Interior Design Inspiration: Gustav Klimt Decoration and Detail
Jay Johnson Monday, June 10, 2013 at 9:00AM 
As the book cover above shows, Gustav Klimt was way, way, way over the top when it came to design and decoration. This is an approach to style that our interior design students can take a cue from in their own work, and it's used by many successful designers working in residential design today. You'll see echoes of Klimt's minute attention to decoration when you read about interior designers who define their style as "More is more" or "It's all in the details." Klimt would agree. I was inspired by Tashen's sumptuous book, Gustav Klimt: The Complete Paintings. "Paintings" is a bit of a misnomer, however, as the cover work of art is from the spectacular Tree of Life frieze composed of Carrara marble, gold and silver mosaic, colored ceramics, enamel, mother-of-pearl, semi-precious stones, sheet metal, and gold leaf in the dining room (below) of Brussels' Palais Stoclet, probably one of the most beautiful homes ever designed (the overall design and architecture was by Austrian architect Josef Hoffmann, executed by Klimt and other artists and craftsmen from the famed Wiener Wekstatte or "Viennese Workshop"). Historic interiors great artists like Klimt inspire us to create a more detailed and layered room scheme. The marble walls, the glassy surfaces in Klimt's mosaics, and the highly-reflective dining room table were meant to create a magical world of glittering light when a multitude of candles were lit on table candelabra and the wall sconces. It's that kind of thoughtful attention to appearance and the harmonious interplay of all elements in a room that we teach and would like our students to internalize.
If you're interested in learning more about interior design and decorating strategies, we encourage you to explore the Sheffield School, New York, NY. Sheffield began as an Interior Design school in 1985, and then expanded our course offerings to train people in other design-related fields, including Feng Shui, Wedding and Event Planning, and Jewelry Design. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any school in the world.