Have you ever recognised someone, not from their face, or name, but by their apartment?....well, that's exactly what happened to me last month when I picked up a copy of
Elle Decor.
Hmmm...I thought to myself,
Michael De Perno...that name kinda rings a bell, but I couldn't place it. I don't quite know what it was that jogged my memory - lord knows some days I have trouble remembering my own name...but for some reason I had an Aha! moment and pulled out my very first kept issue of Elle Decor from May 2001 (almost exactly ten years earlier), and there it was, on page 214, Michael De Perno's classic 1920's LA apartment.
At the time the article was published I was living in a tiny apartment in Tokyo and De Perno's apartment was great daydreaming fodder. It was light, airy, full of real furniture (I barely owned any at that stage) and I loved the classic details of the house. I also loved the mix of furniture, we had barely begun to buy the Japanese antiques we now own (in storage in Australia nonetheless), and I was intrigued by how he had put it all together.
Fast forward ten years down the track (where the hell did all that time go?) and De Perno's new abode is still providing me with daydream fodder, except that now I'm living in a tiny apartment in Hong Kong. His new house is much more modern, and it seems his style has evolved in a similar way that mine has. I'm glad to see he has retained much of his furniture....(I think thats partly what helped me recognise the house as his)...a Japanese tansu here, a chest of drawers there, its still a nice mix. While the architecture of the house has changed, the overal aesthetic has not. Its still light and airy and I think that - along with the fabulous sense of indoor-outdoor living - is what I'm day dreamin' about most.
Michael De Perno's previous home, photographed by Jeremy Samuelson for Elle Decor back in May 2001.
De Perno's new abode, photographed by Laura Resen for Elle Decor June 2011.
