A row of Adirondack leather chairs, rice paper lamps and an edition of Charles and Ray Eames plywood sculpture are among the handcrafted furniture and décor installed in and around the home and gardens of the late landscape architect James Rose in Ridgewood, New Jersey, as part of the new exhibit In the rose house. The show features new designs from furniture and interiors studio Green River Project LLC alongside contemporary pieces by 20th-century designers including Eames, Nancy Holt and Anne Truitt.
The installation is a joint venture between Green River Project LLC and Object & Thing. The objects on display are based on Rose’s work and home, with contributions from galleries and organizations such as Blum & Poe, Eames Office, Electronic Arts Intermix, Holt/Smithson Foundation, Lisson Gallery, Matthew Marks Gallery and PPOW
A landscape architect and theorist born in rural Pennsylvania, Rose has undertaken a number of projects in and around North Jersey, where he lived, as well as in New York, Connecticut, California and abroad. During World War II he was stationed in Japan; his time there greatly influenced his work and life. Not only did he become a Zen Buddhist, he incorporated Japanese architectural practices into his work, many of which can be seen in the residence he hand-built for himself in 1953, which now serves as The James Rose Center, one founded by Rose Foundation and Museum before he died, dedicated to preserving his life and work.
Japanese elements found in his residence and landscape include an admiration for wood, the use of sliding doors and shoji screens, and an approach to nature. In keeping with Buddhist practices, Rose converted the upper floor of his residence into a meditation space, which is currently being restored by the James Rose Center.
The wastelessness of the landscape architect is evident in the design of his house. He has often reused and repurposed building materials, notably turning doors into benches and railroad ties into garden fences.
“The ease with which Rose expanded the home using prefabricated materials was an early benchmark for our practice,” Green River Project LLC co-founder Aaron Aujla said in a statement. “Ben Bloomstein and I also started Green River Project LLC as a gallery in the barn on his family’s farm in upstate New York and organized this exhibition as a result [Object & Thing] was a great exercise that brought us back to one of our original goals.”
Previous collaborations between Green River Project LLC and Object & Thing have brought similar settings to the former homes of architect Gerald Luss and architect and industrial designer Eliot Noyes.
Designers and artists who create pieces for In the rose house have taken the late landscape architect’s ethos and ad hoc methods to heart with their handcrafted designs and multimedia works. Among these installations are new pieces by designers collaborating with Green River Project LLC, including rice paper lamps by Preziosi Lighting and a range of decorative wooden toiletries by Teague’s Path that line the bathroom shelves.
Other designers and artists contributing to the staged exhibition include clothing company Bode, who have designed clothes resembling Rose’s, a series of white leather Adirondack chairs by sculptor Hugh Hayden that contrast the dark toned wooden walls, a Collection of tinted rice paper illustrations by Anne Truitt and a 1943 edition of the Eames Office Plywood Sculpture on display for the first time in the United States.
To embody Rose’s appreciation for the union of nature and architecture, pine bars, a 1975 film by Nancy Holt about the New Jersey countryside, is played on a continuous loop by a television set on a makeshift concrete base, a design and use of the object Rose would definitely have approved of. Several glass-blown flower vases line the closet shelves, alongside exhibited artwork and textiles that also evoke verdant landscapes.
“Rose was an impossible loner who has been dubbed ‘The James Dean of Landscape Architecture’ by one author, but I think he would be very happy with the vision that Green River Project LLC and Object & Thing brought to his home and on which we look forward to welcoming new audiences throughout the exhibition,” said Dean Cardasis, director of the James Rose Center, in a statement.
In the rose house is on view through October 2, 2022 at the James Rose Center in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Further information about the house and the exhibition can be found here.