Modern furniture loses its hard edges

New lines put a more feminine, romantic spin on straight and simple


GAILE ROBINSON
The straight line in contemporary furniture had become so taut, so hard-edged and brittle, it was bound to snap. The geometrics couldn’t get any more square, the legs any more straight or upholstery more taut. While beautiful in its simplicity, it had become so spare that there was no place left to pare.
It was only natural that the linear silhouette would begin to slither out of alignment. It began to bend slightly and, relishing the new freedom, the sinuous line began to undulate. The ramrod posture of the box became a curvy hourglass. What was masculine and bold morphed into something feminine and light.
One of the first to feel the need for a feminine turn was Lisa Versacio, who began West Elm for Williams-Sonoma, first as a catalog and then as stores that specialize in sleek, ultramodern furnishings for the home. She was enticed away from the San Francisco-based retailer by Restoration Hardware to create a new company. Versacio named the new venture Brocade Home and launched the first catalog and Web site, www.brocadehome.com, in early fall.
“When I looked at the competitive landscape, I felt there was an opportunity for something more feminine or romantic,” she says. “I didn’t really see anybody focusing on what I refer to as a feminine aesthetic, something that looked clean and fresh, integrating the best of clean lines from the modern world and updating some things and ideas pulled from the past.”
Versacio took the fanciful decoration of the rococo period and applied it to pieces with contemporary proportions.
“I chose things that had a beautiful shape that complemented clean lines and added just a little touch of softness or decoration,” she says.
The results are beds with curlicue headboards and delicate legs, sofas with camel backs, and Parsons tables with a scrolled bottom line.
Some established brick-and-mortar retailers are in on the feminine trend. The Conran Shop, a fast-forward chain based in London with stores in Japan, Paris and New York City, is selling a much-embellished console table, the Poldo Como, with a shape that would please a king of France, but coated in a high-gloss lacquer colored in contemporary bright orange ($4,590, www.conran.com.)
They also have delicate side chairs that look to be modeled after the lightness and grace of a gazelle. Too insubstantial to be made of wood, the Charme chair is cast aluminum with a leather seat.
This hybridization of old shapes in new finishes can be seen in several instances at the high end of furniture design.
A typical Louis XV chair, pricey at $3,250, has been regenerated in cast aluminum with patent-leather upholstery by furniture designer Pascal Bevillard. The Tommy Hilfiger store in New York has used it in multiples. The Marquis has been seen in shelter magazines Domino and House and Garden and featured on HGTV.
Bevillard, of Bogart, Ga., used an authentic Louis XV chair to make the mold. It has found favor in minimalist loft surroundings and in the collections of traditionalists who like the mix of unusual materials. Because it is weatherproof, some brave decorators have installed it outside, as porch furniture. It can be ordered directly from Bevillard at www.pascalfrenchfurniture.com.