Incollect Magazine - Issue 9

84 www.incollect.com project she integrated a pair of Springer tables embossed with crocodile skin for the living room, and a massive steel and glass coffee table for one of the family rooms. “Scale can be an issue with Springer as his furniture is usually larger format and chunkier — for lack of a better word. But it all depends on the space.” Wrapped pedestal tables and patinated Murano glass “scavo” vases by Springer also appear in her projects, when she can get them, she says, as well as Springer lighting which she adores. Springer’s lighting doesn’t look like anything else, and that is important to me as I don't want my projects to look like everyone else’s.” Designer Kristin Coates couldn’t agree more. “The lines of his work have always felt so timeless to me, making Springer a go-to resource for all my interior projects,” she says. Coates works frequently with Victorian and Colonial structures in Newport, RI., and has found that Springer fits right in. “The furniture brings the design story into the future while the architectural details remain anchored in history. Springer's designs seamlessly bridge this gap. His furnishings are wonderfully versatile and lend themselves just as well to a coastal Victorian home as they do a Manhattan loft.” Coates gravitates toward his mirrors, seating, and decorative boxes, enamored, she says, by his use of materials, especially his use of lacquered parchment, Lucite, and polished steel. “They still feel completely contemporary, even 40 or 50 years later.” A large project she’s been working on includes selections from Lobel’s trove of Springer pieces. It’s an 1860s Victorian in Newport, originally Edith Wharton’s childhood home where she first tried her hand at interior design before purchasing and moving to Lands End, also in Newport. “After 100-plus years of dreadful design decisions, or maybe just no thought in design at all — it was even a design show house in the 1990s — my current clients bought the house in 2020 and wanted to restore the property for a family holiday home. My design aesthetic is a contemporary nod with great respect for history. I look at where a home has been in order to see where it wants to be in the future. I love the surprise when “Dome Top Mirror” in ivory shagreen with bone inlays, 1980s; “Sculpture Desk Lamp” in polished chrome, 1980s; “Chinese Parsons Style Desk” in artisan shagreen lacquer with brass inlays at sabots, 1980s; “J.M.F. Chair” (one of a pair) in two-tone embossed lizard leather with leather seat, 1970s. From Lobel Modern on Incollect.com Tapering pedestal with chamfered corners in lacquered goatskin, 1970s; Scavo glass urn with hand-forged bronze elements produced by Seguso Vetri d’Arte, Murano, Italy for Karl Springer, 1980s; Chest of drawers in lacquered goatskin with brass pulls, 1980s; Dome top Art Deco mirror with beveled edge mirror panels, 1980s; Lighthouse table lamps in blue- gray shagreen with polished nickel details and shades, 1980s. From Lobel Modern on Incollect.com