ARTISTIC LICENCE

In addition to bringing an interior to life, art is also the detail that ensures a scheme feels completely unique

- 

BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL

Using 20th-century furnishings and art in a 19th-century house will lend the room a modern feel. 'When we designed the Grand Parlor in the Brooklyn Heights Showhouse, we featured Black Cross, a brawny and outstanding early painting by Judith Godwin,' says Glenn Gissler, president of Glenn Gissler Design. He worked with a number of sources to pull together a collection of furnishings that would look at home in this house, built in 1867, including a 1960s Jules Leleu desk and vintage Jacques Adnet leather chairs. He turned back to the 19th century for the Khorasan rug, courtesy of Nazmiyal Antique Rugs in New York.

SLIDING SCREEN

Art is foremost a thing of beauty but a large canvas can have a practical application, too. In the form of a large tapestry, for instance, it will help improve the acoustics within a room. In the sitting room of a property in Notting Hill, Orla Read, founder of Orla Read Design Studio, worked with cabinetry designer Ed Keyser to create this sliding screen that features a painting by Mary West. The diptych slides apart along a bespoke rail to reveal a TV behind. When open, the two canvases sit perfectly within the alcoves of the shelves on either side, ensuring that when either open or closed the room looks balanced.

MURAL BEAUTY