BREATH OF THE PAST

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 901, 19 February 1930, Page 6

BREATH OF THE PAST

MODERN HOME INTERIORS PERSONALITY OF OWNER “That all, of the good the past hath had Remains to make our own time glatl.” Our culture is not a heritage of the past, but a development from it. The fine art of civilisation more and more clearly resolves itself into attuning ourselves to all things fine and beautiful. Romance lurks in our heritage of antiques, revealing to us messages of an age of chateaux and terraces, fountains playing in the moonlight, ladies redolent of lavender and patchouli, hovering lords, point lace and perukes. The charm of the use of old furniture and fabric in the new way lias established a new basis of approach to the art of interior decoration. The demand for livable rooms that have the charm of old interiors has abolished the mechanical perfection of factory-made furniture and opened many avenues for skilled workmen. Academic study and use of period furniture has given us knowledge to use intelligently the form, materials and designs of the past centuries. It is most important in composing the interiors for the home to express the personality of the owner; the tradition of his race and nation, moods and philosophies, collective instincts and social relations. In its complexity of motives lies the charm of a home, if its expressions are coherent. Just what one has to say is, or should be, more important than the way of saying it, so the things expressed in the interior treatment are more important than the technical points of design. Thus the decorator creates and reflects in his work strength and beauty, the fruits of his knowledge. All we may hope to know in the expression of the art of interior decorating possibly Keats crystalised into the last two lines of his is truth, truth beauty—that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”—K. Hope Hamilton in “The Architect and Engineer.”