Vintage Cars Inspire Interior Design
NASHVILLE, TN – Friends often ask where we get our design ideas. Inspiration comes from fashion magazines, travel to other parts of the world, and recently from vintage cars.
Classic cars are a marker for our history. They also inspire design ideas as Feltus Hawkins Design principals, David Hawkins and Marjorie Feltus Hawkins, discovered while attending the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance 2018, an exhibition and competition of vintage cars.
David Disiere, a classic car collector who has engaged FH Design to create a warehouse and museum for his automobiles, toured David and Marjorie through the multiday event.
“The overall fashion, sleek, clean lines, rich textures and detail of these vintage cars is just so beautiful and inspiring,” said Marjorie. “And, the colors — purple, yellow, rich blue and green — are not what you see on cars today.”
Standout design elements included the luxurious interior of a 1962 Lincoln Continental “Bubble Top,” the charismatic headlights and grill of a 1948 postwar Delahaye 135 M Faget-Varnet Cabriolet, and the silhouette of the 1969 Lamborghini.
Tufted settees and side chairs FH Design has procured for some hospitality and lodging clients are reminiscent of the deep-tufted upholstery in the Duesenberg car.
Hood ornaments or “car mascots,” like the highly collectible ones made by French glass-maker René Lalique in the 1920’s and 1930’s, are beautiful animal and human figures that decorated luxurious classic automobiles like Bentley and Mercedes. Many date back to the pre-World War II era.
“We got lots of inspiration for the mood board that will guide our design for an innovative space we’re creating to showcase the Disiere’s impressive collection of vintage cars and hood ornaments,” said Marjorie.
