To begin with, here’s a reminder about the first CASART COVERINGS CONTEST. Have you entered yet? It’s not too late. The deadline is 6:00 p.m. EST tonight. See the rules here.
It seems only fitting that this Present Presence post should follow last Friday’s Too Beautiful To Survive for both subjects are examples of sustainability, and transcending many decades.
He’s been gone for nearly 20 years, yet he still has an influence and presence on not only the world of dance but also design. Craig Seligman wrote a wonderful article about Rudolf Nureyev for the June issue of Ell Decor. Nureyev was mesmerizing on stage and off. His daring leaps, his high cheekbones, the drama, the flamboyant dress and risky life style all captivated his audience. I remember seeing him in a cameo roll performed on the stage in a Greek amphitheater in Athens. I don’t recall the ballet and he didn’t dance one step, but I’ll never forget the location or what a commanding presence he was in a heavily brocaded flowing robe.
If you have some time, read this article by Toni Bentley, published in the New York Times, Dec. 2, 2007. Fascinating!
With houses and apartments all over the world, he bought an entire island off the Amalfi Coast and decorated it lavishly with tiles, which also serve as examples of being a constant presence with their long-lasting sustainability.
Charlotte Moss thinks his penchant for acquiring houses may lay in his “being born on a moving train and never stopping his whole life”. What attracts her about his dwellings are their “saturated colors, rich textures, layered patterns, ” and “the mixing of periods with dashes of ethnic elements. He was a risk taker.” Alex Papachristides says, “He was both a ballet dancer and a collector of costumes, and it’s almost like he transferred the beauty of the costumes and fabrics to interiors.” Robert Couturier remembers Nureyev’s Manhattan apartment as having a Russian effect but not European Russian. “All these incredibly intricate patterns; it was very tent like. It had an Oriental mystique.” Nureyev was passionate about kilims.
Even his tomb is covered with a mosaic rug. (I can’t explain the composition of the “fringe”).
We love mosaics, too, at Casart Coverings and have just launched a new design-our Faux Glass Mosaic tiles. Faux glass mosaic tiles can be printed on transparent repositionable Casart Clear as well as our regular opaque (white base) material. Printing on clear will allow the base paint color to show through the transparent material as the grout color for the tiles. Voila! The perfect solution for a kitchen backsplash. Printing on our regular material can accommodate covering an accent wall or an entire room-like Nureyev’s Li Galli home!
Here are two additional colors and you can view all available colors or our faux glass mosaic tile reusable wallcovering at our website.
– Lorre Lei
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