The designer authoritatively mixed his custom-made pieces with ancient and
modern art, fine and decorative art. He combined his scholar’s knowledge and
appreciation for the fine and decorative arts with his acute sense of scale to
make the whole of his work greater than the sum of its parts. Duquette felt as
comfortable working with gold paper as he did with solid gold, often saying,
“Beauty, not luxury, is what I value.”
In the 21st century, Tony Duquette’s design legacy is more relevant than ever.
In a March 1999 article, Amy Spindler, style editor of The New York Times
magazine, wrote:
What makes Duquette the first designer for the 21st century is his ability to
re-imagine, recycle and regenerate. It’s the prototype for how people will
have to approach design in the future … It’s also apparent that Duquette
is more than just a jeweler-artist-interior designer; he made his name in a
time in which living was an art, too, and the parties he threw with his wife,
Elizabeth … regularly made headlines right out of “L.A. Confidential.”
Tony Duquette, Inc. preserves the late designer’s legacy, encompassing the arts
of living and the living arts, designs for the theatre, and fine jewelry. Through his
collaboration with Baker Furniture, Wilkinson continues the Duquette tradition of
luxury and handmade decoration that is so closely associated with his firm and
its founder. In line with this tradition, these selected pieces for Baker are true to
the designer’s extraordinary vision. According to Hutton Wilkinson, the pieces
in this remarkable selection will be used by designers as the “jewelry in the
room,” “conversation pieces,” or “decorative punctuation marks!” Whatever the
use, each piece pays homage to Tony Duquette’s unparalleled life, ingenuity
and imagination. TD
Black
Angle@K
PMS 9040 C
SOLID
Warm Gray 4
Angle@K
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