Jennifer Flanders

I was pleased to discover that at our Classic Woman awards program a couple of years ago, Jennifer became so inspired by Classic Woman honoree Susan Fredman’s Designs for Dignity organization in Chicago that she decided to establish the same organization in New York. Designs for Dignity uses pro bono designer services, materials and finishes donated by manufacturers, vendors, clients and showrooms to create beautiful, healing spaces for nonprofits and residences that serve people in need (http://bit.ly/w1l6uS ). Its philosophy is that everyone has the right to live in a home they can be proud of, regardless of financial or social status.

For the New York branch’s project, Jennifer had the clever idea of challenging ten top designers to find old pieces of furniture to redesign, with the idea of auctioning them off at a charity event in New York December 1. (You don’t have to be there to bid on an item; in fact, you can do it online: http://bit.ly/rM2RJC). Here is a chair Jennifer herself redesigned with Amy Statuto.

BEFORE

AFTER

Jennifer says, “We felt this was an apropos way to raise funds because part of what Designs for Dignity does is take advantage of all the waste and excess in the design industry. We are using the fundraiser to show ways in which old pieces of furniture can be given new life and re-used rather than thrown away.  We have a wonderful group of designers donating both their time and resources to this event, and we are hopeful that not only will this effort raise funds to help our NY chapter get off the ground, but it will also raise awareness in the NY design community.”

Laura Bohn Associates designed the two-drawer chest below:

BEFORE

AFTER

The event, a cocktail reception and auction where the upcycled items can be viewed, is Thursday evening, December 1, from 6 to 9 p.m at Newel’s new showroom at 425 E. 53rd St. Tickets are available online for $75 and at the door for $90.  It’s sponsored by VandM, which sells vintage furniture, antiques,  fine art and jewelry from around the world online (vandm.com). Designers represented are Bradley Stephens, Kevin Walz, Laura Bohn Design Associates, Drew McGukin, Christopher Coleman, Etienne Coffinier and Ed Ku of Coffinier Ku Design, Jim Aman and John Meeks, Jennifer Flanders and Amy Statuto, and Doug and Gene Meyer.

Between the comatose houseplants, the blinding entryway light  meant to discourage bad guys from wandering up to my vestibule from the nearby freeway but more suitable for interrogating prisoners than welcoming guests, the stack of catalogs on (where else?) the dining room table, the furniture pushed up against the wall like redneck mothers, the faint and to me, a dog lover, not necessarily unpleasant whiff of canine I don’t always remember to temper with a candle scented with what a chemist for Walmart thinks orange blossoms smell like, I saw myself on almost every page.

The books is full of fun color illustrations, like this dowager’s beringed hand in desperate search for a coaster on which to lay her ‘tini.

Swan writes, “Often to be pitied is the guest who approaches, sweaty glass in hand, clearly intending to perch on a pouf and join in the riotous conversation. Perching complete, she looks for that small but monumentally important 3 1/2 inch shield with which she can honor her host and aid in protecting the costly table top on which her dripping drink wants to be placed….It’s fair trade, in my opinion if the French polish on that walnut-marquetry candlestand becomes ghosted and ringed with water spots.”

He also rails against too-high piles of pillows that become kitty jungle gyms. (Um, do they still call them “jungle gyms?” That is my phrase, not the author’s).

The book would make a fun gift for a friend who wants to improve the look of his or her home (and isn’t so thin-skinned they’ll take it as a hint instead of a present.) Or you might want to get it for yourself — Swan’s commonsensical advice tells you what you already know but tend to forget as the detitrus of life piles up around you and the force of habit makes you blind to your own surroundings. I, for one, am going to do something about my graveyard for dead appliances. Order the book ((HCI) for about $13 from amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Things-About-House-Room-Room/dp/0757315674

You also might want to check out the book’s quirky Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/pages/James-Swan-and-101-Things-I-Hate-About-Your-House/374081828267

Photograph: Tara Hartnett (tobeinggreen.com)

Let’s take our shoppers in alphabetical order. Allison Abbott is a designer from West Newton, Massachusetts, who places special emphasis on renovating with smart green practices. (Check out Allison’s lively blog at greenwithrenvy.blogspot.com.) Allison was a perfect match for shopping at Brimfield: What better place than a crazy-big flea market to find old or tarnished pieces just waiting to be repurposed and placed in a new home?

Allison said she had no particular plan in mind for her $200; in her words, she just “wandered” the fields and kept her eyes open. And the thing that caught her eye was a small collapsible rocker that had once graced the porch of an old farmhouse in upstate New York. She says she was drawn to it because she loves to use small chairs as decorative accents.

Allison’s plan for the chair: Paint it in a Benjamin Moore taupe (Interlude AF 135) and re-cover it in an antique Hungarian grain-sack fabric that she found at Brimfield in the almost-fantastical tent of Pandora de Balthazár. She’ll also dress up the chair with 1940s-era buttons and Belgian trim—also found in the tents at Brimfield.

Allison actually brought us money back! (Talk about recycling.) She spent only $23 on the chair, about $80 on the fabric, and another $55 on the buttons and trim. She did pass on one rueful lesson from her wanderings: She saw a great little side table that she decided she could go back and purchase later. When she went back to buy it—too late. It was gone. “When you are at a flea market, get it when you see it,” Allison says.

We hope Allison will send us a photo of the refurbished chair. If she does, we’ll post it. And we’ll post the fabulous finds of our other two shoppers early next week.

Furnishings by decorator maverick Billy Haines on the block at Christie's July 19 (photo credit: Kate Carr)

Back when interior design was just emerging as a serious, wide-spread profession in the United States, some of the top decorators in the country were creating furnishings that have stood the test of time. Think low-slung slipper chairs by movie-star-turned decorator Billy Haines (1900-1973).  Traditional Home writer Ted Loos calls these first-wave  designers “decorator mavericks” and describes the style as both neo and classical in the upcoming October issue of Traditional Home.

Now Christie’s auction house in Manhattan is offering vintage furnishings by Haines custom designed for the late Los-Angeles-based art collector Mrs. Sidney Brody.  The auction begins at Christie’s Rockefeller Center galleries this Tuesday afternoon, July 19, at 2:00 pm.  Here’s our wish list:

A pair of quilted floral linen "Seniah" chairs/lot 469 Estimate: $2,000-$3,000

Billy Haines orange vinyl armchair circa 1950 (photo by Kate Carr) Estimate: $800-$1,200

A vinyl upholstered sofa by Billy Haines, circa 1950 Estimate: $800-$1,200

For close-up views of all the vintage Haines, flip through Christie’s online catalog, but don’t miss the live auction Tuesday, July 19, at 2:00 pm eastern time. Read Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines by William J. Mann (Penguin) to learn more about the Virginia-born designer who was the country’s biggest movie star by 1930.  For reissues of theclassical Haines tufted sofa, tap into williamhaines.com. And don’t miss the upcoming Decorator Mavericks story in Traditional Home which features Haines, Tony Duquette, Milwaukee-born Frances Elkins (1888-1953), Robsjohn-Gibbings, and Mississippi-born Samuel Marx (1884-1964).

Dionne in a Fab Getup

I’ve been singing it nearly every one of these late spring mornings lately, because the unseasonably hot weather is a grand excuse to wear frocks, liberating the pasty legs of winter and — following the example of our fearlessly fashionable First Lady — exercising the right to bare arms. (Actually it would be a good idea to exercise before exercising the right to bare arms, like Michelle does, but when it’s hot, I let my schoolteacher arms wave gloriously in the breeze like the flag on the fourth. Who cares?)

Michelle, Pretty in Pink

I love dresses for their unabashed ease and femininity! (Sorry, but when I’m wearing a dress I can’t stop using exclamation points!)  Women feel as pretty in them as Maria did, twirling in her white dress before the fateful dance. Plus they’re easy. None of that tiresome worrying about whether your vest looks funny with your blouse or your jacket is too boxy for your pants. Slip a dress over your head and ask your beloved to zip it up (just like Nora in the “Nick and Nora” forties movies, dahling). A necklace, a spritz of Chanel, maybe a cardigan or shrug in case of a summer breeze, and you’re done.

Designers and fashion mavens keep predicting the demise of the dress, but women love them, and so do men, unless they’re those sackcloth-and-ashes numbers that women find both sophisticated and forgiving of our lumps and bumps (think Eileen Fisher), but that prompt men to ask, “Where’s the belt?”  At any rate, we’re not about to forsake dresses for pants wide enough for both you and your Aunt Mabel to climb into together, which are predicted to be in for fall. Back in April of 2008, fashion editor Anna Slowey proclaimed, “The eye is looking for something new, and so is the psyche. The dress has been done to death.” Boo, hiss!

Dresses have been fashionable for several years now, but the eighties and nineties were the Dark Ages of the dress, a dreary time when we languished in harem pants and blazers with shoulder pads that made us look like Brett Favre. Remember how the others used to make fun of former beauty queen Suzanne Sugarbaker for her matchy-matchy dresses on “Designing Women?” I thought she looked good, but then I’ve never stopped wearing big hair.

Delta Burke as Suzanne Sugarbaker

As one who grew up in the sixties and seventies, I am especially pleased to see that a quartet of reinterpretations from that era are in this summer: the Jackie O sheath, the colorblock, the seventies-inspired white dress and the floral print maxi. Recently my 83-year-old mother, who terrifies the Home Health Care people who come to her house by tottering to the door in high heels, demanded, “What’s wrong with matchy-matchy? Dungarees with high heels look peculiar. I like things to match!”

Goddessy and draped, floaty and Bohemian, retro and ladylike (or not so — thank you, “Mad Men”), wrap, shift, empire waist, babydoll, or all-out bombshell, long live the dress. Emily Dickinson in flowing white, Audrey Hepburn in narrow black, and Julia Roberts in brown and white polka dots. Julia’s stylish version of the matronly polka-dot dress was one of the most wildly popular frocks ever. Retailers couldn’t keep the knock-offs on their racks. Twenty-one years and three babies later, Julia was recently quoted as saying she gauges her fitness not by the scale but by trying on That Dress.

Julia Roberts with Richard Gere in That Dress, in “Pretty Woman”

We all have our version of That Dress, or several That Dresses over a lifetime. My girlfriend Karen and I have been sharing custody of my current version of That Dress for several years. By Jones of New York, it’s black crepe with cap sleeves, a sweetheart neckline that whispers decollete and a skirt that eddies gracefully around child-bearing hips (between the two of us, Karen and I have six kids). Our LBD has gone to weddings, funerals, speaking gigs, and thrillingly romantic dinners.

In “The Girls in Their Summer Dresses,” a moody short story by Irwin Shaw, a young couple has a falling out over the husband’s ogling of all the gorgeous women on the streets of Manhattan. He admits, “I like the girls on Forty-fourth Street at lunchtime, the actresses, all dressed up on nothing a week, talking to the good-looking boys, wearing themselves out being young and vivacious outside Sardi’s, waiting for producers to look at them. I like the salesgirls in Macy’s, paying attention to you first because you’re a man, leaving lady customers waiting, flirting with you over socks and books and phonograph needles.” Along with a couple of other Irwin Shaw shorts, it was televised with a very young Jeff Bridges and Carol Kane as the unhappy couple.

If you love dresses, and fashion in general, you might enjoy the book “Love, Life, and What I Wore,” by  Ilene Beckerman, who tells her life story through her Brownie uniform and Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress and other outfits, along with drawings. It’s also been made into a popular play.

Also check out this blog: http://www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com/

What do women want? The answer, Dr. Freud, is a dress!

Sweater

Creative Director Maegan Fee has always been inspired by textiles and knitted constructions so she wanted to create a collection that looked like a knit but is actually woven natural wool. In the Sweater line, there are two woven patterns and one tufted.  I’m a huge fan of things that look like sweaters or cable knit; I think it’s psychological since I’m allergic to wool. But, don’t they look cozy?

 
Veledo

Perhaps their most revolutionary collection, Veledo is made of recycled leather. It’s the company’s first hard-surface flooring and the leather comes from sources such as shoe heels and briefcases from Italian factories. There are four embossed styles, including Croco and Angus, which come in a variety of colors.

 
Pure

Pure is the most outwardly environmentally-friendly, though all their products are. Pure is made from undyed wools and organic jute backing. Available in five colors, it’s 100% biodegradable and compostable, and contains no VOCs.

 
Merida also relaunched Broadway—their first product—a 100% sisal diamond pattern woven on a Jacquard loom.

 
While there I had a sneak peek at a collection from Barclay Butera Lifestyle. It just launched officially last week at High Point. The natural fiber woven rugs are inspired by men’s haberdashery and will be available in the colors for which Barclay’s best known – blues, chocolates, and neutrals.  Stay tuned for a future issue where there will be more on the collection.

I spent some time with Barclay and Merida creative director Maegan Fee. Can you tell which one of us didn’t spend much time outside this summer?

Owners, and siblings, Caterina and Raffaele Fabrizio celebrate their new venture.

I previously provided a tiny sneak peek of Dedar’s new cushions on Facebook, but I love the bright, saturated colors of the mix-and-match pillows. They are made from 100% cotton satin Tabularasa fabric with a variety of available trim options. Available only at Bergdorf Goodman, the cushions range from $250 for a 10″ by 16″ lumbar to $375 for a 20″ square.

We’ve featured Dedar’s to-the-trade fabrics and trim in the past, but I like that these are an easy way to accessorize on your own, still using high quality fabric. And I think I’m not the only one. Another fan:

The new house marks the 38th year of the event and fundraiser, which garners about $1 million each year for the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, and receives 20,000 visitors over a four-week period. The non-profit Boys & Girls Club serves more than 13,000 children by providing after-school and enrichment programs at 10 locations in the Bronx.

A recently-renovated 17-room mansion at 106 E. 71st St in Manhattan was selected and will feature the work of designers such as Vicente Wolf, Katie Ridder, and Sherrill Canet (a full list of designers is at the Show House’s website). I can’t wait to tour it and see each designer’s inspiring ideas and applications.

The house is open to the public starting October 14 and remains open until November 11. Tickets are $30 and include the journal and sourcebook.
 
Here are a few highlights from recent past Kips Bay houses:

For those of you who said you like mixing modern art into your decor, this room from Jed Johnson Home (2007, photo: John M. Hall Photography) is one of my all-time favorites.

A beautiful feminine bedroom from Charlotte Moss, 2008 (photo: Francis Smith)

In Philip Gorrivan‘s tailored bedroom, art doubles as a compelling headboard (2008)

Looking from the living room into the dining room, both designed by Stephen Miller Siegel (2008)

A dramatic chandelier captures attention in this 2006 room by Larry Laslo. (photo: Evan Joseph/Alex Barrymore)

Another example of Jamie Drake‘s phenomenal command of color (2007, photo: Nick Johnson).

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.

Designer at Home (DAH) is the brainchild of LA-based British designer James Charles. He began his career at Roche Bobois, is a two-time winner of HGTV’s Designers’ Challenge, and past clients include Sean Connery, and members of Duran Duran and A-Ha (a detail I loved- I ♥ the 80s). The idea surfaced when Charles repeatedly received comments from people who wanted to hire him but couldn’t afford to.

“I wanted to provide good quality advice for little money, and give people a chance to be involved in the process,” he says. The process is fairly simple, broken into 3 parts: “your part, [their] part, and the fun part.”

Your part: The first step involves you thoroughly measuring and drawing the room you want help with, including the furniture and fixtures currently in it, and then you fill out a questionnaire. You’ll also provide a few photos so they get a proper understanding of the room.

DAH does offer written and video instructions for the more complicated tasks—such as drawing a scale image of your room with all the appropriate measurements included—necessary to receive a personalized room plan.

Their part: Working off all the information provided, a designer will formulate a solution for your room, keeping you apprised as they go.

The fun part: Redecorate and shop! Within three weeks of receiving your information, DAH provides (via FedEx):

1. an annotated floor plan describing where furniture and accents should be placed,

2. a color board complete with images of all the pieces and swatches of suggested fabrics, and

3. the instruction document which outlines exactly what goes where, how much the pieces cost, and where you can purchase them.

Furniture and accents chosen for your room are sourced from online retailers, as well as local and national stores. DAH will look up stores in your town to make the purchase stage as easy as possible. Another feature of DAH is that they provide access to over 12,000 to-the-trade fabrics including those from JAB Stroheim and Kravet, and is a source for rugs as well.

But how much does it cost? Only $299 per room. That’s hundreds cheaper than what some of the other companies are offering. DAH’s menu of services also includes two cheaper, less involved options.

Additionally, Charles has future plans to add a paint consultation option, and a white-glove service where he will offer help with art placement, lighting, and suggest higher-end décor items and furniture. Input from guest experts is also in the works.

“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.

Author, textile historian, and Pierre Frey archivist Sophie Rouart was on hand to present the history and inspiration as she highlighted the designs featured in the exhibit.

The company began in 1935 with founder Pierre Frey, partner Jean Chatanay, and only 2 looms, though he bought out Chatanay the following year. During the WWII period, Pierre was classified as an artisan/artist and was granted special permission to continue buying and selling fabrics. Though the fabrics are usually cotton, linen, or wool, the company developed a plastic-cotton to make use of the only materials that were available at the time. Post-war, the company began exporting to the US, UK, and other countries in continental Europe.

Pierre Frey was not a designer, but was the “eye,” identifying talent, and the designers he worked with were the “hands.” Freelance designers such as Chatanay, Geneviève Prou (who charmed Pierre with her drawings and self—she became his wife, and mother of current president Patrick Frey), Janine Janet, Irène Rohr, and Jean-Denis Malclès lent their considerable talent in creating dozens of patterns that fell into four themes: Between Sea and Sky, Nature, Decorative Fantasies, and Myths and Reveries.

Between Sea and Sky: heaven and sea motifs, inspired partially by the rising popularity of beach vacations.

Nature: the surrounding flora and fauna. One pattern in the archive, Fouillis de Fleur, was turned into a dress worn by Brigitte Bardot.

Decorative Fantasies: the alternative to figurative designs.

Myths and Reveries: influenced by 1940s surrealism, these patterns were fanciful and looked to literature and mythology to transcend reality. See the unicorns on the right?

Two more I loved:

close-up detail with the designer’s notes in pencil (gouache on paper)

 
There are many more wonderful examples, so if you are going to be in New York, I encourage you to go see the whole collection in person. The exhibit is open to the public at their showroom in the Decoration & Design Building and runs through July 30.