Icon Trend: April 2014

A lighter shade of pale - Using White to Make a Statement

Icon-Baby, the Blog /// White LIGHT

A Monochromatic white palette is always in style. But what exactly is white? Is white a color?

Yes, white is a color and is described as the sum of all the

colors of light. No other color has the range of moods

that white does. It can be warm and embracing, crisp

and clean, or change its character according to the time

of day or the time of year.

I'm not a huge fan of 'All-White' interiors. To me they

appear sometimes too simplistic, minimalistic and one-dimensional. Try it, it is really a challenge to find all white rooms that really keep you interested. But, spanning the whole range of design sensibilities, white is one of the most versatile

color and can be used in countless ways.

Icon-Baby, the Blog /// White LIGHT

White is flexible and forgiving

and allows you to up-date a room easy and quick. You can

freshen up a white room just by swapping pillows or rugs.

White acts as a blank canvas

and can easily be modified as your personal style changes.

An all-white decorating scheme lets you move furniture

around. A chair pulled from the bedroom easily works

at the dining table or in the foyer.

TRENDING /// RAFFIA AND STEEL

Icon-Baby, the interior design blog. 70/80th Interiors

1/// Ello Travertine and Polished Steel Credenza

2/// Chevron Front Chest by Ello

3/// Glazed porcelain whippet from Live.Like.You.

4/// Large Cowhide ottoman with metal base from St Barth, Australia.

5/// White Foo Dogs from Live.Like.You.

Ello Furniture, Chicago produced furniture in a very recognizable style that I love for its stylized classic shapes covered in mirror, Travertine stone or stainless steel. I especially love their Chevron patterned surfaces. The company was founded in 1955 in Chicago, IL and manufacture home furnishings in a "Contemporary Style" which was at that time not available from the then leading Furniture Manufacturers in the U.S.A.

Holland & Sherry - Collection

Designer - David Whitcomb, 1970

Valentino’s NYC apartment
THE NYT BOOK OF INTERIOR DESIGN AND DECORATION -1976

Not everything has to be a million dollars. If you have good taste, you can find good things anywhere.

Mica Ertegun and Chessy Rayner, known as MAC II

The elegant interiors of Mica Ertegun and Chessy Rayner, known as MAC II are associated with chic New York apartments of the 1970th. Billy Baldwin, a friend of Chessy's, had a simple but sophisticated style and he was the first to use raffia or straw on furniture. The team started putting it on walls and on tables.

Mica Ertegun and Chessy Rayner, known as MAC II

Chessy Rayner was quoted saying "We like to mix things up... Our rooms don't have a period look, and not everything has to be a million bucks. What the rooms typically do portray is a simpler, cooler way of looking. They're not too frilly or busy... The less you have, the better good things look. " In an 1997 interview Mica Ertegun said "If you have good taste, you can find good things anywhere. The Internet has made it so much easier. You can get things quickly and inexpensively. But I would never buy something special, like a carpet, on the Internet. You have to see it in person." Mica prefers when clients take an interest in the design of their home. Only they can give their home a personality. "Everybody has taste. Sometimes it's good; sometimes it's bad. If it's bad, I try to change it a little bit." These two started their business in 1967, working out of Mica Ertegun's house. Today Mica carries on the work, having lost her beautiful and talented business partner Chessy Rayner to cancer over 10 years ago.

Ertegun with her husband, Ahmet in 1975

MICA ERTEGUN's social circle has encompassed the Kissingers, Oscar de la Renta, and the likes of Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones whose careers were set ablaze by her late husband, the music mogul Ahmet Ertegun. But interior design is where this style-setter has left her most definitive mark. Her style: Laid-back elegance combined with ethnic touches.

Mica was born in Romania, but in the 1940s she became a refugee and ended up on a chicken farm in Canada. Even poor, she tried to make her home attractive. "If you have taste, you can always put something together." she said. Mica moved to New York after marrying her husband in the 1960s. She enrolled in decorating school and met her good friend Chessy Rayner, who had worked for Vogue and they started MAC II together.

Following are photos from a project of the late Chessy Rayner. She did up Mrs. Nan Kempner's wardrobe.

Nan Kempner Closet. Design Chessy Rayner, 70s

The curtained closet is opened with italian stringing, a chaise covered with an Indienne print, a Nogucchi lamp combined with a Russian chest and a French Aubusson carpet.

Nan Kempner Closet. Design Chessy Rayner, 70s

A chinoiserie desc is draped in jewelry.

TRENDING - Raffia, Lucite and polished steel ////////// A Classic Combination!

Icon-Baby, the interior design Blog /// 70th Interiors

01// Large Venini Chandelier, Italy 1970's at Craig van den Brulle.

02// Wallpaper from a selection at Philip Jeffri e s available in Australia via The Textile Company.

03// Reef Lamp at Domayne, Australia BEST DEAL $179 .

04// Delilah gold leafed sconce from The StyleProject, Australia.

05//

DIY – Make your own Pop-Art artwork with ‘Paint by Numbers’ DIY Art Kit Here .

06//

Briana Siphia kaleidoscope print. Made from damaged butterfly wings that create patterns of kaleidoscopic beauty available at Natural Curiosities.

07//

The centerpiece: Lucite bed with chrome and brass details by Karl Springer, 1970.

08//

Klismos Chair in mirror polished stainless steel by John Lyle Design, via Studio LW, Australia.

09//

Natural Rattan Blanket Box available at st-barts, Australia.

10// Round side table in polished stainless steel, Australia. BEST DEAL $998 Contact me for details and availability.

Trending /// Straw covered walls & steel - Designers: Mica Ertegun and Chessy Rayner - 1970

Lift Lobby 1977 - World Trade Centre

The legendary living room of Syrie Maugham

TRENDING /// GLOBAL CONTEMPORARY

Icon-baby, the interior design blog /// Trending: INDOCHINE

1// Venetian gilded mirror – Nicholas & Alistair, Australia.

2// Console with bronze base and marble top, Hall Istanbul – via Studio LW, Australia (to the trade). Please contact me for more information.

3// Maison Accent Chair - Domayne, Australia.

4// Solstice Silk wall covering - PhillipJeffries

5// Lucretius console from Inox New York - via Studio LW, Australia (to the trade). Please contact me for more information.

6// Chinese Art Deco rug – Stylists own.

7// Faceted glass vase – West Elm, Australia.

8// Tiger print cow hide rug – ZohiInteriors, Australia.

Sem Cephas - Javanese Woman

Pioneer photography from the Dutch Indies. Portrait of a Javanese woman, circa 1900 by Sem Cephas (1870 - 1918). National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Sem (1970-1918) was the court photographer for the Sultan of Yogyakarta. I'm fascinated by these photos and will investigate more into the history. Keep updated.

Fierce and Beautiful

Australian Vintage Treasure Find

Icon-Baby's Vintage Treasure Find - Parchment covered side tables in the manner of Karl Springer

Icon-Trend Interior Design - Sydney Residential Project (Photo & Styling: Sabine Warlich)

Side table, 1970 by Karl Springer

Karl Springer is one of my most favorite Design Icons

Karl Springer was born in Germany but eventually moved to New York City to work as a bookbinder after his education in France. His early multi-nationalism and work with natural materials helped to shape his later work in furniture design.

Springer began working for Lord and Taylor in the late 1950s, and later moved to Bergdorf Goodman, where he continued covering books and collectables with leather and other exotic materials. In 1965 he was able to open his own design studio, and continued to run Karl Springer Ltd. by himself for many years.

The height of Springer’s design fame came during the 1970-80s when Springer was running multiple workshops and traveling extensively between them. This travel and exposure to new materials helped to fuel the creative freedoms he took with his designs.

Springer’s work has Art Deco, Asian, freeform, and African influences, all of which are incorporated into his modern designs. The quality of the craftsmanship is apparent in the lines but also in the materials: Springer chose exotic woods and leathers to work in, and he did not hesitate to use new materials like Lucite or ancient materials such as bone or brass.

Springer is often credited with the return in popularity of shagreen, an Asian sharkskin material that was popular in the 1920s, which was also a bookbinding material.

Get The Look /// Global - Ethnic and Contemporary

Icon-Baby, the Blog. Get the LOOK Get The Look /// Global - Ethnic - Contemporary

01// Amazing ‘Angel’ wall lamp designed by Francis Dravigny for Hive. Available at KEZU, Australia

02// Coquillage: Antique French commode. This could be a great DIY project.

03// ‘Wewe’ cushion featuring an African inspired banana print at AMARA, Australia

04// Light pendant at Gia Collectione, Australia

05// ‘Fungi’ mirror from Arteriors, available at Boyd Blue, Australia

06// ‘Corsage’ floor lamp from Arteriors, available at Boyd Blue, Australia

07// ‘Bliss’ chair in burlap from West Elm, Australia

08// Furniture artisan Christian Astuguevieille commode. see more here

09// Cloud like bench, ‘Lava’, designed by Karim Rashid for Vondom is a evocative focal point in any space. LOVE! available at – KEZU, Australia

10// Embroidered babouches from 'Muzungu Sisters'. here

'Angel' Wall lamp - Hive Designer: Francis Dravigny at KEZU

Coquillage chest and mirrored wall

Hand cut cowhides

From a selection at 'Hard to Find' , Australia

Java Batik cushions

Light pendant at Gia Collectione

From a selection at 'Hard to Find' , Australia

Java Batik cushions

Hand cut cowhides

Francois Catroux - Interior Decorator /// THEN and NOW

Lauren Santo Domingo's Paris apartment by Francois Catroux - Vogue

This Paris Duplex designed by the great decorator Francois Catroux, the go to interiors man for everyone from the Rothschilds to the Von Furstenbergs. All photographs in vogue by norman jean roy

Francois Catroux /// Interior Decorator - Paris 1970s

Book scan: Architectural Digest - International Interiors, 1979 / Interior Decorator Francois Catroux

Francois Catroux arrived on the Paris scene in the middle of the 1960's, when he settled after years of constant traveling. One day a friend droped in with an Italien lady. As she left she asked him if he would like to decorate her place. The lady was Mila Schoen, and the project was an enormous susses. Thus launched internationally and Mr Catroux soon had projects all over the world.

Book scan: Architectural Digest - International Interiors, 1979 / Interior Decorator Francois Catroux

"I would never go out to buy two night tables for the bedroom. Never! It is space that interests me, masses that seem to melt together, the use of screens, different levels,different qualities of transparency. These are the effects I like. And I really detest furniture."

Book scan: Architectural Digest - International Interiors, 1979 / Interior Decorator Francois Catroux

"Coming to me is a little like going to Cartier..."

His concern for quality shows also in his own apartment. Even at the beginning, because of precarious finances, he used inexpensive modern materials, but the basics were done in the best way possible. As a consequense the decor for his apartment can be arranged as convenient as a stage set. "Al, the screens are mounted magnetically and can be lifted right off."

Yves Saint Laurent and Betty Catroux

Betty Catroux is instantly recognizable: lean, platinum-haired, the ultimate androgyne, she has a leggy tomboy style that was a visual philter to Yves Saint Laurent, whom she met in a nightclub, and to whom she was more than a muse. As her husband, François Catroux, said: “She was for Yves like a drawing. She was a pencil stroke that was his pencil stroke. She is what he would have dreamed of being himself, I guess.”

Francois and Betty Catroux

The late, great designer’s symbiotic relationship with Betty dates to 1967, the year she first came to Vogue’s attention as “one of the hippiest, most attractive "Left Bank boutique girls".
The attraction between the two friends was not only aesthetic, but intellectual:

They shared an escapist mentality. “We had a passion for the Rolling Stones; we adored all that was louche. We loved the night, the excesses,” said Catroux, who is rumored to have gone into rehab with Saint Laurent, in the late seventies. They also shared a

French bourgeois mindset, which made their exploratory strolls on the wild side especially dangerous: There was always the Right Bank to return to. As Catroux told later, “We liked the hippie mentality, but since we loved luxury their lifestyle was not for us! It just meant more freedom and rebellion.”

Among Saint Laurent’s rebellious sartorial statements was putting women in trousers. Commonplace, now—but that was hardly the case when, in July 1968, he showed a couture collection inspired by Catroux that was built around the man-tailored pantsuit.

Book scan: Architectural Digest - International Interiors, 1979 / Interior Decorator Francois Catroux

less