Sneak Peek: Texas River House

By Haskell Harris | June 23, 2009 | Design

Recently I've been thinking that I should give a sneak peek of some style related things coming up in the magazine.

So here goes: My favorite Southern Style piece in our upcoming August/September issue is about an idyllic Texas river house on the banks of the Guadalupe River.

The photo below is an out-take from our photo shoot (Andrew Geiger shot it for us and he's amazing). I love how minimal the camp cots are, and the whole house has the same vibe. It's both rustic and modern—a combination that always works: 

Photo by Andrew Geiger

Stay tuned for an expanded gallery of out-takes when the next edition hits newsstands.

And just in case you might want to try the utilitarian look of camp furniture at home, here are a few sources:

1) Cabela's army cot (almost a dead ringer for the one above):

Photo courtesy of cabelas.com

2) The beautiful and super expensive cot by Bottega Veneta, quite possibly the chicest daybed ever designed:

Photo courtesy of bottegaveneta.com

3) These camp stools from Design Within Reach feel like something off the set of Out of Africa. A pair of them at the end of a bed in an all white room would be fantastic:

Photo courtesy of dwr.com

4) The classic stools from Hable Construction. Everyone has seen these, but I think they always look perfect in children's rooms because the colors are so happy:

Photo courtesy of apartmenttherapy.com

Design Flash: Ross Kenan Interiors

By Haskell Harris | March 25, 2009 | Design

I have a little bit of a crush on Charleston right now as far as design goes.

And for good reason.

We have a fantastic (and growing) creative community here, from artists to fashion designers.

Which brings me to the point of my post.

The other day, I came across photos from a young interior design firm here in the city, Ross Kenan Interiors, and loved them.

Like the founding partners, Sterling Kenan and Caroline Ross (pictured below), the firm's projects are sophisticated and cheerful.

I loved their office in particular (image follows below):

So much so that I asked Sterling to dish on design a little bit. Our Q & A follows:

BD: Who are your favorite style icons of the past?

SK: Definitely Dorothy Draper—her style is so translatable today. Also Francis Elkins, and we LOVE David Hicks—especially his textiles.

The book about Dorothy Draper, above, was all the rage about a year ago, and it's a a fabulous tribute to her. To flip through it, click on amazon.com

BD: And the Present?

SK: We love Kelly Wearstler. Also Celerie Kemble, Vincente Wolfe, and Ruthie Sommers.

I just bought this book by Celerie Kemble, above, and love it. To flip through it, visit amazon.com

BD: If you had to sum up the aesthetic of Ross Kenan, what would you say?

SK: An eclectic mix of vintage treasures and modern pieces that create a unique, comfortable, functional, and fun environment for our clients (like the projects pictured below):

BD: Do you have a current fabric or accessory or great looking piece of furniture that you're dying to use in a project?

SK: We found this amazing wood chandelier that is in our office right now that we would love to see in a residential setting.

BD: Where are your favorite places to shop for great design in Charleston, from vintage stores to pedigree antiques?

SK: Estella Vitae—such eclectic treasures from all over the world! Hungry Neck Antique Mall—you never know what you will find but the hunt is always fun! Palmetto Moon, and we love scouting all of the antique stores on Johns Island.

BD: Why did you decide to base your business in Charleston?

SK: We both have a love for Charleston and had previously lived here after college. After moving away for a bit, both of us went to graduate school—Caroline returning to Charleston and myself to New York. We always knew that when we were ready to go into business, we wanted to do so in Charleston. After finishing school in New York, I returned to Charleston to open RKI with Caroline.

For more information on the firm, visit: rosskenaninteriors.com

The Bookish Type

By Haskell Harris | March 25, 2009 | Design

***Before I begin: Please excuse the long delay between posts. I'm back up and running after a little Spring Break. Thank you for your patience!

Now, on to the post:

If I could live in a library, I would. Preferably an old one with mile-high ceilings and marble floors, but I digress.

Books are, by far, my favorite thing to collect and are, by definition, art. Every detail—from the style of the binding to the fonts used to, most importantly, the words held between the covers—is fascinating to me.

And I'm not alone.

Interior designers have been onto the allure of books since the dawn of decorating. From antique European leather designs, to collections bound in a single color (British designer David Hicks was famous for stocking a library with bold, all-red volumes) to the ever-humble DIY trick of covering a collection in decorative paper, I thought I'd seen, and read, about it all.

Until now.

Months ago, when I was in New York for the gift show, I was mesmerized by the display for a company called Middleton's Library.

Originally, the owner, Brian Wynn, started by selling antique books and binding leather ones for custom interior design projects (both of which they still sell).

But that's not what got me. Mixed in with the traditional examples, I saw books bound in all-white parchment, emblazoned with fabulous old-world type (see image below):

books bound in metallic leathers:

and even books done in bright violet:

The contrast of their designs mixed in together on one huge bookshelf was absolutely stunning.

I stood there looking at it for a very long time, thinking about how genius the idea really is.

Basically, whether you are a private consumer or an interior designer, you can commission a collection of books from them in any leather or any color.

Just picture a striking all-violet library (how cool!) or a demure all-white one (how classic!). The combinations are just endless.

As for me? I won't be able to take things that far, but I would settle for sending my hardback copy of Anna Karenina up there for the silver leather treatment and be a very happy girl.

For more information, please visit middletonslibrary.com.

All in the Numbers

By Haskell Harris | February 20, 2009 | Design

Awhile back I posted about my friend Matthew Thompson, who has a wonderful carpentry business in New Orleans. Every now and then, he'll jot off a note with a picture of something he's working on and yesterday he did just that (see below).

I never cease to be amazed by what inspires him...

I have attached a picture of a set of wooden stadium seats that I just finished for a client who saw the ones in my house that I made many years ago. I remember as a little boy sitting in such seats at Hestand Stadium in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, watching the high school team play, somewhere around 1965. Originally, I copied these from the movie That's My Boy! starting Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, a football movie in which the hapless Lewis becomes the best player on the team. The stadium scene shows thousands of these seats, I believe, and they made such an impression on me—the repetition of them—that I went out and made a set the next day at Jefferson County Mill, where I worked as a boy and a teenager. 

These very ones in the picture were made over the Christmas holidays, and I finished them about two weeks later, working intermittently on them. They are constructed from red heart pine that I have salvaged from demolitions around town. The detail is my own. I used a flat oil ochre color for the striping and borders and a flat black for the oval background. The numbers are a flat green oil that I found in the shop. The oval motif is copied from a Mississippi state highway sign, #604, that I saw outside of Pearlington, Mississippi, very early one morning, just as it was getting light. I admired its simple industrial marking. All that detail is covered with a deep walnut stain and sealed, a way to give it some depth.

Matthew

Fabulous Felt

By Haskell Harris | February 17, 2009 | Design

As promised, I am infusing Belle Decor with more bits of design from the New York International Gift Show.

Here's a company that always stops me dead in my tracks: the Sandor Collection.

They make everything from table runners to Christmas stockings but handmade, felt applique pillows are what they do best.

We've all seen the happy, technicolor pillows of a similar ilk from Hable Construction (if you haven't, you must go to hableconstruction.com), but this entire collection is a foil to that all-American look.

Based on vintage Hungarian embroidery patterns, the Sandor pillows feel old-world and delicate, but not at all stodgy or stiff (my favorite pattern, Madeira, follows below). 

Total Charmers

By Haskell Harris | February 10, 2009 | Design

I am really picky about jewelry. A piece isn't beautiful to me unless there is a compelling story behind it.

Otherwise, it's just more useless, meaningless stuff.

Right now, I currently have a crush on two types of charms that both have a great narrative: fobs and intaglios.

Fobs (pictured below) became popular in Victorian England when pocket watches were all the rage. Often made of pinched gold, they acted as weights to keep the chain tangle-free and usually featured the family seal of the watch owner on the bottom (which came in handy back then, since that dapper generation still sealed letters with wax).

 Courtesy of limogebox.com

I love the idea of wearing a fob as a necklace for two reasons. First, the idea of wearing a seal is great. It's like a little mini work of art right there on the bottom of the charm. So cool. Second, wearing a fob as a necklace is a great way to feminize an otherwise masculine accessory. I like the allure of that contrast. You know, like when a woman wears a menswear-inspired trench coat? Um, exactly.

Okay, so now onto intaglios. An intaglio is the opposite of a cameo. It's carved INTO a stone, while a cameo is more of a raised carving. Intaglio also refers to a form of printing (on paper or on wax), a process that's been around since ancient Rome. Back then, intaglios were thought to bring good luck. They often featured pastoral or military scenes and were also worn as jewelry. In Victorian England, intaglios often displayed silhouettes. The bracelet below is a modern reproduction that includes both intaglios and cameos. All you need with it is a white T-shirt and jeans. Done.

Courtesy of extasia.com

Some intaglios are too pretty to wear and work better as art (below, courtesy of 1stdibs.com)

Imagine about ten of those framed over a little settee in an entryway. Amazing!!

Shine On

By Haskell Harris | February 9, 2009 | Design

I have to be very clear here that bling is not my thing. Subtle shine, on the other hand, totally is.

Case in point: the new collection of grass cloth wallpaper from Phillip Jeffries (see below):

For anybody new to grass cloth, it's an insanely stylish type of wallpaper made of jute, hemp, and/or other grasses on a paper backing that hails from Japan.

And while the tweedy, organic texture is a natural fit for a library or an office,  this new collection has me thinking about a less expected application.

A dining room, to be exact.

The metallic filaments woven in with the hemp give off the exact amount of glint needed to reflect candlelight by night (and understated ritz by day).

To peruse all twenty two colorways (I like the silvery blue), log onto www.phillipjeffries.com.

Lost Art: Calligraphy

By Haskell Harris | February 4, 2009 | Design

Being an editor certainly has its perks. First among them? Meeting amazingly interesting people, like designers Chris and Kirk Bray of Billykirk leathergoods (below, an image of the Bray brothers along with an image of my favorite bag in their line).

                 

 

And interesting people like Chris  and Kirk often know fascinating people in their own right, like Betty Gilpin, a calligraphy artist in Nashville, Tennessee.

 

Betty, who recently turned 81, is one of the best calligraphers in the country. Chris (who sent the images for this post along to me) found her through word of mouth and loved her work so much that he asked her to pen the script for his company. Simple, with a slight flourish, her words look like something inked a century ago. And because I am a total sucker for anything that looks nostalgic, I love the idea of using calligraphy instead of a synthetic font for everything from calling cards to company logos. It's just a lovely idea. Images of her work for Billykirk follow below:

 

 

Here's to reviving this lost art more often!

P.S. I have not forgotten my promise to post more bits of design inspiration from the New York International Gift Show. I have some fun things in the works. Stay tuned...

Sweet Success

By Haskell Harris | January 27, 2009 | Design

This week, I am in New York City for the New York International Gift Show. Every year, twice a year, designers from all over the country (and the world) travel to Manhattan to show off their newest wares—from lighting and tableware to bedding and furniture.

When I walked through on Sunday, I was expecting the mood to be different, given the dire economic situation all over the country.

With the exception of being less crowded than usual, things were upbeat and busy.

Retailers were shopping for their stores and magazine editors and design bloggers were talking shop left and right.

Even more reassuring was seeing two of my favorite designers, who, a few years ago, were just starting their small businesses and who are now wildly successful.

I saw Gina Wilcox of Eloquent Ink first. I wrote a story about her gorgeous ceramics two years ago, just a few months after she'd gotten things off the ground. I have not seen her since then, but when I found her booth this year, we both ran through the crowd to hug each other. I knew, by looking around at all the people clamoring for orders, that she'd hit the bigtime. She looked so happy and I loved seeing her, and her new designs. The styles below, from her new Orchid collection, were absolutely beautiful:

Later, I walked into Christopher Jagmin's booth, and he was clearly doing well, too. I was introduced to Christopher's designs several years ago while working on a magazine project with his brother , Greg Jagmin, and interior designer Anne Coyle. At that time, he had just prototyped his amazing number plates. Since then, I've seen them EVERYWHERE, in stores and in magazines, and I'm thrilled for him. Images of the number plates follow below, as well as new designs from his new Baha collection:

Christopher has also started a design blog with his brother, Greg. I logged on last night and hope you will too: http://jagmindesign.wordpress.com/

I'll be posting about more great design all week, but I thought this was the best way to start out—by giving a shout to two designers who've worked very hard to make it to the top—in a recession no less!

Horn of Plenty

By Haskell Harris | January 15, 2009 | Design

The last time I was at ABC Carpet & Home in New York (forgive me for not knowing what's there now–it's been a few months), it looked like the place had been taken over by stags. Ironic interpretations of the real thing, to be precise.

I saw pink stags and green stags and silver stags, big stags and tiny stags. And things like this (from a few of my other favorite sources):

   

Roost

 

Graham and Green

 

Valentin Tinc

Cardboard Safari (a company based in Charlottesville, VA)

The whole look has been big for a while (antlers, faux or not, are very sculptural-looking decorative objects, after all).

I love it, but I'm willing to bet that the trendy versions lose their appeal by next year.

So, for those looking for something similar (stag horn, longhorn, impala horn) but a little more enduring, here are three great sources:

1. Vagabond House. They make the most beautiful pewter and horn tableware I've seen. Yes, the horn is real, but that's exactly what gives it such a rich, organic vibe.

  

2. Old Texas. Some of the things are heavy-handed and "themed," but some are truly chic. Like this:

3. Michael Aram. Everybody knows Michael Aram and his wonderful work. But these trays are new:

 If you have any sources of your own that you'd like to pass along, I'm all ears!