In the complexity-and-contradiction department, Frances Merrill of Reath Design has joined forces with Michaele Simmering and Johannes Pauwen of Kalon Studios on a capsule collection that marries the AD100 designer’s signature aesthetic of giddy color and pattern with Kalon’s exquisitely distilled furniture forms. Finding harmony in tension, Merrill has reimagined three pieces from Kalon’s planar Rugosa line with collaged upholstery treatments utilizing, among other fabrics, a 1960s Alexander Girard stripe, a 1930s Rose Cumming chintz, and a late-19th-century floral print from Claremont’s Warner Textile Archive collection. “The original inspiration for Rugosa was my family’s summer house in Rhode Island, a place that evolved organically over years, with lots of seemingly discordant styles, colors, and ideas,” explains Simmering. “Frances’s fabric treatments dovetail neatly with that story and underscore our belief that our work can flex into different kinds of spaces and appeal to different tastes.” Adds Merrill: “We wanted to evoke the feeling of generational accumulation, the way a great family home accumulates over time. Just because you have modern furniture doesn’t mean you can’t throw chintz into the mix. Why choose when you can have both?” kalonstudios.com
