Interior Design
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How To Mix Paint Colors Like A Pro
Donald Kaufman Color is a New York based design firm devoted to realizing the energy of architecture through paint color. A color field painter himself, and renowned innovator in the field of color + space + light, Donald Kaufman and partner Taffy Dahl, have designed custom palettes for projects all over the world, including The Getty Center and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Donald Kaufman – The Mix Master
At the start of the week, Donald Kaufman Color releases their exclusive color formulas as premixed pigments – just in time for those who love to try their hands at a couple of those “noteworthy” DIY summer projects. By unveiling their latest premixed pigments, DKC has shown how they have the edge on achieving superior color with just a few standard paint. This in turn, gives retail customers the ability to buy over 120 – yes 120 – custom hues directly from the newly re-designed Donald Kaufman Color e-commerce website.
“Donald is the best partner an architect could have. He is the rare painter who understands architecture.” — Philip Johnson, Architect
“Donald’s colors are extraordinary, they have more depth, magnitude and subtlety than regular paints. What a luxury!” Mariette Himes Gomez, Interior Designer
“What this means,” says Kaufman, “is that you can buy a jar of our unique pigment mixes and simply take it to your local paint store to have it blended with a brand-name gallon of paint base. Our formulas are produced in one centralized location, and come with instructions for 1-2-3 accuracy with each jar.” Paint Pigment is available for purchase online for $49.95. Each pigment jar is intended for use with one gallon of base paint.
Donald Kaufman Color premixed pigments: Each pigment jar is intended for use with one gallon of base paint. -
Spotlight on Richard Rabel and his Sotheby’s Designer Showhouse Project
Interior designer Richard Rabel This is a first for HEW. We were so taken by Sandra Nunnerley, and Richard Rabel‘s recent projects for the 3rd Annual Sotheby’s Designer Showhouse and Auction, that we decided to interview them both. As was the case with Sandra Nunnerley, Richard Rabel also shown an exquisite, and particularly keen eye for art and design. No surprises there. The New York-based interior designer is well-known for filling his interiors with eclectic modern aesthetic of clean lines with a preference for infusing the design of his rooms with a tightly curated selection of antiques, 20th / 21st century masterworks and bespoke detailing. Richard also offers art advising services as part of his design practice.
High End Weekly©: Tell us about your inspiration for the room you designed at the 3rd annual Sotheby’s Designer Showhouse? How did it come about?
Richard Rabel: I’ve been fascinated with the late Italian Renaissance/early Baroque for a long time. Especially the interiors of palaces and churches – and particularly – the treatment of the walls and floors. The way marble, onyx, semi-precious stones, granite and faux treatments like marbelizing are combined and mixed to produce incredibly beautiful rooms astound me. How to bring that notion into the 21st century is what challenged me into doing what I did at the Sotheby’s Showhouse – combining cork, wool and linen in the walls and baseboards with a Renaissance patterned floor and a marbelized paper-wrapped pedestal in the center. Handsome, very chic, and completely modern.
Richard Rabel Gallery and Foyer. Photo credit Alan Barry Photography High End Weekly©: Was this the first showhouse you got to participate in? If not, how was it different from the rest?
Richard Rabel: This is the first Showhouse I’ve participated in.
High End Weekly©: Sotheby’s requested that you selected works from an array of their departments to furnish your room, including 20th Century Design, English & Continental Furniture, Ceramics, Fine Arts, Prints, Silver, and Photographs. How was this experience different, if at all, from designing for your clients?
Richard Rabel: Selecting from a pool of pieces consigned to Sotheby’s was the process de rigeur at the Showhouse. Placing art for clients is a bit different. If you cannot tap one source, you tap another. Being that it IS the Sotheby’s Showhouse, it was not in the cards to tap art from other sources.
High End Weekly©: As a designer, no doubt that you’ve worked with a number of artists to curate exclusive collections. What sorts of art (or artist) catches your eye?
An Andy Warhol photograph takes center stage at Richard Rabel Gallery and Foyer. Photo credit Alan Barry Photography Richard Rabel: I like working with artisans that are extremely detailed oriented. Mastery is in the details whether its bronze, ceramic or wood.
High End Weekly©: Are there any major design trends or ideas that influenced your design aesthetics?
Richard Rabel: Not really. I’m mostly influenced by my travel and the work of architects and other designers that I find compelling.
Richard Rabel Gallery and Foyer. Photo credit Alan Barry Photography The joy in my work comes from crafting modern spaces that achieve a stylish balance between function and form as a result of sifting a client’s wishes through my vision + experience. – Richard Rabel
High End Weekly©: Where do you look for inspiration?
Richard Rabel: Travels, interiors, gardens, architecture, fashion – in that order
High End Weekly©: Tell us, if you were to work on a high-end furniture line for young collectors, what would you call it, and what would be the inspiration?
Richard Rabel: I think I would call it The Modern Sybarite like the name of my blog. A Sybarite is one who enjoys and seeks luxury and the best of life, regardless of whether it’s expensive or inexpensive. It has nothing to do with money. It has to do with style, class and superb craftsmanship.
Details of Richard Rabel’s project for Sotheby’s 3rd Annual Designer Showhouse. Photo credit Alan Barry Photography High End Weekly©: What are a few of your more recent projects?
Richard Ravel: One fun recent project I finished recently was an adult “playpen” for a well-known New Yorker. Its sounds kinky, but it was actually an apartment for entertaining – pure unadulterated modern luxury and class. Currently I’m working on a gut-renovation penthouse in midtown New York with wonderful north, south and east views of the city and a wrap around terrace.
High End Weekly©: Where are your go-to museums and galleries?
Richard Rabel: It’s hard to say. I do love Museum Mile on 5th Avenue – the Museum of the City of New York, the Guggenheim, the MET, the Frick and the Neue Galerie. The Hispanic Society rocks. The MOMA is one of a kind. The New Museum in the Bowery sometimes has very good exhibitions. Then there is Chelsea and areas of the LES and Brooklyn for world-class galleries. It’s hard to miss museums and galleries in NYC. You really have to be living under a rock to miss them!
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Designer Spotlight: Sandra Nunnerley’s Keen Eye for Details
Sandra Nunnerley is the founder of the internationally recognized design firm, Sandra Nunnerley, Inc. W magazine has called Sandra one of the most fashionable designers in New York. Ms. Nunnerley is a widely published designer who has been featured on Architectural Digest’s AD 100 list, AD France 2016 Top 100 designers. Sandra Nunnerley is a woman widely known for her exquisite interiors, her conspicuous elegance, and ability to find key artists and artisans as she travels the globe to bring her clients the crème de la crème when it comes to design. As the famed designer develops a line of occasional tables for Maison Gerard and rug collection for The Rug Company, High End Weekly© recently spoke to her after her successful project for Sotheby’s third annual Designer Showhouse & Auction. The international auction house selected twelve interior designers and design firms to create one unique room within a home constructed within the fifth-floor exhibition space of Sotheby’s Manhattan headquarters.
High End Weekly©: Tell us about your inspiration for the room you designed at the 3rd annual Sotheby’s Designer Showhouse? How did it come about?
Sandra Nunnerley: Furniture as functional art is very inspirational to me at the moment and Sotheby’s had several functional art pieces that I was able to use in the Family Room I designed for the Showhouse. Two pieces were particularly interesting — the Rock Chaise by Studio Job (out of Antwerp – current exhibition at the Museum of Art and Design) and Zaha Hadid‘s “Gyre” lounge chair from the Seamless series (who sadly passed away right before the Showhouse opened) – they are great examples of furniture as functional art. It was exciting to create a functional Family Room around these two fantastic pieces and juxtapose their forms and shapes with other wonderfully designed pieces of furniture and lighting by Max Ingrand, Armand Jonckers, Oscar Niemeyer and art by Gerhard Richter, James Rosenquist, Robert Longo and Andy Warhol. I’m always inspired by the conversations that pieces from a range of periods have in a room.
High End Weekly©: Was this the first showhouse you got to take part in? If not, how was it different from the rest?
Sandra Nunnerley: I have done 3 Kips Bay show houses over the course of my career and my first for Sotheby’s. This one was different from the rest because Sotheby’s had an existing group of furniture and art and the 12 designers were asked to choose pieces from the existing inventory.
Sandra Nunnerley Family Room. Photo credit Alan Barry Photography. High End Weekly©: Sotheby’s requested that you selected works from an array of their departments to furnish your Family Room, including 20th Century Design, English & Continental Furniture, Ceramics, Fine Arts, Prints, Silver, and Photographs. How was this experience different, if at all, from designing for your clients?
Sandra Nunnerley: It was different because all the Sotheby’s inventory was divided via a lottery system among the 12 participating designers. The lottery made the design process a bit of a jigsaw puzzle and the experts at Sotheby’s who I have worked with for years were instrumental in helping pull together a cohesive room. Stacy Goodman, the head of Pre-Colombian art, Jean Fritts and Alex Grogan in the African and Oceanic departments lent pieces from their upcoming sales that really gave the room a point of view. Usually for my own clients, they are starting a home from scratch and I am the one responsible for sourcing all the items from a wide array of sources — shops, galleries, auction houses, etc. In this instance, Sotheby’s was the client who came to me with a lot of existing furniture and wanted to use it in a new and fresh manner.
High End Weekly©: Over the years, you’ve worked with a number of artists to curate some of the most exclusive collections for your clients. What sorts of art (or artist) catches your eye?
Sandra Nunnerley: It really depends on the client’s point of view and I enjoy working with lots of different art and artists. Right now I’m very interested in color field painters from the 50s and 60s, non-objective school, contemporary Chinese ink, photography, Outsider Art and Primitive.
An original sketch of Sandra Nunnerley’s Family Room for the Sotheby’s Designer Showhouse. High End Weekly©: Are there any major design trends or ideas that influenced your design aesthetics?
Sandra Nunnerley: I strive to create timeless environments that transcend periods…. “classic meets contemporary” … I love mixing traditional and modern periods with contemporary design. The interplay between modern and traditional fascinates me.
High End Weekly©: If you had to choose a favorite element of artists to collaborate with, what would it be?
Sandra Nunnerley: Recently, I’ve found that the artists and artisans working in Korea are very interesting. Kwangho Lee and Choi Byung Hoon.
High End Weekly©: Where do you look for inspiration?
Sandra Nunnerley: I’m always “looking” — going to art fairs, shows, galleries and museums. you never know what you’ll find or when you’ll see something in a new way. For me travel is also important — I love to discover new artists or modes of expression that are not well-known.
An eye for details: Colorful vignette, with a feature of Sandra’s latest book at Sotheby’s. High End Weekly©: Tell us, if you were to work on a high-end furniture line, what would you call it, and what would be the inspiration behind it?
Sandra Nunnerley: We are currently developing a line of occasional tables for Maison Gerard and I’m excited about our rugs collection that will launch this fall for The Rug Company. We are also working on a line of fabrics and a lighting line which are to be announced.
High End Weekly©: Congratulations! What are some of your other most recent interior design projects?
The Rock Chaise by Studio Job at Sandra Nunnerley’s family room at Sotheby’s Designer Showhouse. Sandra Nunnerley: A home in Palm Beach, a chalet in Aspen, a pied-à-terre in New York, a penthouse in Berlin, a residence in New Zealand.
High End Weekly©: Where are your go-to museums and galleries?
Sandra Nunnerley: Tate London, The Norton Simon Museum in LA – a great building designed by Frank Gehry with wonderful gardens – I like the fact that it is a museum which has a very strong point of view as a collector’s eye. For similar reasons, the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia is also very interesting as it is one person’s collection. The Met on a Friday night is always a great choice too.
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Tête-à-Tête with Design Talent, Darrin Varden
Interior Designer Darrin Varden New York-based interior designer Darrin Varden loves getting people together by designing spaces that are warm, rich with colors, undeniably sensual, and filled with metaphors and symbolism. With all his skills, his passion for design, and inventive vision, it was of no surprise that he was invited by The New Times and world-renowned luxury porcelain brand Lladró to fashioned an elegant dining pavilion with an opulent residential feel for DIFFA’s Dining by Design. High End Weekly™ recently met with the designer who is not only one of NY’s top design talent, but a charming gentleman as well.
High End Weekly™: You were invited by the NYT and Lladrò, the handmade porcelain company from Spain to design a table at DIFFA this year. How did you approach that project? And was the process similar to some of your residential projects?
Darrin Varden: My residential work is often inspired by and anchored with large-scaled fine art. I was putting a Claire Sherman painting in a home I’m working on and had just been looking at her work when I got the call for DIFFA. The painting I used as the jumping off point for this scene was her “Diagonal Tree” which put me in the mindset of the charitable component of the occasion, Design Industries’ Foundation Fighting AIDS. I saw these gorgeous, broken, fallen redwoods, once so strong, ravaged yet still beautiful, still imposing in their beauty, paralleling the destruction of AIDS on the landscape of humanity. The beauty of the memory of those we lost is juxtaposed against trees that are still standing, those for whom HIV is no longer a death sentence. It was perfect.
Top design talent Darrin Varden at the lavish table he created for DIFFA, the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS which is one of the country’s largest supporters of direct care for people living with HIV/AIDS and preventive education for those at risk. Once D.C. Moore Gallery said we could borrow the piece, I started thinking about a modern, organic look, similar to what Lladro is doing in some of their sculpture lines. And I got this little click in my head about The New York Times, our host, that old saw about ‘Black and white and re(a)d all over,’ and that became my color scheme.
I was so lucky with collaborating on custom chairs from Artistic Frame, which specializes in custom and made-to-order furniture. They partnered with me to create an elegant ebonized strié styled finish that just complements that painting. Everyone was so generous – we got custom upholstery fabric for the chairs in a deep red velvet by Stark. A wool sateen by Stark worked really well on custom benches of our own design, fabricated by Peruvian Touch custom workroom. The entire tableau is finished in a glistening frame, painted in Benjamin Moore’s aptly named Dinner Party red. We couldn’t believe that was the name of the color!
” Design is all about the people who will inhabit the spaces, not about the things in the space. It is about how people relate to one another within the space – especially a dining room”. Interior designer Darrin Varden
HEW: The stallion sculptures from your table design were graceful, yet very strong. Would you say that this description is synonymous with your design aesthetic?
Darrin Varden: Yes, in my work I very intentionally honor the masculine and feminine in everything. Those wild horses are like that – though graceful they’re also fierce and muscular. I love how Lladro used the matte finish on the porcelain, it has just the same level of gloss as a horse’s coat, smooth but not pristine. Those juxtapositions are what makes art.
HEW: I remembered your past projects, especially the one you did a few years ago at The Holiday House. Looking at your work, I see this fabric of togetherness which tells me that you like to bring people together. Is that right?
Darrin Varden: Design is all about the people who will inhabit the spaces, not about the things in the space. It is about how people relate to one another within the space – especially a dining room. You want to give people unexpected touches, a reason to come present to the moment and to each other. Great design, and the use of fine art within a design, can do that. It’s pretty exciting. At the same time, you want them to feel comfortable. I tend to call my living spaces lounges rather than living rooms for that reason.
Darrin Varden/DIFFA 2016 We often talk about ‘table-scapes’ in doing these events, but to your point about togetherness, I wanted to have an actual table-scape, with multiple levels and dimensions and a horizon line and a focal point that draws the guest out beyond the space and into their own imagination, which also creates conversational ice-breakers,” said Varden. That focal point, the large painting that centers the room, is given additional notice through the use of the backless custom benches, and by flanking it with two chandeliers rather than using one large chandelier in the center. This up-and-down table-scape keeps the eye moving through the design, and I also worked closely with floral designer Shula Weiner of Flowers by Special Arrangement to achieve his vision for a rich, tonal mix of deep wine and berry hues in various textures, a sumptuous field for the graceful black porcelain horses.
“When it comes to personal travel, I’m not a beachgoer or a sun worshipper. I’d rather go where there are museums or architectural or design oriented things I want to explore, like Barcelona with all that Gaudi”. Darrin Varden
HEW: How important is art to you, and your clients? Do you advised them on their art choice?
Darrin Varden: There are clients that I do advise but others are already collectors. In fact as my practice grows I’ve found that art collectors gravitate toward my interiors and become clients for that very reason. I sometimes go in to an initial meeting with Benjamin Moore fan deck and pull colors from their favorite art pieces to create the color scheme.
HEW: What do you love about design, why do you find it exciting?
Darrin Varden: Well you know, Vyna, “Changing the world one room at a time!” Seriously I do actually believe that transforming where a person lives and how they live can contribute to the transformation of people’s lives, at least in some ways.
For me the really energizing thing about design is that it’s always evolving. So as a designer I have to evolve with it, and to me, that evolution and growth is the purpose of living.
World renowned porcelain brand Lladró and interior designer Darrin Varden have fashioned an elegant dining pavilion with a luxury residential feel for DIFFA’s Dining by Design 2016. Starring Lladró’s porcelain lighting and sculptures and elegantly furnished by luxury residential design showrooms Stark and Artistic Frame, Varden’s sophisticated tableau is that of an actual dining room centered with the painting Diagonal Tree by artist Claire Sherman, on loan from DC Moore Gallery. HEW: What inspires you during your travels? Tell us about some of your favorite places to visit.
Darrin Varden: When it comes to personal travel, I’m not a beachgoer or a sun worshipper. I’d rather go where there are museums or architectural or design oriented things I want to explore, like Barcelona with all that Gaudi. I’m also a foodie so I like to go where I can dine adventurously. I love Greece, the ancient-ness of Athens and the Acropolis and the Parthenon, Delos with those mosaics from antiquity that I would totally put in a home today juxtaposed with a piece of mid-century furniture, that truly timeless aspect of design. And I love to see any place with great modernist and newer iconic buildings. That’s also why I love living in New York – I’m that design geek always looking up. When it comes to cities, I think a great benchmark for the future is Vancouver, a growing city, civically mindful in its growth and with a forward-thinking architectural and design point of view.
Photo credit: Alan Barry Photography. All rights reserved
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Tête-à-Tête with The Creator of Luxury Online Antique Marketplace RubyLUX
Tom Johnson Founder of RubyLUX.com RubyLUX.com was officially launched in October 2015 by antique collector, and entrepreneur Tom Johnson. The savvy ‘techie” brings a wealth of experience in the area of online luxury marketplace. Mr. Johnson’s career in technology spans over 33 years, starting with a position at IBM in their high-end computer graphics division in Kingston, New York. The impetus for establishing a website catering to the antiques and collectibles world grew out of Tom’s love of 1950s California Pottery, many pieces of which were acquired via the internet. Combining his passion for antiques and collectibles with his high-tech background, Mr. Johnson created Ruby Lane in 1998 and named the site in honor of his mother Ruby.
High End Weekly™: You created RubyLane in 1998, so what made you decide to launch RubyLUX now? What are the differences between the two companies?
Tom Johnson: It was always my dream to launch a higher-end version of RubyLane with exclusive luxury products and a high-quality established brick and mortar base. And so based on the success of the first site I believed I was on the right track. RubyLUX.com launched in October 2015 with 150 dealers and an average price point of approximately $2,500.
At Rubylane we host over 2,500 shops, feature 500,000 items and receive 2 million visitors per month with about $125,000 a day in sales. The average price point is roughly $200.
Furthermore, RubyLUX was born in response to the many dealers requests I received to offer them an alternative to the main player in this game, 1stdibs. They’ve been frustrated with the change of direction that site has taken in the last 2-3 years including a fee structure that keeps mounting, a commission structure that has been added and is arbitrary, a dealer roster that keeps expanding with dealers whose merchandise doesn’t live up to the site’s original vision.
RubyLUX doesn’t charge commission, does not get in between the dealer and the buyer. We focus on quality not quantity.” Tom Johnson
High End Weekly™: I see. What would you say is the main difference between RubyLUX, and the online antique marketplace giant you just spoke about, 1stDibs?
A Pair of Showstopping Mystery Set Ruby and Diamond Earrings from Van Cleef & Arpels from Yafa Jewelry on www.RubyLux.com Tom Johnson: One key difference is that RubyLUX doesn’t charge commission, does not get in between the dealer and the buyer and lets them do what they do best. We focus on quality not quantity – we’re very strict about the quality of the dealers we sign on, we offer a more curated range of product, which means the best of the best rather than a little bit of everything. I’m particularly proud of the quality and caliber of international dealers we have been able to attract to this brand new venture.
High End Weekly™: As regards to the antique dealers, are you reaching out to them, or are they coming to you?
Tom Johnson: It’s a combination of the two. We have a great sales team that knows the antique and design industry intimately and enjoys great relationships with the best dealers in the U.S., Canada and Europe. Word of mouth has also led many dealers to RubyLUX, especially those who are looking for a viable alternative to the other sites.
High End Weekly™: How does RubyLUX create luxury experiences for their clients each time they shop the collection online?
Tom Johnson: Since I am personally funding the site I can be more dealer-centric which means I can be aware of and respond to their needs personally. RubyLUX provides tools for clients and dealers to interact in a simple, easy to use and streamlined fashion. It’s really about back to the basics where people interact by phone, email, Skype. With any Internet site it’s the subtlety that works, having a balance between great design, just enough information and ease of use.
High End Weekly™: With a background in technology that spanned over 33 years, starting with a position at IBM in Kingston, NY., as well as your experience in the online marketplace since 1998, what are your thoughts about its future?Tom Johnson: I see 2016 as a year of growth attracting a larger base of respected dealers and an embrace of the design community so that they know we are the top resource for them and their clients’ needs. Also specialized online marketplaces like RubyLUX will become even more integrated with brick and mortar operations to create seamless experiences between online and the real world.
High End Weekly™: As an avid collector of California pottery, what advice do you have for millennials who are new to collecting? How should they approach the process?
Tom Johnson: Start by collecting based on your actual needs and what really inspires you. I’m a big fan of actually using what you collect. Invest in quality pieces that could last your lifetime, rather than throwaway pieces from those large brand name stores.
Rare Seguso Lamps on www.RubyLUX.com High End Weekly™: What fascinates you about the antique business, and what is your idea of true luxury?
Tom Johnson: The antique business allows one to evoke great memories from the past and pass them down to next generations for them to create new memories. As for luxury, it can mean so many things. For me, it’s being able to travel and live in three cities, surrounded by friends, family and my exceptional staff. True luxury is being happy with where you are in life, and being surrounded by beautiful objects of great design. There’s a reason why they still exist because great design stands the test of time.
High End Weekly™: What are your favorite galleries, and museums?
Tom Johnson: Besides some NYC favorites like MoMA and The Met, and SF’s Legion of Honor, I love the smaller Artis Baker Museum in Naples, Florida that gets some really interesting exhibits coming through. The Louvre is certainly a favorite and inspires the past and present like RubyLUX does. The Hakone Open Air Museum outside Tokyo is just a lovely outdoor experience, and ever since I first visited Barcelona I thought it was like one big museum, especially the Casa Batllo and the Picasso Museum.
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The Suite Life: Editor’s Top Picks of The Year – Part III of III
THE KNICKERBOCKER
The Caruso Suite at The Knickerbocker Hotel, Times Squares: As dramatic and glamorous as the maestro himself, this suite boasts unrivaled views of Times Square from its spectacular top-floor perch. Its bedroom, expansive living room, and spacious bathroom are grand stages themselves, with an option to convert the suite to include a second, en-suite bedroom, expanding the size to 1,200 square feet. Design firm Gabellini Sheppard emerged as top talents in view of their recent work at the $250 million renovation of The Knickerbocker Hotel. The dynamic duo designed a number of luxurious suites, rightly titled after Caruso, Cohan, Martini and Parrish, all legends, and major figures in New York’s cultural scenes. The history of The Knickerbocker Hotel reads like a glittering history of New York itself. Originally opened in 1906 by financier John Jacob Astor IV, it quickly became home to art and music royalty including American painter and illustrator Maxfield Parrish and world-famous tenor Enrico Caruso.
“We looked to classic materials like oak, steel, and leather to give each of these suites its own unique personality and each as big as the people that inspired them …. At the same time, we chose finishes, colors, and lighting that very much convey a contemporary sense of what New York luxury means today.” Michael Gabellini, partner at Gabellini Sheppard
The Martini Suite at The Knickerbocker Hotel, Times Squares: Legend has it that the original martini was invented in 1912 by a Knickerbocker bartender, Martini di Arma di Taggia, for tycoon John D. Rockefeller, a frequent guest. With rich textures and tones, its namesake suite carries the same air of cosmopolitan glamour. WHY WE PICKED IT
All seven hotels were picked for their unique designs. Each one represents what a luxury hotel ought to be: elegant, charming, comfortable, able to exude a sense of contentment, and sooth the occasional, if not constant fastidious guest. The Surrey Hotel, The Mark, The St. Regis in the Upper East Side, The Morgans, The Knickerbocker and The Soho Grand, these hotels have an abundance of charm that embodies “home away from home”. A chic one, that is.
GRAMERCY PARK HOTEL
Gramercy Suite at The Gramercy Park Hotel 
Park View Premier Suite at The Gramercy Park Hotel 
Park View Luxury Suite at The Gramercy Park Hotel 
The Penthouse Suite at The Gramercy Park Hotel MORGANS HOTEL NEW YORK
The Loft at The Morgans New York 
At The Morgans New York: Black and white signature tiles in one of the bathroom suite designed by the grande dame of luxury boutique hotels, the late Andrée Putman THE ST. REGIS NEW YORK
The irresistable Dior Suite at The St. Regis 
What a welcome! Black and White Floors at The St. Regis 5th Avenue Suite Entrance 
The St. Regis New York Bentley Suite Dining Room THE MARK HOTEL
Mark Hotel Five Bedroom Terrace Suite 
The Kitchen of The Mark’s Three Bedroom Suite designed by Jacques Grange 
Partial Views of The Bathroom, and Hallway of The Mark’s Three Bedroom Suite designed by Jacques Grange SOHO GRAND HOTEL
Loft South at The Soho Grand Hotel 
An artful urban terrace garden at The Loft North Suite of The Soho Grand THE SURREY HOTEL
The Surrey Ultra Deluxe Suite 
A very monochromatic theme at The Penthouse Suite of The Surrey Hotel 
The Presidential Suite of The Surrey Hotel New York -
Editor’s Top Picks of The Year: Part II of III
ARTFUL OBJECTS FOR THE HOME
The LED Effect: This giant light sculpture is from Niamh Barry, and is sold at Todd Merrill Studio. The impressive light fixture is unique, handmade and powered by dimmable LEDs. The artist uses CAD/ floor plans and images of the interior to take into consideration every aspect of the room in which the piece will be exhibited.
Niamh Barry at Todd Merrill Studio. 
This fabulous and intricate iron daybed from interior designer Sandra Espinet has a strong and global appeal which suggest a taste for adventure and abundant flair. 
Cynthia Murphy has a keen eye for beauty. The New York-based designer creates her luxury pillows by selecting rich, intricate, 18th and 19th century embroideries and brocades from France, England and Italy. Her special interest in Art Deco and Arts & Crafts design expanded the scope of her entire glamorous online collection. 
Every home should have these Chocolate Quartz and Gold Lumino Coasters from Global Home. Edged in 24K gold and silver, they serve as a perfect way to upgrade the level of entertaining your guests! 
The Tabla End Table from Farrago Design is inspired by Tabla – an Indian percussion drum, it is individually handcrafted with wood and on-laid with bone chips to create a tone-on-tone pattern. The “purest” approach and details transform it to a true work of art. 
High End Weekly™ discovered these beautiful chairs at Collective Design last year, and later on this year at The Salon fair at The Park Avenue Armory. The decorative chairs are from the Wexler Gallery, and they were designed by Sharon Sides. The Flor Chair, Edition 10 of 12, 2015 is made of Bronze, and brass. -
Editor’s Top Picks of The Year: Part I of III
FOR THE HOME
Highly curated items for the kitchen, pantry, table, as well as kitchen design services from the San Francisco-based store MARCH. 
The Axor 240 2-Jet Showerhead and Axor 1-Jet Handshower by Front were inspired by the hidden aesthetics of technology, turning the typical hardware, such as pipes, joints, valves and funnels, into charming design objects. Axor’s designs with Front are currently part of the critically acclaimed Pathmakers: Women in Art, Craft and Design, Midcentury and Today exhibit, which just opened at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington, D.C. “Pathmakers,” which explores and celebrates the contributions of women in design and art, comes to D.C. after a successful six-month run at the Museum of Arts and Design in NYC (MAD museum). THE WATCH HOUNDS
“_To mark its 85th birthday, we wished to offer a new vision of the Reverso, so that each individual can immediately recognise the collection that matches their own character and the model destined to become theirs.” Daniel Riedo, CEO Jaeger-LeCoultre.
REVERSO Tribute Duo, Front Dial from Jaeger-LeCoultre. Since 1931, the year the Reverso watch was created, its emotional impact has remained as powerful as ever. This undisputed style icon elicits the same wonderment decade after decade. The strength of its pure, almost discreet lines makes the Reverso timepiece the epitome of elegance. 
An Important Gold Split Seconds Stop Watch sold at Sotheby’s from Abraham Louis Breguet/Photo credit Sotheby’s THE ART LOVERS
The African-American Art Sale at Swann Galleries: RICHMOND BARTHÉ (1901 – 1989) Head of a Dancer. Cast bronze, with a brown patina, mounted on a white stone base. 
Frank Horvat, Givenchy Hat , 1958, Winter Antiques Show 2016 (Peter Fetterman Gallery) -
Top Coffee Table Books That Feel Right At Home
Carolyne Roehm at Home in the Garden From the Runway to the Garden: Top Coffee Table Books That Feel Right At Home
Carolyne Roehm‘s book, At Home in the Garden chronicles the designer’s love and care for her beloved New England garden. Each images are visually stimulating, and they evoke a feeling of the “eternal summer” that I secretly wish for – long after September. The book launched back in October 27 of this year, and I’ve been fascinated by it ever since.
Are you looking for inspirational garden ideas for 2016, or would you like to acquire a coffee table book that you can curl up to next to your fireplace during the long winter, and be whisked away? Than this book is the one.
Carolyne Roehm at Home in the Garden is dedicated to her 59 acre garden at Weatherstone, Sharon, CT, and features both the designer’s photography her art work, and of course some of her classic interiors.
Carolyne Roehm in her magical garden at Weatherstone, Sharon, CT. 
Fall of Grace: A serene and poetic scene from Carolyne Roehm’s latest book: At Home in the Garden
Gaetano Savini, the Man Who Was BRIONI
In the age when Savile Row was synonymous with men’s style, an innovative Italian, Gaetano Savini, put his country on the map, forever reinventing menswear. From the first men’s fashion show at Florence’s Palazzo Pitti in 1952 to his craftsmanship influences still evident in today’s styles, Savini was truly a creator on the cutting edge.
Gaetano Savini, the Man Who Was BRIONI takes the reader inside the Italian fashion designer’s legacy as the visionary and designer extraordinaire behind the Brioni luxury brand. The book highlights examples of Savini’s innovative cuts, bold colors, and the psychedelic patterns that led the Peacock Revolution of the 1960s. It also includes sketches and newspaper articles illustrating how the man became the legend.
No Italian tailor is better at creating that ‘second glance’ style for men than Brioni.
San Francisco Examiner, 1972
Gaetano Savini, the Man Who Was BRIONI is published by Assouline, and is also available at Saks Fifth Avenue, Barnes and Nobles, and Amara.
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Reimagining The Shingled House
Shingle House/IKBA Sagaponack The New Shingled House by Ike Kligerman Barkley features projects located throughout the fabled seaside resorts of New England – Martha’s Vineyard, Watch Hill, Block Island – and the Hamptons, as well as in California and the Carolinas. The fourteen houses presented here evoke the rich heritage of American architecture and achieve the architects’ stated goal: when their clients enter their new home for the first time, they feel as though they have always lived there.
Gracious and elegant: An all white, serene and welcoming interior in Block Island by Ike Kligerman Barkley, Architects 
Mid century modern meets the 21st Century: The New Shingled House: Ike Kligerman Barkley “The American romance with the shingle style has lasted nearly 150 years because it presents, in an understated way, the best of everything. For our firm, it is a spur to creativity, to unorthodox speculation, to finding new answers to old questions, and to opening one’s mind and imagination as well as one’s eyes.”
A modern and elegant flow of space: Interiors of a project by architectural firm Ike Kligerman Barkley 
Pollack Residence, Ct.; Mark Hampton Inc. Interiors/ Ike Kligerman Barkley FUN FACTS: Shingle-style houses often use a single, large roof, such as a gambrel or hip roof. The houses thus emanate a more pronounced mass and a greater emphasis on horizontality. The New Shingled House by Ike, Kligerman, Barkley is published by The Monacelli Press.
A great read: The New Shingled House by Ike, Kligerman, & Barkley Picture credit: William Waldron. All rights reserved
