Road Trip

By Cheryl Katz

Design inspiration is like a road map of circuitous routes – more country lane than speeding highway  – that ends at an unexpected attraction.

My latest expedition, which has informed my current design thinking about color, began only a few months ago. Or so I thought.

The first stop was the David Zwirner Gallery in Chelsea where I was re-introduced to the work of the Italian artist, Giorgio Morandi.

Next came the movie “The Danish Girl” with its exquisite Copenhagen interiors, painstakingly modeled after the work of the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershoi.

Then it was a browse through photographs of the new Fritz Hansen showroom in Milan.

If I had kept a travel log of my latest journey, it might have ended with something like this: no matter where you go, you’re never far from home.

Case in point—a detour to the not yet trendy Brooklyn while on my honeymoon in New York thirty years ago where I saw a retrospective of the work of the couturier Charles James. The cut, the tailoring, and the fabrics of his lush ball gowns held me in thrall that day. But, it was James’ eye for color that inspired me the most has informed every one of my excursions since.