Color lab

Aric Chen -- Interior Design, 9/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

Not one for starkness, Jamie Drake painted his firm's door lime green. "My concept was a laboratory of design—with notes of Jamie Drake whimsy," says the fearlessly colorful principal of Drake Design Associates. And so, in addition to a soberly finished oak floor and a battalion of steel file cabinets, the 3,500-square-foot Upper East Side space features screens lacquered peacock blue and cachepots splashed with sunny daisies.

A square of lime-green wall paint sets the stage in Drake's own office, a dizzying interplay of form and attribution. Moroccan 19th-century tables inlaid with mother-of-pearl stand alongside a French 19th-century sofa, anchored by a Drake-designed silk-wool floral rug. His desk is a Victorian library table.

In the conference room, Louis XV–style chairs convene underneath an impressive mid-century chandelier of Murano glass. "It's something giddy that makes you smile," he jokes. "Even in the worst design dilemmas."

Clockwise from top right: Jamie Drake on the Upper East Side. Custom metal-mesh screens separating the work space from the conference room, with its Louis XV–style chairs and mid-century Murano glass chandelier. The conference room's Kenneth Noland prints. A French 19th-century sofa, Moroccan tables with mother-of-pearl inlay, and a Drake-designed silk-wool rug in the principal's office. Workstations for eight in the work space. Steel file cabinets beneath the workstations.

Opposite: The foyer's Drake-designed sofa, crackle-lacquered table, and Syrian chair inlaid with mother-of-pearl, accompanied by a Cannon Hudson oil on canvas.

BASKETS (WORKSPACE): HOLD EVERYTHING. CHAIRS (CONFERENCE ROOM): ARTISTIC FRAME; LARSEN (FABRIC). CHANDELIER: THROUGH BERND GOECKLER ANTIQUES. CUSTOM TABLE: CUSTOM MILLWORK INTERIORS. CHAIRS (PRINCIPALS OFFICE), CHAIR, CACHEPOTS (FOYER): OBJETS PLUS. CUSTOM SCREENS (CONFERENCE ROOM, FOYER): K5 DESIGN SOURCE. PICTURE FRAMES: J. POCKER SON. OCCASIONAL TABLES (PRINCIPALS OFFICE): THROUGH DANIEL BARNEY. RUG: JAMIE DRAKE COLLECTION THROUGH LART DU TEMPS. CHAIR (WORK SPACE): HERMAN MILLER. WORKSTATIONS: DOWNTOWN INTERIORS. FILE CABINETS: KNOLL. DESK LAMPS: ARTEMIDE. SOFA (FOYER): HENRY B. URBAN; CLARENCE HOUSE (FABRIC). PILLOWS: MICHAEL DEVINE MAISON. TABLE: JOHN BOONE. LAMP: TREASURES AND TRIFLES; ABAT JOUR (SHADE). MILLWORK: ATG. FLOORING: ALL BORO. GENERAL CONTRACTOR: UBERTO CONSTRUCTION.