everywhere, but rather ‘where did you go?’ ‘what’s your family history?’ ‘do you
have your crazy aunt’s chair?’ These items make a home more beautiful.”
In place of the crazy aunt’s chair, Gottl and Michell settled on other quirky
items, many evoking their own wicked sense of humor. In keeping with their
conviction that creating a home “should be about enhancing a life, not creating
an untouchable object,” the couple’s intriguing assemblage of art and objects
invites visitors to move closer, seeking out details to surprise and amuse.
Two minute Sven Fritz sculptures made from real flies and bees replicate The
Creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo’s Pietà. A cabinet
discovered at a market in Indonesia gained exotic allure when Gottl applied
antlers acquired at a swap meet in Bologna. And a matador’s jacket slung across
a framed wooden chair isn’t a jacket at all, rather a Christopher Williams sculpture
comprising the jacket, chair and broken piano keys.
Similarly, Gottl and Michell take pleasure mixing haute design with everyday: a Piet
van Eek table rests comfortably in the family room alongside no-name couches.
