In six years our calendars will have “2000” inscribed at the top, and we’ll look back on a decade that witnessed mile-wide pendulum swings in the design world. Sure, out of the multitude of styles from which to choose, free-wheeling eclecticism may be remembered as the prevailing approach to our fin de siecle interiors. But there are other paths that might be considered, some 20, 30 or even 100 years from now, to be the signature look of the late 20th Century.
What would Narcissa Thorne have chosen as a quintessential 1990s room if asked to miniaturize one for her collection at the Art Institute? Would this hypothetical environment reflect a continuation of the multihued flamboyance brought on in the 1980s by Memphis and other Italian design groups? Or would the peripatetic Mrs. Thorne instead go for a more subdued, crafted look? Maybe she’d ignore both and opt for a sleek, techy take on the ever-popular “Eurostyle” as contemporary design’s ambassador to the future. Choose a facet, any facet . . . .
“Design in the 90s-or at least our commitment to it at Manifesto-is characterized by what I’d call `warm Modernism,’ meaning clean, elegant lines with an emphasis on natural materials and high quality,” says architect and store owner Richard Gorman. The Wisconsin weekend home he and wife Barbara designed for clients has the lean, unfussy look of a Mies van der Rohe interior, but the accent on light, air and pure structure is tempered by the liberal use of wood and soft, earth-toned fabrics. Finely crafted furniture complements the home’s mahogany details and stained floors, with another textural layer added by gleaming steel in the staircase, fireplace and wraparound cabinets.
This timeless, classically modern approach is really only a warmer version of what came to be known as Eurostyle-that slick, machined look that was itself a variant of “high tech.” With its sober purity and restricted palette of white and black, Eurostyle has held on tenaciously for more than a decade as the interior of choice among the anti-clutter, color-adverse set.
“I wanted a home that was very serene, even Zen-like,” says the owner of a definitively austere, predominantly white Eurostyle abode in Lincoln Park that relies on iron, steel, limestone and glass both architecturally and in the furnishings. The home’s cool, hard-edged angularity recalls Minimalist artworks, while dollops of color have been added here and there, thanks to the owner’s collection of paintings.
Such visual restraint is just another ’90s trend, although one far removed from the more dynamic route favored by many aficionados. Interior designer Terri Weinstein combined cement, tile, glass and even corrugated aluminum siding in the penthouse apartment she created for herself, substituting fluid, organic lines for the formal geometry of Eurostyle. The unexpected mix of materials, plus a cross section of furniture by some of this century’s design masters-Le Corbusier, Massimo Vignelli, Dakota Jackson and others-lend the distinct aura of contemporary playfulness to the abode. “I tend to think of space as sculpture, and I chose each piece of furniture for its sculptural properties,” says Weinstein, who designed all of the built-ins, including the curvaceous concrete wall. “I surrounded myself with things that really grabbed me, and it all just happens to reflect late 20th Century design-very lighthearted and personal. But would Mrs. Thorne have made a room like this? I really doubt it!”
