Living Retro
By Andrew Weaving
First published in 2008, a second edition of ‘Living Retro’, by specialist author Andrew Weaving with photography by Andrew Wood, was released in 2013. In his introduction, Weaving categorises into three groups people who choose to ‘live retro’: the purists, those “perfectionists who put together an interior that is entirely faithful to the building that houses it”; the creatives, who stamp their own trademark style on wherever they live, and the maximalists, “magpies who have a passion for collecting vintage pieces”. And this sets the tone: the message is that living retro works for different people in different ways. Like your own personal interior designer, Weaving takes the reader by the hand and leads them through an array of stunning homes, each with their own take on living retro. The chapters are named by interior style and are packed with visual inspiration backed up with some well-researched facts. Information on the architectural history of each building is outlined at the start of every chapter, as well as an insight into the design ethos of the present owner, and detailed picture captions that identify the furniture and collectables within. Whether it be ‘Best of British’, a chapter on Weaving’s own London home in the loft space of a now extinct dog biscuit factory; ‘Fabulous Prefab’, which showcases a contemporary Mondrian-inspired Huf Haus in Surrey, or ‘Sophisticated Glamour’, which focuses on a Modernist 1969 desert house in Palm Springs, Weaving seeks to explain the whys and wherefores behind the visual success of each. It’s clear, it’s concise and it provides an abundance of eye candy. This book if nothing else is sure to get your own creative juices flowing!
Living Retro
Published by Ryland Peters & Small London and New York
ISBN 978-1849753654
160 pages
dimensions 21.6 x 25.4 cm
Useful links
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Take a look inside author Andrew Weaving’s own Modernist retreat and discover what took him to Florida in Sarasota Modern: Sun, Sea and Geometry in MidCentury 05.