High Point Market Highlights April 2014

After five straight days of hoofing it through market, I hopped a bus to Lexington, Kentucky with the High Point Garden Club and the Bienenstock Furniture Library. We visited beautiful historic houses not to mention Keeneland. More about that later... meanwhile let me send you a round-up on High Point highlights from the April 2014 market. Below we have the ever gracious and talented Mariette Himes Gomez of Hickory Chair showing her classic, clean and completely elegant line of furniture.  We just cannot help leading with one of our favorite furniture companies in the world!!

Mariette's luxurious Syrie Maugham sofa recalls the elegance of the '30's and 40's with a silk satin fabric articulating the luxurious glamor of the era.

You need to wear this on the sofa! 

Mariette's Porter Divan dons a creamy leather with impressive trapunto detailing on the back illustrating the virtuoso workmanship executed by the artisans of Hickory Chair.

Alexa Hampton uses her showroom as a design laboratory. Absolutely no designer at market shows such range in style, but the extra push creates great anticipation from High Point devotees. It trains our eye to visualize the elasticity of her line in a seemingly unlimited parade of genres.

We were all in awe of the fact that Alexa created all of the collages and paintings in her showrooms. This year her inspiration came from a book that she read as a young girl in her father's library: La Réussité de la Decoration Française, vols. I & II.  Channeling the unmistakeably chic Gallic aesthetic, these rooms speak of old world luxury layered and collected from past generations through the present.

Suzanne Kasler revived these fabulous DeGournay panels from years ago. Known for her serene and feminine spaces, Suzanne adds exquisite dressmaker tapes, nail heads creating rooms that are livable, finished and fresh.

French inspired twin beds kick into the millennium with a slightly elongated headboard. A bold Phillip Jeffries painted graphic wall covering, hung on a single surface, energizes the space without dominating the scene. Bright tribal patterns with a casual striped area rug balance elegance with a low-key interesting collected sophisticated vibe. Suzanne's interiors are like meeting a famous person and discovering that they are highly companionable!

We love Chelsea House as their line ticks all our requirements for our online store and residential clientele. Great Prices--check...Great Workmanship--check....Great style--check.....Multi-tasking transitional pieces--check. Lisa Kahn is the guiding light of design in this atelier and we hit it for several days at market. If you don't go, its like going to New York and eating fast food--you'd be missing the boat!

There's a small new crop of 19th century reproduction casino chairs popping up in various showrooms. C.R. Laine's version has the best leather, scale and price of the few I'm grooving on lately. I start to think that I am crazy, but Shay Geyer did Style Spot it, so another set of eyes share my quirks. May I add that it is wonderfully comfortable as a dining, desk or occasional chair.

All of design and media land came out for the Mary McDonald launch at Chaddock. It was fabulous, and I hadn't been in Chaddock since they showed their fare up on Hamilton. Things have changed... I can only identify Newell Turner of Hearst and Mary McDonald in this image, but it was slammed with "The Talent." We loved seeing our old friend Jay Reardon, previously of Hickory Chair and current chairman of the executive committee at Chaddock also sitting on their board. Margaret Russel and her stable of editors was there as well as the Traditional Home girls. 

I was excited to meet David Easton and view his collection. He's a charmer that one, but in my humble opinion his work is in The Great Tradition, confirmed by the fact that he knelt down and kissed my hand. I was blushing.....

More Later!! 

Come by and

Visit our Online Store!!

We are starting to load new market finds!!

Scroll Down to see our videos from last market!

Hearst Design Group Inside Design Event At ADAC

The Inside Design Event at ADAC was a compelling case for Dovecote Decor to embark upon a spring road-trip. With two days of design luminaries and publishing pundits discussing our favorite topics, we headed down to Atlanta anticipating the prospect of hearing and meeting Hearst Design Group's editorial director Newell Turner, among others. In addition, daughter number 3 was down in Atlanta assisting House Beautiful's food editor, Alex Hitz, test recipes for his second cook book. We could not resist the prospect of poking our heads into his kitchen, to watch a culinary maestro  direct his gastronomic alchemy and hopefully sample some of the results.

 Alex Hitz, author of the best selling cookbook, My Beverly Hills Kitchen: Classic Southern Cooking with a French Twist, with his new assistant. 

Believe me when I say that sampling his recipes from the day before prompted an instantaneous proposal of marriage, and yes it was a humble potato salad that sent me over the edge. A man fluent in mirepoix short circuits my synapses. His curried chicken salad and cold asparagus soup leave me wondering where these recipes have been all my life. We were in the illustrious Soiree Catering space owned by the legendary chef, restaurateur and caterer, Mary Boyle Hataway. Mary mentored Alex as a lad--starting him as a dishwasher during his school holidays. Decades later, they collaborate with the same cooking brain in two separate bodies. D3 (daughter #3) says they are seamless. 

I haven't mentioned Mary Boyle Hataway was a Vogue model in the 1960's, a business woman and is a very kind, soft spoken person, who so dazzles me I lose myself in the moment--without being in a tortuous yoga pose. Right, and it is only 10:00 a.m..... Christine, my wing-woman, and I motor off to ADAC high on life. 

This is the first time Hearst Magazine's trifecta shelter trio: Elle Decor, House Beautiful and Veranda have hosted an Inside Design series. To say the least, there was nothing half hearted or scattered in this inaugural design fest. The first keynote presentation was Amy Preiser, digital web editor for Elle Decor hosting Susan Ferrier and Capella Kincheloe to discuss how the web has been a game changer for the interior design industry.

Our take away from this discussion was to become familiar with the wide array of social media options, then to pick a few that you are comfortable with and use them. Susan and Capella use pinterest in very different ways to connect with clients successfully illustrating the fluidity of applications. There is no right way but the path that works for you. Social media is a tool, but we are not its tool if you get my drift.  Amy is a person who is comfortable in her own skin and clearly loves her work. Four days before her wedding she was an animated and funny moderator who is fast on her feet, go figure. Most women in this position are dotting calamine lotion on their hives. Happy wedding day!!

Newell Turner gave a stunning presentation exploring the visual ways we make sense of our lives. Drilling down to the impulse to both build and chronicle we were treated to a compendium from stylish birds nests to the unbelievable actual cocoons by Hubert Duprat.  Humans are not the only species with a predilection for  decoration. Duprat noticed the cocoons for the larvae of the caddisfly were eclectically chosen from their environment. His question was: "What if we change that environment?"

Placing the flies in an aquarium at the delicate moment, filling it with gold flakes, turquoise, small pearls and opals, those little pests went to work like any self respecting prospective parent preparing a nursery.    Duprat is Kafkaesque--absolutely, combining the surreal with the ethereal. 

The male Bower bird builds a nest and decorates it with colorful objects to attract a mate--yup. This bachelor pad is guaranteed to attract the Kate Middleton of Bower babes. Kidding aside, actual humans have a powerful desire to create an environment around ourselves that expresses our sense of beauty and reflects our lives in the thousands of ways we've found to forge that idiom. As technology evolves, we create endless vehicles to chronicle that journey. Newell Turner built on this theme with an informative history of the scrapbook, diarists and journals culminating in the work of Peter Beard.

I am also fond of the Baron de Cabrol illustrated diaries, that I found in Thierry Coudert's Cafe Society:  Socialites, Patrons, and Artists 1920 to 1960. The real fun is in the creation of the ever evolving stage for the times of our lives. We have magazines, bloggers, instagram, pinterest, tumblir to show us every creation from the coolest dorm room to the ultimate burger (Alex?)

We have a tsunami of information overwhelming us. We can drop in and filter that avalanche through the shelter magazines. They are the front line of taste. Even if you detest a house or garden, there is a reason to see it. The magazines are scrapbooks of people's homes, dogs, and dinner parties inspiring us to create glorious memories for family and friends. It was great to meet all the wonderful editors and publishers from the Hearst shelter team.

Thank You Hearst for Elle Decor, House Beautiful, and Veranda and all the work that went into the new Inside Design Series! 

Don't forget to visit our online store

with over 1,500 personally selected and curated 

lighting, furniture and accessory items you are sure to find

that perfect new addition to your home!

www.dovecotedecor.com

or call us at

336-705-1316