arts & life >> at home
A Thai sculpture hanging
central in the living room
is made up of dowels and
nailed together in different
formations ("I really would
have liked to keep this one for
myself," says designer Arnold
Lawrence). Standing on a
custom taper-edged pedestal,
an ethereal ballerina by
sculptor Debra Fritts is formed
from clay then cloaked with
metal and gauze.
Collectors At Home
A couple brings the world to Bloomfield Hills.
Lynne Konstantin I Arts & Life Editor
Brett Mountain I Photographer
W
Lawrence created a wall of lacquered storage cabinets in the
kitchen, broken up with a lighted wooden box inserted in the
middle and designed to be the view seen from the dining room.
"They have a lot of stuff, but they don't like it all to be out at
once," says Lawrence, who chose a pair of ceramic vessels by
Southern folk artist Karen Newgard to be the current display.
46
February 12 • 2015
e joke that we made a big mistake
when our son was young:' says
the owner of this Bloomfield Hills
house. "Instead of taking him to Disneyland, we
took him to Europe:'
Whether that was a mistake is debatable.
But their son, now grown, has been dubbed
by his parents "the wandering Jew:' Although
the couple has visited upward of 42 countries,
including areas in Europe, the Middle East,
northern Africa and Asia, their travels, they say,
are "small potatoes:' compared to their son's.
What likely trumps their son, however, is
the collection of artwork, antiques and objects
that they have picked up along their years
of traveling. Equally impressive is the way
their Bloomfield Hills-based designer, Arnold
Lawrence, has synthesized the couple's col-
lections as part of their home — rather than
displayed as a laundry-list museum of artifacts,
the pieces that speak so importantly of their
passions become a comfort in their home.
The never-updated mid-1970s home, which
the couple bought in 2009 because they loved
the location, received a head-to-toe makeover,
with Lawrence moving staircases, widening
hallways and knocking out windows before cus-
tomizing the design to the homeowners' life-
style. "There is almost nothing in this house's
design that is original: he says.
"They beauty of what Arnold can do is in his
consideration of what we like says the wife.
"We love art and travel, and Arnold does not
like a 'decorated' house, so he created a house
we can live in, from beginning to end, with the
things we love:'
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Do you have a home you'd like to share with the community? Contact Lynne Konstantin at
lkonstantin@thejewishnews.com .