Page 57 - Reside Magazine Premier Central Florida

Previous page: Yolanda Eleta
de Fierro’s Madrid home featured
columns and geometric marble floors.

This page, clockwise from far left:
Roman-style statues and busts could
be found throughout the property;
a Coromandel lacquer screen from
the Kangxi period sits behind
a collection of objects in the
library; Antoni Tàpies’ 1962 abstract,
Campins, hung in the living room

her White House renovation, cementing Maison
Jansen’s reputation among a new generation.
It was another 20th-century French designer,
Andrée Putman, who said “style is a point of view,”
and Fierro searched the world for collectibles that
would bring a flavor of Maison Jansen to her house,
informed by her own personal perspective. Each piece
in her collection ref lects an adherence to the
principles of the style she so admired. At the peak
of its popularity the design house’s aesthetic
referenced several historical periods—from French
furniture and decorative art of the 18th and 19th centuries and the imposing interiors
of English country houses—and sprinkled it all, as Jansen expert James Archer
Abbott says, with some Hollywood theatricality and glamour.
A classical atmosphere predominated in Fierro’s house, emphasized by columns
that ran along the walls, the geometric patterns of its marble floors, and strategically
placed Roman-style busts. But amid this setting sat decorative elements of diverse
and exquisite craftsmanship, many of which will be auctioned in Paris. These include
floral rugs in pastel colors, examples of Chinese lacquer furniture, and glass lamps.
They were originally mixed in with more contemporary elements, such as striking
glass-topped coffee tables with bronze legs, and metal cabinets from the post-Boudin
period, when Maison Jansen was led by Pierre Delbée.
Fierro and her architect traveled extensively, says João Magalhães, Sotheby’s
senior specialist and head of furniture. They were not only looking for treasures with
which to decorate the house, but also visited palaces, stately homes, and museums
for inspiration. To move from room to room in her house was to take a tour of
the artefacts they collected from around the world.
Walking into the entrance hall, guests were greeted by a large bell-shaped
vase made of porphyry in the 19th century by the royal Swedish lapidary works,
and a George III-style console similar to the one Thomas Chippendale made for
Harewood House in Yorkshire. Chippendale’s work on that great English stately
home also served as inspiration for some of the ornamental details on the staircase
and the mahogany doors, based on a design for Harewood by Robert Adam.
Fierro’s library housed a superb Coromandel lacquer screen from the
Kangxi period (1662–1722). These had been fashionable ever since Coco Chanel

55