FT: HOW TO SPEND IT
July 2007
Lie back and think of Hollywood
Hollywood glamour from the 1940's is fuelling a passion for opulent interiors. Jenny Dalton reports.
I can only tell you this: I would rather have taste than either love or money," said William 'Billy' Haines, star of the golden screen who, once shunned by his Hollwood studio for refusing to hide his homosexuality off screen, became one of Hollywood's most celebrated designers of the 1930s and 1940s.
Haines certainly had taste. He embraced the modern style, chinoiserie and a touch of neoclassical glamour in a bold mix that became known as Hollywood Regency. And if he were still alive he'd be even wealthier than during his heydery. It's only recently that this particular brand of Hollywood glamour has once again fallen in with what the movers and shakers in the interiors world perceive to be fashionable and desirable.
"The glam look is just coming to the market now," confirms London antiques dealer Ken Bolan of Talisman. The result? In New York, vintage furniture dealer Todd Merrill, of Todd Merrill Antiques, reveals he recently sold a small Billy Haines 1940s dining table and set of six chairs for $60,000 (about £30,200).
Haines (whose classic furniture designs such as his Seniah chair, pictured on final page, are being reissued by LA-based Lindley Associates) is being joined by fellow design stars of the 1940s including James Mont, Samuel Marx and Tommi Parzinger (whose work Marilyn Monroe favoured) in pushing high-end vintage furniture sales in a new direction. They're also in the company of Karl Springer and Paul Evans – those 1970s practitioners of a 1930s and 1940s-inspired style who are two of the hottest vintage names being bandied about the design world. They are favourites of Bolan, who recently imported a 40ft container of what he calls "Hollywood glam" furniture to his New Kings Road shop.
"The Hollywood glam feels like a real discovery," says Bolan. "It's very enjoyable, very fresh and it's making people think (about American design), and I'm all for that." Such a "real discovery" is also making an impact on contemporary design.
…Ken Bolan admits that despite Europe's historical feelings of superiority over the US where interior design is concerned, it has a lot to learn from the early 20th century US designers. He suspects we'll soon be mentioning pieces by Haines and Parzinger in the same sentences as Mies van der Rohe and Eames. "I'm sure it will happen. The interest now is completely international. If it were just one market that were interested, I would't be so sure it would last, but the international interest is going to buoy this one up indefinitely. It's going to go far, it has serious strength behind it. But more than that, when you start looking more closely at the work of some of these guys, you realize that they were just brilliant."