How the light falls upon objects defines them. We comprehend the depth and color of these objects through the degree of light and shadow they reflect back to us.

If it is an overcast day and the sun is obscured by clouds or mist is hanging in the air, this evokes a very different feeling from full sun. Nature constantly invites us to perceive and react to its nuances of light, color and texture.

LIGHT IS OUR LIFELINE

THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND NIGHT

Lit from within and without

Night light versus day light. Carrying lanterns versus having stationery fixtures. Up lights versus hung lanterns. Internal room glow versus garden glow. We make so many decisions when choosing how to light our gardens, terraces or backyards at night. When night focal lighting mixes with ambient light, the magic begins...

HOKE HOUSE became the Cullen House from the Twilight movie. I love the way stone became a feature in their living room. Architect Jeff Kovel Skylab Architecture

creature comforts

QUIET OPULENCE

Is the reason we find wood so restful and want to bring floral patterns into our home  (Scale)because we’ve co-existed with these elements for thousands of years? Are they familiar friends and a part of our basic nature - our DNA? As with the nourishment plants provide to our human bodies when ingested, how could we exist without taking in the visual and tactile stimulation that nature constantly provides?

SNAKE and ALLIGATORS built into the structure of our seating. 

Who wouldn’t want to lounge with these creature comforts? 

found objects and collectables 

LENORE TAWNEY’S Collectables. I guess you can say I learned from the best. Was it osmosis or was I drawn to her sensibility because of my own?

STONE

I recently came across a diary entry where my friend Lenore told me she has a stone from Isamu Noguchi which he rubbed while he was in the interment camp so that the part he rubbed is very smooth. He told her all his grief was in that way relieved.

Aside from the Hoke House having a wall feature stone through glass, the element of wood, which became a mid-century modern favorite is abundant both inside and outside the house. 

wood warms

Bringing wonderfully grained woods panelling indoors is a way to nurture.

built-ins

While seemingly extra-vagant, where would these rooms be without their wooden built-ins, shutters, painted wood fire surround and furnishings ?  The wood, which we might not notice at first glance, is what conjures up the word cozy.

FROM STRUCTURAL TO SCULPTURAL

The same repetitive structural element found in ceiling beams is apparent in this Dogan ladder from Cameroon, Africa. Once utilitarian, like the beams, they are now coveted sculptural pieces for our homes.

Nature doesn't obsess over design

If we take our cue from nature, our place will not look contrived. This is a point many designers  miss and is the reason I started this blog. Nature, without all the fuss, creates beauty and harmony. Yet behind the scene/seen it is working tirelessly to renew and rejuvenate.

Because of my years living in Japan as well as admiring Duchamp’s play of chance in Art I stopped laboring over the process. I ceased to control it and try to let it be my guide. We can do this if we trust. When home owners ask me to consult with them so often the words, I can feel their anxiety and tend to find myself saying, ‘It doesn’t matter.’

How do we get to this place? I try to take a few moments every day to surround myself with nature. This helps me to reconnect and rejuvenate at the core of my being. I find meditating and taking cat naps creates the space to loosen my judgement and control.

Don’t we owe it to ourselves find a way to tear ourselves away from that monotenous internal monologue and to rest in our basic nature, if only for a few moments a day?

A post that went around on Facebook is so on point. http://www.nature-rx.org/

One of the founding fathers of landscape architecture in the US - Frederick Olmstead (think Central Park or Golden Gate Park) talked about how he wished in his own landscape design not to call attention. “…he contrasted the effect of a common wild flower on a grassy bank with that of a gaudy hybrid of the same genus, imported from Japan and blooming under glass in an enameled vase. The hybrid would draw immediate attention. He observed, but "the former, while we have passed it by without stopping, and while it has not interrupted our conversation or called for remark, may possibly, with other objects of the same class, have touched us more, may have come home to us more…."

~ National Association for Olmsted Parks

nature at its best

The best we can do is provide a space for such beauty. I don’t think we canbe so presumptuous to assume we can duplicate or in any way do better than this.