtake for the book Undecorate taken by Melanie Acevedo - So much has changed since that photo shoot, but I still have and use  the plaster lamp
Plaster walls inherent to architecture are amazing

I love the plaster objects used in this table setting designed by Dwayne Clark and Bob Gaynor for DIFFA

Shells mix well with plaster - Detail of DIFFA table

Of course here in New Orleans many old homes have plaster mouldings and medallions


I'll let you know what happens if I dip an old chandelier in plaster! Has anyone out there tried this yet? Or made plaster furniture?


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