Introducing Sarah Sherman Samuel’s newest collection
Author:Abigail StoneSarah Sherman Samuel’s third collection for Lulu and Georgia, explores our dreams of a beautiful escape
Sarah Sherman Samuel‘s third collection with Lulu and Georgia, including her first furniture pieces designed for the brand, taps into our collective urge to get out and about after almost three years of being shut in.
The inspiration for the collection came from the old hotels and European architecture she remembered from her memories and from looking through her backlog of images. “It’s more of a sentimental appeal,” she acknowledges. The fluting that decorates the base of the Doric dining table, the bottom of Billow Lounge Chair and the front of Merrit Dresser were clearly inspired by ruins of old temples found in and about Rome. The checkerboard patterns of the Checkerboard and Irregular Grid rugs and wallpapers conjure up the floor tiles of Paris’ iconic cafes. The collection’s rich browns, warm terracottas, soft sage greens and cloudy blues nod to nature and the feeling of warmth and sanctuary that Samuels weaves into the interiors of both her sprawling home in Grand Rapids, Michigan and those that she creates for clients.
“The pieces have a lot of curves and special details,” she shares. The addition of that one unexpected element into otherwise clean, even traditional, forms—note the keyhole back of the Whit Dining Chair, the base of the Lena Sectional or the slender iron legs of the Rise Daybed—is a characteristic not only of these pieces but a hallmark of Samuel’s overall approach. “There’s always an appreciation for history and art, new and old which, in turn, makes many of the pieces very versatile,” she says.
The collaboration, which encompasses living, dining and bedroom furniture, as well as rugs pillows and wallpaper, is cohesive without being catalogue. “I purposely didn’t want it to be matchy-matchy because I would never fill my own house with coordinating sets.” In fact several of the pieces, including the Merrit Nightstand, the Irregular Checkerboard Rug and the Ripple Chair have already found pride of place in her home. “I always try to bridge a gap between traditional and modern with my own collected aesthetic,” she says. It’s what makes this collection right for here, there and everywhere.
