Art Architect: parties

Scalamandre

0 komentar 20.36 Diposting oleh Marleen

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of touring the Scalamandre townhouse in New York with Steven Stolman, the new president of the company. Meg from Pigtown Design also recently visited the townhouse so I thought I would add my experience as well!

As an architect, I was admittedly a bit out of my league with the technical discussions of the fabric they were showing, but I could of course appreciate their beauty and history. Scalamandre was kind enough to pull some items from their archives for me which appealed to my inner design history geek!

One of my favorites was the Boris Kroll designed scheme for Scalamandre from 1973 for the Continental Airlines premier 747 jet service to Honolulu. Imagine flying in such a chic and brightly colored plane on your way to paradise! The colors, seen in the photograph above, ranged from hot pink in first class to serene blue in coach. The fabric samples are attached to a floorplan of the plane itself.

With much of their work focusing on historical restoration and recreation, Scalamandre had worked on the Metropolitan opera house renovation and recreated the stage curtains which have this immense gold trim at the base and lush red velvet, seen in the archival box behind. The challenge here was to recreate the original curtain but to meet all of the required codes regarding fire safety. Steven mentioned the seats were all upholstered in costly mohair as wool is a fire retardant.

One of my favorite fabrics from the archives was this charming Auntie Mame'esque chinoiserie print designed by the founder's wife, Flora Scalamandre, in the 1950s - I hope they bring this back!

While known primarily for their prints and traditional fabrics, such as this great one on a sofa in the DC showroom, Steven vows to bring the company into the 21st century while leaving their whole legacy intact. His dream is that nothing will be 'out of print' and you can order any of the great fabrics from the companies history.

Recent advances in digital technology make this dream possible and the company has developed ways of using the technology that meet or surpass the techniques of the past.

So many new gorgeous prints!

I loved this fern print - very Martha Stewart, don't you think?

This cheerful preppy fabric is meant for outdoors but Steven said that a lot of designers have actually been using this inside.

This new ikat pattern is actually complexly woven with a raised, textured design.

Another fabric from their new line is "muse ornamentale" which is an updated look at a traditional design. It reminded me so much of the tropically inspired grand fabrics at Vizcaya, which had Scalamandre in on its' restoration!

Of course, what would Scalamandre be without their animal prints (we all know their iconic zebra!)

In their new collection is a metallic giraffe print that is beautiful on both sides!

Their classic leopard silk velvet is still available (and is one of their most popular despite the high price tag!)

A new addition and sure to be equally as popular is a tiger printed velvet in either a mottled green or hot pink!

And of course, Scalamandre's iconic zebra print is available in many colorways and as fabric, wallpaper or even umbrellas! I hope you enjoyed the tour as much as I did! Many thanks to Scalamandre and new friend Steven Stolman (who is also a CMU alum I found out!).

Label: blogging, just for fun, parties, shopping

Dinner at Eight

0 komentar 21.01 Diposting oleh Marleen

This past weekend I had a few friends over for dinner and they were nice enough to let me interrupt the party to photograph the table settings for the weekly Tablescape Thursdays!

I took the first picture before plating the salad course - caprese salad with a nice rose wine.

Plates are Decre Freres, Theodore Haviland Limoges, silver is freshly polished Prelude for International Silver, crystal is Waterford. Alabaster table lamp is a touch that makes it feel like an old supper club to me (from restoration hardware) and candlesticks are venetian glass from Aero in NY. I didn't get any flowers because they seem a bit much for a casual winter dinner.

For the entree course, I used my favorite cuckoo pattern dinner plates from Wedgwood. S&P shaker are mother of pearl from pottery barn. Napkins are antique irish linen from ebay (the best Christmas gift ever!).

Here is what we had (ignore the lamp cord!) - roast beef with carrots, potatoes and celery -a hearty winter meal on a snowy day.

For dessert (lemon pound cake with fresh whipped cream) I used the bread plates for Wedgwood 'Cuckoo', the small coffee service is antique Austrian by Ernst Wahliss, the teacups are antique Minton and the sugarbowl is cobalt jasperware by Wedgwood.

Just a close up. After all of the wine we needed some sparkling water!

The tea (violet from Laduree) was served on my sideboard from my wedgwood 'cuckoo' teapot. The sterling tea strainer was NOT fun to polish after a few years of not being used! Crystal candlesticks I brought back from my trip to Paris in the fall.

Thanks for bringing the champagne! Champagne flutes by Baccarat.

The evening had some ups and downs -the foil from the champagne gave me a nasty cut which would NOT stop bleeding! The rest of the rose was the best medicine......

I love simple meals like this with very little mess (especially in a tiny apt). The huge roast beef (which i'll be eating for a week!) was accompanied by roasted carrots, celery and potatoes cooked with butter, garlic and sage. I LOVE the pattern on my potholders -the chickens always make me smile (from william sonoma)!

I hope you enjoyed the meal as much as we did!

Label: China of the week, just for fun, parties

Barry Dixon at Timothy Paul

0 komentar 21.05 Diposting oleh Marleen

This past thursday I attended the DC launch party of Barry Dixon's rug collection at Timothy Paul. I had been in the bedding and home store of Timothy Paul up the street but had never been into the carpet showroom so I was excited to see it!

I had always admired their throw pillows they had in the window, I was happy to see them up close -so beautiful!!

We got there really early, straight from work, and got to take some pictures before the party started and talked to Barry Dixon a bit about his inspiration behind most of the collection.

All of the different designs are very personal to Barry, picked up from his travels. Ideas came from pieces of tooled leather picked up in bazaars and the pattern of leaves on a forest floor.

The colors are all beautiful, muted tones without being bland. Many of the rugs are available in different color-ways as well.

His beautiful book was also on display: I was at the book launch party for that and blogged about it HERE.

While Dixon's were the primary focus, a few others not by the designer were also featured. I loved this deep rich reddish-orange rug.

If you're ever in DC, visit Timothy Paul -the rug showroom is only a block away from the bedding and home store. Visit them online HERE.

Label: DC, Interiors, just for fun, parties, Washington

Adlon Party

0 komentar 06.11 Diposting oleh Marleen

Last night I went to the party celebrating Adlon's opening with B&B Italia & MaxAlto and took some pictures to share the beautiful showroom with you!

This....um.....interesting chair greets you at the front door. Brainchild of the 60s -it has an umbilical cord connecting the 'mother' (see the anatomy) to the 'child'. Convienently it kept the ottoman from rolling out the front door! Weird but I'm sure it's probably very comfy.

The party was in full swing when I arrived!

Great vignettes had been set up all over the store, I love this shelving system!

The showroom is housed in an old industrial building with thick stone walls along the canal in Georgetown. I love these old steel windows (Hopes perhaps?) and the rough walls compared with the painted highly polished concrete floor.

The showroom is set up into individual 'stores' for each brand that they carry. I loved this chair in MaxAlto, one of the guests of honor - creamy buttery leather!

Juxtoposition is everything in this store! The modern with the 'victorian', the polished with the rough.....so interesting!

Another great vignette. Notice the shadows -this store has exquisite lighting! See the 'vase' form cut out of cardboard and then a black edge done with a sharpie (?maybe?) creating the form. Thats a fun idea!