This week’s guest curator on Rise Art is interior design expert Martyn White. With an academic background in interior design, Martyn is wildly passionate about the subject, and his innate desire to inspire clearly comes through in his renowned blog. Here Martyn shares his personal taste for simple contemporary style, why he thinks art is so important when decorating your home, creating personality and character with your interiors, and how art finds you. Browse his full collection bellow.
Interior Style and Contemporary Character
My personal interior style is quite contemporary, focusing on the beauty, texture and detail of pieces within a space. I like to keep things simple in the home by limiting the use of accessories, selecting characterful and personal items that can add character and give visual direction in each room.
Right: Eastwood, Roosevelt Island, NYC by Sarah Evans
Architectural and Abstract Art
When it comes to preference of art, I love a range of style in a selection of mediums. I have always had a strong appreciation for architectural pieces, they create such strong features within any room in the house and can stand alone without the need of “dressing up”. Abstract painting and print is another huge weakness for me. I love the personal interpretation that you can find in many abstract pieces, everyone creating their own story. The use of colour, shape and texture within these works is a fantastic way to unite accessories and materials together to create a beautiful style.
Art and Interior Design
Art is incredibly important when it comes to designing and decorating a home. It can represent personality, expresses creativity and adds character and style to a space. Artwork is usually displayed at eye level, higher than many other accessories and features in a room so will usually be the first thing that you notice as you enter a room. Pieces can be rotated regularly to keep a look and style fresh whilst adapting the decoration to mood and seasons. With so many beautiful pieces to choose from, I would always recommend staying away from the generic standard prints that you see in home stores and go for something more personal with a beautiful story to tell.
Art Finds You
I get asked about art selection regularly, people wanting to know the best places to buy art and what they should be looking for to complete their home. Artwork can be an incredibly difficult thing to purchase and even harder to start a collection. I believe that you cannot search for art, it has to find you and when it does, you end up with pieces that you love for the rest of your life. If you stumble across a particular painting or discover a beautiful drawing, you should always purchase it, chances are that it will have gone if you search for it on a later date and you end up in the classic “what if” situation. This is also how you grow art collections, rotating pieces that you generally love, adding your own story to its journey.
Martyn’s Top 5 Rise Art Picks
This was my favourite piece on the Rise Art website from the moment I clicked on the page. It reminds me of looking out of a plane window, down through the sky and feeling that excitement of traveling.
Urban Geometry, Oxford Street, Nick Miners
There is such a familiarity in this piece for me and it plays close to home. Simple black and white architectural photography adds a beautiful depth to any space.
I still cannot believe that this is a drawing! I love the simple form and perception of space within this beautiful art piece.
Aerial photography exposing beautiful rich colours and a peaceful moment in time. I particularly love this piece because you can get lost in the moment.
Brilliance of Colour, Victoria Horkan
An explosion of vivid colour. How can you not look at this piece and instantly feel happy?
martyn white designs | guest Curator Collection
Martyn has curated a seamless edit of hand picked works that reflect his love of original, contemporary art. Discover his favourite pieces in this colourful, expressive collection.
BROWSE THE COLLECTION >>