What is Alternative Interior Design
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Alternative Interior Design is about looking at what “is” and asking “what if”.
What are our other options?
What’s popular? What’s common?
Is there something I can replace it with?
Alexander the Great established a Grecian empire ruling from India to Egypt. And it was in Alexandria, Egypt, that his successors founded two institutions that are close to my bookworm-heart: The Mouseion (Hall of the Muses; Museum) and the famed Library of Alexandria.
The Greeks are renown for their sculpture, like this 3rd century BCE sculpture of a muse.
For nearly 2,000 years its existence was questioned and often dismissed as legend. Then in 1843 French archeologist Paul-Emile Botta discovered the ruins of the ancient civilization that was a dominating world power for roughly one thousand years – Assyria.
One of the outstanding features of the Assyrian palaces were their wall reliefs. The relief above was found by archeologist Austen Layard in the 70 room palace at Nineveh. It depicts the Assyrian conquest of Lachish.
Some modern graphic designers have taken a page from Assyrian design, like this rug design from Society6:
In a trip to the British Museum lovers of design will find delight in an exhibit unearthed at the city of Ur.
Ur was a city of Ancient Sumer – Sumer (and not China) being the oldest civilization in the world. At one time both it and it’s mention in the record of the Hebrew Torah (the “land of Shinar”) were considered pure mythology. That is until archeologist Sir Leonard Woolley dug between the Persian Gulf and the city of Baghdad and found its ruins.
The magnificent headdress above features interwoven beech leaves made of gold. The large gold lunate earrings once hung from the pierced ears of a Chaldean queen.
Ur gives evidence of advanced construction. City streets, two-story houses with brick stairs, and complexes of palaces and temples.
Our blog series Palace Interiors is now a published magazine!
↓ Read the rest of this entry…As part of a new series we are trying out here on the SOS blog, I will be taking you through history.
We’ll look at interior design elements in the kingdoms (and their palaces) of the past.
And we will examine the modern day projects that pull inspiration from them.
In the end you might even find something that helps you do what Rene Finberg tries to do for her clients “make their home into a palace – their favorite place to be.”
This is Palace Interiors!
a guide to learning from historical interior design
Today’s trip through time will take us back, some 2,500 years back, to the neo-Babylonian empire.
And you can also see how a modern firm applies the ancient style.
https://www.dezeen.com/2019/09/07/babylon-restaurant-bar-hoggs-lamb-sydney-australia/
Enjoy!
