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| The Pompeii Collection - An Interview with Ann Graham |
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| As part of our continuing celebration of the launch of the new Pompeii Collection, we sat down with Patina designer, Ann Graham, to trace her inspirations for the new line. One of the most striking things about the Pompeii Collection is the finish, a departure from the traditional hand painted floral designs of other Patina lines.  “The Pompeii collection has very rich finishes, they’re old. It’s more like buildings that have aged with the texture and the plaster underneath and the gesso and the color. The colors are so rich and beautiful, that was my inspiration for this,” says Ann. “I had all these pictures I had taken in Italy of old walls and doors and they all had these great textures to them. I took those to the lacquerer and had him do samples of those and I thought they were all so fabulous. The black is really beautiful! It’s a new black for us, and it’s very beautiful”. 
Besides black, color washes in the Pompeii Collection include white, a wonderful dark brown and a rusty red or brick, all with textured surfaces underneath, as well as, exquisite painted and carved architectural details. More color washes are planned. |
“I was hesitant to change the finishes. I don’t like to depart from our finishes because I like them a lot and we’ve worked very hard to get them to where they are and keep them that way, to keep them consistent. But I just thought it was time to try something new, we were established enough to be able to do that and I think they’ve been very successful.” Another new emphasis in the Pompeii Collection is the greater use of upholstery. “We had not done a lot of upholstered pieces in our collections. I thought it was time to have something very comfortable”. 
The Cicero chair became the starting point for several of the new upholstered pieces. “It started with a picture of a French settee that I’d had for awhile. I always loved that curved arm coming down and being continuous to the leg. I’d always wanted to do that in a piece and I thought that’s the kind of thing you can make a sofa out of it, you can make a settee, you can make a chair, and so that’s what we did”. |
| Jane Frankel - Designer | |
| “There is a lot of painted furniture out there, but nothing comes close ... Patina is in a class of its own.” |
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| Clients can be demanding. With over thirty year designing residential and private club interiors, Jane Frankel knows better than most what it takes to satisfy them. “We have a very wealthy and demanding clientele, CEOs, Presidents of Universities and sometimes, suddenly, they’ll want something done right away. Maybe, we’ll have a month, if we’re lucky, to get a room done,” says Jane. “They’ll say, ‘Sorry for the short notice, but it has to be done. We know you can pull it off ’. If I’m in a hurry, I always know Patina is there to help me.” Jane designs for both residential and commercial properties and likes to give her commercial designs a residential slant. Her clients come to her because they don’t want a cookie cutter look. She says she uses at least one Patina piece in every project and over the years has bought beds, night tables, chairs, lamps, mirrors - just about everything in the line. “We buy a lot of antiques and mix them with contemporary pieces. I like Patina because it mixes very well with antiques.” |
“I love the details. There is a lot of painted furniture out there, but nothing comes close. I tell my clients, ‘You can look but you won’t find anything else like it’. They are in a class of their own.” Customer service, fast turnaround, consistent quality, reliable delivery, dependable color matching and the ability, when time allows, to design custom pieces are the reasons that Jane has kept coming back to Patina for so many years. “I love the company. They’re great to do business with, they’re small enough that you get fast, flexible, customer service… personal service,” says Jane. “The interior design business has so much aggravation built into it that it’s wonderful to work with a company like Patina.” Jane can be reached at:
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| News at Patina - Street of Dreams: Big Canoe | |
 Street of Dreams events provide visitors the unique opportunity to tour incredible luxury show homes reflecting all the latest trends in architecture, colors, interior finishes, and technologies.This year’s Atlanta show featured five unique show homes nestled among the trees of Big Canoe’s Wildcat neighborhood. Located just 45 minutes north of downtown Atlanta, Big Canoe is a 7000-acre master–planned community offering golf, tennis, jogging, a fitness center and over 15 miles of hiking and biking trails. Interior Designer and Big Canoe resident Cynthia Aiken created the upscale cottage style design for The Wildcat Lodge, a show home that featured Patina pieces in five rooms including the master bedroom and dining room. “Because we’re in the mountains people think the designs should be rustic but the people who live here year round want a more sophisticated look and I wanted to do something less typical,” said Cynthia. |
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 “I tried to give each room either a different feel or purpose. We picked pieces we thought went well with both the design of the house and the individual room themes. There are so many shades of color in a Patina piece. It was very easy to choose Patina pieces, to mix with other furniture, for the designs”.Patina, Inc. President and CEO, Marylu Stevens, who attended the event was enthusiastic about the lodge interiors. “ What I loved about the design was how well it showed that our pieces can be used in an informal setting,” she said, “while still adding a very sophisticated touch to the room”. Street of Dreams – Big Canoe is the culmination of over 18 months of hard work by the organizers, builders, designers and venders who participated in the project. Patina would like to congratulate all those who were involved on a job well done and we look forward to participating in other Street of Dreams events. Top Right: B19 Friuli Bed, T17 Toscana Console, |
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| Pompeii Lifestyles - Part 1: | |
 Pompeii was founded in the 6th century BC on a hill near the mouth of the Sarno River, and was used as a safe portby Greek and Phoenician sailors. In the 5th century BC, the Samnites conquered Pompeii; imposing their architecture and enlarging the town. Their reign ended when the Romans took control of Pompeii around 200 BC. The Romans retained control over Pompeii until the end... a fateful day in 79 AD when Mt Vesuvius unleashed its fury on this thriving seaside city. At the time of the eruption, the town had some 20,000 inhabitants, and was a favorite area for vacationing Romans. The countryside was dotted with their summer villas. The eruption, which buried the town in ash, captured a moment in time. Under the ash, everything remained as it was. Artwork was preserved. Buildings were preserved. Leaving us with an important glimpse into the past. |
The Streets of Pompeii were paved during Roman times with large blocks of stone. Curbs and pedestrian walkways bordered the streets. The Forum was the center of city activity. There was a Basilica, the center for legal and business matters, and aMarketplace along with temples where the residents would appeal to their favorite deities. A typical Pompeian villa was built around a central Atrium. In the center of the Atrium, there would be a basin for the collection of rainwater. Off the Atrium there were generally several smaller rooms including the kitchen. In the rear of the villa there was usually a garden area surrounded by walkway with a cover supported by arches and pillars. Along that walkway, you would find the bedrooms.  The Pompeian villas were lavishly decorated. Exquisitely crafted mosaics adorned the floors of the home. Colorful wall frescoes were another popular form of decoration.The inhabitants of Pompeii had long been used to minor tremors from Mt. Vesuvius, and in 62 AD, there had been a series of earthquakes serious enough to cause damage to houses in town. In early August of 79, all the town’s wells suddenly dried up but the warnings were not clear or understood, and the Roman world was stunned when on August 24 a catastrophic volcanic eruption buried the city. Coincidentally, the date was that of the Vulcanalia, the festival of the Roman god of fire. Next month, we’ll take a closer look at the day-to-day lives of Pompeii residents. |
| The Sale Niche - Now Open! | |
| The Sale Niche is the place to shop for that special customer who wants a unique Patina piece with the added advantage of immediate availability. In addition, you’ll notice that not only are the pieces special, so are the prices. These pieces are available at these prices for a limited time and will be sold or removed from sale after 30 days. This month we are featuring 2 special items - A Friuli Bed, a Patina classic from the Original Collection and a Firenze Chest of Drawers, also from the Original Collection.  |
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| For pricing and other information about these very special pieces, visit the Patina web site at: https://www.patinainc.com/sales.php (free registration required) |
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| Calendar Of Events | |
| USA July 8- The Glamorous Home Design Center of the Americas, Dania Beach, FL * July 15 - Summer Market San Francisco Design Center, San Francisco, CA * September 13 - Fall Focus Washington DC Design Center * September 15 - Fall Focus Michigan Design Center* Fall, 2005 - Southern Accents: Show House* |
EUROPE September 25 to 28 - Decorex 2005 London, England* September 2005 - Patina Italia showroom opening Dubai October 2005 - Grand opening reception Dubai *Patina Exhibiting |
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