From significant business changes to noteworthy product launches, there’s always something new happening in the world of design. In this biweekly roundup, AD PRO has everything you need to know.
Openings
For his new LA shop, Ken Fulk channels a horticulture legend
When dreaming up his eponymous new LA design shop, AD100 designer Ken Fulk had a singular muse in mind: horticulture legend Bunny Mellon. “My fellow Virginian,” says Fulk, “[she’s] the epitome of elegance and understated chic.” The idea was to encapsulate Mellon’s famed garden shed from Oak Spring Farm within the West Hollywood Design District locale. Or as Fulk puts it: “I imagined she had kept a charming garden bungalow tucked on a side street in Hollywood during the Kennedy era.” Beyond the tailored garden courtyard and olive green façade, shoppers will enjoy a number of transportive and faux-painted interior rooms. From the wood-paneled library to the treillaged potting shed, each room will host decor delectables ranging from custom scents, fine art, French napkins, antique silverware among other sourced rarities—new and vintage. Doors open November 14.
Gallery M.Fisher is an oasis in New York’s Seaport
Between the arrival of chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Tin Building and concerts on The Rooftop at Pier 17, New York’s cobblestoned Seaport district has experienced a renewal in recent years. Drawn to that fresh energy, ballet dancer turned visual artist Matthew Fisher chose South Street as the site of his debut gallery, filling it with nearly 120 of the poetic stone, metal, and cotton cord pieces he spent the last six months creating. The elegant space is also embellished with theatrical touches: A fern sprouts from a chalice-like, 600-pound planter carved from igneous stone, for example, and a curtain woven with metallic threads leading to the tranquil courtyard. The latter is said to capture the emotion Fisher felt upon seeing the stage at the Palais Garnier in Paris for the first time.
Exhibitions
An apartment-gallery in Paris gets dressed and ready courtesy of Sarah Espeute
During Paris Internationale last month, Sarah Espeute, the French artist and designer behind Marseille studio Oeuvres Sensibles and home goods showroom Sensible, enlivened PR maven Sandie Saul Roy’s 9th arrondissement apartment-gallery with the exhibition, A Well-Dressed Apartment. Throughout the space, Espeute gracefully draped surfaces with antique fabrics that she reimagined in her atelier. A patchwork throw covered the bed, for example, and a rippled tablecloth was ornamented with ribbons. Especially striking were the window curtains that playfully reinterpreted a kimono, chemise, and Japanese noren-style trousers. The dreamy surrounds were also heightened by colorful arrangements from florist Domitille Basso of Thryse.
Collectible design showcase Thema makes a stunning Paris return
We don’t like to point fingers, but the cause for much of the buzz swirling around Paris Art Week last month was Thema, the art and design fair founded by Michaël Hadida. Returning to Hôtel de Guise, an 18th-century mansion in the 7th arrondissement, the showcase’s assemblage juxtaposed the home’s old-world interiors with contemporary works like Australian designer Kym Ellery’s polished brass Toi and Moi sofa, Mexican artist Alejandra Laviada’s fantastical sculptures, and locally based Galerie Jag’s ensemble of organically shaped furniture and objects.
Cristina Grajales Gallery honors a late photographic visionary 20 years on
On October 29, Cristina Grajales Gallery unveiled a tribute to the late photographer Fernando Bengoechea. Woven Together: Reflections references the innovative weaving technique that Bengoechea used to fabricate his photography, which, after his tragic passing in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, his brother Marcelo has kept alive. Twenty years on, Bengoechea’s former partner Nate Berkus has curated a holistic oeuvre of the Argentinian photographer’s unsaturated works. The woven photographs, which depict ethereal trees, still canals, and other natural subjects, are displayed alongside select works from the gallery’s design collection, featuring notable artists such as Michele Oka Doner, Hechizoo, and Aaron Poritz. The show is on view through January 30.
Brooklyn Museum spotlights gold through the ages
Gold, both as a metal and a shimmering hue, has mesmerized for centuries. The Brooklyn Museum, in tandem with its 200th anniversary, is exploring this ongoing fascination in Solid Gold, which opens November 16 (on view through July 6). The extensive show traces gold’s origins, beginning with antiquities like a sarcophagus lid from Egypt’s 22nd Dynasty painted in yellow to emulate gilded inlays. More than 500 objects, including Dior gowns, Art Deco Cartier timepieces, and an ornate panel conceived by Jean Dupas in the 1930s (which once brightened the SS Normandie Ocean liner) reveal the impact gold has had on designers. An ancient Greek laurel wreath, photographer Edward Steichen’s 1928 baby grand piano studded with mirrored tesserae, and chunky chains synonymous with hip-hop speak to the material’s enduring cultural significance.
AD PRO Hears…
…that after a memorable Milan presentation in 2023, French design wunderkind Edgar Jayet is unveiling part two of furniture series Unheimlichkeit. The collection, which is titled after the Sigmund Freud tome, The Uncanny, features tapered wood furniture frames—seating, tables, desk, and folding screen included—as well as crisp linen upholstery produced collaboration with Venetian textile designer Chiarastella Cattana.
…that Invisible Collection is celebrating French fashion designer Jacques Doucet and his mesmerizing private collection of art and design. In a new dedicated exhibition, the furniture gallery tapped Garcé & Dimofski to reimagine Doucet’s penchant for the antique and astounding. Catch their wood-tufted pillows or Chanel-sourced crystal balls at the furniture purveyor’s Upper East Side location.
Product
Otea’s maximalist textiles are branches on a family tree
Pittsburgh artist and designer Cara George made a name for herself at Nickey Kehoe, The Future Perfect, and Gensler. Now she’s struck out on her own with Otea, a wallpaper and textile studio that pays homage to her worldly Italian great-aunt, whom she never met but has always felt connected to. Made in Connecticut with eco-friendly inks atop natural linen and cotton, the debut Rendezvous collection boldly translates George’s watercolor paintings into eight floral, stripe, plaid, and paisley designs that call to mind fresco botanicals, the Umbrian landscape, and Mughal Indian art.
Millaux gives bedding the haute couture treatment
As a child, Laura Tanzer often visited Millau, an idyllic town in the South of France, and memories of those magical, restorative days are what propelled her and partner Jessica Simpson to launch the luxury, made-to-order bedding enterprise Millaux. Tanzer, a fashion industry veteran, and Simpson, a former professional tennis player, have spent ample time sleeping on quality hotel linens—and had a few edits. The Switzerland-based pair are now introducing sumptuous bedclothes, as they dub them, with small batches of bedding made of Italian-spun, Egyptian cotton sateen and 100% European flax linen. Tanzer and Simpson envision a ritual of rest that transcends ubiquitous shades of white: The inaugural collections, Pastoral and Royale, sport patterns by London artist Fiona Blakeman. Expect pillowcases adorned with minty jumbo stripes or trimmed in regal pennant edges; daring sheets covered in wild orchids and animal prints; and plush duvet covers that mix classic navy and cardinal red tones.
Vintage fashion extraordinaire Nou ventures into home
Tastemaker Alexia Ioannou, founder of Nou, woos stylists and celebrities with her ultra-rare vintage fashion finds. Now she’s turning her discerning eye toward interiors with Objects of Affection, an assemblage of timeless, characterful items imbued with stories of the past. Ripe for dreamy tablescapes is a 1970s ruffle-edged cranberry glass bowl, delicate Japanese plates emblazoned with florals, and 1950s French candlesticks that take the form of curving metal mermaids. Teardrop-stemmed Champagne glasses from the 1930s are also sure to make a splash at holiday fêtes.
AD PRO Hears…
…British design duo JamesPlumb has unveiled a new lighting collection, Copper Roots, as part of their first major solo exhibition with Gallery Fumi in London. The spindly organic objects—towing the line between fairy forest and blacksmith den dreamscape—will softly illuminate the gallery’s Mayfair space through January 25.
Design Happenings
Designers take over a Colonial manse for the Kingston Design Showhouse
The Kingston Design Showhouse, an annual showcase of upstate New York’s creative talent, recently celebrated its 2024 edition, wherein 11 designers reimagined the interiors of an 1800s Colonial home. Beyond the white facade with chocolate brown shutters and a cherry red door, design pros told their own inspired narratives within the sixth annual show house. There was the cheery morning room designed by Kingston Design Connection founder Maryline Damour of Damour Drake, the chromatic dining room by Poppy Interiors, and the dramatic jewel-toned meditation room by Casolare.
AD PRO Hears…
…the iconic Marcel Breuer building on Madison Avenue has been passed to a new set of tenants. The gray cubist structure, which has hosted The Met, The Whitney, and The Frick Collection, has been acquired by Sotheby’s. The auction house has tapped Herzog & de Meuron to lead its restorative redesign, which is expected to unveil in 2025.
…in the wake of Hurricane Helene, Asheville, North Carolina–based Center for Craft is reactivating the Craft Futures Fund grant program for emergency relief to support affected artists in the community. Apply through November 17 for the chance to receive a $500 grant, or feel free to donate to the fund here.
