Get the Look: Artist Christopher Florentino’s Pop-Inflected Midcentury Home

Here’s how to combine pop art, street art, and space-age furniture à la Florentino.

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Known as Flore, accomplished street artist Christopher Florentino was born in Brooklyn and now resides in Miami, but arguably his most storied home is in the suburb of Winter Haven, Florida.

Built by architect Gene Leedy, the art-filled midcentury residence is also a place of inspiration for the young artist. "I’m using this house as a place to study," he says. "I’m studying the architecture, studying the living." Build your own midcentury refuge by incorporating pieces like the ones below.

Artist Christopher Florentino says his respect for Gene Leedy drove his update of the architect’s 1963 Ellison Residence in central Florida: "Being original is important to me. I don’t want Gene Leedy to come here and be like, ‘Damn, you killed my vision.’" In the living room, George Nelson’s Saucer Bubble pendant hovers over Eames classics, like an LCW chair, a Molded Fiberglass armchair, and a Molded Plywood coffee table. Christopher found the lounge, an Eames replica, in a dumpster and couldn’t let it go to waste. A Warhol print hangs from the sandstone block wall; the Ekko mobile is by Matthew Richards.

Hip Haven Bullet Planter

Design Within Reach

Originally manufactured by several companies in the 1950s, the Bullet Planter (2011) was never trademarked, and its designer never identified. One version of the story attributes its creation to a resourceful man who worked for a company that produced satellite dishes.

Herman Miller Eames Molded Plastic Side Chair

Design Within Reach

Charles and Ray Eames realized their dream to create a single-shell form over 80 years ago by making their molded chairs of fiberglass.

Herman Miller Nelson Saucer Bubble Pendant

Design Within Reach

While outfitting his office, architect and Herman Miller design director George Nelson discovered a silk-covered Swedish hanging lamp that he coveted but found too expensive.

Ekko Standing Circles Mobile

Design Within Reach

Evocative of the work of Alexander Calder, the Ekko Standing Circles Mobile (2009) moves freely with the slightest breeze or vibration. This mobile is carefully handmade in Oregon. Best suited for indoor use. Keep away from children. Made in U.S.A.

Herman Miller Eames Molded Plywood Coffee Table

Design Within Reach

Charles and Ray Eames began experimenting with molded wood in the early 1940s, pressing thin sheets of veneer against a heated membrane – their Kazam! Machine – to perfect their signature molded plywood shaping technology.

Vitra Wooden Dolls

Partly joyful, partly grim, completely charming. The Vitra Wooden Dolls by Alexander Girard are colorful decorative accessories/toys inspired by Girard's passion for the local popular art of Asia, South America and Eastern Europe.

An Eames lounge chair covered in Alexander Girard fabric from Maharam sits near a Girard Model 108 coffee table for Knoll.

Herman Miller Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman

Design Within Reach

Charles and Ray Eames had ideas about making a better world, one in which things were designed to bring greater pleasure to our lives.

Knoll Girard Table

Design Within Reach

The designer was true to his words when he created the Girard Coffee Table (1948) for Knoll®. The art of this coffee table is its book-matched walnut veneer tabletop, organic shape, and smooth 45-degree beveled edge.

Vitra Eames Elephant

Design Within Reach

Charles and Ray Eames were known for being fascinated with certain animal figures—including elephants. Charles actually collected photographs of the animals from various inspirations around the world.

DCM Molded Plywood chairs by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller sit around a dining table by Eero Saarinen for Knoll.

Herman Miller Eames Molded Plywood Dining Chair Metal Base (DCM)

Design Within Reach

The Eames Molded Plywood Dining Chair (DCM stands for “Dining Chair Metal“) (1946) began as an experiment in the Eameses’ apartment and became one of the world’s most widely recognized and highly coveted chairs.

Knoll Saarinen Dining Table

Design Within Reach

Architect Eero Saarinen was a genius at creating expressive sculptural forms. From his TWA Terminal (now the TWA Hotel) at New York’s JFK Airport to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis to his Pedestal Table (1956), there’s a magic in everything he created.

Herman Miller Nelson Ball Bubble Pendant

Design Within Reach

While outfitting his office, architect and Herman Miller design director George Nelson discovered a silk-covered Swedish hanging lamp that he coveted but found too expensive.

Primary colors and bold art dominate the home's decor. "The yellow and green Warhol flowers—that's my favorite Warhol. My last name means flowers in Italian. So I just l love flowers," says Florentino.

Herman Miller Eames Molded Plywood Lounge Chair Wood Base (LCW)

Design Within Reach

Hailed by Time as the Best Design of the 20th Century, the LCW — or Lounge Chair with wood legs (1946) — began as an experiment in Charles and Ray Eameses’ apartment, where they were molding plywood in what they called the “Kazam! Machine.” The machine pressed thin sheets of wood veneer against a...

Herman Miller Eames Storage Unit

Design Within Reach

The innovative Storage Unit (1950) was designed to be configured to fit a specific space or need.

Andy Warhol (1928-1987) is hailed as the most important proponent of the Pop art movement. A critical and creative observer of American society, he explored key themes of consumerism, materialism, media, and celebrity.

The 1946 Womb Chair by Eero Saarinen by Knoll was reupholstered in Knoll Boucle Orange.

Eames: Beautiful Details

Eames: Beautiful Details celebrates the seamlessness and fluidity in which Charles and Ray Eames operated as both a husband and wife team and as designers unrestricted by traditionally professional boundaries.

Knoll Womb Chair and Ottoman

Design Within Reach

When Florence Knoll challenged Eero Saarinen to create a chair that she could curl up in, she found the right candidate for the task. The Womb Chair and Ottoman (1946) feature enveloping forms that continue as one of the most iconic representations of midcentury organic modernism.

Herman Miller Nelson Platform Bench

Design Within Reach

For Herman Miller's influential design director George Nelson, utility was as important as beauty. Originally designed for his own office, where Nelson hoped the slatted top would discourage visitors from sitting too long, the Platform Bench (1946) is both timeless and functional.

Heller Frank Gehry Left Twist Cube

Design Within Reach

The sense of play evident in Frank Gehry’s architecture also informs the Gehry Outdoor Collection (2004). Furniture as unique and beautiful as his buildings, these sculptural monolithic pieces come in vibrant colors inspired by Gehry’s flower sculpture for French artist Sophie Calle.

Knoll Bertoia Diamond Lounge Chair

Design Within Reach

The airy seats of the Bertoia Seating Collection (1952) have a delicate, filigreed construction and a relaxed sit.

A big screen television is the only piece of 21st-century furniture found in the homage to midcentury that Florentino has assembled in his home.

Ligne Blanche Brillo Candle

Ligne Blanche is a lifestyle brand on a mission to take iconic works of art out of the museum—and straight into your daily life. Ligne Blanche home goods range from pop art-infused candles to dinnerware, featuring the work of artists like Basquiat, Haring, and Warhol.

An icon of 1980s New York, Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) first made his name under the graffiti tag "SAMO," before establishing his studio practice and catapulting to fast fame at the age of 20. Although his career lasted barely a decade, he remains a cult figure of artistic social commentary,...

Herman Miller Eames Elliptical Table

Design Within Reach

Nicknamed the “surfboard table,” the Elliptical Table (1951) reveals the playfulness in the work of designers Charles and Ray Eames and also shows a practical side – their desire to create furniture that would become a part of a life lived with simplicity and beauty.

When Christopher spotted a limited-edition polka-dot version of George Nelson’s 1956 sofa on Craigslist, he called the seller and offered her $1,000 on the spot. "She said, ‘If you can be here in fifteen minutes, it’s yours,’" he recalls. Apparently, she was really ready to get rid of it. "As soon as I got there, she pushed it down the stairs," he says. He had it reupholstered in Alexander Girard’s "Double Triangles" fabric, which, at $1,400 for the total yardage, cost more than the sofa itself.

Vitra Nelson Night Clock

Design Within Reach

The Night Clock (1949) was designed by George Nelson Associates for the Howard Miller Clock Company.

Herman Miller Nelson Marshmallow Sofa

Design Within Reach

The inspiration for the Nelson Marshmallow Sofa (1956) was launched when an inventor approached George Nelson and Irving Harper with a planned self-skinned injection plastic disc that would be inexpensive to produce and unerringly durable.

Knoll Saarinen Side Table

Design Within Reach

Architect Eero Saarinen was a genius at creating expressive sculptural forms. From his TWA Terminal (now the TWA Hotel) at New York’s JFK Airport to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis to his Pedestal Table (1956), there’s a magic in everything he created.

Explore the rest of Florentino’s home:

Pop Art, Street Art, and Space-Age Furniture Collide at a Painter’s Midcentury Ranch Home in Florida

My House: Street Artist Flore’s Unlikely Midcentury Haven in Florida

Published

October 5, 2020

Last Updated

October 6, 2020

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