Tradition? It’s all what you think. Don’t look at the homes and furnishings on these pages with any preconceptions. Every one of them falls into the category of “traditional,” but in such different ways that they make any dictionary definitions quite meaningless.
Webster’s defines traditional as “handed down by, or conforming to tradition; conventional.” But design guidebooks such as Mary Emmerling’s “American Country” point out that rarely through history have the best design traditions been slavishly imitated. America’s 18th Century crafts people studied the tastes and fashions brought here from the Old World, then added their own imprint of pattern, color and form. Otherwise they would have produced museum-style settings devoid of any uniqueness and human touch.
Today, homeowners and designers continue to borrow design traditions from the past, taking what’s familiar and appealing and adapting it to their needs. How else could African artifacts (ethnic traditional) end up in a three-story Chicago walkup? Or recycled ’40s and ’50s reproduction pieces (inherited traditional) find their way into a young couple’s Victorian graystone?
Whichever “tradition” you choose, remember that the best are those that inspire you to create your own new traditions.
