For 44 years, the Kips Bay Decorator Show House in New York has been recruiting some of the world's eminent designers to transform Manhattan townhouses into eclectic show-homes, the proceeds of which benefit the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club charity.
Yesterday, a converted parking garage just off Fifth Avenue opened its doors, revealing a five-story, $49.5 million limestone mega-house, featuring an art-deco kitchen, a handful of bespoke parlour rooms, two outdoor terraces and a roof deck with views that skim over Barneys and the Pierre Hotel, settling upon the treetops of Central Park.
This year, London-based interior architecture firm David Collins Studio created 'The Collins Room' entrance hall, taking their cue from the Berkeley's Blue Bar, which they designed in 2000. Now an infamous celebrity trap, the Blue Bar is known for its signature azure furniture and 'Lutyens blue' walls.
This unique shade (christened after Sir Edward Lutyens, creator of the original panelling that clads the hotel's walls to this day) was the starting point for the Kips Bay interior, explains creative director Simon Rawlings. 'It was something I wanted to do to mark the importance of the Blue Bar project, to signal its timelessness and to create something iconic.'
Akin to their collaborative house-style, David Collins Studio teamed up with with a host of renowned design talents to realise their Show House contribution. A hidden 'English garden' installation of wild bramble and wisteria comes courtesy of Emily Thompson, and nine curious acrylic artworks have been created by long-time Studio collaborator Alexander Innes. Uniting the various shades of blue is a seriously classy hand-screened 'Chiyogami' wallpaper in lapis, claret and gold, part of the upcoming 'David Collins Studio for Baker' range.
The piece that truly shines a light on Lutyens' work is the inclusion of cream and scarlet-shaded pendant lamps by Sir Edwin's granddaughter, Candia, that dangle from the ceiling on lengthy cord pulleys. Rawlings concludes, 'This has been a very unique opportunity to realise a vision which is so important to me, and to the Studio, and to pay tribute to the project which started my career.'
London-based interior architecture firm David Collins Studio created 'The Collins Room' entrance hall, taking their cue from the Berkeley's Blue Bar, which they designed in 2000
The 'Lutyens blue' wall colour, named after Sir Edward Lutyens, creator of the original panelling that clads the hotel's walls to this day, was the starting point for the Kips Bay interior
David Collins Studio teamed up with with a host of renowned design talent to achieve their Show House contribution – a hidden 'English garden' installation of wild bramble and wisteria comes courtesy
Nine acrylic artworks have been created by long-time Studio collaborator Alexander Innes
Uniting the various shades of blue is the seriously classy hand-screened 'Chiyogami' wallpaper in lapis, claret and gold, part of the upcoming 'David Collins Studio for Baker' range
The piece that truly shines a light on Lutyens' work is the inclusion of cream and scarlet-shaded pendant lamps by Sir Edwin's granddaughter, Candia, that dangle from the ceiling on lengthy cord pulleys
Information
The Kips Bay Decorator Show House is open until 9 June at the Carlton House Townhouse. Admission benefits the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club. For more information, visit the Kips Bay Decorator Show House website
Photography courtesy David Collins Studio
ADDRESS
The Carlton House Townhouse
19 East 61st Street
New York, NY 10065
-
A new exhibition retraces 50 years of Pierre Paulin’s history around the table‘Les Tables de Pierre Paulin’ shows a lesser-known side of the designer’s creative world, accompanied by a new book tracing his wife’s hospitality around his iconic table designs. ‘A creator is never alone in his creation…’
-
Tour this Estonian tiny home with big ambitionsÖÖD Golden House, a new Estonian cabin concept, promises to offer a compact design for small and perfectly formed escapes
-
Towards New Worlds in Middlesbrough redefines how we experience art'Towards New Worlds', currently on view at the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, considers how art can bring us together
-
Brooklyn furniture studio Stillmade unveils its first collaborative design seriesStillmade brings to life the designs of four New Yorkers – Pat Kim, Danny Kaplan, Michele Quan and Mignogna Studio
-
Blue Green Works's lighting champions a new aesthetic in American designManhattan-based design studio Blue Green Works fuses sensuality and masculinity to create mellow, mood-enhancing lighting with visual impact
-
Blue Green Works introduces alluring new lighting collectionInspired by iconography, American design studio Blue Green Works introduces five new lighting ranges
-
First look inside Centurion New York by Yabu PushelbergCenturion New York is an expansive new space for American Express’ ‘black card’ members. Its interior designers Yabu Pushelberg give us a tour
-
Exclusive peek at artfully curated home in Jean Nouvel’s 53 West 53RR Interiors' latest furnishing project – 61A at 53 West 53 – highlights art, architecture and city views inside Jean Nouvel's monumental New York skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan
-
Industrial elements are imbued with elegance in Holly Hunt’s new Los Angeles showroomHolly Hunt and architects Johnston Marklee have created a warm and tactile space in a 1940s building
-
Sculptural ceramic lamps from Brooklyn’s In Common With and Danny Kaplan‘Terra’, a new collection of ceramic lamps featuring tactile glazes, puts Brooklyn studio In Common With and ceramicist Danny Kaplan in the spotlight
-
Sight Unseen launches furniture line with BestcaseEditorial platform Sight Unseen worked with sheet metal specialist Bestcase to launch a collection of 1970s-inspired furniture in collaboration with Home Studios, Studio Anansi and Thévoz-Choquet
