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FeedAlmost Anything Goes
Mike Schwartz’s eclectic collection of found objects comes together in a uniquely fabulous way.
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At Mike Schwartz’s house, diverse architectural elements from many times and places have found a home, a place to live in artistic harmony.
Two huge arched windows with painted white louvers, likely salvaged from a church, are displayed as sculptures in the family room. The heavy teak doors at the top of the stairs were made by hand in India a century ago. Salvaged barn doors open and close on metal tracks, just as they did in their original homes.
“I am more interested in found objects than I am in antiques,” Schwartz says.
By definition, a found object is a utilitarian item that is reinterpreted in an artistic way. Witness the carved wood panel in the dining room, one of 24 tableaus reclaimed from a horse barn on Philadelphia’s Main Line. Salvaged windows usher light into a loft dressing room. A vintage beautician’s chair is a conversation piece in the family room.
Schwartz appreciates the aged patina on a raised-panel shutter, a one-of-a-kind finish created by layers of paint and years of sun, wind and rain. The piece is displayed on a wall in the foyer.
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