With it's stucco walls, red roof tiles, patterned tile floors and spiral columns, the home of Juan Carlos Duperier and Laurie Plessala Duperier is a creative collaboration of artful objects and covetable architecture. The home was designed from scratch by the Duperier couple incorporating Spanish architectural elements in an effort to showcase their cultural roots. Carlos says, "the process of designing your own home can be tremendously satisfying. You get to see an idea,style and a concept come alive."
Carlos is a Madrid-born and bred, professional sportsman and was a professional soccer player in Spain and coached both in Spain and United States for most part of his life. Laurie was a business lawyer, and Vice-President and Associate General Counsel of a Fortune 10 company before the couple together, founded the "Duperier's Authentic Journeys". The company conducts extraordinary walking tour of the Camino de Santiago (in Spain) and promises an authentic experience of Spain itself. The couples work and their love for travel lead them to the United States, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Europe and Asia. Carlos goes on to explain how Spain and Asia (in particular) have had a strong influence on their design aesthetic in creating a place called home. Having fallen in love with the art, culture and people of Indonesia, the couple wanted to clone the feel of an exotic getaway right here, at home (US). A shipment (that took more than 3 months to arrive) laden with artifacts and statues that the couple had collected by scouring the local shops and markets during their sojourn in Indonesia, adds the Asian soul to this home.
The impressive entrance enamors us with the innovative melange of Spanish and Asian elements. The bespoke Spanish colonial doors, sport the character marks of wrought-iron hardware and also combine Balinese style wooden carving at the crown.
A Pair of Spanish Revival style wall scones with verdigris finish and graceful brackets flank the main door. Balinese volcanic stone planters lend an exotic appeal to the entrance and helps integrate the Asian element with the Spanish architectural backdrop.
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| A view of the main door from the inside - the carved wooden panel creates an interesting play of light. |
As we make our way in through the impressive entrance of the home, the interior space resonates with taste and style. Each room is a distinctive integration of art, architecture, function and comfort. An antique Chakki or the traditional mill stone from Indian subcontinent greets you at the entryway. The unconventional console table is a team mate of the Chakki. Originally used to clean grains before the grinding process in the Chakki, it's new pragmatic avatar is used to display an antique Chinese statue.
The entryway opens up to a cozy home office. Brightly colored Indian art and rugs, add visual appeal while the Buddha statue heads in every size, color and stone, ensure a serene ambiance and reinforce the owners love for Asian art and culture.
The formal living room, also functions as the family's music room. It doesn't come as a surprise that the Duperier couple are patrons of music and enjoy playing the guitar and piano at leisure. An antique Chinese rice storage basket called Dou is ingeniously transformed to serve as a coffee table with the simple addition of a glass top. At the far end of the room, an Indonesian Cabinet serves as the perfect storage solution to house the family's collection of extra China.
Bright unadorned windows flood the formal dining room with oodles of light. With no privacy issues to deal with, the couple loves the open uncluttered look. The star of the room is the dining table that seats a group of 10. Sourced from Indonesia, this beauty came along with the shipment.
Visually enriching the niches in the formal dining room, are the Loro Blonyo statues (Clockwise from right). Loro Blonyo in Javanese literally means "two become one". The statues are a symbol of the God and Goddess of fertility in Javanese culture: Dewi (Goddess) Sri and God Sadono. The Javanese people believe these statues bestow happiness, fertility, good health and well-being to the family when made a part of the home.
More treasures from their globe trotting adventures :
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The Buddha feet, an antique said to have originally been found in Afghanistan was sourced by Carlos from New York.
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The facial expression of the kneeling Chinese statue, the painting titled Endless Path, the Tibetan singing bowl and the details on the cabinetry, not only tell a tale of a far off land but also remind us of the importance of intuitively seeking out things that have an association with our fondest memories and surrounding ourselves with these to make our homes, soulful spaces.
Finally, we make our way outdoors to the luxuriant garden generously sprinkled with volcanic stone statutes from Indonesia.. This 5 feet Balinese statute weighing more than 5000 pounds required some horsepower to get it where it stands majestically today.
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The hand carved Balinese statues make every meandering corner of the garden a visual delight. The attention to detail on these carved pieces goes to show why the artistically driven folks did not settle for pieces coming off the assembly line.......
The home of Carlos and Laurie Duperier offers up imaginative and inspiring corners and throws spotlight on adopting the magpie tendency and seeking out things you love to live with. And finally, a note of Thanks to the wonderful couple for willingly sharing a few corners of their home with the readers of The East Coast Desi.
I hope you enjoyed the home and garden tour as much as I had fun working on bringing this to you !!! Stay happy and Inspired!!!
Images: Clicked by me. Please do not use without prior written permission.
Images are the property of Sruthi Singh and subject to copyright.
