AS SEEN IN LUXE MAGAZINE
Full Circa
Cultivated and purposeful, Circa Lighting founder Gale Singer’s Savannah abode springs from years of ideating and a lifetime of collecting.
Bryant Floor Lamp by Thomas O'Brien; Maverick Ceiling Fan by Monte Carlo | Written by Kathryn Romeyn, Photography by Emily Followill, Styling by Eleanor Roper, Architecture by Rudolph Colby, Design by Michael Del Piero (throughout)
After about 15 years of pondering, Gale Singer’s agenda for her own Savannah home pinpointed everything from a high-functioning kitchen with great traffic flow to pocket glass doors that open to reveal a saltwater pool and sculpted greenery. Once she found a lot she loved in an eclectic, tucked-away neighborhood not far from the Vernon River, all those years of dreaming finally came to fruition. Gale's highly personalized Savannah home took shape with the aid of residential designer Rudolph Colby and designer Michael Del Piero. Here in the great room, plush upholstery by Lee Industries forms a tête-à-tête-esque conversation group. Not far from the sliding-glass LaCantina Doors to the terrace, HC28’s walnut-framed Palm Beach armchair pairs with a Holland MacRae Kilt side table.
Beton Large Table Lamp by Kelly Wearstler | Photography by Augusta Sagnelli
Gale's expansive art assortment comes to life thanks to sizable skylights—Colby’s solution for illuminating the east-west-oriented house from the inside out. “You get direct sun at different times of the year, and it’s really quite fabulous,” Colby reveals. As a lover of natural light, Gale eschewed window treatments in most rooms, adding extra layers by way of lighting fixtures. Having initially conceived of an on-site renovation that ultimately had to be scrapped due to water damage beneath the property’s existing house, the residential designer’s “take two,” as he calls it, followed the original home’s layout quite closely. What transpired was a practice in extreme simplification, subtracting everything extra. “Any time there was a line or shadow that could be removed from a window or door or piece of hardware, she would nix it,” Colby says of his client, who dictated the project’s concealed door hinges and nearly invisible reveals.
A Lee Industries sectional from One Fish Two Fish cradles Phillips Collection’s Chamcha coffee table in the living room, establishing the room’s energetic center. In the neighboring breakfast nook, a tufted banquette of Izit’s Junior Winterwood leather, custom fabricated by City Living Design in Chicago, defers to a cuisine-themed Tim Wirth painting sourced through SCAD Art Sales, cornered by Kelly Wearstler's Alma Floor Lamp. "The simplicity of the architecture is right in line with what Gale wanted for her interiors: livable, approachable, and interesting, with nothing too fussy," says designer Michael Del Piero.
Slabs of Calacatta Gold marble form a focal point in the kitchen, contrasting the stainless steel vent hood and custom sapele wood cabinetry by J.A.W.S. Enterprises of Georgia. Equipped with a duo of Galley Tap faucets, the hyper-functional space has provided “an opportunity to find my inner chef,” Gale says. Her namesake white-glass pendant casts a glow upon Room & Board’s Cora counter stools in supple Lecco Pewter leather. “There’s nothing trendy about it,” Gale adds of the residence, which cleverly combines modern-leaning and ranch-inspired influences behind a façade of slender white Norman brick and horizontal board-and-batten siding.
On the left, Gale tapped lighting collaborator, Thomas O’Brien, for standout pieces that furnish her home office. The New York designer’s Farlane Large Chandelier hangs above his Trestle dining table and Thebes stool, both of which he authored for Century Furniture. In one corner, Ralph Lauren’s Langham Display Floor Lamp does double duty as an easel for a Kelli Wilke photograph. On the right, Colby’s plan for his client’s residence included a long, gallery-like hall that’s become an ode to her passions. “It has to speak to me,” Gale says of collecting art, with her own museum-worthy cache weighted toward Savannah-born or -educated artists—Peter E. Roberts, Bradford Moody, and Tori Tinsley, to name a few—most of which were purchased through Laney Contemporary, Location Gallery or SCAD Art Sales.
Pictured left, both walls and tub of the primary bathroom are clad in Specialty Tile Products porcelain from Savannah Surfaces, which coordinates with Martin Senour’s Museum White paint on the custom cabinetry. Colby specified the slatted-oak ceiling—built by J.A.W.S. Enterprises of Georgia—to filter natural light from the skylight above. Adding to the ambiance are the Pelham Moon Light by Thomas O'Brien and Kelly Wearstler's Precision Cylinder Sconces, which illuminate countertops of Copacabana granite Del Piero procured from Creative Stone. The guest bedroom feels especially hospitable thanks to Gale and Del Piero’s joint furnishing selections, a majority of which were made during a three-day shopping spree in High Point. Their finds comprise numerous pieces by Lee Industries, including a bed upholstered in the brand’s spirited Brahms cotton-wool. A rustic Tenango bench subs as a nightstand atop a textural flat-weave from Eliko Rugs.
Maverick Ceiling Fan by Monte Carlo; Garey Wall Light by Thomas O'Brien (discontinued)
Though her linear, tightly landscaped home might diverge from the typical Lowcountry vernacular, it’s connected to the fabric of the city in a manner very personal to its owner: fine art. “I’m lucky to live in a place with such close access to the Savannah College of Art & Design and all the wonderful artists that have come out of that university,” says Gale, an ardent collector. In sum, the lighting maven’s Savannah home demonstrates her strong understanding not only of design but of herself. No space is wasted, and every element is optimized for the way she wants to live. “She has a really sharp eye,” Colby concludes. “There’s a place for everything and everything has meaning. And I think there’s a strong reason for that: Gale sees things differently.” Certainly, in the case of curating her own home, she’s seen the light.
