Brian Paquette - At Home: Evocative & Art-Forward Interiors

I felt all at once cheated and mystified the first time I viewed aJoan Mir painting in person. As art students, we had been sold on the textbook ideathat a Mir painting consisted of simple composition, perfectly drawn lines, andout-of-the-tube primary colors. But this simplification couldnt be further fromactuality. His paintings are covered in the human hand and touch: guide lines, muddycolors, and paint that appears to have been mixed on the canvas itself, opposed toon the safety of a painters palette. The paint, cracked and yellowed with age,causes the canvas to become an entirely new surface in and of itself. Thisheightened visual and textural experience during a college field trip to YaleUniversity Museum speaks volumes on how I think about home and space. As an interiordesigner, I have set out to create homes that embrace this kind of patina, that lookforward to the aging process while remaining wholly present in their comfort andsetting.

I find it limiting to talk about any one approach when asked about mystyle or look (a question I equally love and loathe). This is mainly due to mylack of interest in any one particular style. My work has always been aboutreference and sense memory. It is my duty to conjure the reference and sensememories of those who inhabit the spaces we are working on. What is the past likefor them? What is their lifestyle goal? What are their hopes and dreams, and whathas brought them to this particular time and place?

Reference is an interesting term and Ill break it down as such: If youthink of your life as a book, what are the chapters? Who are the key players? Whatare the elements, behaviors, good (and bad) memories, etc. that make you who youare?

In my work we must dissect these influences to make sure each newclients home references all that embodies them as individuals; their home shouldserve as a reference to what supports and comforts them. For example: Is theresomething special about where you grew up? I, myself, grew up surrounded by beachesand water. I cant seem to get quite comfortable if Im not in that environment, butseaside living may not always be an option. So how, as a designer, do I interpretthe sea, and the memories that surround it, into my home without just slapping agiant painting of waves above the sofa? How are these memories translated in a waythat spark the senses without hitting you over the head? This thoughtful reflectionis where we begin.

Sense memory is another major theme in my work. Perhaps its a smell thatbrings you back to a positive memory. I recall my mother telling me her favoritesmell is the scent of burning leaves. As a child, she would ask my grandmother tocircle the neighborhoods where people were burning leaves in the fallmy motherwould ride with her head out the car window, perfectly engulfed with this scent thatjust made her happy. There is a shade of blue I refer to as10,000-leagues-under-the-sea blue. It reminds me of seeing the plein air painters onthe beach when I was young; it reminds me of the velvet drapes in my grade schoolsauditorium before a recital; it reminds me of floating in the sea as a little kid,and even now, as an adult, of floating in the sea while on vacation in Hawaii. Thiscolor moves meits unstoppable. How do we keep your memories alive in your homeaplace that should embody all that is you? Is it in the fabric? Is it in theplacement of furniture for light exposure? Is it in the surface texture? Its all ofthese things and more, and its how I build rooms.