“Lace- the invention of a goddess and the occupation of a queen.”

Federico de Vinciolo

Lace is back.

As supported by the design studios like Indigo, lace is a popular design direction for the next couple of years.  But this isn’t Grandma’s lace doilies; look for lace rendered in fresh ways, unusual materials and in unique color and pattern combinations. Today’s lace is too fashion forward and created in many too forms and materiasl to be old fashioned. We love the dichotomy of lace- its charming innocence paired with mystery concealing as much as it reveals. Lace is can be sexy and sweet at the same time. It all adds up to an intriguing medium for interiors.

"Energy" laser lace by Creation Baumann

Customizable chain link fence through Droog USA

Another reason we love lace- the romantic softening of interiors as we move post recession. Lace adds personality because with visual and tactile layering.

Dareen Henault's Kips Bay Dressing Room

Metallic lace is one thing, but lace made of entwined human hair? It may sound revolting, but in fact, it is quite beautiful!  Kerry Howley took inspiration from the wallpaper patterns she discovered at the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture and turned up the Victorian artwork a notch. Attraction/Aversion is Kerry’s award winning graduate collection.

Modern Lace by BandJ Fabrics

1000 gallon oil tank by Cal Lane for Lace in Translation

Cal Lane's Wheelbarrow

Concrete lace by Doreen Westphal and G.tecz

 Just in time for  holiday gift giving a flurry of design books have been released ; offering creatives and clients inspiration. Here are the top ten ( in no particular order) on my wish list:

1.

Live, Love and Decorateby Martyn Lawrence Bullard

With the release timed with the launch of Bullard’s fabric collection for Schumacher and his design center speaking tour, get a copy and have it signed as a gift for a fellow design pro. The book  shows off the author’s mastery of the dramatic and balance between contemporary and traditional.

2.

Celia Birtwell

Considered one of the most influential textile designer of  this generation, muse to David Hicks and friend of the Beatles, Jagger and Picasso this book , British print designer, Celia Birtwell, is celebrated in this new publication. Her beautiful hand painted prints have appeared on apparel for former husband, Ossie Clark, as well as on new collections for Topshop and John Lewis. This book is a wonderful addition to any surface designer’s bookshelf.

3.

The Impossible Collection of Fashion by Valerie Steele. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book!

From Poiret to Pucci, Doucet to Dior, Vionnet to Valentino, Valerie Steele,  chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (MFIT), selects the one hundred most iconic dresses of the twentieth century. This magnificent collection, while certainly subjective, is sure to receive gasps of pleasure as well as of surprise. Steele’s selection, hand-picked for this luxury volume presented in a linen clamshell case with a cutout metal plate, astounds in every regard. 
 

4.

Diana Vreeland: The Eye has to Travel

Having always  admired the legendary “High Priestess of Fashion,” Diana Vreeland’s impact on fashion and style was legendary. I am looking forward to getting a peek inside her rich life. With more than 350 illustrations, including original magazine spreads and many famous photographs, this intensely visual book shows fashion as it was being invented, and how Vreeland shaped American taste through her superb vision.

5.

For my Francophile fix- In The New French Interior by Penny Drue Baird, authority on all things French, moves beyond the traditional historic styles to explore the design elements that make up the fresh, clean look. To illustrate the style, Baird draws on ten of her own recent projects, apartment and house installations, and presents French precedents and influences through specially commissioned photography of Parisian interiors.

6.

My Midwestern roots draw me to Chicago Spaces published by Chicago Home and Garden and hopes to vanquish the notion that we only design conservatively. The book showcases spaces that the editors loved or spoke to them representing a broad range of styles.

7.

Sister Parish, American Style  by Martin Wood revisits her sumptuous and quirky interiors. Her trompe l’oeil sawgs and cascades come to mind.

8.

Katie Ridder: Rooms by Heather MacIssac is the designer’s first book showcasing her  eclectic cool  interiors.

9.

The New Bespokeby Frank Roop lets the reader into his head as he works through the entire creative process- from inspiration to installation.

10.

Influential design blogger Grace Bonney penned  Design*Sponge at Home,the ultimate design manual for her fans. This says it best- “ Thank you,” wrote a reader to Design*Sponge creator Grace Bonney, “for teaching me that houses don’t have to be frumpy and formal. They don’t have to be matchy-matchy or rigidly modern.”

OK… 2 more I can’t seem to do without…

11.

Patina Styleby the Giannettis

12.

The Way Homeby Jeffery Bihuber

Let me introduce Eun il lee, master Korean textile designer and partner in Artvivant Textiles. Lee is a hidden gem in the textile world; creating inspirational and unique textiles for Coulisse and  Nobilis along with his own firm. Both collections contain stunning textiles with a focus on window coverings as their end use. 

 We recently caught up with Lee and his partner Terry Bayless to discuss his collections and the process. The textiles are produced in the Philippines to take advantage of the natural fibers Asia has to offer; it’s  a varied range of materials – beads, leather, silk, branches, raffia.  Eun il lee’s textiles strike a balance between ancient and modern fibers combined with century old Korean looming techniques. The list is long and  I am always inspired by it. 

Nil’s style philosophy comes from the ying and yang.  This can be the connection between God and man, God and nature, or man and nature. Yin Yang is also present at more personal level- relationships between man and his or her history, home, parents and friends. Nil weaves these relationships into his fabrics.

Nil explains,  “I have a certain feeling with each material. My perception of silk, for example, is the womanly. The combination of hard fibers like abacas and pineapple and soft materials such as silk is exactly the philosophy of Yin and Yang. When you put them together they fight and harmonize to create a new personality.”

 Nil sees his loom as the tool for his creations- the fabrics are his painter’s canvas or the music’s notes. He says it best: “The fabrics are my poems, my songs, my paintings.” The handloom used to create his emotional textiles, was devised about 2,000 years ago and was brought to England by the Romans. The process consists of interlacing one set of threads of yarn (the warp) with another (the weft). The warp threads are stretched lengthwise in the weaving loom. The weft cross-threads, are woven into the warp to make the cloths.

Innovative materials are often incorporated into the designs, via traditional back-strap weaving. Artvivant focuses on blending natural fibers in such a way to produce a quality level similar to modern man made fabrics, for example the piña silk or pineapple thread which is the base material for many of the designs, is traditionally used for rope making.

The incorporation of bamboo, sticks and buri reeds provide horizontal strength and stability, which eliminate the need for cross bars in roman blinds, and make for elegant panel glides, room dividers, or roman blinds.

While in Paris last week visiting Le Manach, our wonderful host mentioned that we should make a point of seeing the Interieurs 2011 showhouse held just off the Champs Elysse at Hôtel Dassault This is the second edition of the showcase organized by Architectural Digest( FR) and Artcurial and this year’s theme  - The art of living with art-certainly lives up to its press.

Twelve top French interior designers were invited to illustrate his/her relationship to art, from collaborations with artists to art-inspired sets to the staging of collections. The goal of the producers was to show today’s diversity in interior design and the decorative arts and to reveal future design trends.  This was a not- to- be missed event and we were so excited to be able to see it.

 The cherry on top was lunch at Café Artcurial after viewing the exhibit, as I got to check the Café off my list to eat at in Paris. ( Basically, I wanted to see the restaurant’s interiors designed by Gilles et Boissier.)

The rooms and designers:

• The Japanese Office by François-Joseph Graf
• The Caesar Salon by Alain Demachy
• The Mark Rothko Styled Bedroom by India Mahdavi
• The Living-room in Optical Illusion by Olivia Putman
• The Dream-like Library and Bedroom  by Roxane Rodriguez
• The Sculptural Dining-room by Chahan Minassian
• The Private Art Gallery by Jean-Louis Deniot
• The “other” Kitchen by Tristan Auer 
• The Porcelain Office-Dining-room by Laurent Buttazzoni & Associés
• The Cocoon to contemplate a video by Pierre Yovanovitch
• The Three-dimensional Living Room by Thierry Lemaire

 

Interieurs 2011 – Artcurial by aucoindumondedeco

French showhouses are conceptual as U.S. showhouses are literal. You have to walk through the rooms with an open mind and read between the lines of what the designer was trying to express. My favorites were:

The room as Mark Rothko to India Mahdavi

 The project. The designer uses the palette of  painter Mark Rothko in a patchwork of squares of velvet wool, cotton and silk that lines the walls and extends into curtains.  The multicolored geometric print carpet with animal skin contrasts the walls.

 The decorator. An architect trained in Fine Arts and then at Christian Liaigre, India Mahdavi founded her agency in 1999. She has been exploring different areas ranging from design to interior design, through set design, and master the art of the bold stylistic juxtapositions

 The most outrageous and fabulous!

The Sculptural Dining-room by Chahan Minassian

The project. The decorator showcased the Belgian artist Arne Quinze, famous for  upcycled wooden buildings. A sculpture of wooden beams juxtaposed against gilded and paneled walls that is reflected on a mirrored floor.

The decorator. Chahan Minassian excels in art since 1993 atmospheric sets, mixing subtle shades, textures and game style agreementsFor this Parisian-Armenian, furniture, fabrics, ceramics and works of art are part of the same story.

The “other” Kitchen by Tristan Auer

The room is an architecturial synthesis inspired by the artistic currents of the 20^th century such as surrealiasm, arte povera, minimalism and artists that embody these movements like Rene Margitte   The “HABITATION CELL” combines all the functions of the kitchen into a mirrored brass monolith and explores light and space as if in a darkroom with an image projected onto a sensitizied surface.  

The Three-dimensional Living Room by Thierry Lemaire

The project. Parquet Versailles goes from floor to on the walls. A piece of aluminum sculpture by artist Christophe Raynal, is a kind of  metal springs of a chair. Her simple furniture – sofa taupe, buffet and coffee table composed of three modules lacquered white, turquoise and beige – play it down and remember that it is in a salon.

The decorator. Elegance and simplicity define the style of Thierry Lemaire.  This Parisian architect made a debut in the building before going in the decoration of private projects, and appreciates the authentic raw materials he works with modernity.

The Private Art Gallery by Jean-Louis Deniot

The project. The hallway, staircase and gallery suggest the atmosphere of a collector. Jean-Louis Deniot reinterprets, combines and  stylizes in neutral tones patterns borrowed from the paintings of Bernard Frize, Sol LeWitt and Peter Zimmermann for murals, printed carpets and wall fabrics as wispy graphics.

 The decorator. Deniot  is second to none since 2000 to relax the French classicism.  At his best  in the total look, this thirty graduate of the Ecole Camondo prefer the mix of styles in muted silky  shades.

The Porcelain Office-Dining-room by Laurent Buttazzoni & Associés

The project. The cubicles of BSM office furniture welcome a collection of china – pieces by contemporary artists like Klara Kristalova, as well as chinoiserie of the eighteenth century. In the center of the room, a flesh pink banquet table drawn close, the seats high time. Curtains and portieres in buttercup provide the key to the pop scene.

The Decorators. Colorists Fins, Laurent and Frederic Lavaud Buttazzoni boost their rigorous architectures shots by keeping solids alive. The pair met on the banks of ESAG Penninghen before collaborating with Andree Putman, and in 1995 founded their agency, known for its retro-modern achievements.

Fabri-alcoholics there is a new fabric collection at Lee Jofa that combines past and present for perfect. To celebrate their rich history, Lee Jofa asked seven of today’s top designers to dig into their archives and pull a favorite document print and then reinterpret to make it Modern based on their signature palette and style.

 Love the concept; and for the most part, I like what the designers have done to create the Heritage collection.

 Diamond and Barratta don’t disappoint with a ribbon and flora chintz recolored into two looks- a blue and white toile and Chocolate grounded floral with a decidedly English feel.  Best part of the chocolate colorway is the blown up mural as a backdrop.

Shiraz Print

Suzanne Kasler reinterpreted a Shiraz/Suzani print by rescaling and choosing neutrals. It looks entirely different -sort of  global imagery gone chic.

Suzanne Rheinstein's pattern

Which one is your favorite? Tell us by taking the poll in the sidebar.

See the complete collection’s patterns, the originals and designer’s renderings in video below.