Skill Transforms A City Showroom

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26748, 4 June 1952, Page 2

Skill Transforms A City Showroom

Christchurch Firm’s Initiative

Canterbury has long been familiar with the development and enterprise of one of its old-established firms, the business of J. M. Mitchell, Ltd., 535 Colombo street, craftsmen and home furnishers, whose stock of all types is designed not only to fulfil a practical purpose but to add its full measure in beauty and good taste to New Zealand’s modern homes. The initiative which this firm has shown- in the recent remodelling of its premises has added to the feeling of space and freedom in its huge showrooms with new and interesting features which reach a Continental standard and which are a complete innovation in this Dominion.

For these the inspiration has come from an expert French designer who has adapted the fine proportions of, the building to set off to real advantage the latest trends in interior decoration, in order to bring a sense of the home atmosphere inseparable from a modern showroom into the individual displays. The unusual use of wall colour and the play upon direct and indirect lighting are among the first features of which one is aware. A primrose wall is a foil to one of dull blue. At either end a soft apricot glow lightens the shadows. The ceiling, washed in periwinkle blue, has an obvious influence on the whole scheme, and its length is cleverly broken by the false ceilings of “honeycomb” or “egg crate” variety in white above each display which suggest a lower stud in keeping with modem houses. Carried out in pale ash offset by deep brown, the shoulder-high partitions between the showroom displays have a streamlined effect in keeping with the beautiful furniture. The upholstery and carpets have been selected to set off the lovely woods of the suites, cinnamon, maple and walnut, bleached mahogany, birds’ eye and quilted maple, New Zealand beech and the rare curly beech, expertly made with a simplicity of design which shows off the exquisite graining to perfection, and with the laminated finishes and smooth curved lines which are to-day’s substitute for the sharp edges and ornamental grooving of other decides. A diningroom suite of Swedish design in light ash and dark walnut is typical of mis practical outlook.

Not only in furniture of unusually high quality, but in that planned for home makers of moderate bank balances, and for those of average means, the firm carries a very wide selection, all featuring the excellent designs in which unnecessary detail is eliminated. Incorporated in the room settings, to which have been devoted the wide frontage windows and alcove space within the showrooms, are decorative features claiming immediate attention. Between the lounge, with tinted walls and arrangement of mohair suites jn deep mulberry and pale rose, and the dining room is a fireplace, on a small, extended platform with chimneypiece curving to the wall behind, an innovation to serve both rooms with its warmth. A cocktail bar or smoke room annex from the lounge shows fine furniture with chromium finish, and hefe indirect lighting is achieved through reeded glass set along toe partition and overhead. Novel wall variation in such rooms as these is shown by a section divided by fine diagonal strips into lozenge framework picked out in gold. In toe main bedroom, with its lovely furniture of cinnamon wood, the built-in surround of the head of the bed is an effective touch with lighting diffused from above. Wall brackets of white wrought iron are in keeping. Another bedroom shows a suite with toe influence of the Queen Anne period, an interesting contrast to other lines carried by this firth, as for ale the mohair and chromium ire, and toe compact dining suites for toe very small homes with shaded plastic table tops which no form of heat will mark. The very diversity of its stock permits J. M. Mitchell, Ltd., to cater for every need and every shade of personal taste. A fine use of decorative colour and lighting on the first floor also shows other displays to advantage in settings toe counterpart of those to be found in many homes of the Dominion. No detail in furnishing which can offer comfort or fill a practical need is overlooked.

To-day these showrooms, influenced by all that is new in interior decoration from a Continental source, call forth the keenest interest and toe warm approval of discerning people. Advt.