American woman showed how to transform the house with things from the flea market
'05.01.2019'
Source: Hronika.info
Lace, angels, antique furniture, crystal chandeliers and coarsely plastered white walls - the extravagant style of “chebbi-chic” won the hearts of many lovers of antiquity and caused a flurry of criticism from minimalist fans. And he began his triumphal march around the world thirty years ago, in the town of Santa Monica, when one young mother began a rebellion against the home routine.
Rachel Asheville was born in 1959 in Cambridge and since childhood has been surrounded by expensive old things, from her youth she plunged into the strange and disturbing atmosphere of flea markets, flea markets and antique shops. Hronika.info with reference to Culturology. Her mother restored antique toys, and her father kept a second-hand shop. Parents explained to Rachel and her sister how to choose a good thing and then how to restore it. As a teenager, Rachel began restoring furniture and selling the results of her work at British antique stores.
At twenty-four, Rachel left the UK and settled in warm California. She was already successful as a stylist and set designer, but after becoming a mother, she devoted herself to the family - her husband preferred to see her as a housewife, and for Rachel, home comfort was always in the first place ... But her creative nature required experiments. Rachel was annoyed by the need to constantly clean upholstered furniture after the "barbaric raids" of children and pets - and she came up with removable covers, beautiful, practical, easily washable.
All her friends were delighted and vied with each other to find out where to get the same ones, because they had never seen anything like it in stores! When they learned that this was Rachel’s handiwork, they filled her with orders. And Rachel decided - that's enough. Friendly support made her remember that even a thirteen-year-old girl, she admired seasoned antique dealers with her taste and a trained eye. For "finding yourself" followed a divorce from her husband ... and the first own store.
She started a business in Santa Monica in California. In her first shop, her finds from the flea market were restored. Over time, Rachel began to develop items of her own design.
Quickly enough, Rachel formed her own style, very recognizable, very decorative and very memorable. She began to furnish her own home. New furniture she could not afford, and Asheville returned to her occupation of restoration.
She retained the touch of antiquity, paying tribute to the past and the inexorable course of time, but supplemented the objects as she considered necessary - a delicate ornament, coarse strokes of paint, gilding ...
It included crystal chandeliers, which were cheap for her, in an interior with simple white walls and functional removable covers, combined rocking mirrors with Victorian chairs painted in soft blue - and she liked it. She called her style "shabby chic."
The interior in the style of "chebbi-chic" seems to be a dilapidated fairy-tale princess room. Rachel respects natural aging and accepts it as an integral part of life.
Ruffles and frills, birds and angel figures, forged cells, hearts and laces, delicate floral designs create a slightly surreal feeling.
Ashwell believes that, in addition to comfort, it is very important to influence things on the subconscious, the kind of emotions that the subject of the interior and the interior itself causes.
For twenty-five years of creative activity, Rachel has changed her views on aesthetics. Shebbi-chic is still full of frills and pink, but the things she creates become more concise and functional.
She is inspired by everything around — her friends and children, fashion, cinema, art and travel — much of Rachel’s life remains the pursuit of antique furniture across countries and continents.
Ashwell has designed the interiors of the hotel The Prairie in Texas. This is a real “place of power” for fans of Chebbi-chic, because the hotel is located next to the largest antique fair in the United States. On the territory of the hotel complex there are five cottages and a barn where weddings and parties are held.
Rachel here feels truly free - and is experimenting with styles while remaining true to herself. A person knowledgeable in the history of art will find references to ethnic and historical styles - rococo, classicism, Victorian ... Each cottage has its own special character.
Linen is dried on the street, in simple vases and glass jars - always fresh flowers (Rachel even wrote a book about the colors in the interior), serves homemade breakfasts, forged and wooden furniture is pleasant to the eye and body, but in this almost rustic simplicity the look snatches the gilded frames of mirrors and complicated embroidery on bedspreads ...
Rachel is experiencing real ecstasy, going there and looking for unique objects created by artists, and not descended from the industrial conveyor.
Now Rachel admits that she is working on creating a new version of Shabby-chic - more minimalistic and functional. She in no way intends to stop there. Now she wants to create interiors free from visual and informational noise, but still imbued with magic.
Chebbi-chic has a huge number of both fans and critics calling it secondary, vulgar and overloaded.
She seeks to create aesthetic interiors, where children can climb with their feet on the sofa, guests can put cups on the coffee table, cats can lie on blankets and bedspreads. Beautiful things should be comfortable, cozy, alive. Rachel promotes these ideas in her books - she has written several beautifully illustrated books about Shabby Shik.
Today, its stores are in New York and in London. Furniture, textiles, accessories, decor and even clothing from Rachel Asheville are available to fans of her work from all over the world, and she herself does not get tired of being surprised, enjoying life and being inspired by the world around.
