Kathryn Ireland.

As you know I got to see Kathryn Ireland speak a couple of weeks ago at the Houston Design Center. She was SO great. Down to earth. Humble. Funny. Here are some things I learned from Kathryn...

• She is absolutely in love with her farm in France, so much so she wrote a book about it. She rents it out if you're interested.
• She curses. It's perfectly natural in her talk & doesn't sound as harsh with her accent. We all curse though, you know. But in the uppity, trying to be society world of interior design we pretend to act proper. Kathryn doesn't & it's so great. Completely shocking to the Houston crowd, I loved that. I wonder what Kathryn really thought.
• "Teach clients not to be grim and teach them how to live in their house." This concept is often lost on designers, especially in such a turbulent economy. We go along with clients even if we disagree for fear of losing them as a client. But actually we're there to guide them and show them how not to be grim.
• When starting a project she always starts with a basic color scheme.
• Her 1st client was Steve Martin. Yes THAT Steve Martin. She was quite sure the only direction she could go was down after starting with such a high.
• "We've come to a time when excess is finally over."  This was her most important concept. Now that we can finally breath and relax a little, we should be relieved that we no longer need so much stuff. We need to fill our houses and lives with beautiful useful things. Not just a bunch of stuff to impress others. We need to LIVE in our homes. Design them for ourselves, not for our guests. Learn to live in this endless recession.

Ms. Apfel.

“I don’t do minimal,” Apfel says of her design approach.

My love of Ms. Iris Apfel is no secret. I think she's incredible in her ability to express & maintain her person style. As well as the fact that she co-founded Old World Weavers with her husband. They make the MOST beautiful historically relevant fabrics. Stark purchased Old World Weavers in 1992 & also carries many other incredible fabrics & paints & carpets/rugs. FINALLY Architect Digest is featuring Ms. Apfel's incredible Manhattan apartment.

Her interior style mirrors her personal style. Bold, over the top, bohemian & completely her. Personally, it's a little bit much for me. But that's why I love it so much. After seeing home after home in my daily career it's refreshing to see a home completely out of the ordinary from what I see in Houston. I also LOVE when a person understands their style so completely that it envelopes every part of their lives. That's a hard concept & one that I think takes a lifetime to hone.

"Taste you can learn, but style is like charisma. You know it when you see it.” - Iris Apfel

Reading about other creative types journey are the most inspiring articles. I devour them. This quote is directly from Architectural Digest because I just couldn't get the point across as well as they already have. "A stint working for a well-connected woman who tarted up apartments to make them marketable during the World War II housing doldrums followed. “She couldn’t decorate her way out of a shoebox,” says Apfel, but she had a talent for scavenging from junkyards and flea markets the kinds of furniture and fabrics that were hard to come by in wartime. The thrill of the hunt was contagious, and the conviction that Apfel could outdo her employer was inspiring. “I realized I had found my calling,” she declares. “Interior design was for me.”"

“I guess people thought if I could decorate myself I could decorate a room or two.” -Iris Apfel

Iris Apfel became a household name in 2005 when the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute featured an exhibit displaying many of her unique accessories and fashions. Rara Avis (Latin for rare bird) highlights her exuberant style and ability to combine both high & low fashions (Dior with items from a flea market) into the same stunning outfit. The exhibition has traveled the country and changed the way people view person style. A book of the exhibition has been done, it's so beautiful I have been dieing to get my hands on it. I've seen peaks into her home before, but it's incredble to see her home as it relates to her personal style. Ms. Apfel is currently a visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Human Ecology, designing her own line of costume jewelry and photographer Bruce Weber is working on a documentary about her.

“People write to me: ‘You’ve changed my life!’, I’m giving them permission to be individual again.” -Iris Apfel

This is exactly how I want to grow into my career, with new exciting opportunities all the way into my 80's. Who needs to sit around being retired when you LOVE what you do. You can find the Architectural Digest article here, also each image above links to the article.

xx,

Jamie

Fortuny.

I have a serious affinity for beautiful fabrics. It's pretty hardcore, but I've kept it under-control for the past few years. I used to stockpile ROLLS & ROLLS of fabrics. I'm dear friends with my drapery workroom & have access to the leftovers (in fact we're designing pillows...ssshhh I'll discuss with details soon!). Sometimes when the drapery, bedding, flooring (you name it basically) vendors quote yardages & quantities for the designers to order, they over estimate. Because let's face it, no one is happy when you get a call 2 days before an install that you need to order 5 more yards of fabric. Clients don't appreciate that. ANYWAY, that means leftovers & if the clients don't want it the workrooms keep it, until a crazy lady like me comes by & hoards it. HOARDS IT. But I'm better now, it's all been given away, no more hoarding, my house is too small for that;)

OFF TOPIC, but now I'm back! Fortuny! Motherf*cking FORTUNY! Possible the KING of all fabrics. It just doesn't get any better. I WISH I could show you Fortuny in real life, it's hard to understand the quality & beauty without seeing some fabrics in person. Let's face it, few of us can REALLY afford Fortuny. It's EXPENSIVE. But if you can afford it, it's worth it. It's art.

Mariano Fortuny founded the fabric house in the early 20th century, after already finding success as a painted, an etcher, a sculptor, a photographer, an architect  and inventor. I feel completely lazy now. Mariano being the renaissance man he was also invented the dimmer switch, whos idea came from theatrical design & lighting. After meeting and marrying his muse, Henriette Negrin, they moved to Venice & Marianno tried his hand in fashion design, designing fashions for the next 40 years. Shortly after moving to Venice Mariano built the same factory that makes Fortuny fabrics today.

The fabric is still made using the same processes that Mariano invented. The Fortuny process is highly guarded, so the details are illusive. The fabrics are painted/ printed using many steps to create depth that appears to be aged. The fabrics age unlike any fabrics you will ever experience, they get BETTER with time. Upon first impression the fabrics are gorgeous, but stiff. It's because of the paint! It gets better with age. Fabric just doesn't get any better. (I've seen knock offs & they are just sad. Some things just can't be recreated. Please. Show some respect.)

1st Dibs is showing a collection of his fashions. Simply stunning. See for yourself...

Click on the images for direct links to the shop, you can purchase ALL of these beauties. Contact the dealer for pricing, you know what THAT means;)

XX

Jamie