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Today, I'm talking with Samantha Stathis Lynch of Samantha Ware Designs.That's W-A-R-E.
She got her start working for galleries, authenticating pieces of art and antiques, which means she knows a lot about where things come from, who made them, and how.
And then she worked for de Gournay, one of the most storied houses of design, famous for their hand-painted chinoiserie wallpaper. With this resume, I was dying to tap into her expertise and experiences.
And what I found wasn't someone who had lived in a rarefied world of expensive to the trade objects out of reach for most people.
Instead, Samantha is firmly planted in the reality most of us live in and shares how we can all live with beauty based on her specialized knowledge of history and art.Here's Samantha. Samantha Stathis Lynch, welcome to the Slow Style Home Podcast.
Thank you so much, Sandra.I'm excited to be here.
Great.I am so interested in your backstory.What's the most important or interesting thing that you brought with you into interior design from your experience working in art galleries?
And another way I guess I could ask this is, what do you want people to know about art and furniture when they're developing their home's aesthetic?
Yes.So I have a master's degree in the history of fine and decorative arts.So what that means is it's everything from your fine arts, so paintings and sculptures, to furniture, textiles, rugs, wallpaper, ceramics, all that good stuff.
What that allows me to do is I look at it in two ways, really.The first way is when you have clients who are either building a collection,
are working on expanding a collection and have infinite budgets, it comes in use because we're able to authenticate and source products that are extremely high-end, whether they're antique or contemporary.
We're able to delve into it and do the dirty work, so to speak, to find those extremely high-end pieces.The second component is really for
most clients, people who are working with normal budgets and are not collectors, so to speak, but want to bring that sort of character filled element to their homes.
So for that, what I really try to do is source products that are really telling a story in terms of a time and a place. For instances like this, I will source products from flea markets, antique stores, and they don't have to be incredibly expensive.
But what I try to do is Use what I've learned from an authentication standpoint and look for decent quality.It might not be a $10,000 piece, but something that's going to last.
And then also just aesthetically how it translates and what, where maybe it came from, what country, what time period.So that's how I bring my background into the design world.
And okay, this is one of those nosy questions that I said I wasn't going to ask, but I'm going to ask anyway.
Have you ever had any sort of dramatic or tense moments where someone thought a piece was, the provenance was correct, and then come to find out, oh, this is actually a fake, or this is actually not where you thought it was from or something like that?
Yes.So not so much this is fake, but there have been instances where somebody will say this is from England.It's dated to X, Y, Z. And I'll just politely make a comment that, Oh, actually maybe it's from France and it's from this time period.
But I think at the end of the day, when we're talking about interiors, it doesn't really matter where it comes from and what era it's from. You just need to love it.And I think that's the most important thing.
That's so interesting to hear you say, because of your strong background in authentication and you're, you're so well-educated in provenance and lineage and things that you probably feel and felt very passionate about, but it sounds like you've really come to realize that the important part is.
how it's, what it's doing for you and your home.Definitely.
I think there's a time and a place for museum quality pieces and really getting into the provenance and all that good stuff.
But I think that for most people, including myself, search for the things that you like the look of that are not necessarily falling apart.Although there are instances where you can restore things too.
And that's the most important thing because you want your home to be filled with stuff that brings you joy and that doesn't need to be a $20,000 chest of drawers.
Okay, but I do think there's another sort of aspect of this that I tend to steer people away from.I'm curious to hear what you think.
that's different still than buying replicas, cheaply made replicas of things or real knockoffs of especially things that are handmade, that are very indigenous to a particular culture that are now being mass produced.
So there's a difference there, I would assume you would agree.
I definitely agree with that.I think that typically if I have a client who's looking for, let's say a, I don't even know, a Herman Miller piece sort of situation that can be.Upwards of $8,000, but they want to get it for, let's say $1,500.
I try to tell people that there's other options.That's going to give you a very similar look without getting into, is this fake?Yeah.
But I think to your point, when we're working with, let's say, like a Navajo inspired textile, you can find authentic Navajo textiles, right?And I would urge people to try and find those authentic pieces.
Sometimes they can be pricey, depending on where you're sourcing it from. So if it comes down to budget, what I would say is it doesn't need to be necessarily a complete knockoff of something.
You can find things that stylistically are in a similar vein, right?Give you a similar feel, a similar look without kind of getting into the face.And we always want to honor culture.So I think that's really important.
Okay so moving on in your career i am dying to know what it was like to work at four to gordon a what did you do there what did you take from that experience into your career as an interior designer and just in case if somebody doesn't know to gordon a just really quickly tell us what they do.
So Degornay is a, it's a wallpaper company, but they create hand-painted chinoiserie and it gets into some other Japanese, Korean sort of styles.
But traditionally where it started from was chinoiserie, wallpaper company where everything is hand-painted in China.And it's an extremely meticulous and custom product that is very high-end. And it's incredible.
It's like having, it's basically putting art on every surface of your home.It's pretty amazing.It's incredible.But they do other things now, apart from painting, they do hand embroidery on wallpaper, beading.So it's really spectacular.
That was my transition era, so to speak, from the gallery world into the design world. I went over to DeGorne and what I was doing there was project managing.
So if we have a designer or just a standard client who comes in, we're helping them bring their vision to life.So that can be everything from just using one of the standard designs that DeGorne has to creating completely custom pieces.
So it was great.It was a great experience.So you're working with extremely high net worth individuals as well as the creme de la creme of the design world.So it was an amazing experience.
Yeah.And what did you learn or take from working with that kind of quality into your profession as an interior designer?
Once you work for. A company that is working so intricately on a product i think you're able to. Identify quality much more.
It kind of is similar to honestly having the background that I already have because now I can walk into, let's say a hotel or a very nice apartment.
And I can say, that's a DuBois wallpaper or that's a Gracie wallpaper or a Fromage wall, or some of them you can say are antiques.They've been there for hundreds of years.
So from a quality perspective, it definitely makes you aware of a higher quality wallpaper. That said, it also, from a contrasting perspective, makes you understand that you can transform a space with wallpaper for not
hundreds of thousands of dollars because the reality was working at Degournay, if you were doing like a full dining room, it's incredibly expensive.It's a huge investment.Yes.
One of the nice things about that paper, when you are investing that amount of money into it, is that it's all backed, right?So it's painted on silk or it's painted on gold leaf or silver leaf or what have you.
And you can actually, if you have a good installer, have them come and take it off the walls for you.So you can bring it with you and cut it to fit a new space.Amazing.But for most people, that's not the reality, right?
On the flip side, you can do a lot with a space with just normal wallpaper.From a price perspective, you can buy a really beautiful $20 per yard wallpaper that's gonna do a world of wonders.
Okay, I'm gonna take myself as an example.My powder room, I painted it several times.I've put a mural on it once.I've wallpapered it now and I'm getting ready to wallpaper it again.
If you know that you're the type of person that likes change, like I am, and you dread the idea of taking wallpaper down, Is it more about how it's applied or the quality of the paper itself in terms of ease with which you can take it down?
So it's a mixture.I would say first and foremost, installation is key.
So if you are putting up a wallpaper that you might want to take down and save, you need to make sure that whoever is putting that paper up really knows what they're doing and is using the right materials and prepping the space properly.
That makes wallpaper a lot easier to come off the wall.Now, not every paper will easily come off.Some of them will peel off and they'll rip and it's not worth saving.
And some of the 1980s, I feel like I just remember in one of my houses taking one of those tiger tools that cuts little holes in the paper and then you're painstakingly ripping it off.
Yeah.Yeah.So you do get cases where that's going to happen. But if it's installed properly and if it's a decent quality, it doesn't have to be the highest quality.
But if it's a good quality wallpaper, you should be able to get most of it off the wall properly. Now it doesn't need to last you forever because I do think change is important.I think we as people grow and we change and our aesthetics change, right?
I think 10 years, I'm going to get 10 years out of wallpaper.To me, that's a great investment.I don't feel like I need it to last the entire time I'm living in a house.I wouldn't make the goal to be it lasts until I die. Yes, I agree.
Yeah, but anyway, all right, let's talk about the aesthetics a little bit.Coming from Degournay, florals are huge.Talk a little bit about florals, the different kinds there are and how to choose them.
Yep.So I am a floral lover.I love gardening.I love flowers.So to me, I always try to sneak in some sort of floral wallpaper somewhere.But to your point, there's many different styles.
So for de Gournay, for instance, they are known for the traditional chinoiserie paper, and it's very traditional.It's actually what you would find in grand estates in England in the 1700s, essentially.And that's actually how de Gournay was started.
The owner wanted wallpaper reproduced, and he couldn't find anybody to do it, so he started doing it himself.So there's the very traditional formal vein of this sort of chinoiserie, hand-painted mural wallpaper.
On the flip side, you have everything from block printing wallpaper, so Indian-inspired laurel motifs that are stunning, and they're a little bit more Countryside-esque, not as formal, a little bit rougher in a way, which is really beautiful, right?
So in a farmhouse or just a house that has some greenery around it, something like that is absolutely beautiful. And then you have abstract flowers and then you have your botanicals, right?
So they might not have your roses or your peonies or anything like that, but they have the leaves and the vines.So there's just so much floral wallpaper and it's hard to know what is going to make sense in your own home.
So one of the things that I recommend is it's a little bit harder if you're in a city, but if you look outside, what is around you, what flowers are around you, what trees are around you.
and maybe let that kind of influence what wallpapers you're bringing into the home.
Wallpaper, like fabric, comes in all kinds of themes, for lack of a better word.So you've got your geometrics, you've got your abstracts, you've got stripes, all that kind of stuff.
What's really interesting you right now, in terms of really adding patterns to our homes?
I would say right now you're seeing the grand millennial grandma chic, chintzy wallpapers and fabrics coming into play.I do think the block prints are everywhere.I think that gingham, which I have behind me right now, is huge.
I think that's having a resurgence.Anything, everything comes back around, right?So yes, there's Right now, I feel a focus on bringing back some of the older traditional patterns.
Do you lean into mixing some of these very distinct eras or themes that run through pattern?For example, I was just thinking about mid-century modern has been having a resurgence for over a decade now.
And with that comes, can come, like the atomic Sputnik geometric patterns. But I feel like if you really embrace that, then your home has the potential to start to feel a little bit one dimensional or more like a time capsule.
Let's say I've got mid-century modern furniture.What would you start thinking about in terms of, oh, I'm going to pull in some Indian block print or I'm going to pull in some chintz or what?Like, how would you go about thinking that through?
Yeah, I am of the belief that sort of combining different eras and styles is very important because to me that's what creates a layered home that doesn't feel like it's a museum, right?
So if you walk into a space that let's say you have a wonderful mid-century house and you fill it with all mid-century furniture, decor, color, it will feel like you're walking into a house museum.
And there's a time and a place for a museum, but that's not really where you want to live every day.
I want to visit it and get all my inspiration from there, but I'm not going to move in.
Yeah.So I think it's important to combine, you know, pieces from different time periods and they kind of contrast each other.And I think also, It's important to fill your home with pieces that you love, right?
So if you're traveling or you're going antiquing or you're at a flea market, you see something that you love, buy it because you're not going to see it again. And it's what kind of tells the story of you.
So let's say you have a stunning mid-century chair, but you want to bring in a little bit more of a traditional element, upholster it in a chintz.It will look incredible.It will look different, it will look unique, and you're going to love it.
You know, you shouldn't be afraid of combining those things.It's what creates an interesting story.
Absolutely.I agree with that 100%.I'm going to put you on the spot for a second.Do you have any examples of walking into a house where someone has really tried to mix things together?Or maybe they just, they have a mix because let's face it.
We all have hand-me-downs and we have stuff we bought that we're still holding onto from college that now we're fully grown and we have really nice stuff.And if you ever walked in and go, okay, this mix is not working.
It's usually because either there's too much stuff in the space or because things are just not working from a color perspective.
If you're walking into a space and you're seeing like too, just too much is going on, start breaking it up a little bit and putting it into different parts of your home.You'll be surprised that it will work because maybe instead of having
five different mid-century pieces in one antique English chest of drawers, mix it up, put it in different spaces, and you'll be surprised that it will start to look a little bit, it's funny because it's less cohesive, but it looks more cohesive.
It doesn't stick out like a sore thumb anymore.It feels, oh, this is just a mix of this person's personality and their lived history.Yeah.
Exactly.And I think too, color, reupholster things in fabrics that work together.Wood tones do not need to match.So that's okay.
But build a scheme where you're looking at colors and patterns and you have, I would say three to four colors that really hold the space together and then play with your different stripes and your florals and bring in some textural elements and it will look a thousand times better.
All right, let's keep talking about antiques a little bit.
I would love to know your strategies for thrifting and antiquing in terms of spotting valuable pieces, although I'm less interested in, Oh, how to find something and then sell it on Facebook marketplace.
But how do you spot something that's quality is priced well for what it is that kind of thing?
Yeah.The first thing that I say to people is if you really love something, go up to the seller, ask them what their best price is. See what they're willing to come down to because nine times out of 10, they will come down in price.
What you want to look for.Condition is important to an extent, right?We're talking about vintage and antique.So there's going to be wear and tear.So it doesn't need to be perfect, but structural integrity is important.
So let's say you're looking at a chair, sit in it, make sure it's not completely falling apart.There are some things that you can fix yourself. Obviously you can reupholster, if there's some nails that might need to be put back in, that's okay.
If it looks like it's about to collapse, it's probably not worth it.
In terms of like case goods, look for... Just tell people what case goods are in case people aren't familiar with that term.
Yeah, so case goods are your chest of drawers, your cabinets, anything that you can store stuff in is considered a case good.So you want your dovetail joints.You want to make sure that those are in okay condition.
I have two chest of drawers that I inherited from my mother that are pretty old.They're probably 200 years old. Wow.And they're funky.They're not perfect, but I absolutely love them.I was going to say, I bet you love them.I love them.
One of them is very hard to open and close now.It might not be the most functional thing, but if you really love it, it's fine to buy it.
If it's, let's say you go to a flea market for instance, and you have said to yourself, I'm going to spend X amount of money.
Make sure that you have room for your little ceramic pieces and your vases and all those good things that you're probably going to want to buy as well.
Yeah.I think that. Looking at the tags that are on things has been a huge education for me.
It's how I learned what McCoy was, so that now when I flip over a piece of ceramic, if it says McCoy in the font that I know it should say, I know, okay, this is the real McCoy.
But at the same time, if I see a piece that looks like it might be a McCoy, I turn it over, it doesn't have anything on it for an imprint.If I love it, I probably would still buy it, which I think is exactly your point.
Yes, definitely.For things like ceramics, you can look at the bottom of it.It should have a maker's mark.Put that maker's mark into Google and you'll figure out where it's coming from.
I think if you're looking at something that is going to cost an arm and a leg, and it's a major investment, if it doesn't have a maker's mark in it, or it doesn't have a really strong provenance, probably not the piece to buy.
Like I said before, things get battered over time.So you might not really be able to identify it, but if you trust who you're buying it from, and if there's a little bit information on where it came from,
provenance is there, then maybe it's worth investing in.I think the more that you start antiquing, the more you're able to start to identify pieces and authentic pieces and you just from being in the field start to train your eye.
Exactly.That's really how I've done it.What do you think people overlook in a thrift store or in a large antiques fair where you've got a ton of stuff to go through?
Are there any things that you're like, oh my gosh, people keep, their eyes keep skimming over this one type of thing and they're missing out on a great opportunity.Do you have anything like that in mind?
So I think a big thing that people don't necessarily look for are textiles.So you can find some really beautiful vintage or antique textiles that are essentially one of a kind.
As long as they're in decent condition, you can use them whether it's to make pillows or if you have enough, you can even upholster a whole piece if you find a whole bolt of fabric somewhere.I think that is overlooked.
Look out for things like lamps, artwork, those smaller pieces that really can transform a space.You can find some beautiful alabaster antique lamps for a fraction of what they would cost new.
And also try to imagine it without the ugly lampshade that's on there.Exactly.Put that lampshade off in your mind so that you can really see the lamp.Because I think lampshades really do change how you feel about a lamp.
And sometimes they're great, but oftentimes that's the problem with the lamp, not the lamp itself.
And you can find very affordable, beautiful lampshades.So yes, that is an easy change.
Yes, for sure.I love that.I love vintage textiles.And I've used them for many things for curtains, tablecloths, pillows.
I have one right now that I bought, I would say eight years ago that I still haven't used that I'm just, I knew when I bought it, I didn't have a place for it in mind. Yep.But that's how much I loved it.I thought it was a great price.
It's a big piece.And I know I will use it someday.
So yeah, if you see a beautiful fabric, grab it.It's different.It's gonna make your home different.I think as a designer, there are so many textiles being created today. But a lot of designers are using the same fabrics.
Getting something that's unique is great, right?It's going to set your space apart for sure.Absolutely.I think a great point about the whole antique sort of thing is environmental friendliness.Reusing, I think that's always a good thing.
Yeah, I do too. We haven't talked very much about your particular design work and your philosophy or approach to design.So I want to ask you, why is it important that we do develop a very personalized aesthetic?
Yep.I think that sometimes the design world gets a bad rap, right?Because it's very materialistic and you're buying things that maybe eventually you're going to throw out.
But I think that there's something to be said for surrounding yourself with beauty.I think it brings joy, honestly.And I think that from an aesthetic perspective, It's just as important as the clothes that you wear.
I would argue it's more important, right?Because it's what you're surrounded by.And I think that it really has the ability to transform your life.Anytime you walk into a home, you should be able to learn about the person who lives there.
You should get a sense for who they are just based off of what they're surrounding themselves by.So I think it's really important.
Yeah, I agree.I totally agree.I love all of your various career moves that have, they're all intertwined and it's been really fun to talk with you.I appreciate your time.Thank you so much.It's been great. Thanks so much for listening.
I know your time is valuable and I really do appreciate you spending it with me.And please, please, please take a minute to leave a review for Slow Style Home wherever you get your podcasts.
It honestly does help keep this show on the air and your feedback is highly valuable to me.Have a great day and I'll be back in your earbuds soon.Bye for now.
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