Don’t Miss Ken Fulk’s Top Ten Entertaining TipsWhether you are having your neighbors over for a game of cards or celebrating a 50th anniversary with 100 of your closest friends, there are some guidelines that will make every party a success. Ken Fulk is a “designer and creator of experiences” and is renowned for his unforgettable parties and gorgeously layered interior spaces. We asked Ken for his top 10 rules for throwing the best party in town. Ken Fulk’s Top Ten Entertaining Tips A great guest list makes a great party; seating people with different stories next to each other leads to great conversations. Make one drink well and stick to it. And make sure there’s always enough to last the night. Dim the lights. A remote dimmer is a host’s best friend. Make a playlist ahead of time—and have your controller handy to adjust volume throughout the party. You can never have enough candles —tapers, votives, pillars. There’s nothing more decidedly romantic than candlelight. Delicious food is paramount. It doesn’t have to be fancy or home-cooked, just delicious. Don’t sweat the small stuff—the best hosts are able to relax and enjoy their party. Dress up! If you’re inviting people out for a special evening, the least you can do is dress the part. The most glorious flower arrangements feel as though you’ve gathered the blooms from the garden, so I prefer to think big but not too fussy. A clever parting gift or custom favor is the perfect way to send guests home with a smile—it […]View
Top Fall Picks from Swift Studios and Keita TurnerAnna Livermore and Erin Swift, Swift Studios: Livermore and Swift have 20 years experience in fashion and design, Swift at magazines such as Elle Decor and Architectural Digest, and Livermore as the founder of V.Mora. The team formed Swift Studios, a design-centric, full-service photography and event space, in 2021. swiftstudiosnyc.com Keita Turner, of Keita Turner Designs, is a New York-based designer whose work has been featured in such publications as House Beautiful, Architectural Digest, and The New York Times. She creates interior spaces for both residential and commercial clients across the country. Through her brand, Livvy & Neva, Turner creates and curates collections of vintage and contemporary pillows. keitaturnerdesign.comView
Surprising Side Tables + More Picks for Fall“Each color lives by its mysterious life.” —Wassily KandinskyView
Prep Your Home For Entertaining With Ken Fulk and More“Happiness is finding two olives in your martini when you’re hungry.” —Johnny Carson “After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.” —Oscar Wilde Now that you’re reading to entertain, don’t miss Ken Fulk’s top entertaining tips.View
When Jewelry Meets Tile + More Recent Fab CollabsWritten by Kaitlin Clark DRUMMONDS X SUSIE ATKINSON As many good things do, Drummonds—the renowned manufacturer of classic bathroom products—began out of necessity. Unable to source authentic architectural antiques while restoring his period home, Drummond Shaw decided to just do it himself, and Drummonds Architectural Antiques was born, quickly becoming the best antiques dealer in the UK. Fast forward 30-plus years, and the passion for classic, clean—not to mention divinely show-stopping—bathroom pieces remain, but this time, with a cheeky twist, courtesy of their newly launched collaboration with fellow Brit, Susie Atkinson. With Atkinson’s interior design sensibility, the new Whitewater Bath is a modern interpretation of the regal cast-iron slipper bath. Sinuously silhouetted, with elegantly tapered feet and a contoured, snow white interior, the large bath reads endlessly graceful and playful, with four bespoke finish options, from the sweetly painted mint or blush enamel to raw metal. ARTISTIC TILE X LAUREN HARPER JEWELRY If there is a more harmonious collaboration than the union of an impossibly stylish jewelry designer and a glamorously creative tile house, we haven’t heard of it. Agate and Asscher is the gorgeous new collection from the beautiful minds of Artistic Tile and jewelry designer, Lauren Harper. Debuting both jewelry and tile, Harper found inspiration from stone agate to create earrings in natural, amorphous shapes, which spurred Artistic Tile to design a range composed of Symphony glass, with a watercolor sensibility in cool blues and icy purples. Harper describes the tile collection best: “It is like creating jewelry […]View
AubreyMaxwell Spotlights B&B Italia in an Award-winning BuildingWritten by Nicole Haddad Photography by Tim Coy In one of San Francisco’s tallest mixed-use buildings, 181 Fremont, the intersection of art and design is on full display. From its array of engineering awards—the most of any U.S. building so far—to its remarkable fine art collection procured by art advisor Holly Baxter, to its out-of-this-world interiors with jaw-dropping views, 181 Fremont is an amalgamation of beauty in various forms. AubreyMaxwell, an interior design and art advisory firm co-founded by Robbie McMillan and Marcus Keller, was the perfect choice to design a model apartment that lives up to the building’s soaring ideals. AubreyMaxwell’s two-fold concept first involved outfitting the three-bedroom apartment in only one iconic brand or “design house” that would mirror the luxury and engineering standards of the building. The second part, notably pitched at the end of 2019, was to line the walls with artwork by women of color. When the pandemic hit and logistical problems ensued, the latter part of the concept changed to include all artists of color, regardless of gender—an idea that became especially poignant with the succeeding events of 2020. “We’re always looking for pieces that have a reverence in the space and a meaningful dynamic all their own, but also leave room for the experience of art,” McMillan explains. To create a charismatic, elevated look, each piece of B&B Italia furniture and the complementary artworks were meticulously chosen for their aesthetic and functionality, and in the case of the art, for the underlying discourse […]View
Where Jim Dove Finds Kitchen InspirationBy Jim Dove in conversation with Kaitlin Clark Photography courtesy of Jim Dove FIRST THING’S FIRST… So much of what we do involves architecture at the entry level, so the first step is to begin a conversation with the architect, if possible. We discuss in deep detail how the client will use the space. What is their daily routine? Do they wake up and go right for the coffee? Do they leisurely check their emails at the kitchen island while their family has breakfast and starts their day? We ask these questions and so much more. A PROUD CRYBABY What inspires me is emotion. I am a very emotional person—I’m a father, and have always been extremely emotional when it comes to my kids. SURPRISE! “Wowing” people is my inspiration. My specialty is bespoke kitchens, baths and bars, so I would say that my overall style is “experiential.” I want the occupants of these spaces to feel something in addition to simply using them for their intended functions. TWO WRONGS ALWAYS MAKE A RIGHT One of my favorite projects was a dramatic kitchen for a surgeon and aspiring rock musician. He’s an extraordinary cook, and the space had to answer to all of his passions, without looking schizophrenic. UNEXPECTED IS THE NEW EXPECTED I’m a trained architect and I always sketch by hand, at first. The return of the visually beautiful kitchen, rather than the disappearing kitchen, is a trend that currently excites me. HOLD ON TO 16 AS LONG […]View
Eve Robinson Reaches New HeightsWritten by Kaitlin Clark Photography by Peter Margonelli When the opportunity arose for an Upper East Side family of four to combine their apartment with a unit upstairs, drama certainly ensued. “We loved the idea of making the stairs a focal point: a sweeping, generous, dramatic space,” explains interior designer Eve Robinson, turning a regular engineering task into a show-stopping staircase designed to connect the family’s original apartment with the upstairs space. “By using these gentle, kind of sinuous forms to create a lot of drama and excitement,” she says, “it still feels very delicate.” “I love the idea of coming down these stairs. It just makes you feel so special.” —Eve Robinson At the project’s onset, Robinson asked the couple what colors they were drawn to, and a nearly exclusively blue-toned sensibility was decided upon. “Our goal was to create a very serene space, and their color palette definitely lent to that,” says Robinson. “This staircase is right off of the foyer when you walk in, so we loved the idea of creating a height and a gentle curve for the stairs —something we thought was dramatic, but not over the top.” The stairway’s curved wall is awash in stucco veneziano, chosen for its “luminescent quality,” to enliven the staircase with a glowy, hazy ease, while the tapered wooden spindles are grounded with polished nickel at the base. A serene blue-sky stair runner by Elizabeth Deacon features an outlining border in delicate silk in an even lighter shade of […]View
Michelle Boudreau Lights Up a Palm Springs MasterpieceWritten by Paul Hagen Photography by Manolo Langis “It’s got a vast landscape that takes you on a journey.” —Michelle Boudreau Palm Springs Modernism Week is known for celebrating homes that could be sets for Mad Men. However, this Mesa Modern project offered a timely twist: “more of a modernist approach, not necessarily the typical midcentury approach that Palm Springs embraces,” says designer Michelle Boudreau, whom producer Karen Okner brought on board to shape the look. “It is more of a Mediterranean modernist architectural project—a really clean architectural palette.” “It’s got a vast landscape that takes you on a journey,” says Boudreau, who brought that energy inside. “I wanted the interior to be curated with custom details, shapes and textures that were inspired by the mountains directly behind and the unique graphic shadows of the desert plants.” Also on board was Ferguson lighting specialist Stefanie Stroud, who says Mesa Modern showcases “all three categories of what we can provide: appliances, plumbing, and lighting.” She saw it as a chance to use “contemporary pieces that have a nod to midcentury design.” Stroud loves Boudreau’s process. “She gives me an in-depth vision board,” says Stroud. “Then we kind of jump in and say, ‘Okay, we think this would work best’ or ‘this would really pop here.’” With a 24,000-square-foot lot and a 3,200-square-foot home, there was plenty to make pop. “This is a completely open plan,” Boudreau says of the main space. “In this great room, we had to incorporate a kitchen, […]View