Antiques

designer visions

By Amy Bleier Long

The proliferation of the Internet, social media, apps, and online collaboration has prompted a handful of interior designers to offer their expertise online at discounted rates, the caveat being that you do the measuring and the shopping. But that means you can set the budget and timeline, and have a little fun!

So far I haven’t come across a service that is as much of a bargain as Designer at Home. And if you haven’t yet used an interior designer—or are on a budget—this might be for you.

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Arkansas Traveler: Antiques & Design

By Candace Manroe

enchanté at Maison France

By Amy Bleier Long

This week, French flair touched down in New York with the Maison France exhibit—promoting French decorative arts—opening yesterday. I visited the Felissimo Design House to see a showcase of 30 French companies displaying luxury home décor items including lighting, wall coverings, and bath fixtures.

Familiar with only a few of the companies, such as Taillardat, who has appeared in TH pages previously, I was very interested to discover the others. Some of them already have a US presence—at retailer Bergdorf Goodman, for instance—but the remaining brands seek a home here.

18 of the companies carry the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant (Living Heritage Companies) label, which recognizes them for promoting French industrial and craft heritage. EPV-labeled brands are known for excellence, and those on display here are artisans with mastery of rare traditional or technically advanced skills, and antique machinery and/or archives. The companies present were hand-selected by the French Trade Commission.

A comprehensive catalogue featuring the exhibit’s participants is available as a free iPhone app (it also works on the iPad and iPod Touch).

The exhibit is open to the public tomorrow, Thursday June 24, from 12-5p, at Felissimo Design House, 10 West 56^th Street, NYC.

Check out a few highlights and some of my favorite finds after the jump.

sculptures by Verodalla

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Rough and Refined

By Doris Athineos

Strength in Numbers

By Doris Athineos

For decorative arts devotees, nothing is better than finding lots of fine furnishings and art all under one roof. Better if the roof covers all periods and styles as well as (clearly marked) reproductions and contemporary craft.  Look no further than midtown Manhattan where you’ll find Center44 (222 East 44th Street), a few blocks west of the United Nations.

Proprietors Paul Plumadore and Jim Tindell are the kind of people who make the business of buying and selling antiques pure pleasure. They’ve invited 75 dealers to display furnishings in room-like settings and the results create sparks of brilliance. Mod, see-through lucite chairs rub up against a 300-year-old walnut chest-of-drawers. Fornasetti plates (by Rosenthal) rest on a metal table fashioned from discarded oil drums. The decorative mix, from old Ethiopian crosses to Italian modern (Gio Ponti chairs) reflect the way we live now.

Paul, a former dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, designed the look of the Center while Jim handles sales southern style–friendly and gracious (chalk it up to Alabama where he was born).  Shoppers include a-list designers Bunny Williams, Kelly Wearsler, Amy Lau and Albert Hadley to name (drop!) a few regulars.  The atmosphere invites meandering (and so does the shop layout). Introduce yourself to Paul and Jim before you begin. They can help, but you’re free to browse. Most of the individual dealers leave it up to Paul and Jim to handle sales. Don’t be surprised if a few hours pass before you come up for air. And prices? Affordable. Visit and tell us what you find. Center44 earns four acanthus leaves * * * *  (And the super-groovy hanging lights throughout the block-long showroom are among the best we’ve seen anywhere in NYC.)

Prickly Heat

By Sabine Rothman

I’m not a huge fan of the desert landscape. Actually, it’s the heat—no matter how dry—that makes me break out in hives. But, I’m loving the prickly presence of cactus motifs cropping up around town. Here are a few that got under my skin—in a good way!

We stopped in our tracks for these Prickly Pair chairs at ICFF. Their young designer,Valentina Gonzales Wohlers, was born in the late 1970s in Mexico City, but now lives in London.

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The New Americana by the Keno brothers

By Doris Athineos

Roadshow superstars Leigh and Leslie Keno showed  off the beauty of curves at High Point market last week when they launched their new line of furniture produced by Theodore Alexander.  Their eclectic aesthetic fits right in with the way we live now. We loved the sculptural shapes and the successful use of interesting veneers some of which we’ve never heard of (anegre?).  You’ll recognize shapes and lines from Federal shield-back chairs and serpentine chests, but applied in fresh, modern ways.  Dovetails are not hidden inside drawers but become a decorative design detail.  The Keno boys proved that they know their way around a curve regardless of century.

Lip-Smacking Sofa

By Doris Athineos

Visiting North Carolina’s High Point market was a blast. Check back to see some of the highlights like this lip-smacking sofa named after the fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli at Guy Chaddock & Co. (where designer David Easton sits on the design board).

Keno Brothers Coming to a Store Near You

By Doris Athineos

Traditional Home’s editors-at-large Leigh and Leslie Keno surprised us with their very own line of killer furniture at High Point last Saturday. After studying claw-and-ball feet and Cuban mahogany  for the past 40 years, the twin pillars of the antiques world took the plunge and created their own show stoppers that feel both fresh and familiar. Crafted by Theodore Alexander, these babies you’ll want to own. See them in an upcoming issue of Traditional Home.

Scavenger Chic

By Doris Athineos

At the Collective, a new restaurant in Manhattan’s meatpacking district, discarded junk was turned into art by crafty artisans who were recruited on Craig’s list.

On a recent visit, we found a claw-foot bathtub transformed into a sofa; chandeliers made of wooden and plastic hangers; tables made of Scrabble letter tiles and paper cutters, and polished floors made of salvaged wood by Brooklyn-based designers Nightwood.

The design firm iCrave created the assemblage and the vibe is upscale downtown chic. And it’s happening all over the country, but my guess is that the recycle aesthetic was born in Brooklyn and other communities where young, creatives nest. Another look we love is by textile designer Lori Weitzner who created wallpaper from recycled newspaper woven together. Doesn’t Lori’s wallpaper look like grass cloth?  Bonus-you can still read some of the words.

Creating decorative arts from things others have discarded seems right now. Show us your best recycle design.