Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/380056
158 nshoremag.com October 2014 of Design in New York and studied at the Inchbald School of Design in London. Sheldon graduated from Duke and also studied at Parsons, as well as Otis College of Art and Design. Together, the two spent a year in Florence, Italy, for an intensive work/study sabbatical at the Cecil-Graves Atelier. As art historians and artists, they are able to work in any style using an extensive library of historical references as an aid. Both women began their careers as faux finish rs. "We were young. We had art history degrees. We fell into it in Los Angeles," explains Fransioli. "It was a way of making a living. But we got tired of it, so we moved to Italy on a lark and started painting. When we got back to L.A., I couldn't go on just marbleizing." Such was the genesis of Zoë Design. Today, they still do finish work because clients request it, but Fransioli's true love is oil painting. "We do anything from copies Art ne to copying style." She recalls a client who requested an Edward Hopper-like landscape and a Maxfield Parrish-inspired sky. "Eve- rything with Hopper is on a diagonal, and vacant skies are the point of his style," notes Fransioli. But they did it, because they could. After 30 years of this work, Fransioli feels it's her "educated eye" that gives her an edge. "A lot of people are technically very good, but they may not know when something is right," she notes. "You have to know when to keep going and when to stop." She admits she won't let a project go if something feels off, and has even finished work pro bono so what she leaves behind is exact. "It just has to be right," she insists. In 1987, Fransioli and Sheldon were joined by photographer Doug Gar- rabrants. Custom color mixing, glazing, Venetian plasters, metal leafin , floor and ceiling stenciling, painted furnishings, and, now, digitally generated wallpaper are among their combined areas of exper- tise. "We feel confid nt suggesting the use Creativity Compound Clockwise from right, Brooke Sheldon; Wenham studio; Doug Garrabrants photographs by elise donoghue