Making Their Mark
At Your Service: Austin
Texas Swank
Tufted banquettes, dramatic draperies, a cut-glass chandelier and mohair barstools aren’t exactly common decorative elements in Austin, Texas, eateries, but the city’s hottest grand gesture, known as LaV—crafted by David Baker of McAlpine Tankersley Architecture and Susan Ferrier of McAlpine Booth & Ferrier Interiors—has struck a chord in a town known for its laid-back look. Built from the ground up and inspired by a 1920s warehouse, LaV’s industrial facade and steel window banks are the perfect counterpoint to more refined details like a pewter-topped bar, and oversize landscape paintings by Atlanta artist Michael Dines. lavie.com; mcalpinetankersley.com; mcalpineboothferrier.com
Design District: Los Angeles
Windows To The World
Los Angeles’s La Cienega Design Quarter kicked off its sixth-annual Legends event in May with a three-day celebration of design that included window displays custom-crafted by top designers from around the world—including Athens, Georgia-based Tami Ramsay and design partner Krista Nye Schwartz, both of Cloth & Kind. Paired with Sydney Harbour Paint Company, the design duo drew their inspiration from the novel Goldfinger (this year’s theme was Novel Interiors: Storytelling by Design) and sourced product from area artisans like textile designers Clay McLaurin and Kate Roebuck and artist Sally King Benedict. clothandkind.com
Shell Shock
Chip Cheatham of Chip & Company takes one of his favorite materials beyond the beach with a dramatic collection of elaborately layered shell mirrors and lamps available at Martin Nash. A collaboration with Stephen Wood, the pieces are a study in natural contrasts, like the handcrafted mirror with saddle oyster and purple mussel shells, pictured. “I love the organic play of light that comes through in the shells, which are lacelike in fluidity,” Cheatham says. martinnash.com
Floral Fantasia
A design house best known for its traditional handpainted wallpapers, de gournay takes a slight departure with its newest collection by adding updated flair. Case in point is the oversized Lilium, pictured, which employs an exquisitely rendered floral motif (tumbling flowers) the brand is synonymous with, but in a more contemporary manner—as seen in Campion Platt’s bedroom design for Holiday House Hamptons. De Gournay is available at Ainsworth-Noah. ainsworth-noah.com
Bejeweled
Matthew Studios founder and designer Katherine O’Brien, a New York-based lighting designer who regularly collaborates with Jamie Drake and Nate Berkus, recently launched her own line of crystal, lighting and home accessories she says are “inspired by the natural architecture and geometry of crystal.” The small Thea knob, pictured, is crystal carved to fit a geometric hexagonal polished metal base hardware, and prices range from $130 to $175; the large is $390. Available locally at Matthew Quinn’s MQ Collection and at Ainsworth-Noah. matthew-quinn.com; ainsworth-noah.com
Belgian Beauties
“After collecting chairs I’ve fallen in love with over the years, it made sense to reproduce my favorites in fresh painted finishes,” says Mary Holland, who introduced a collection of chairs in varying shades of cream and frets at Holland & Co. and Macrae. It also gave her the chance to contrast the finishes with upholstered seats in bright Belgian linens, like orange, aubergine and citron green. Pictured: Bleu-painted Belgian side chair in orange linen; fireside Louis XVI chair; and a cream-painted side chair. hollandandcompany.com; macraedesigns.com
Hit the Wall
Creating custom colorways for a designed-in-the-USA wallpaper that comes prepasted and boasts a two-week turnaround might seem too good to be true, but Detroit wallpapers, available through Martin Nash, offers just that. The independent studio’s seven collections (which include the child-friendly line, Sprout) are the ideal solution for consumers looking beyond the mass market for a dash of customization or a boutique feel. Did we mention the wallpaper’s strippable, too? martinnash.com
Snake Charmer
Slithering its way back into favor, the snake-print trend is once again taking over the fashion and interior design worlds. For a striking—and edgy—take on the Parsons table, Michelle Bradley of Bradley wrapped this side table with snake-printed leather and added a brass drawer for an effect that’s as glamorous as it is tactile. bradley-usa.com
Pretty, Please
Paul +, which recently welcomed two new lines, including New York-based lighting and home accessory company Matthew Studios and Barcelona-based Kettal’s outdoor collection, to its spacious Atlanta Decorative Arts Center showroom, also boasts fresh offerings from Mattaliano, such as the cast-glass Conique chandelier, Rockefeller chair with goldleaf frame and Frank walnut-and-vellum four-door cabinet—as well as the Keith Fritz Victory dining table. paulplusatlanta.com