|Chadds Ford Life Photo Essay|
The Maximalist Aesthetic of Lauren Francis Text by Richard L. Gaw
The creative journey of interior designer and curator Lauren Francis is descendent from the matriarchs on her mother’s side of the family, and it is this handed-down gift that all came together in the home she lived in for seven years. When she first walked into the 2,035-square-foot house in the Borough of West Chester -- originally built in 1912 – Francis saw past the badlyneeded renovations to the canvas she wished to create, and over time, transformed neglect into beauty. Rooms became reflections of her love for design, for food and for friendships, and on every wall and in every crevice rested the patchwork quilt of art that she had collected from places as far away as Germany and London to as close as a thrift shop in Bryn Mawr. There it was; the delicate balance between the choice of a wallpaper and the vases against the vanity mirror, and in the unlikely and eclectic marriage of a 1930s oil painting to a Crate and Barrel coffee table. Within the old house, she became the self-driven DIY curator of her wildest dreams, manifested in what she calls Maximalist Aesthetic. “Maximalism in design is about extravagance, excess, and redundancy in the best possible way,” said Francis, who was raised in Chadds Ford. “It is about layering patterns, color and a texture in a space to tell a unique story.” * * * * Continued on Page 50
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Chadds Ford Life | Spring/Summer 2021 | www.chestercounty.com
