Holly Hunt opening at Washington Design Center

Yesterday (March 18, 2015) was the grand opening of our new Washington Design Center. Washington is finally coming into its own and our new design center just goes to prove that. These gorgeous light-filled showrooms are at the heart of the New Washington action on 14th street NW.

The crowds were soul-crushing, as one expects at these events, but it's important for design professionals to go out and network; share ideas and potential new jobs! I only attended the Holly Hunt showroom opening party out of many events with some very dear friends (hi Steph and Mark!) and thought I would share some highlights with you.

The Holly Hunt showroom is the largest in the design center I believe, measuring in at 10,000 SF over 2 floors. It also is the only showroom to feature a street entrance -welcoming in the public.  The ground floor focuses on the more modern collections carried by Holly Hunt while the 2nd floor focuses on the more DC-centric traditional lines. Above the cozy Coco Sofa was empty and beckoning us over to get away from the crowd!

I briefly chatted with Holly Hunt who was delightful. She is intensely focused on bringing new artists and work to the public -meeting and working directly with the artists on items such as their lines of (brilliant) lighting which are the focus of my snapshots here!  Alison Berger is one of the prominent lighting artists with these delicious handblown glass fixtures seen in the images here. Above is the Lure sconce - nothing is MORE alluring than a sconce (my favorite lighting source!).

Most popular with us were the Sea Urchin pendants with heavily seeded glass featured below over a nightstand. These are designed by an artist named Stefan Gulassa, no relation (for those readers who don't know, my name is also Stefan).

I loved their updated version of the classic wingchair below upholstered in rope with a luxurious velvet cushion (in my favorite turquoise -this would fit right into my own apartment, how I wish!)

Be sure to visit Holly Hunt here in DC at the new Washington Design Center, they'll be happy to see you!

Hines & Company at the new DC Design Center

Last week I attended an event at Hines & Company in the new nearly finished Washington Design Center. I'm happy to report the new design center is a HUGE improvement on the old one (which isn't saying much), spacious and light filled.

The Design Center officially opens in about a week on November 12, 2014, but many of the showrooms are already open for business. Walking into most of these showrooms just make you want to redo your entire house with so much eye candy, which is always a problem!

 I'm dying to find a place for this Zoffany Wallpaper called 'Trade Routes'.

Lighting is one of my many passions ( see all of my previous posts on my favorite antique lighting store, Artisan) and the selection at Hines ranges from the contemporary to the classic.

My favorite lamp was this rock crystal column from Vaughan. It bridges the line between classic and contemporary with a luxe material; it would look great with a gilded and/or black shade.

I always love paisley fabrics, particularly natural linen, and this Fonthill fabric by Stark checked all of the boxes, named Amelie.  Thanks for inviting me Hines & Company and thanks for all of the inspiration too!

Nina Campbell at Waterworks, DC

A few evenings ago I had the privilege to attend a book signing of Nina Campbell's new book at the beautiful Waterworks Georgetown showroom in Cady's Alley. Meeting the talented but surprisingly down-to-earth Mrs Campbell was such a treat as she really is one of the most prolific and important designers working today.

Introducing Nina Campbell was founder of Waterworks, the talented Barbara Sallick, seen to the right. Waterworks will have some exciting changes later this year but I was sworn to secrecy! Look for more news on that later. As always the showroom was inspiring -every tile or fixture you see is more beautiful than the last!

Please pick up a copy of this book, Nina Campbell Interiors, as you won't be disappointed. The inspiring work is comfortable and pretty (that word that terrifies architects world-wide) with a tinge of glamour captured beautifully by Simon Brown's photography.
Sadly I missed seeing my friend Michele of My Notting Hill but see her writeup of the event HERE.

Grand fete at Cret's Pan American building

Last month I had the pleasure of attending the Fall Design Fete hosted by our local AIA chapter at the Pan American Building. You may remember me talking about this building by Paul Cret before HERE, as it is one of my favorites here in Washington DC.  Oddly enough my other favorite is also by Cret, the Mary Stewart Mansion.

I snapped some photos while at the event with my phone as the building really does come alive at night; ambiance is everything, no?

 The central courtyard was ablaze with light and music thanks to a live jazz band.

The intriguing marble fountain by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney is also more powerful seen at night.

 However it appears the snake eyes of the sculpture no longer light up as originally intended.

It was a fabulous evening in a fabulous space spent with my fabulous coworkers; who can ask for anything more?

I promise to get a real camera to do my images justice someday!

Scalamandre

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of touring the Scalamandre townhouse in New York with Steven Stolman, the new president of the company. Meg from Pigtown Design also recently visited the townhouse so I thought I would add my experience as well!As an architect, I was admittedly a bit out of my league with the technical discussions of the fabric they were showing, but I could of course appreciate their beauty and history. Scalamandre was kind enough to pull some items from their archives for me which appealed to my inner design history geek!One of my favorites was the Boris Kroll designed scheme for Scalamandre from 1973 for the Continental Airlines premier 747 jet service to Honolulu. Imagine flying in such a chic and brightly colored plane on your way to paradise! The colors, seen in the photograph above, ranged from hot pink in first class to serene blue in coach. The fabric samples are attached to a floorplan of the plane itself.With much of their work focusing on historical restoration and recreation, Scalamandre had worked on the Metropolitan opera house renovation and recreated the stage curtains which have this immense gold trim at the base and lush red velvet, seen in the archival box behind. The challenge here was to recreate the original curtain but to meet all of the required codes regarding fire safety. Steven mentioned the seats were all upholstered in costly mohair as wool is a fire retardant.
One of my favorite fabrics from the archives was this charming Auntie Mame'esque chinoiserie print designed by the founder's wife, Flora Scalamandre, in the 1950s - I hope they bring this back!While known primarily for their prints and traditional fabrics, such as this great one on a sofa in the DC showroom, Steven vows to bring the company into the 21st century while leaving their whole legacy intact. His dream is that nothing will be 'out of print' and you can order any of the great fabrics from the companies history.Recent advances in digital technology make this dream possible and the company has developed ways of using the technology that meet or surpass the techniques of the past.

So many new gorgeous prints!

I loved this fern print - very Martha Stewart, don't you think?

This cheerful preppy fabric is meant for outdoors but Steven said that a lot of designers have actually been using this inside. This new ikat pattern is actually complexly woven with a raised, textured design. Another fabric from their new line is "muse ornamentale" which is an updated look at a traditional design. It reminded me so much of the tropically inspired grand fabrics at Vizcaya, which had Scalamandre in on its' restoration!Of course, what would Scalamandre be without their animal prints (we all know their iconic zebra!)

In their new collection is a metallic giraffe print that is beautiful on both sides!

Their classic leopard silk velvet is still available (and is one of their most popular despite the high price tag!)

A new addition and sure to be equally as popular is a tiger printed velvet in either a mottled green or hot pink!

And of course, Scalamandre's iconic zebra print is available in many colorways and as fabric, wallpaper or even umbrellas! I hope you enjoyed the tour as much as I did! Many thanks to Scalamandre and new friend Steven Stolman (who is also a CMU alum I found out!).

Dinner at Eight

This past weekend I had a few friends over for dinner and they were nice enough to let me interrupt the party to photograph the table settings for the weekly Tablescape Thursdays!

I took the first picture before plating the salad course - caprese salad with a nice rose wine.

Plates are Decre Freres, Theodore Haviland Limoges, silver is freshly polished Prelude for International Silver, crystal is Waterford. Alabaster table lamp is a touch that makes it feel like an old supper club to me (from restoration hardware) and candlesticks are venetian glass from Aero in NY. I didn't get any flowers because they seem a bit much for a casual winter dinner.

For the entree course, I used my favorite cuckoo pattern dinner plates from Wedgwood. S&P shaker are mother of pearl from pottery barn. Napkins are antique irish linen from ebay (the best Christmas gift ever!). Here is what we had (ignore the lamp cord!) - roast beef with carrots, potatoes and celery -a hearty winter meal on a snowy day. For dessert (lemon pound cake with fresh whipped cream) I used the bread plates for Wedgwood 'Cuckoo', the small coffee service is antique Austrian by Ernst Wahliss, the teacups are antique Minton and the sugarbowl is cobalt jasperware by Wedgwood.

Just a close up. After all of the wine we needed some sparkling water!The tea (violet from Laduree) was served on my sideboard from my wedgwood 'cuckoo' teapot. The sterling tea strainer was NOT fun to polish after a few years of not being used! Crystal candlesticks I brought back from my trip to Paris in the fall.

Thanks for bringing the champagne! Champagne flutes by Baccarat.
The evening had some ups and downs -the foil from the champagne gave me a nasty cut which would NOT stop bleeding! The rest of the rose was the best medicine......

I love simple meals like this with very little mess (especially in a tiny apt). The huge roast beef (which i'll be eating for a week!) was accompanied by roasted carrots, celery and potatoes cooked with butter, garlic and sage. I LOVE the pattern on my potholders -the chickens always make me smile (from william sonoma)! I hope you enjoyed the meal as much as we did!