John Saladino, the acclaimed interior designer who pioneered a new American decorating style that mixed classicism with modernism, has died. Saladino, 86, passed away on July 26 at his home in Montecito, California.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, the designer was known as much for his influential style—mixing antiquities with contemporary furnishings, industrial finishes with his signature periwinkle upholstery—as he was for his take-no-prisoners attitude. “I’m forthright,” he told ELLE Decor.
He decorated homes from Saint-Tropez to Kuwait. But he was just as known for his Saladino furniture—a wide-ranging collection that includes his signature high-back sofas and the glass Saladino lamp, which Michael Kors has called the lighting equivalent of the little black dress. Here are excerpts from our interview with Saladino in 2015:
High Drama:
• When you see a room for the first time, your blood pressure should go up. I like to create an emotional experience. A well-designed space doesn’t give out its secrets right away. It should never bore you or feel dated.
• I was the first to mix antiquities with modern, and humble with rare. I was decorating with chewed-up Oriental rugs that a lot of people thought were rags. Just because something is old doesn’t mean it needs to be discarded.
• My villa in Montecito had a quarter-mile-long driveway, which is very pretentious, so I wanted to give the house a jokey name but couldn’t come up with one. I said to myself, This is such a dilemma. I realized that was it: Villa di Lemma. It sounds like the home of a titled Italian family. But the house was too big for me, so I sold it to Ellen DeGeneres.
Size It Up:
• After college, I lived in Rome for two years and immersed myself in the ancient world. I fell for corroded surfaces and theatrical scale. I’ve always loved antiquities, and I have a museum-quality collection. I recently bought a 900- pound corbel from the Baths of Caracalla.
• Interior design is like a three-dimensional game of chess: You have to think about space both vertically and horizontally. People who build big houses are often sorry later. The living room feels too large, and you have enough space to roller-skate in the kitchen. You have to break down these rooms and create spaces with a human scale. In an expansive room, I’ll establish multiple seating areas. I’ll carve out an inglenook with a high-back sofa and folding screens.
• I am totally involved in the landscaping of my projects. There’s no such thing as bad siting. Use design to manipulate perceptions. A group of trees can act like curtains, framing a beautiful view, a glimpse of the ocean, or a patch of green in the middle of the city.
Color And Texture:
• I like color that feels elusive and changes with the light. I often use a gray with a little red in it, so it appears mauve in the evening hours. I’m known for shades like periwinkle, blue gray, and a bluish white. I do the opposite of what most people do: I paint north-facing rooms a cool color and put warmer tones in west- or south-facing spaces.
• One of my favorite wall treatments is brown-coat plaster, which is also called a scratch coat. It’s like the difference between bleached and unbleached flour. People come to me trying to get the formula, but I’m not going to tell them.
The Saladino lamp.
A Light Approach:
• When lighting a room, use layers. For ambient light, try a chandelier with little brown paper shades, which give a beautiful, warm glow, and table lamps for intimacy. You need practical lights for reading and to keep you from falling down the stairs. Finally, add art lighting to illuminate paintings or plants.
• I think a lot of modern chandeliers are hideous. They look like Sputniks and throw light on your head and not on the table, where you need it. In a kitchen, put lighting on work surfaces, not overhead. In a bathroom, place light above the sink and on either side of your face.
Matters Of Taste:
• We’re in a moment in America where taste often comes from the street. The new vulgarians are tearing down houses and putting up particleboard palaces. I see a lot of bling: feathered sconces, white lacquer French chairs, and graphically aggressive carpets. It has nothing to do with serenity.
• I’m always trying to create a better world. Even in a restaurant, I’ll ask the owners to dim the lights or turn down the music or even move a table. It drives my son crazy.
Ingrid Abramovitch, the Executive Editor at ELLE Decor, writes about design, architecture, renovation, and lifestyle, and is the author of several books on design including Restoring a House in the City.