White Magic

By Marni Elyse Katz
December 8, 2011

White Magic

left: Artist Maissa Toulet creates quirky curiosity cabinets assembled with thrifted finds and natural elements. This one includes real pictures from her son's echography. She says, “I feel like there's a little part of him inside the box.” Echography, 2007, (50 x 39 x 12 cm)

right: This neutral living room done by West Hollywood interior designer Jamie Bush includes a mix of vintage mid-century pieces including a Hoop chair by Hans Wegner and a white lacquer and walnut side table by Edward Wormley. The enormous coffee table by Montiverdi Young is from Design Within Reach and the sofas are custom upholstered pieces. A narrow shelf in the wood paneling displays a spare set of white ceramic vases and bowls. This palette was about creating a dialog of orthogonal and curvilinear forms in a material palette that is an extension of the architecture. (photo: Tim Street-Porter)

Collecting items in a uniform color is easy, and white—clean, versatile, bright...— is an obvious choice. But displaying white collections can take some finesse. We queried bloggers, stylists and designers for tips on getting the maximum impact out of the most seemingly simple collection.

White Magic

left: Kay of Kay Loves Vintage collects small, white vintage vases, mostly made in Germany, which she finds at flea markets. This grouping includes vases of various materials, patterns, and shapes.

right: Boston interior designer Manuel de Santaren groups what looks to be similar types of pottery, but with different shapes and patterns, on a dining room table. (Photo: Greg Premru)

White Magic

left: Dutch blogger Jane of All the Luck in the World groups white pitchers and vases with plenty of texture. Notice that one scales a whole lot larger than the rest. She says, “I have been collecting West German pottery for a long time and the whites are my favorites!”

right: West Elm’s Pure White Ceramic Collection is offered individually (there are seven shapes) or in two sets of three. The site has a gallery of various ways to group them. The various silhouettes are unified with the smooth, matte finish.

Use It: Make collections part of everyday life.
Sometimes, a collection, especially one of white ceramics, develops out of necessity, as was the case for clients of New York interior designer Magdalena Keck. She helped them choose all white, French country ceramics for a minimalist kitchen with a wood floor and antique wood table. She says, “The objects in the collection are not only beautiful but also functional. They are used every day.”

Change It: Transform objects that wouldn’t otherwise fit in.
Crafters like Denise Kiggan of Freshly Found don’t miss an opportunity to embellish or transform. In a row of five white vases displayed on a sideboard are two that are actually drinking glasses she covered with pieces of macramé that she found and stitched together to form a tube. Another was a clear glass vase she found in a thrift store, but spray painted white. She says, “I love that these differently textured and created objects are unified by their whiteness! I love found and vintage objects and enjoy giving them a new and sometimes unexpected life.”

White Magic

left: Interior designer Magdalena Keck designed long rows of shallow shelves to make up for the lack of wall cabinets, and to optimize the narrow space of her client’s kitchen. She says of the functional, every day wares, “We chose all white, French country ceramics to create a tone-on-tone effect. The collection is a bridge between the minimalist kitchen the antique wood table.” (Photo: Jeff Cate)

right: Denise Kiggan of Freshly Found displays a neat row of thrifted and DIY vases, each with a single arum leaf that grows outside her front door.

Cherish It: Keep it simple so you can appreciate its essence.
Kay of Kay Loves Vintage sticks to small, white vintage vases, which she prefers to cluster in small groups. She says, “I always say ‘less is more,’ so they are perfect for one flower,” Her favorite are single stems of sweet peas, which she calls her “happy flowers.”

Blend It: Tweak the décor to keep the focus on the collection.
Kristen Grove of Simply Grove scattered her collection of white ceramics, sourced over a number of years, everywhere in her living room, which is also done in all white, save for a brass side table and chocolate brown leather armchair. She turned her books backwards to hide the spines for “a nice neutral feel,” so as not to overshadow her collection.

White Magic

Kristen Grove of Simply Grove has always been drawn to white ceramics, which she has collected over the years from flea markets, antique shops, and European websites. On the mantle, a white vignette is accented with a mercury silver bird.

White Magic

left: A collection of white vessels that looked like they're wrapped in soft paper arranged on sheepskin by Dutch stylist Marieke van Proosdij. (Photo: Tjitske van Leeuwen)

right: Three white pitchers with curlicue detailing in an all-white room designed by Kelly Hoppen.

Mix It: Use a variety of sizes, silhouettes, and finishes of the same color palette.
Dutch stylist Mieke Tacken is a master of combining pieces with no relation to one another except for color. She says, "Don't hold back. Your collection gets more interesting when a variety of different sizes, textures, and finishes are used. Gloss versus matte, relief versus smooth, and so on."

Highlight It: Set off the collection against a contrasting backdrop.
Colleen Allison of Fresh Vintage Style, who has been collecting white matte pottery ever since she saw her sister-in-law's collection ten years ago, says, “Displaying your collection on a background with a contrasting color is the key to making white pottery stand out.”

White Magic

left: We spotted stylist Mieke Tacken’s collection of whites on Flickr, though she tells us she’s since dismantled it and is now on to other things. We love the variety of the pieces, and how the tiny green vessel really punctuates the grouping.

right: Colleen Allison of Fresh Vintage Style has over 25 white pieces and each of them cost less than ten dollars (and many under a dollar). She says, “I'm not looking for perfection in my collection, so I will overlook a small chip or crack, as long as it has a nice shape, a good price and I can hide the flaw.”

Color It: Add color and shine for occasional zing.

Boston area designer Urit Chaimovitz notes that white collections are easy to transform or accentuate with a pop off color via flowers or an additional accessory. She adds, ”I also like to combine crystal and mercury glass with my white objects for a dose of sparkle.” A great tip for the holiday season.

Shade It: Vary the types of whites for a more collected feel.
Boston area designer and stylist Kelly McGuill advocates for collecting pieces in a variety of shades of white. She says, “It makes a collection seem so much more interesting, as if the pieces are one-of-a-kind, selected over a period of time, rather than a group purchased all at once, on a whim.”

White Magic

left: A white lacquer sideboard in designer Urit Chaimovitz’s own home is backlit to accentuate the bright white palette. Three black pieces of pottery contrast the two larger white ones, and above hangs white on white art in a long row, plus one. (Photo: Liza Voll)

right: Interior designer and stylist Kelly McGuill is a huge fan of white for everything. She displays her collection of white ironstone pitchers, handle side poking out, according to size. It’s a perfect example of the sort of rhythmic repetition she often favors.

White Magic

left: Crafter Kate Dixon of One Flew Over photographed some of her favorite white items, experimenting with different textures and sizes. The tooth is a vintage piece from a friend; the stone with the crocheted tail was handmade by another blogger in Melbourne; and she purchased the doily printed stone on a crafting site, and the ceramic hand in New York. She says, “All of the items hold special meaning. I love having them scattered throughout the house.”

right: Julia Edelmann of Buckingham Interior Design curated a collection of white pottery on a glass tabletop.

Offset It: Resist the urge to aim for perfect symmetry.
British superstar designer Kelly Hoppen, who has dedicated a whole section of her app, “Home Style by Kelly Hoppen,” to displaying collections, finds that people tend to get caught up in the concept of symmetry. She says, “Though your natural instinct might be to start arranging your objects by placing items in the middle of a shelf, you should really start at one end and work your way across.” Avoid a centerpiece with identical pieces on either side.

White Magic

left: This spare white bathroom designed by Kelly Hoppen illustrates how even the simplest items create impact when used in repetition. She says, “With objects on a table or counter, less really is more. Clearly define the space on which your objects will sit, and make sure it is not too cluttered. “

right: This room in the Cotswolds, designed by star designer Kelly Hoppen, is comfortable, as expected in the country. At the same time, there’s more than a touch of the sophisticated, including three white porcelain Asian figures that seem to stand guard over the space. Of placing the white objects on a dark surface Hoppen tells us, “I personally like the look of white objects in contrast with dark woods because you have the difference in material (smooth versus gained), color (light versus dark), light (reflecting versus absorbing), and origin (man made versus natural materials).”