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| Furniture accented with mother-of-pearl in Ms. Duke's homes Shangri La |
A Piece of Shangri La
Taking inspiration from Doris Duke's penchant for luminous mother-of-pearl furniture
The American Tobacco heiress Doris Duke (1912-93) was many things: philanthropist, horticulturalist, seductress, surfer, collector and world traveler. She was also a woman of many houses (eight, to be exact), the most famous of which is Shangri La, an exotic Islamic-style palace in Hawaii.
In 1935, a 10-month world tour of a honeymoon took Ms. Duke and her first husband, James Cromwell, to the Middle East and India, Syria and Turkey. It was on these trips that she began her lifelong love affair with Islamic art and furniture—in particular, pieces inlaid with mother-of-pearl. In 1936, she decorated her Hawaii hideaway in this style. Her dressing room features shimmering chests from Damascus, along with a pearly vanity and chair that sit under a vaulted ceiling inlaid with mirrors.
Although these rooms were designed decades ago, their look feels as fresh and otherworldly now as it did in the '30s. Mother-of-pearl pieces look at home in conservative, modern and tropical environs.
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| Inlaid Trunk via Veranda-house |
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| Mother-of-Pearl Inlay Bureau. Mexico c1820 |
