home of distinction
THE nine vases displayed adjacent to the kitchen were made
by Ben Owen III, a native of Seagrove, North Carolina. He
followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, a master potter
who ran Ben Owen Pottery from 1959-1972. His work can
be found in national museums such as the Museum of Fine Arts and the
Smithsonian Museum of Art. Commissioned works can be seen at the
Ritz Carlton Hotel in Tokyo, and the Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary.
“We wanted to support a local artist,” the owner says. “These added a
fun talking point with our guests, and a point of interest to a large room.”
Equally impactful as a focal point is the chandelier in the wine vault,
custom-made from the bottles consumed during the groundbreaking
celebration. Stachowicz was responsible for implementing the idea.
“The original plan was to use bottles from the owners’ collection
but they had the brilliant idea of using the bottles from the ground-breaking
The movement of the sun and the changing moods of the sky create a dynamic color palette in the great room, which can appear to have disparate
hues of white, depending on the time of day. A live edge walnut and zinc dining table, a custom chandelier in the wine vault and a distinctive, locally
sourced pottery collection create an array of fun talking points at dinner parties.
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party,” she says.
To accomplish the vision, Stachowicz worked with Kathleen Plate
from Smartglass Recycled Jewelry, an Atlanta-based firm that devel-oped
a patented process combining techniques from glass, ceramics
and stone work to produce a new material from recycled glass bottles.
This resulted in the glass for the chandelier having a similar feel and
appearance to sea glass.
When the home is illuminated at night, the fixtures create an
elegant contrast with the custom live edge dining table, handcrafted
from Oregon black walnut.