fabrics

designer visions

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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bon anniversaire!

This week, Sabine and I visited Pierre Frey for a presentation honoring the family-owned company’s 75th anniversary.

“Exhibition 1935-1955: Inspiration & Realism of Fabrics” celebrates the whimsy of Pierre Frey’s early years and brings to New York a curated collection of textiles, drawings, and paintings usually held in their Parisian archives. The beautiful patterns are lively, and feel as fresh now as ever.

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SPRING FORWARD: MAYA ROMANOFF at BERGDORF GOODMAN

Speaking of psychedelic—we were, weren’t we?—you just have about a week left to visit Amy Lau’s installation for Maya Romanoff on the 7th floor of Bergdorf Goodman, a venerable NYC department store that often delivers avant-garde goods—and the best venue for lunching ladies.

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How Color-Confident Are You?—Lessons from the Old World

I’ve always admired the Europeans for their bold confidence with color. (Eighteenth-century English country houses equal sunshine-yellow walls, right?) Fast forward to today’s offerings of raspberry, fuchsia, acid green—nothing meek about these hues, yet  Europeans love them. And not the way we do in America. For example, the French, English, Italians, and Spanish don’t confine these fresh-to-brazen palettes to their teens’ rooms or to modern-only spaces. Or even to a single space in need for a swift kick of coomph, as we Americans tend to do.

That’s what so great about how the Old World embraces color. They have no problem upholstering an 18th-century French settee in an up-to-the-minute fuchsia or grape.

New grape introduction from Spanish fabric house, Alhambra

New "Kavana" from Spanish fabric house, Alhambra

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smoking-hot hues

If you’ve been following my blogs on trends I observed at Paris’s Maison show, you may be afraid that vivid color has vanished from the homescape. No worries.  The warm-gray trend I blogged about earlier is only part of the palette story….the neutral part.

Color is, indeed, alive and well in the fabrics and furnishings introduced last month. And, it’s smokin’ hot.

Warm colors—especially my personal favorite, orange—are spicing up spaces as pumpkins, paprikas and all shades in between make sizzling style statements in the upscale market.

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Orissa Collection from Jim Thompson

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I got a feelin’: new textiles big on texture

Metaphores, a French fabric house opened by Olivier Nourry in 1981, has always been as much about texture as it is the  other design elements (color, pattern, style, weave or print, and weight). At its Paris showroom in the St. Germaine district a couple of weeks ago, I was pleased to get up close and personal with Metaphores’s  2010 introductions. My pick for most interesting texture from their new “New York, New York” collection is:

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"Empire State"

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