Grandin Road
Style icon Iris Apfel has collaborated with US online retailer Grandin Road on a vibrant collection of furniture and homewares entitled “Iris Loves Grandin Road”.
“You spend a major part of your life at home,” Apfel says. “You want to be cheered up a bit and have fun. I think bright colors and objects can do that.”
The eclectic collection captures Apfel’s spirited personality and sense of style, drawing inspiration from a Haitian painting in her own home.
“It’s a painting of lots of different animals. It’s almost like a family portrait of different animals together,” she said. “I thought, ‘How wonderful if we could do some tableware,’ and then things sprung from there.”
Apfel’s sense of fun is reflected in various quotations (think “I’m not a minimalist, as I’m sure you’ve noticed”) emblazoned across pillows, plates and artwork. “That is my creed,” she says. “It’s just the way I feel about things.”
Her masterful use of colour and texture is used extensively throughout the collection.
“I like a variety of texture—velvet mixed with some Mongolian lamb. It gives a really super texture to the whole thing,” Apfel said. “And I love colors that are cheerful, and of different tonalities.”
Apfel’s own decorating philosophy is free-spirited, and she advises home decorators to follow suit.
“Go with your instinct and know who you are. Don’t follow trends,” she says. “Buy what is you, and what your family is going to enjoy. And be experimental.”
Grandin Road ships to Australia. For more information on the collection, click here.
RELATED: Cool collaboration with a Kiwi florist and an Icelandic photographer
