“…In my solitude you taunt me with memories that never die…” - from Billie Holiday’s Solitude

Every little child has his own dream castle. Growing up, I also had a fantasy castle of my own ever since seeing a postcard of the Summer Palace perched over the Kunming Lake in China. To remind you, it was not the Sleeping Beauty castle from Disney. Holding on to this sweet dramatic fantasy, I finally had an opportunity to visit the palace while I was in Beijing. Despite the hot and humid late summer, I was determined not to pass this rare opportunity to visit my dream castle.



Along with other hundreds of locals on a hot Sunday, I decided to relive th...Read More

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Sanford Smith’s Modernism Show, which took place this past weekend at the Park Avenue Armory, is an annual bellwether of the modern design market. For much of the past year, this market has been moribund, if not flat lined. I thought the story this week would be about realistic expectations, cautious selections, moderated pricing, and a general attitude of perseverance and stoicism among the dealers. I also thought I would find some interesting vignettes to shoot, as there is always much of visual interest at this show.

 ...Read More

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I want to thank the hundreds and hundreds of people who responded to the important question of whether to couple the sconces over the fireplace or to keep them apart. It’s an issue right up there with Afghanistan withdrawal. You can see from the photo, the final decision is to couple them together over the wood storage compartment. There have been so many decisions along the way, color of the stucco, color of the windows, etc., and only through the generous advice from my international readership have I been able to continue. Karen Fisher, not to worry there will be many more decisions to come.



According to contractor Mitch, next week...Read More

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Someone asked me the other day about my creative influences, and I found myself immediately taken back to my high school English class in Pacific Palisades, California. Every afternoon in Miss O'Brien’s classroom, among the open breezeways and palm-lined courtyards of the modernist masterpiece that was Palisades High, I was encouraged to read critically, write thoughtfully, and to pursue my increasing passion for antiques and design.

Miss O'Brien had noticed my interests, probably because she shared them, and she urged me to think and incorporate them into what I wrote. She taught me to have confidence in my taste. As ...Read More

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A couple of weeks ago, my husband, Jaime, my girls, and I spent the day in Brooklyn and decided to drop in at my friend Serap's furniture gallery Voos. She has curated a wonderfully interesting collection of furniture and lighting all designed by local Brooklyn designers.



While Mia and Saskia played on the sidewalk outside, I got a chance to explore inside. I was really taken with a very large light fixture that reminded me more of a sculpture that a lamp. This bronze piece is the work of Laurie Beckerman and is about seven feet tall. I consider lighting as a form...Read More

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There are a couple of things I am obsessed with at the moment: styrofoam, using colored tape to transform furniture, and installation design.

Designing an installation became a reality for me when Cindy Allen asked us to design an installation for InterfaceFLOR which we helped to install in their Awarehouse outside Atlanta last month. It was an amazingly fun experience and am so grateful for the opportunity.  Look for it in the November issue of Interior Design.



This experience really opened my eyes to the opportunity that installation design offers, and I was delighted to come ac...Read More

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A couple of weeks ago, I was in Factory Antiques...Read More

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“…The great big city’s a wondrous toy, just made for a girl and boy. I’ll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy.” - from Manhattan

At times, I become aware of what’s been going on underneath my own nose for some time. Ninth Avenue in between 23rd Street and 14th Street is the new Eighth Avenue, located parallel and a block east. Mysteriously, characteristics of the old Eighth Avenue have been washed away with global brand coffee shops, t-shirt stores, chain drug stores, and homogenic bank facades. A corporate migration has occurred quietly to the neighborhood, but I have begun to see that these shifting of characteristics in Manhattan neighborhoods aren’t unusual. Nevertheless, people often mumble miserably “there goes the neighborhood...Read More

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The traveling exhibition “Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future” made its long-awaited New York debut Monday night at the Museum of the City of New York (MCNY), and the event had the look and feel of a Broadway opening. Given the visual confluence between Saarinen’s mid-century interior aesthetic and that of a certain top-rated TV series, the show could have been "Mad Men." Some 1500 visitors packed the museum’s galleries at the opening gala, including architects, designers, socialites, and three Saarinens.

Eero Saarinen has been part of the ...Read More

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I drove to Brokeback Manor this past weekend with Laura Bohn, who is never shy with an opinion (to say the least). I had several items I wanted to ask her about but I was afraid if I called them a consultation she would bill me, so instead our conversation went more like this: “Laura, what do you think if I….” I very much value her opinion, but she often forgets that this is not a science and there is usually more than one way to do things. Anyway we had a great time and she gave me great advice, some of which I listened to and some of which I ignored (of course I didn’t tell her that). I needed her decisiveness to convince me to hang the sconces together over the log storage. With us was the lovely Stephanie Odegard who was, as usual, the lovely Stephanie Odegard. She even brought a carpet sample, God bless her! She must have thought I would be further along t...Read More

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“Plaid is perennial,” my friend and aesthete, Josh Van Gelder pointed out recently as were on a regular London field trip to see what is new in the world of design and fashion. Plaid was arrayed in many shop windows, so it was among the many subjects we critically analyzed that day. Josh and I have spoken about plaid before, especially about his collection of vintage shirts made by the Pendleton Mills in Oregon.

We agreed that even though the fabric and patterns are constructed simply, the designs still change with taste, often with great facility. (The design of woven plaids can only be manipulated by changing the color of the threads and their arrangement in the warp and weft.) At the same time, the ancient plaids associated with ...Read More

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We had my daughter's class potluck last week and I always enjoy meeting the parents of our local public school PS234 in TriBeCa. Not only is it just fun chatting with parents I already know, but its always fun meeting new people.



It's such an interesting cast of characters that make up the parents of my daughter's classmates. I have admired the work of Bill Sullivan ever since I saw a show at a local gallery in my neighborhood. I was absolutely in awe of his work and kept the postcard of his work on my desk for awhile becaus...Read More

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