COLOR EXPLOSIONS IN 1967, AND A SPECIAL OFFER FROM LESLIE SAUL & ASSOCIATES 50 YEARS LATER
It has been gratifying to see the response that we have gotten for my post about meeting Janis Joplin in 1967. So, I suppose that it shouldn’t surprise me that the Boston Globe has begun a series of stories on the summer of ’67.
Read “Summer of Love” by Marni Elyse Katz, in the July 28, 2017 Boston Sunday Globe.
Fifty years has passed since the Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Club Band” brought the mash-up of bohemian and military to fashion. Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco turned “flower power” into a trend in the streets and into pop-art style design elements used on shirts, wallpaper, and decorative objects. The global peace movement and access to more affordable long-distance travel, led to the appreciation of cultures and styles different from ours.
In 1967, the home living room was transformed from muted colors and clean (but stiff) mid-century modern monochromatic minimalism, into a colorful explosion of eclecticism. I can’t tell you how many living rooms that needed a redo in 1980 had the same look: white Haitian cotton boxy sofas, a tribal Moroccan rug of dark red, black and white, a Lucite coffee table, and loads of bright colored art and throw pillows.
Many of these rooms had wall-to-wall carpeting – the big innovation of the era. How many kitchens or bathrooms had the pink orange and chartreuse flowered wallpaper? It was a time of revolution, optimism, and maybe because of the widespread use of marijuana, a little less inhibited and a lot more playful. Well, here we are in 2017, and thank goodness we still have Marimekko for bold color and pattern, Dansk colorful cook/bake ware and Lucite furniture (thank you Mitchell + Gold for bringing it back). A sales rep for a wallcovering company made a presentation to our office yesterday. You’ll never believe this, but they are re-introducing “flocked” wallpaper!
Apparently, the younger generation of designers has never seen this before. Welcome back to the future of fifty years ago! If your home, office, or learning spaces seem ready for an update, Leslie Saul & Associates architecture and interiors may be able to help you. Please give us a call.
There’s something from every era that can still seem fresh. Perhaps a visit to the attic is due? In celebration of the summer of 1967, our initial 2-3-hour consultation fee of $700 will be reduced to $500 for the first fifty people who call during the month of August. (Consultations can happen anytime within the next year, payment is due after consultation, NOT in advance). Let’s make the year ahead feel “groovy”. And if you are still thinking about Janis Joplin, click here for a funny video of the great Janis singing with none other than Thom Jones!