HOME INTERIORS Personal vision directs choices in ethnic decor
Decorating with ethnic pieces makes a statement about one's heritage or admiration of another culture.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Joko Sutrisno and his wife, Tri, are from Indonesia, but they now live near Como Park in St. Paul. The interior of their house makes them feel truly at home -- ornately carved teak furniture, paintings by Indonesian artists, Indonesian musical instruments on display.
"Even in Indonesia, we like these home decorations," says Sutrisno, director of an Indonesian gamelin musical group through the Schubert Club. In the Twin Cities, "it's sharing with our friends who visit our homes, that's the Indonesian culture."
Personal expression
Travelers often develop a fondness for the decorative art of their destination and want to enjoy it at home as well. Others may want to express their own heritage, feed an intellectual fascination or just create a mood through ethnic decorating.
Designer John Lassila of Minneapolis helps clients both organize and create collections that can be displayed on walls, shelves or tables.
"I just worked with a client who had lived in South America, doing missionary work, and they came back with a collection of baskets that were woven by Peruvians who lived in the mountains," Lassila says. "All we really did in this great room was these baskets with some books. It was really stunning, but it was also really organized, rather than having a basket here and a basket there. It really became a conversation piece, because when anybody came into the room, it was evident these pieces were important to the client."
Another client was intrigued by carved African masks, but had none. Lassila put together about a dozen pieces, many of them found locally, and hung them on a wall to establish the tribal look the client was interested in.
"I like to steer clients away from totally ethnic rooms," he says. "A little bit can go a long way, particularly if they're really outstanding pieces in scale or color, as sometimes many ethnic pieces are."
Complementary pieces
Some ethnic decorations fit in beautifully with more standard American fare. The subtle, simple lines of Japanese pieces worked well with the clean lines of a Mission-style house in a recent project, says Minneapolis designer Gigi Olive.
Some people want a home infused with a particular ethnic flavor. Designer Greg Walsh of Minneapolis is working with a couple who have a home in Dublin and are building one in Mendota Heights that is more traditionally Irish than their real Irish house. It has a stone exterior, a typical painted front door, and numerous pieces imported from Ireland, including stained glass, marble, furniture and rugs. Tiling will use elements of Irish crests and clan plaids. Little ethnic touches, such as Waterford crystal in the master bath and in dining room showcase cabinets, are found throughout the house.
"The whole intent is not to have it feel trite and just a collection, but that it's really integrated in the interior of the house," Walsh says.
Other clients prefer using just accents and accessories that can be pulled out and replaced with something else after a few years, he says.
Single-mindedness
For travelers with an eye to decorating their homes, Walsh recommends focusing on a collection that's either all one country or all one item -- French art, French textiles and French perfume bottles, for example, or a batch of stone, wood, straw and beaded turtles from around the globe. Many such items can safely be shipped home. But if not, he cautions, try to buy them or pick them up at the end of a trip. He had clients who went to Italy and promptly fell in love with delicate handmade dinnerware.
"They carried 36 plates for two weeks," he says.