linenandlavender.blogspot.com: Saladino Style and Guiding Principle

Design by John Saladino, as seen on linenandlavender.net, http://www.linenandlavender.net/2012/06/saladino-style-and-guiding-principle.html

In understanding the power of shape and form, the seventeenth century Dutch painter Vermeer is a model for me. He placed people and furnishings, windows and architecture, in the foreground of his canvases with such precision that he made still lifes of these elements. Taking lessons from his paintings, I challenge my clients to stop thinking about design as having to do with merchandise and furniture and, instead, hope that they will come to believe, as I do, that a room should be like a walk-in still life. By that I mean the space should demonstrate an orchestration of shapes in harmony with each other. At every step, decisions of shape and space must be made that will add or subtract from the overall design harmony: Is the chair beautiful to look at from the back as you walk into the room? Should it be open-backed because the room is small and you do not want it to steal space? Every decision narrows the options.