Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Design

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

A collected look, a mashup of cultural influences, a global mix -- all are phrases used to describe yet another idea influencing today's interiors that can trace its roots through Frank Lloyd Wright's work. Highly influenced by time spent in Japan, he embraced tenets of Japanese and Chinese design, including reverence for natural materials and an inherent simplicity and lack of clutter.

It's something that I feel is really resonant right now. We live in in a world where we can buy anything and get it delivered tomorrow. But we can recognize the humbleness and simplicity and purity of really thinking about everything that we bring into our homes. That was something Wright thought about as an architect, but it's an idea that can really benefit every homeowner -- just slowing down and taking time to choose and enjoy the things you have in your home. Decorating is a word that we use to describe how things can improve our quality of life, and it's not really about more things -- it's about, maybe, the right things or even fewer things.

Though he championed a uniquely American style of architecture, Wright's own homes and those of his clients gained richness and depth from a few treasured pieces of rough-hewn Japanese pottery, a handmade textile from Africa, or beautiful Mexican paintings. His display of handmade objects from around the world in the context of Modern interiors added a layer of educated elegance to his rooms.

The lesson? The world is big and there is much to gain from that.

Wright fathered a new kind of architecture and kept on evolving from there -- but more than a century later, it's the timelessness of his ideas that make his influence so enduring.

When you look at his work today and it doesn't look all that strange or new --that's because what he was doing has been incorporated into our daily life. We can relate to what he was doing because it has permeated the way we live today. He was trying to change the way we live and do something different -- to break through to that next thing -- and he succeeded.