courtesy of Forsyth Saint Louis
Two years ago, creative director Annie Genovese met multimedia artist Maggie Robertson at the Best of Missouri Market. Robertson, who works in such media as photography, printmaking, sculpture, and cyanotype, was selling her hand-painted blue-and-white ceramics. Genovese, in her role for Forsyth Saint Louis, a curator of repurposed vintage and antique furniture, was searching for inspiration. She was immediately captivated by Robertson’s delicate, antique-like wares.
“They are the kind of things you keep on your table or mantel forever, then pass down to your kids or give as gifts,” says Genovese, who soon partnered with Robertson to sell the collection online. One year into their partnership, Genovese decided that she wanted to launch a second collaboration, and she couldn’t think of anyone she’d rather work with than Robertson. “I’ve always had the wish to find someone to hand-paint furniture,” she says, “and I liked the idea of working in timeless blue and white.”
courtesy of Forsyth Saint Louis
Finding the right piece of furniture would be as essential to the project as connecting with the right artist. A set of American-made early-20th-century wingback chairs and ottoman, found at auction, delivered the style and craftsmanship that Genovese sought for the project. “The construction is really interesting and cool,” she says. Their large surface areas—on both the sides and on the back panels—could easily double as canvases for Robertson.
“I loved the idea of putting Maggie’s art on a bigger stage,” says Genovese. “This collaboration is about bringing the artist’s hand onto a piece of furniture and making it into a work of art.”
Once Genovese acquired the chairs and ottoman, she sent them to be refurbished. Parts of each chair were rebuilt, and the wood was stripped of its original dark stain and painted ivory. Inspired by the large vertical configuration of the chairs’ back panels, Robertson decorated them in a charming motif that she calls “The Tree of Dream Birds.”
“I sketched out in pencil the tree shape onto the wood as a guide for the composition,” she says. “Then the birds, leaves, vines and all the details were painted freehand. As I work, the design evolves. It’s an organic, spontaneous process.” Influenced by a recent trip to Paris, the artist added the name of the design in French across the bottom of one chair’s back panel.
“We’ve taken these heavy, dark, clunky pieces of furniture with appealing shapes and created light, airy, almost lacy pieces,” adds Robertson. “It’s exciting to have the opportunity to create one-of-a-kind pieces that will be unique to someone’s décor.”
Back at Forsyth’s studio, the team applied two coats of polyurethane to protect artwork and paint from chipping and filled the cushions with featherdown. The chairs and ottoman were upholstered in a bone-colored linen by British interior designer Rose Uniacke. Genovese says the double-welt detail, incorporating a vintage indigo fabric, “creates an interesting outline on the wingbacks, following the branches on the trees.”
The chairs and ottoman, which took about four months to complete, are now for sale on Forsyth’s website. “They’re pieces that you can lose yourself in,” says Genovese. “You can sit in one and look at the other and let your imagination wander.”
More painted furniture projects are in the works. Genovese’s goal is to eventually offer 10 pieces, all designed by Robertson. Though each will be upholstered in a different fabric, all will feature the same enchanting aesthetic. With one project complete, Genovese and Robertson dream about creating more beautiful objects—such as a hand-painted stone lighting collection, already in the works—together. “We’re always brainstorming about how Maggie’s work can translate to other mediums,” says Genovese. “I’m beginning to think more sculpturally,” adds Robertson, “so there is much on the horizon.”
