The Midas Touch
Jan Showers restores glamour back to design
We suspect uber-interior designer Jan Showers could turn a tree house into a space worthy of a shelter magazine, so the elegance and sheer sumptuousness of her Dallas townhouse hardly comes as a surprise. For her own homes and those of her venerable clientele, Showers draws inspiration from everything from the art-house cinema to the Paris runways.
“Decorating is never successful if it is not personal, “says Showers. For her city digs, that means a mix of sleek mid-20th-century looks with fine period pieces. Years ago, to fulfill the needs of her clients, Showers began designing her own line of furniture and accessories, available locally at David Sutherland. (The Jan Showers Collection is also featured at showrooms in New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Dania, Florida as well as David Sutherland’s showrooms in Houston and Los Angeles.) “When I decided to create the furniture collection, I looked for designs that exuded style, versatility, and glamour,” she explains. Accordingly, her mineral and Venetian glass lamps take their cue from the late 1940s and 50s; sexy silhouettes are de rigueur. The hand-made furniture boasts luxe lines and layers of exacting detail. Her textiles include such tactile materials as pig suedes, ironed and polished leathers, zebra hides and cowhides. Says the designer, “Choosing designs that ultimately mix with different interiors, from traditional to modern, is my real inspiration.” And you, Jan, are ours.
MUST HAVES
Table tops! Jan Showers’ own Oliver Dining Table (1) $21,667; available at her Slocum Street showroom, and white cowhide-covered Marine chairs surrounding it ($3,167 plus fabric) make a strong, stylish statement in the dining room. Picture perfected-The designer had a beloved photo of her and her daughter restored at Photographique, then found a (2) made of tiny aqua shells at a shop in Palm Beach. Gold standard- a pair of 18th-century painted chairs with gold-leaf accents (3) made a strong statement in Jan Showers’ entryway (4). She bought the versatile pieces 20 years ago; they flank a mirrored French commode from the 1940s. “I love to mix the 18th-century with the mid-20th-century,” she says. “It always works.” Something else you’ll see in Showers’ residence and her showroom…the Midas touch. Check out the Edward Wormley bronze bench, c.1950, (5). Nature nurture-Showers never fails to appreciate the simplicity of Ellsworth Kelly drawing (6) of a maple leaf that hangs in her entryway.