Artist Cindy Sherman’s Springs, NY waterfront compound began with the renovation of an unpretentious 1830s farmhouse. In the spirit of disciplined eclecticism, we assembled a polyglot collection of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century antiques leavened with idiosyncratic flea market furnishings and a wide-ranging assortment of vintage textiles, including Moroccan Beni Ourain carpets, 1920s Pakistani ralli blankets, African indigo cloths, Indian suzanis, and Italian tapestries. Sherman’s art collection — a smorgasbord of thrift-store finds, outsider art, and works by friends — buoys the atmosphere of eccentricity, warmth and playfulness. We designed the pool house in the vein of Carlo Scarpa, using primitive concrete, which incorporates sand, shells, pebbles, and bits of brick from the area for a tactile allure.
