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Lawrenceville artist mines the '60s for apartment theme - and on a budget
Corey LeChat lounges in his '60s- and '70s-themed bachelor pad
Christopher Horner, Tribune-Review
The 'kitsch-en' shows off collected items
Christopher Horner, Tribune-Review
LeChat bought this mirror panel for $200
Christopher Horner, Tribune-Review
Jessica Sahene and Erin Cunningham drape themselves over the decor in LeChat's bedroom
Christopher Horner, Tribune-Review
William Loeffler can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7986.
Behind the plain-Jane brick row house lurks a mod, mod, mod world, a shimmering space-age bachelor pad with interstellar cool and plastic furnishings that gleam bright as the shine on Barbarella's white go-go boots.
LeChat, a photographer, artist and graphic designer, has created this parallel universe almost entirely with items found at flea markets and in thrift stores. From the cascading lounge chair that he re-covered in white shag to the jet-age parabola of his combination coffee table/bar, he's gone back to the future, one envisioned by the moon-shot optimism of the mid-'60s and early '70s.
The only way to be transported further back is to sit inside the white egg-shaped "alpha pod stereo chair" in LeChat's living room. He's left the grape-colored upholstery as is, because it's an original.
"The whole point of decorating is that I've done it on budget," LeChat says. He sums up his approach in the words of an associate who deals in the same "mid-century modern" furnishings: "Having a lot of money and using it to buy furniture from specialty shops or shows is easy; anyone with a large amount of money can do that. But to do it without having money is an art form all its own."
LeChat, a self-styled "cultural engineer," has applied that art form to create a world of modular chairs, globular stereo units and Mylar accents that hearken back to "2001" — the movie, not the year. Indeed, both floors of his flat seem poised to coax Stanley Kubrick back from the great beyond.
This zero-gravity cool is balanced by bright clockwork orange, earthy browns and scandalous reds.
"I was never a big fan of orange," says LeChat, who says he's been collecting mid-century modern for nearly 15 years. "As I got older, I realized orange was a nice kind of background color to use. A lot of my furnishings are white and black."
He likes the negative space defined by the organic shapes. "I don't like a lot of angles," he adds.
This is "lounge," but not the martinis and mobbed-up suits of the Rat Pack. LeChat's pad evokes a sleek alternative universe to the peace signs and caftans of the late '60s and early '70s. The furnishings are a combination of Danish mod and '60s and '70s Italian plastic, with a slight Japanese influence.
None of this, however, is 8-track tack or hollow kitsch. "I use it," he points out. "It's not like a museum in here."
Except, however, for the "kitsch-en," a treasure trove of cultural detritus salvaged from dusty five-and-dime shelves back when kids rode banana bikes and watched "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" on television. Hanging over the refrigerator on the "carnival wall," a giant Tilt-a-Whirl sign shares space with advertisements for Mister Softee Ice Cream shops.
In LeChat's bathroom sits a row of Hai Karate bottles.
LeChat designs CD covers for local surf-spy band Z.O.W.I.E. as well as other bands. His photographs have been exhibited locally as well as in Los Angeles, Chicago and Prague.
His work also hangs in Luxx on the South Side, a clothing store and gallery owned by designers Jessica Sahene and Erin Cunningham, both miniskirted modettes in their own right.
Not all the items in LeChat's apartment were scooped up at thrift shops, however. Over the mantel hangs a mirror panel bought 10 years ago from a mod furnishings dealer in New York City. LeChat initially balked at the $200 price tag but decided to give it a try.
"I’ve read that the Japanese have a way of decorating that basically equates to bringing an object into their residence and it must be accepted by the other objects around it," he says. "If you bring something new into a setting and visitors don't notice it, then it works. If it does not work, the objects around it will reject it, and it will be brought to everyone’s attention."
When he went back to buy more panels, the dealer informed him that Lenny Kravitz had bought the remaining 100 or so to decorate his house in Florida.
Says LeChat, "I hope he's one panel short."
| Do you have what it takes? |
Want to be a space-age single? Here's a partial list of items in Corey LeChat's collection:
LIVING ROOM
KITCHEN
MASTER BEDROOM
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