We spoke with Stacy Weiss, who is the owner and creative director of Pittsburgh design center Weisshouse. She recently redecorated her own space and wanted to share her advice on getting it right.
• When you are self-taught, you don’t operate on any given set of rules; I have been fortunate to find art and design that caught my attention and my affection from every area of my life. My first tip would be to embrace this feeling – many of my collections have gained character by combining items from my personal past with new and vintage items that I find and love.
• Grouping is what empowers any collection, and transforms it from clutter into something beautiful and interesting. When each item has its place, within a context that enhances its characteristics, your true sense of style begins to speak to the viewer.
• Let your collection grow and evolve; it will allow you to maintain interest in building it. I’ve collected items based on color, texture, or similarity, but allowed each item to be a turning point for the collection, taking it in a completely new direction. It's not when your collection fits into one design “period” or “mood,” but when it begins to cross over these labels that it really begins to get interesting.
• Never collect on price, but on emotional power. For one stage of my life, I was completely passionate about paper weights. Not fancy objects d’arte, but commercial and “ordinary” desk art. I absolutely loved finding new additions, anywhere from garage sales, to high-end decorating shows. The surprise of finding something new, that can fit with your collection, and you can take home is what makes collecting fun – no matter the “esteem.”
• Edit your collection. It will make it continually stronger as you evaluate which things you really love (and keep down on the “clutter” vibe).
• My largest collection is art, and several pieces in my home were done by my ex husband (photos 5 and 8). I care for these a great deal, and they are some of my favorites. To toss them would be denying my love for them, as art and signatures in my collection. Remember that meaningful pieces can gain new meanings as your collection and your life evolve.
To see more of Stacy's work, please visit Weisshouse.
Images: Weisshouse. Special thanks to Christopher Preis at Pascale Communications, who facilitated this post.
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Comments (8)
This is a fantastic example of how real art can make a space feel complete.
Forget the ikea prints, or posters... save some money and buy real art- colleges have auctions, you can barter at a gallery, etc... In the long run having blank walls for a while while one buys real art and builds a collection is very worth it.
All of this is excellent advice -- and her collection is quite wonderful.
Re: "real art" vs. prints...real artists produce original art as prints, too. Many artists sell far more prints than original pieces because there's only one original piece, and prints are far less expensive.
Art is, by far, our largest collection. As much as I appreciate an artist's original piece, I think I'd rather support that artist continually by buying smaller prints or pieces because there's absolutely no way I would be able to purchase from the same artist again if one original piece cost $600. But that $25 print of that piece? That I can do, several times over and for years.
I don't care if it's an IKEA poster or an original painting...if it looks good and I like it, I'm buying it and hanging it on my walls.
Re: prints.
The prints about which I was writing are not intaglios, lithographs, woodcuts or serigraphs but mass-produced offest lithos and reproductions.
Prints are legitimate real art and a fantastic way for an artist to make money and an affordable way for people to won real art. As someone who studied printmaking years ago in college I highly recommend owning prints- they are a seductive and beautiful medium.
Great post and sound advice. If prints are what a person can afford to enhance their own environment I say go for it. The more often we can purchase directly from artists or the galleries where they are represented the better. And at great auctions, estate sales, and flea markets.
Love it, a personal and realistic way to live with great objects, furniture, and art. Another reason to take design magazines and blogs as inspiration, and not a blueprint for interior design.
(Awesome, more spam above.)
Re: prints vs. "real art" - first, there are so many young, talented artists in any community who sell originals for less than established artists. So it's possible to collect "real paintings" on a budget. Second, if it's a print, and you like it - go for it.
Spend the money on a framing job that will elevate any artwork. Heck, vintage advertising posters aren't "original art" - and with the right frame, these posters become centerpieces.