Architectural Digest Show: calm, cool and collected decor
NEW YORK » This month’s Architectural Digest Design Show offered winter-weary attendees a breath of fresh air with many design ideas that were calm, cool and collected.
Some highlights:
CALM
Brooklyn textile design firm Eskayel put founder Shanan Campanaro’s painterly watercolors of Moroccan rooftops on its Mural collection of fabrics and wallpapers, in a soothing palette with blue, gray and cream.
Stockholm-based textile designer Akane Moriyama’s Draped Flowers curtain was popular with the Instagram crowd at the show. The limited-edition curtain is made of spun washi-paper thread in small factories in Japan. The strong, washable thread is knit into curtains with over 100 pockets where fresh flowers can be placed. The curtain’s floral tableau can be constantly changed for different looks or scents, “blurring the line between still and living objects,” says Moriyama.
The Bride pendant lamp, designed by Mammalampa’s Latvian creative director, Ieva Kaleja, and available through Marie Burgos Design , is woven by hand, so no two are alike. The fixture’s plaited paper is meant to evoke a bride’s dress.
“As light shines through, “says Kaleja, “you will find yourself infused by an aura of airy lightness; almost as if the lamp were not subject to the law of gravity.”
Vermont Modern by Hubbardton Forge added to its collection of innovative lighting with the More Cowbell pendant. Glass cowbells hung from Vermont maple dowels, creating a playful fixture with a Scandinavian design vibe. This photo provided by Vermont Modern by Hubbardton Forg shows the More Cowbell pendant fixture and was inspired by Scandinavian design. The glass cowbell is suspended by a Vermont maple dowel, creating an elegant yet playful lighting element.
side table, a chic play of contrasts with shiny brass legs supporting a slice of clear Lucite. Also in the booth was a modern take on the rocking chair, with looping acrylic and brass arms.
Patterned rondels in latte, gray, tobacco and clear glass are crafted by Rhode Island artist Tracy Glover , and then mounted with brass arms to create a constellationshaped fixture that can be mounted on the ceiling or wall. Glover honed her craft in a 13th century Belgian convent’s crystal factory and at Dale Chihuly’s Pilchuck School, where she was mentored by Venetian masters-in-residence.
New York architect and engineer Rachel Robinson showed her Purl Lounge Chair. Brushed brass connectors cradled an ash wood frame within a pair of
satin-finished glass legs. The frame is a loom onto which a wool roving seat cushion is woven. The mix of materials makes a surprisingly comfy chair. (www.durodeco.com )
COLLECTED
Amy Astley, Architectural Digest’s editor-inchief, says, “We’re seeing a shift back to collecting. Handcraft is a big trend — design where you can appreciate the hand of the artist, and the quality of how things are made.”
The MADE section of the show is always one of its strongest. This year, it showcased lighting, furniture and art from more than 160 emerging artisans and international studios.
Canadian studio Norquay brought some of their soft wool blankets and a selection of lithe, cherry-wood paddles, a minimalist landscape.
“I’m always looking for the moment when something changes or shifts,” says Watkins, who works in plaster, wood and metal. “I’m fascinated by the fluidity and possibility of one thing becoming another, and the movement inherent in that transition.”