girl from tony Locust Valley, New York, and a preacher’s son from rural Georgia doesn’t sound like the formula for a match made in heaven. But 20 years later one can safely say that’s the case with Tara and Sam Seawright, the Manhattan-based interior designer and her painter husband.
“We met on a blind date,” says Tara. “Not exactly love at first sight, more like the sixth. It was a Saturday morning when he called to find out what I was doing that day, which happened to be a bunch of mundane chores. Not missing a beat he asked if he could tag along, ‘I just want to be with you.’ Who could resist? I fell for his kindness. I knew he’d be there for the boring parts of life, as well as the fun.”
“We did everything that day,” recalls Sam. “From fabric shopping to grocery shopping. It was the first time we realized we shared so much aesthetically.” And a good thing, for as Tara says. “I couldn’t have married anyone whose aesthetic I didn’t like.” Clinching the deal, she adds, were his paintings: “From the first piece he showed me I thought what he did was insanely wonderful.”
Their work is, at first glance, wildly different. Sam’s work can be described as organic abstraction. Working mostly in watercolor and acrylic on canvas, his layered abstractions are based on landscape and nature. “There’s a sense of place, the power of the landscape I grew up in,” Sam explains. “And the Southern tradition of storytelling. It’s more visceral coming from an earthy place. The paintings are flights of fantasy and spontaneity, at times chaotic.”
Tara, on the other hand, describes her design style as “Paris meets New York, the glamorous 70s of fashion icon Halston mixed with the attention to detail and vintage element of Paris. Beautiful, but comfortable and practical.” For two decades Tara has been designing casually elegant homes full of “unique vintage pieces, beautiful antiques, and art…. My designs are punctuated with unexpected touches that reflect my clients’ personalities.”
Still, Tara sees some commonality: “Where our work overlaps is how we both use layering and texture, and the way we use color in unexpected ways.” Continually evolving, the couple says they’re always surprised by the other’s projects.
Do they influence each other’s approach? Definitely. Tara says that Sam is more adventuresome in general, and his paintings are, too. “There’s a freedom to being an artist, whereas I have to think about the budget or a building code in addition to colors and patterns. It’s that freedom I think that allows him to push me to be more organic and artsy, less symmetrical and classic.”
Sam says that Tara introduces him to different surfaces, textures and ways of doing things. She provides a “structure” in which to put his flights of fantasy. “She knows when to stop, and call something ‘finished,’ which can be difficult when you’re expressing an idea.”
“Our relationship,” Sam sums up, “is all about respect, support, a shared enjoyment of many different things and, of course, love.”
“I think Sam would love this desk for its sculptural nature; it reminds me of a Richard Serra. It’s rivets and zinc material make it really masculine while it still has really sensuous curves. Plus, it has access from both sides which means that we could both use it; a perfect Valentine’s desk.”
“I think of a room divider or a screen is a decorator’s conceit, a decorative tool with no real purpose except to add interest to a room. What makes this room divider so interesting is its industrial feel. Sam would love how the sunlight would show through this piece and create shadows in a room, and he would especially love the vintage photographs in it, as he is a photographer himself and currently has a show in Athens, Georgia of his work. Visit: http://athica.org/exhibit.php?ID=129
“Tara will love this drinks cart. It has sophistication and grace. The materials are elemental, bamboo and animal skin, but with a decadent twist: The bamboo is gilded and the goatskin is dyed green. It looks simultaneously ancient and very current.”
“This is a beautiful sculpture that also functions as a mirror. It brings to mind Lee Bontecou. Tara loves mirrors and reflective surfaces of all kinds, I’d love to see how she would incorporate this into one of her beautiful rooms.”
