Passion - That is the Key

"Passion - that is the key in Interior / Exterior: the urge to beautify and capture reality and to inspire others."

This is an excerpt taken from the book: INEX by Wolterinck. It is one of my favourite books as it features the interiors of homes and shows how the surrounding gardens have been designed to compliment the interiors, creating a total lifestyle concept. This concept is especially more relevant at this time of year when the weather is warm and invites us to spend more time outdoors, thereby extending our useable living spaces. In 1986 Marcel Wolterinck opened a flower shop in the village of Lauren, Holland. His concern for perfection and versatility later resulted in his own furniture range and his passion developed for incorporating the interior of the home with the gardens.

The above pictures are part of the garden that surrounds an updated 70's house. Both the garden and the house breathe an Oriental atmosphere. The garden by the bamboo planting around the house, and a Japanese touch is provided by the oak fence which turns gray when weathered. The garden fountain is lead produced by W, and the table in the upper left is a work of art in bronze by the Dutch Sculptor, Huub Kortekaas. The garden chairs are teak and metal.

This Provencal Villa (above and below) is situated in St. Tropez. where the emphasis is placed on the exterior life. This is expressed in an outdoor room and outdoor terraces. How very pleasant to sit at the large, wooden table with a zinc base underneath the pergola overgrown with Wisteria. The presence of an outdoor kitchen provides an additional dimension to being outdoors and can be used as an exterior fireplace lit on summer evenings. The planting is a combination of old and new. An age-old olive tree dominates the view (below) and is surrounded by a row of box trees and a wealth of plants such as Santolina, Pittosporum, Senecio, Helichrysum, Laurus nobilis, lavender, thyme, and Westringia fruticosa, all creating a subtle interplay of greens and grays and a perfect match for the various local types of stone.

Paradise in Algrave: This beautiful villa (above) is located in Portugal. Wolternick arranged the seating areas surrounding the villa like rooms. The floor lamps, tables, and chairs with cloth upholstery have been assigned a permanent place in these comfortable outdoor areas. Taste and rhythm also apply to the exterior kitchen with its fireplace to grill dishes. Meals can be prepared on the worktop that flanks the fireplace on either side. At right angles with the fireplace is a bold U-shaped zinc table surrounded by delicate director's chairs.

The above photos are part of a 20-hectare estate in Bremen, northwestern Germany. The 16th century farmhouse on the estate is surrounded by ancient trees and hedges. The farmhouse court, where horses once stood, was all stone, but was given an intimate character by Wolterinck by means of 60 year old beech hedges, walls, and trained box trees. The garden has many exotic varieties of plants. "The people who used to live on estates like these traveled extensively and brought back with them plants from distant places. This is how many exotic varieties ended up here, like Brugmansia, Hibiscus trees, Agapanthus, lemon trees, figs and Plumbagos. In summer these are put outside in pots, in autumn they find shelter in the orangery". The teak bench from the Lister Collection in the top right picture is in the style of the English Architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869–1944) who collaborated with Gertrude Jekyll the renowned English artist and gardener.

What is your most favourite garden?
What makes a garden special to you?
Please let me know by leaving a comment.

Photos and excerpts from: INEX Wolterinck
Photography: Sigurd Kranendonk

Patricia Gray writes about 'WHAT'S HOT 'in the world of Interior Design, new and emerging trends, modern design,
architecture, and travel, as well as how your surroundings can influence the world around you.
© Patricia Gray Interior Design Blog, 2009

Wrapping up 2009

I always revel in the week between Christmas and New Year as a time diverge from routine, and welcome the New Year in with a change in what I usually read throughout the year, which are books on Interior Design.  One of the ways I make a choices on what I want to read, is to leaf through several books and read the jacket covers or page through the book randomly to see if anything speaks to me.  That is how I choose, What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell. I had previously read his book, Tipping Point, and then saw him interviewed on a talk show on his third book - Outliers.  While paging through his most current book, What the Dog Saw, I was immediately hooked on his article entitled: The Ketchup Conundrum.  This book, What the Dog Saw, contains Malcolm Gladwell's favourite pieces that he has written over the last several years for the pages of The New Yorker.  "Good writing," Gladwell says in his preface, "does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade.  It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head."  It is a fascinating read.

Another favourite way to choose a book is to ask people what is their favorite book they have read.  Usually they are so enthusiastic in recounting the highlights of the book that it gets me excited to read it.  The outcome of my most recent enquiry was - the New York Times Bestseller by Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog.  This book is set in Paris, which immediately attracted me, but the real focus of the book is about a woman who is a concierge at a bourgeois building in a posh Parisian neighborhood.  She (Renee) has a secret: she is a ferocious autodidact who furtively devours art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. Renee hides her true talents and her finest qualities from a world that she suspects cannot or will not appreciate them.  It is a story about living out her life in obscurity to hide this fact about herself, and how she reconciles herself to owning her brilliance. 

Last night on Charlie Rose I watched a fascinating interview with the brilliant Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish novelist and winner of 2006 The Nobel Prize in Literature, on his new book: The Museum of Innocence.  The story, which takes place in Istanbul between 1975 and today, is about obsessive passion and the great question: What is love, really?, as well as a look into the minds and culture of the Turkish society.  I am off to purchase this book tomorrow to wrap up my reading for these last few day left of 2009.

What is your favourite book that you have read lately?
Please leave a comment here, and let me know.

Patricia Gray is an award winning Interior Designer in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada who blogs about "WHAT'S HOT"
in the world of Interior Design: New and Emerging Trends, Contemporary Design, Modern Architecture and Travel,
as well as how your surroundings can enhance the world around you.
© Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™ 2009

Wrapping up 2009

I always revel in the week between Christmas and New Year as a time diverge from routine, and welcome the New Year in with a change in what I usually read throughout the year, which are books on Interior Design.  One of the ways I make a choices on what I want to read, is to leaf through several books and read the jacket covers or page through the book randomly to see if anything speaks to me.  That is how I choose, What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell. I had previously read his book, Tipping Point, and then saw him interviewed on a talk show on his third book - Outliers.  While paging through his most current book, What the Dog Saw, I was immediately hooked on his article entitled: The Ketchup Conundrum.  This book, What the Dog Saw, contains Malcolm Gladwell's favourite pieces that he has written over the last several years for the pages of The New Yorker.  "Good writing," Gladwell says in his preface, "does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade.  It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head."  It is a fascinating read.

Another favourite way to choose a book is to ask people what is their favorite book they have read.  Usually they are so enthusiastic in recounting the highlights of the book that it gets me excited to read it.  The outcome of my most recent enquiry was - the New York Times Bestseller by Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog.  This book is set in Paris, which immediately attracted me, but the real focus of the book is about a woman who is a concierge at a bourgeois building in a posh Parisian neighborhood.  She (Renee) has a secret: she is a ferocious autodidact who furtively devours art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. Renee hides her true talents and her finest qualities from a world that she suspects cannot or will not appreciate them.  It is a story about living out her life in obscurity to hide this fact about herself, and how she reconciles herself to owning her brilliance. 

Last night on Charlie Rose I watched a fascinating interview with the brilliant Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish novelist and winner of 2006 The Nobel Prize in Literature, on his new book: The Museum of Innocence.  The story, which takes place in Istanbul between 1975 and today, is about obsessive passion and the great question: What is love, really?, as well as a look into the minds and culture of the Turkish society.  I am off to purchase this book tomorrow to wrap up my reading for these last few day left of 2009.

What is your favourite book that you have read lately?
Please leave a comment here, and let me know.

Patricia Gray is an award winning Interior Designer in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada who blogs about "WHAT'S HOT"
in the world of Interior Design: New and Emerging Trends, Contemporary Design, Modern Architecture and Travel,
as well as how your surroundings can enhance the world around you.
© Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™ 2009

Passion - That is the Key

 

"Passion - that is the key in Interior / Exterior: the urge to beautify and capture reality and to inspire others."

This is an excerpt taken from the book: INEX by Wolterinck.  It is one of my favourite books as it features the interiors of homes and shows how the surrounding gardens have been designed to compliment the interiors, creating a total lifestyle concept. This concept is especially more relevant at this time of year when the weather is warm and invites us to spend more time outdoors, thereby extending our useable living spaces.  In 1986 Marcel Wolterinck opened a flower shop in the village of Lauren, Holland. His concern for perfection and versatility later resulted in his own furniture range and his passion developed for incorporating the interior of the home with the gardens. 

The above pictures are part of the garden that surrounds an updated 70's house.  Both the garden and the house breathe an Oriental atmosphere.  The garden by the bamboo planting around the house, and a Japanese touch is provided by the oak fence which turns gray when weathered.  The garden fountain is lead produced by W, and the table in the upper left is a work of art in bronze by the Dutch Sculptor, Huub Kortekaas.  The garden chairs are teak and metal.

  

This Provencal Villa (above and below) is situated in St. Tropez. where the emphasis is placed on the exterior life.  This is expressed in an outdoor room and outdoor terraces.  How very pleasant to sit at the large, wooden table with a zinc base underneath the pergola overgrown with Wisteria.  The presence of an outdoor kitchen provides an additional dimension to being outdoors and can be used as an exterior fireplace lit on summer evenings. The planting is a combination of old and new.  An age-old olive tree dominates the view (below) and is surrounded by a row of box trees and a wealth of plants such as Santolina, Pittosporum, Senecio, Helichrysum, Laurus nobilis, lavender, thyme, and Westringia fruticosa, all creating a subtle interplay of greens and grays and a perfect match for the various local types of stone. 

 

 
 

Paradise in Algrave: This beautiful villa (above) is located in Portugal.  Wolternick arranged the seating areas surrounding the villa like rooms.  The floor lamps, tables, and chairs with cloth upholstery have been assigned a permanent place in these comfortable outdoor areas.  Taste and rhythm also apply to the exterior kitchen with its fireplace to grill dishes.  Meals can be prepared on the worktop that flanks the fireplace on either side.  At right angles with the fireplace is a bold U-shaped zinc table surrounded by delicate director's chairs.

 
 

The above photos are part of a 20-hectare estate in Bremen, northwestern Germany.  The 16th century farmhouse on the estate is surrounded by ancient trees and hedges.  The farmhouse court, where horses once stood, was all stone, but was given an intimate character by Wolterinck by means of 60 year old beech hedges, walls, and trained box trees.  The garden has many exotic varieties of plants.  "The people who used to live on estates like these traveled extensively and brought back with them plants from distant places.  This is how many exotic varieties ended up here, like Brugmansia, Hibiscus trees, Agapanthus, lemon trees, figs and Plumbagos.  In summer these are put outside in pots, in autumn they find shelter in the orangery". The teak bench from the Lister Collection in the top right picture is in the style of the English Architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869–1944) who collaborated with Gertrude Jekyll the renowned English artist and gardener.

What is your most favourite garden?
What makes a garden special to you?
Please let me know by leaving a comment.

Photos and excerpts from: INEX Wolterinck
Photography: Sigurd Kranendonk

 Patricia Gray writes about 'WHAT'S HOT 'in the world of Interior Design, new and emerging trends, modern design,
architecture, and travel, as well as how your surroundings can influence the world around you.
© Patricia Gray Interior Design Blog, 2009