Is there anything prettier to add light, French charm, and style to a room than a beautifully carved wooden mirror, finished in gold leaf with verre eglomise detailing – as show above in a mirror from the John Richard Collection, one of Hadley Court’s sponsors to High Point Market?
In yesterday’s beautiful post by Hadley Court contributor Lynda Quintero-Davids about sunburst mirrors, here, she shared many examples of how sunburst mirrors add a beautiful focal point to any room. Here’s one more example below in a dining room designed by Atlanta designer, Suzanne Kasler, as featured in Architectural Digest. This room just exudes timeless design.
Today, I’m going to share with you a bit more about a couture glass technique used on plain mirror called verre eglomise. It adds a layer of rich pattern and patina that blends seamlessly with fine antiques and gives any room in which it is used an immediate sense of chic refinement, glamour and elegance.
Verre eglomise is the term used for glass that has been gilded with gold or silver leaf on the reverse side and then etched with a pattern or design or, in some cases reverse painted, as seen in the John Richard Collection mirror below. This verre eglomise mirror with its gold leaf gilt wood frame is one of Leslie Hendrix Wood’s personal favorites.
Wikipedia tells us that “the technique dates back to the pre-Roman eras, but its name is derived from 18th-century French decorator and art-dealer Jean-Baptiste Glomy (1711–1786), who is responsible for its revival.”
Even dining chairs can be made using the verre eglomise technique, as in this beautiful chair designed by the John Richard Collection [ @JohnRichardColl ] exclusively for Dallas headquartered Horchow, the sponsor of this fall’s Designer Viewpoints Series at High Point Market.
There is another level to verre eglomise, too, and that involves having a custom couture verre eglomise masterpiece created exclusively for your own home or office.
One of the foremost practitioners of custom couture verre eglomise work on mirror in our country today is artist Miriam Ellner. She has an enormous body of work, but one of my own very favorites is this custom herringbone verre eglomise design she executed for designer Jeffrey Bilhuber in New York. Do you love this as much as I do?
Her beautiful Moorish inspired custom verre eglomise mirror work for Sean Johnson is stunning, too.
Creating custom couture designs for you is something that interior decorators and designers the world over, like Leslie Wood, do for their clients.
See the picture below of Miriam working in her studio. Can you imagine how painstaking this is to do?
Here are a few of the tools of her trade.
Of course, not every client is ready for, wants to make, or can afford an investment in custom couture design for their homes or offices, and that’s why wonderful companies like John Richard Collection are great resources, providing as they do beautiful verre eglomise mirrors and furniture items, but at more affordable prices. Their French inspired mirror, below, the ORNAT, another one of Leslie’s personal favorites, is a beautiful example that retails for under $2000.00.
And lastly, to {almost!} end our tour of verre eglomise with the designer we started with, Suzanne Kasler, here is a dining room she designed using verre eglomise mirrors placed on either side of the fireplace. {Sorry for the lack of clarity in the photo, it’s the only one I could find, but I thought it was so beautiful, that I had to share it. }
What do you think? Do you now have a greater appreciation for this beautiful technique that John Richard Collection specializes in? We invite you to visit their showroom, too, at High Point Market at 200 Steele.
And…just one more…because, if a custom couture ceiling { or dining room panels or a headboard, etc. } in verre eglomise by Miriam is what you want Leslie Hendrix Wood or your own designer to help you execute on for your home, I want you to know it can be done, as it was in this stunning room designed by Celerie Kemble for the 2011 Kips Bay Showhouse in NYC.
Have you verre eglomise in your own homes or design work? Do you have a favorite resource? Let us know in the comments!
Leslie Carothers
for
Leslie Hendrix Wood
Decorator
Chancellor Interiors
Midland, Texas
Founder, Editor In Chief
Hadley Court
Gracious Living. Timeless Design. Family Traditions.
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Speaking of mirrors…have you entered our final #TimelessDesign giveaway with Bernhardt for their beautiful HAVEN writing desk, shown in the reflection below?
You can enter here: https://hadleycourt.com/giveaway and our randomly chosen winner will be announced on October 23rd, the last day of High Point Market.
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Thank you, Bernhardt, for making this wonderful giveaway available for our readers.
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GOOD LUCK!