Palette bridging Chicago's Reebie Storage Warehouse and ancient Egypt

Palette bridging Chicago’s Reebie Storage Warehouse and ancient Egypt

11/07/2021
Category: Mood boards

When I learned of Christophe’s travels to Egypt for our July publication, I couldn’t help but get excited, as I have a vast appreciation for Egyptian Revival art and architecture. Egyptian Revival became widely popular in the American arts throughout the nineteenth century and into the 1920s. The significant motifs of Egyptian art could be seen in various artistic media, especially in architecture and furniture design. As someone who studied this movement extensively in college, I couldn’t wait to see the tombs and monuments Christophe visited. After reading about and viewing the photos of Christophe’s visit to Tutankhamun’s tomb, I was immediately reminded of the resurgence of Egyptianology in America that occurred in 1922, just after the discovery of his tomb. During this period, America saw a huge increase in theaters across the country using traditional Egyptian designs to adorn their facades.

I couldn’t help but connect this movement and the Reebie Storage Warehouse located here in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. As a former resident of Lincoln Park, I used to pass by the Reebie Storage Warehouse and marvel at its Egyptian Revival architecture daily. I decided to do a bit of background research on the architecture and design a mood board inspired by this local Chicago landmark. It turns out the Reebie Storage Warehouse is one of America’s finest historically accurate examples of Academic Egyptian Revival architecture still standing. The building was completed in 1922, just months before the opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb, making it ahead of its time.

The design is unmistakably Egyptian, and Fritz Albert’s, the architect, attention to detail proves he did his research. You immediately notice the two large statues of Ramses II flanking the main entrance, representing the brother duo and owners John and William Reebie. Beneath each statue is John and William’s names written in the hieroglyphic equivalent of their photonic spellings. It is said that ornamental drawings and hieroglyphics for the warehouse were reviewed by both the Field Museum and Art Institute for accuracy. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and it was established as a designated Chicago Landmark in 1999. Reebie Storage Warehouse still operates out of their 2325 North Clark Street building today and continues to use the Sphinx in their logo.

Using the Reebie Warehouse’s Egyptian Revival design as inspiration for this mood board, we focus on the rich royal blues, gold details, and bold beige terracotta bricks. It’s inspiring to see ancient Egyptian architecture still inspiring design today.

For our material palette, we start with using a recolored version of Opus as the main background. On top of that, we add classic kelp, a bright blue metal sheet to match the blue detailing of the exterior. Two yellow fabrics named ossetra and remix are also added to complement the yellow of the carpet background. To give it more of that Egyptian touch, we add tile blocks, roman white, paired with metal ceiling panels called times square. Finally, we add herringbone pattern, main line flax stripe, as well as leaf to balance everything out.

The Easy Recolor program allows you to create custom carpets in just minutes. You can choose any of our many designs, click through to our online recolor tool and pick the color that works just right for your project. We offer a selection of nine different carpet substrates and your carpet ships to you within three to four weeks from the factory in Denmark. Contact us today to choose the carpet color that takes your project to the next level.

Products Used:

Opus RECOLORED by ege carpets

Classic Kelp by Moz Designs Inc.

Remix by Brentano

Ossetra by Designtex

Times Square by Decorative Ceiling Tiles

Roman White by Rookwood

Main Line Flax Stripe by Camira

Herringbone Pattern by Woodwol

Leaf by Country Floors

reebie storage warehouse, Palette bridging Chicago’s Reebie Storage Warehouse and ancient Egypt

Schedule an introduction with us

Sitting right next to Pompidou in Paris is Atelier Brancusi. This place is a reconstruction of the studio of renowned Romanian-born artist Constantin Brancusi. In the atelier, there are 137 sculptures, 87 bases, 41 drawings, two paintings, and more than 1600 grass photographic plates and prints by the artist.

Brancusi died in 1957, leaving behind a lot of his work in his studio, which consisted of 11 joined studios. The Romanian artist would break down walls to adjoin studios and create various environments to exhibit his work. He considered the relationship between sculptures and the space they occupied to be of crucial importance.

In 1997, the Atelier Brancusi as we know it today opened its doors on the esplanade of the Center Pompidou. So much of Brancusi’s work is on display at the atelier, giving you an idea of how much the artist put into the world. There are wood and plaster sculptures, bronze colonnades, animal shapes, and photographic studies. It is a beautiful and inspiring place to visit.

Inspired by the stone and natural textures of Brancusi’s work, we recolored the Stone Surface carpet. This is part of the nature collection by ege carpets, which takes inspiration from forests, deserts, and oceans. This light recolor of the carpet allows you to bring a textured palette to your next interior design project.

We created a material board that focuses on a textured palette with the atelier colors and the recolored carpet in mind. We included dark woods like Texas Mesquite 83000 and Artisanal Hardwoods. Keeping the dark brown theme, we also included different textured textiles like Artisan Textured Finishes by CopperSmith, Basketcase by Cortina Leathers, Lafayette Velvet by Opuzen, and Chesney by Valley Forge Fabrics. Additionally, we decided to bring some lighter tones of cream and white by adding Cove, True Terrazzo, Concrete Look Porcelain Paver, and Passion. To tie in the soft colors with the dark ones, we included mid-toned neutral paints like Crewel Tan by Sherwin-Williams and Mesa Tan by Dunn-Edwards Paints.

If you like our textured palette, you might be interested in our Easy Recolor Program. We used this to recolor our Stone Surface carpet, enabling us to source the perfect backdrop for our textured palette. Using our online tool, you can do the same. Choose from any of our collections and recolor them to match any interior. You can then visualize the carpet before ordering physical carpet samples. You’ll receive your samples within three business days at an affordable price. Contact us if you want to learn more.