Palladio Uno Solid - Black Gold Patina - Swing

Here’s one very special interior door, the cornerstone of the Palladio collection of traditionally designed interior doors. As it is with all of the Palladio doors, the design was inspired by the great architect Andrea Palladio, the father of the eponymous architecture style. Made of natural wood, elegantly simple, easy on the eyes, and finished with the patina finish of your choice.

All Palladio interior doors are solid core. Here at Almes, this means that the fiberboard inside is made of natural wood fibers. Highly resistant to warping, the material also provides off the chart sound proofing and thermal insulation qualities. The veneer covering is then finished using traditional finishing methods (you pick the color) and gold or silver patina is then applied to the moldings by hand. That’s right: an actual artist applies it with a brush. The final product has a distinct Baroque feeling, which is in keeping with the main idea behind this interior door collection.

… Padua, the birthplace of Andrea Palladio, is a city in Northern Italy, some twenty-five miles west of Venice. It hosts the University of Padua, founded in the Thirteenth Century, where Galileo once lectured on geometry, mechanics, and astronomy while also making significant discoveries in fundamental science (kinematics of motion and astronomy) as well as applied science (strength of materials, the telescope, and some other things).

Straddling the Bacchiglione River whose various branches surrounded the ancient walls like a mote, the city is quite picturesque, with a dense network of arcaded streets opening into large squares, and a large number of bridges. The city is rumored to be the oldest in Northern Italy. Historians claim it once successfully repulsed Spartan, Etruscan, and Gallic invasions, and formed an alliance with the Romans in the Third Century B.C. against common enemies (including, one must hasten to add, Carthage). Even though it was gradually assimilated into the Roman Republic, the denizens of the city had the reputation for bravery and love of independence.

It is often said that Palladio’s works “have been valued for centuries as the quintessence of High Renaissance calm and harmony.”

To be sure, the basic elements of Italian Renaissance structure, including Doric columns, lintels, cornices, loggias, pediments and domes had already been used before Palladio. His contribution was to refine, simplify, and use them in innovative ways.

His style employed a classical repertoire of elements in new ways. Each part of the building has a function, and this function is clearly expressed by its form, particularly the ceremonial floor known as the piano nobile. Even though he specialized in villas and palaces, he insisted on simplifying the forms, as attested by Villa Capra “La Rotonda,” with all those perfectly square facades surrounding the circular dome and interior (something you must see next time you visit there).

Even though inspired by classical Roman architecture, Palladio did not imitate it outright. Rather, he juxtaposed the ideas of antiquity to those of High Renaissance builders, who at that time (he felt) were already paying too much attention to ornamentation and too little to the overall harmony of the project.

This intriguing combination, if tastefully applied, can do wonders to your decor not only because interior doors with this finish can easily blend seamlessly into any arrangement, but also because of the associations it is certain to invoke.

First things first: the method we use to apply this amazing interior door finish is two-fold. First, traditional application is used to cover the entire surface. Once that is done, an actual craftsman comes in to apply the gold patina to the raised moldings by hand. That’s right. Even in this day and age, some tasks cannot be entrusted to technology alone. In some cases, the artistic touch is as indispensable as it was three and a half centuries ago, when Charles Lebrun, assisted by a dozen pupils, covered the ceilings of the Versailles Palace with colorful picturesque frescos. (Before that, he also did an equally wonderful job on the Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte, but that’s a story for another day).

What associations?

Well, the color black has been a symbol of utter elegance and solemnity since at least the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Black-tie events, evening gowns, concert pianos, limos, etc.: the list of associations goes on and on.

Following the American and French revolutions, fashions began to change rapidly. In men’s attire, the doublet, cape, tricorne and bicorne, stockings, wigs, and ceremonial swords transformed – in a matter of a decade – into the trousers, tails jacket, and top hat, all black, for all social engagements. Suddenly elegant solemnity was favored over the excessively colorful late-Baroque garments. This was, among other things, a justifiable reaction to the excesses of the preceding epoch. The aesthetic values that define any society were re-examined and corrected to fit the boundaries of this perennial concept: good taste.

Good taste rules – in everything, including interior doors.

Today’s definition of high culture bears residual hang-ups dating back to the late 18th Century instead of emphasizing what is obvious to everybody: in civilized society, prosperity is nothing without a corresponding list of aesthetic values that pretty much everyone has agreed on.

Art music, a.k.a. serious, classical, canonical or erudite) is an umbrella term used to refer to traditions implying advanced structural and theoretical considerations. It is said that it is performed to an audience playing close attention, while folk and popular music are more participatory. Therein lies a paradox: popular music tends to be compartmentalized, differing from stratum to stratum and from one generation to the next, while, ironically, classical music is far more inclusive, with staunch fans from all walks of life and speaking dozens of different languages.

Imagine a symphony hall (with all those interior doors) just before the scheduled concert. Some of the audience are still looking for their seats. The musicians – in black – gather on the stage, some of them going leafing through the score, others tuning their instruments. There’s a black grand piano in the middle. The conductor and the pianist, both wearing black, appear and are greeted with an applause. The lights are dimmed. An expectant silence ensues. The conductor raises the baton.

As for the gold patina: it stands for museum quality, the highest imaginable, in everything, including interior doors.