tattle
THE NOSE IS EXAGGERATED AND THE SKIN IS
runny and slick with light, shadowed just
enough to capture tired eyes and crooked
new distortions on the face. Here, pride
settles for meager salvation: the unflattering
announcement that really, you look so
much better in person. The camera can be
so temperamental. If mirrors as beguiling
as these should pause before giving away
their allurements for a single photograph,
one cannot blame them. The same way the
sciences resist free falling into any experiment
guided by instinct; there is reluctance. What
the clinical approach misses is that elegance in
waiting, in trusting that something remarkable
is just on the eve. Which is partly how this
bewitching collection of looking glasses came
to be.
We know designer Paul Benson creates
each piece up in Sonoma, where they make
wine, cheese and sunshine if they could,
caressed by that deep artisanal intuition. In
those inspired surroundings, Mr. Benson is
humble about his designs. Never once does
the ego go renegade, detour on an artistic
joyride of amour-propre. “I’m not projecting
my idea onto [the work],” he explains. “It’s
more like I am releasing myself to the process
and the possibility of it.” He prefers to describe
selflessness and participation in something
larger than himself, honoring a continuum
of artists and generations—a legacy of
craftsmanship. The notion shapes itself like a summoning his creations from a luscious like carving stone or marble—you can’t add
circle, and begins to resemble (for this writer, slumber, rousing their spirits from the past anything the way that I’m doing it. And it’s
anyway) the enchanting spherical radiance of and slipping them quietly into the present. part of the risk of what I do,” says the designer,
his mirrors. That would be almost enough to explain who on occasion carries a piece of one, the
The photographer is well aware of how the timeless quality they possess, that iconic beginnings of a new work, in his pocket. Just to
fussy they can be as muses. The mirror does familiarity. have it there throughout the day. It is the sort of
not make it easy on any of us, and yet one is Working with vintage tools, the designer contemplation that only an artist would know
instantly captivated by Mr. Benson’s stunning follows in a proud tradition of making things instinctively.
pieces(whichare, quitehonestly,extraordinary of enduring quality. The round shapes are For a pensive soul who has marveled at
in person). Anyone can relish the magnificent turned on a lathe over one hundred years the superb metalwork of vintage French and
duality each one presents, as a function of old; there is a Bridgeport milling machine and Italian coachbuilders since boyhood–the
beauty as well as the refined reflection of it. a metal shaper, antiqued instruments that chassis, the peerless engineering, the endless
The glossy aluminum bodies, the slender necks, seek a rarified patience. Devoted to purity sophistication—it is no wonder he creates
the surprise of their mirrored backings and of craft, Benson moves his hands over knobs, artifacts so passionate and richly layered. This
those featuring magnification—admirers often cranks and levers (nothing computerized in his stylistic provenance, his fine art background
collect and display his mirrors, grouping them workshop) to perform the private mechanics and understanding of sculpture, are a few of
on consoles and tables, not hidden away of this one-of-a-kind art. Each mirror is signed, the elements which bring these pieces to life.
in the powder room, but in full view. He also dated and numbered; some take nearly And still, there is something more intimate, “It’s
june + july 2009
designs furniture—sideboards, consoles, side a week to complete. His finely cultivated a dialogue,” Benson describes of his artistic
technique is so singular and precise that process, “It feels like language to me.” n 27
even the slightest hesitation will disrupt the Arianne Nardo Paul Benson, for stores and
rhythm of the work. “It’s a reductive process, information 707 938 9891 paulbenson.us
tables, vanities, desks and four-poster beds—
all echoing the sleek, simple decadence
with metal. We can almost imagine Benson
