Make a Social Statement
The room created for Holiday House 2011 by friend and talented designer Charles Farruggio warmed my heart at first glance, and not just because of its dark and swarthy masculine good looks (his or the room's!). His moment worth celebrating was “The Marriage Proposal,” and the room made a most elegant case for marriage equality.
Charles’ division of the room into three zones was both smart and poetic. Smart, since the ample room could easily serve multiple functions, with an architectural set-up which supported it, and poetic, since he compared the zones to the evolution of a love affair… “the anticipation or the getting to know each other, (then) the proposal…” and what he coyly calls “the post celebration,” no doubt played out fireside, beneath a custom oil painting
The room also proves you can maintain a decidedly masculine vibe without losing a sense of romance… a smoky-gold chandelier and gold-touched place settings are butched up by the room’s midnight-meets-menswear palette and strong shapes in the furnishings (like the pieces from Donghia, including White-Webb’s “Clearly Classic” collection and an exquisite console from 145 Antiques, beefed up with simplified obelisks, also courtesy 145 Antiques.
Also taking a bit of a philosophical stand was GRADE Architecture and Interior Design’s “Independence Day.” A small, flannel-clad and tailored room with highly personal art choices remained free of technological entrapment… no TV, phone or iPad. Cerused oak kept things calm, a Julian Opie canvas (not pictured) turned up the volume.
More about personal freedom, freedom of choice, self-expression and the pursuit of happiness than true red-white-and-blue, the tiny room made a big statement about what defines a modern sense of independence.
Later: Bradley Thiergarten Inc., Jolie Korek, and Inson Dubois Wood.
Holiday House 2011, to benefit the Greater NYC Chapter of Susan G. Komen For the Cure, is open to the public November 16th through December 11th, 2011 at 2 East 63rd Street, in New York City. Buy tickets here.
Get Social! Holiday House is on Facebook.
All photos: Patrick J. Hamilton
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