Luxe: Scene, September/October 2018

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MEET the MAKER JULEP TILE COMPANY

When Julep Tile Company launched in 2010, the Louisville-based business established by Peter and Kirsten Sharp made a splash with its vintage-modern tiles. Intricate designs influenced by textile, wallpaper and stencil patterns are made to order: Julep’s artisans hand-press each tile, then mix and apply one of 36 earthy toned glazes by hand. Recent debuts include Two-Color tiles inspired by tone-on-tone flocked wallpaper, and a line of decorative tile inserts is in the works. A new online shop lets customers order from home, rather than visit a showroom, and receive tips from the Sharps themselves. “We really enjoy working directly with our clients,” Kirsten says. “It’s always fun to hear about the home-renovation projects they’re working on.” juleptile.com

THE INSIDER TALKING SHOP WITH KELLY MEEKS

MEEK Lovingly curated by former makeup artist Kelly Meeks, Denver shop Meek (39 W. 11 th Ave.) is beloved for its knockout (and totally unique) collection of midcentury-modern-meets-ArtDeco-meets-boho finds. Expect perfectly faded Persian rugs, piles of European sheepskins, earthy ceramics, vintage denim, chunky woolen sweaters, bold jewelry and plants everywhere, many dangling from macramé holders or tucked into sleek concrete planters. Meek began as an experimental shop on Instagram, and a devoted following still shops @meekvintage daily to snap up new products. Items from the 1940s to the ’90s are represented—Meeks spends much of her time roadtripping around the country to hunt them down—but the look is cool and cohesive. “I have a rule I try to live by when sourcing items for the shop,” she says. “If I wouldn’t wear it or put it in my home, I don’t buy it.” shopmeek.co 116 / luxesource.com

Founded by husband-and-wife architects John Rowland and Sarah Broughton, Denver architecture and design firm Rowland+Broughton is busy with projects like the upcoming W Aspen hotel and the restoration of Aspen’s Mesa Store building, which will be the firm’s new headquarters.

Here, Broughton shares more about the team’s interests. rowlandbroughton.com What’s your design ethos? We believe in designs that are timeless, and we embrace a concept-driven approach influenced by local culture, environment, climate change, history and technology.

Local makers you’re loving: Fort Collinsbased BenchCraft Custom Woodwork, which does a lot of our custom millwork and furniture. Also, Arvada’s Black Hound Design Company has amazing inventory and works to the highest standards.

Up next: We are in the early design phase for a boutique hotel/condominium at the base of Peak 8 in Breckenridge.

This project seeks to create a camp that is human-scale and approachable.

WRITTEN BY CHRISTINE DEORIO

talking shop photo: cadence meeks. meet the maker photos: courtesy julep tile co. the insider photo: david o. marlow photography.

SARAH BROUGHTON

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INSIDE EDITION

“Pampering the body and soul with elements of design that capture good vibes is how I define luxury. It should provide the feelings of being calm, cool, relaxed and at peace. To that end, we are seeing a demand for a separate room in the house to be used for meditation, yoga or quiet contemplation.

Master bathrooms are also becoming home spas with Bluetooth-activated fixtures, music speakers in showerheads and bathtubs that emit sound waves to release toxins from the body.”

“I find luxury starts and ends with the ultimate design material: marble. It was celebrated by the Greeks and Romans, and it’s timeless. Two separate projects I’m working on—a bathroom and a living room, both for well-traveled, knowledgeable clients who know what they want—will combine Italian materials like Bianco Carrara marble with volcanic stones, which bring a rugged element to these refined settings.”

“Luxury is about individuality, which means custom pieces—from oneof-a-kind furniture to area rugs and commissioned fine art. I’m working on a project for which attention to detail is very important. There are five steam showers equipped with LED lighting and music control, and every bedroom has its own special touch of luxury, including high-end fireplaces and custom wall treatments. There is even a hidden wine room under the stairs.”

“To me, luxury is a state of mind. Take artwork, for example: Whether it’s an original piece worth $100,000 or something inspirational from a street exhibition, the beauty and value are in the eye of the beholder. For my clients, it’s all about customization— everything from lighting to furniture.

Lately, I’ve been customizing wallcoverings, rugs, kitchen hoods and light fixtures. Unique wallcoverings are also big—and wallcoverings aren’t just wallpaper anymore.”

–BEV ADAMS

–MARGARITA BRAVO

–LISA YATES

–DALLAS LYON

HEROIC FINISH WRITTEN BY NINA KORMAN

Synonymous with acts of courtesy, the word “chivalry” can also apply to an ordinary person undertaking extraordinary tasks. Los Angelesand Paris-based designer Timothy Corrigan is undaunted by seemingly insurmountable challenges. Specifically, home redesign—on a grand scale.

Currently finalizing the restoration and renovation of a sprawling 18th-century structure in France—aptly named Château de la Chevallerie, the last word meaning “chivalry”—Corrigan knows his valiant endeavor calls for rooms where comfort and elegance coexist. Another must that earned him the nickname “Trim-o-thy” in the industry: the finishing touch imparted by myriad tassels, borders, braid and fringe, also known as passementerie.

Samuel & Sons, premier purveyors of passementerie, logically tapped Corrigan to develop a new collection that would fuse his classicism with contemporary colors.

Throughout his career, he’s created product lines for Royal Limoges Paris, Fromental and Schumacher, among others.

Visits to the Royal Limoges archives and a lace museum nearby as well as the château’s decorative elements fueled Corrigan’s imagination and led to the Chevallerie collection. Nearly all handmade, in materials like velvet and satin, its nine complex patterns in eight rich colorways are stocked at Samuel & Sons showrooms around the world.

Reanimating an old-world art and yielding something new and timeless: What greater example of chivalry could there be? samuelandsons.com 118 / luxesource.com

inside edition headshots: adams photo, courtesy bev adams; bravo photo, karin bisogno; yates photo, courtesy collective design + furnishings; lyon photo, courtesy dallas lyon. heroic finish photos: exterior photo, courtesy timothy corrigan; bottom photos, courtesy samuel & sons; tassel photo, doug young.

FOUR COLORADO DESIGNERS REVEAL WHAT LUXURY MEANS TO THEM—AND THE ROLE IT PLAYS IN THEIR DESIGNS.

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GALLERY CHAT

⊳ KAREN FISHER

Although the Denver artist primarily works in 2-D mixed media, Karen Fisher was asked to transform her artistry into wall-size pieces for the Maven hotel’s two spacious Innovator suites.

Before painting Mod Maude (shown) and Maeve, she sent Casey images of fashion models and Gustav Klimt paintings, promising bold compositions that would marry the two. “The resulting images of urban women are unexpected, just as doing a mural in a hotel room is unexpected,” Casey says. “With these works, Karen is going to be making a bigger splash than anyone expected.”

Led by cofounder Molly Casey, Denver art advisory firm Nine dot Arts curated and commissioned more than 700 original pieces by 31 Front Range artists to infuse Denver’s Dairy Block with a strong sense of place; their creations are displayed throughout the vibrant mixed-use area. Here, we meet a few whose work has made a splash. ninedotarts.com

TRAVIS HETMAN ⊲

fisher photo, andrew bordwin photography. hetman photo: paul brokering. ladies fancywork and weidmann photos: paul brokering, courtesy nine dot arts. martinez photo: adam larkey.

Covering two adjacent walls with more than 300 framed artworks in the Maven is Travis Hetman’s Dark Matter Gathering, for which Hetman collected black-andwhite photographs—some taken in downtown Denver more than a century ago. He cut tiny shapes in the images, embellishing the voids with hand-painted “dark-matter clusters,” suggesting glimpses of an alternate universe. The installation came together organically on site, its culmination in a pile on the floor a demonstration of his theory of an expanding universe that will eventually collapse on itself, literally and figuratively.

▲ EMANUEL MARTINEZ

Rooted in the artist’s mestizo culture, Denver’s Emanuel Martinez’s Homage to Maize: The Staff of Life is a perfect fit for the Dairy Block’s Kachina Cantina restaurant, which takes inspiration from Mexico and the American Southwest. The mural juxtaposes blue ears of corn with a contemporary woman, her native landscape reflected in her sunglasses. Taking a cue from late Colorado muralist Allen Tupper True, Martinez painted this acrylic mural on a canvas mounted to the wall, so if the restaurant changes, the art can be preserved.

⊳ LADIES FANCYWORK

Since 2007, Denver-based crochet-street-art gang Ladies Fancywork has been yarnbombing Front Range spots with small- and large-scale fiber installations. At Kachina Cantina, four of the society’s members wrapped a sculptural salvaged tree— reconstructed by artist Greg Elledge—with a rainbow of crocheted fibers ranging from acrylic yarn to nylon that spiral down onto the floor. The untitled piece subtly references Navajo and Pueblo weavings and the harsh beauty of the Southwestern landscape.

⊳ ROBERT WEIDMANN

Complementing the patterned floor tile of the Maven’s elevators, Robert Weidmann’s intricate stencil murals adorn the floors and walls of the hotel’s elevator landings.

After three months of design work, tests and materials preparation, Weidmann and his team taped large stencils to the landings’ walls and unfinished concrete floors, then painstakingly hand-painted portions of the geometric patterns white. The resulting artwork, Eire Lattice, took one month to complete and has been left unsealed to reveal the flow of foot traffic over time.

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