“I look for interesting ways of combining history with technological advances to create an eclecticism that will stand the test of time. It’s about living with beauty and helping other people live with it as well,” says Craig Wright. The seasoned designer has seen a fair number of trends and technological advances change, challenge and leave an imprint on the profession throughout his 41-year career. “The flat-screen television has become the single largest advance in decoration and has changed the use of several other pieces of furniture,” he observes. Wright, who describes his approach as “classical, with an unpredictable counterpoint,” channels his passion for European antiques into his own line of furnishings and reproductions, shown at Quatrain, the gallery he opened 28 years ago.

If he could live anywhere, he would choose the Château de Bagatelle, in Paris’s Bois de Boulogne —“before its later alterations, when the graceful proportions were marred by raising the roof in the 19th century. The small tented bedchamber was one of the most interesting rooms ever created,” explains Wright. “Designed by Bélanger for the Comte d’Artois, brother-in-law of Marie Antoinette, the original gardens included a pharaoh’s tomb, a paladin’s tower and a philosopher’s grotto.” Although there isn’t much in the design world Wright hasn’t come across, he muses, “We have yet to see Victorian contrasted with technological futurism.”

Craig Wright

310-657-7655

www.quatrainet