A Letter from the President
In This Issue: Letter from the President
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In the IFDA Spotlight — Bonnie Mackay
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Coming Events
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Remembering Valerie Moran
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Remembering Anne Bertsch
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NY Wins Three EF Awards
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Seen at the Summer Social
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Members Making News
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Welcome New Members
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A Word from Our Sponsors
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Contributors: Rose Gilbert, FIFDA—Editor Anna Israel—Editor Kara Marmion Su Hilty, FIFDA
Cary Kravet, president Kravet, Inc., with IFDA leadership: Founder Claire Coleman; past president Susan Hirsh, president Kara Marmion.
Fall Greetings – Autumn is always a busy time for the design community as people across all facets of the design world come back from summer travels and buckle down to achieve the goals they set out for the year. For IFDA New York, we set out this year to engage with more of our members. We’ve had more members get involved in committees and seen more faces at monthly events. It’s a momentum that we hope to continue through the end of the year. If you’ve been thinking about membership, come join us at one of the events this fall and take advantage of the reduced membership fees that begin October 1st by connecting with the IFDA NY office. All the best for a full season, Kara Marmion 1
In the IFDA Spotlight… BONNIE MACKAY After spending nearly three decades developing some of the world’s most recognized brands – The Museum of Modern Art and Bloomingdale’s -- a brand-new idea hit IFDA member Bonnie Mackay two years ago: “I wanted to give back. I saw a chance to reinvent myself…to work with smaller companies, as well as large,” Bonnie explains. “All my life, I’d been working for brands...But now I’m able to diversity my skills and my interests. It was a new birth for me when I became involved with more charitable businesses.” For example, New York’s High Line, the unique elevated park that snakes for more than a mile along Manhattan’s West Side and attracts some five million visitors a year. In her new role at BMackay Consulting (pronounce it “Mackai”), Bonnie is helping the Friends of the High Line develop the park’s retail website and products. Also a champion of Universal Design, her brand roster includes the Able Made website and cool, colorful walking canes for OMHU. She has also designed product and identified new business categories for such companies as Alessi, UNIQLO, MUJI, and Design House Stockholm. Then there’s her new involvement with education – Bonnie sits on the board of Laboratory Institute of Merchandising. At Drexel University, she was named the Rankin Scholar in Residence for Universal Design, an endowed program, and she has been a mentor and speaker at MIT’s Open Style Lab.
Coming Events Global Trend Report Maison & Objet Tuesday, October 7, 8:30—10:00 am Cliff Young Showroom, NYDC 200 Lexington Avenue With color & trend expert Patti Carpenter Breakfast will be served
IFDA NY EF WALK Tour of Harlem Saturday, October 11, 10:00am—2:00pm Meet at Adam Clayton Powell Blvd & 137th Street Walking architectural tour of Harlem with John Sanguiliano
Cocktails, Conversations & Connections Monday, November 3, 5:30-7:30pm Location TBD Networking! Bring your business cards! MINING THE SOURCE FOR PRODUCT: Bonnie and Bruce Pfeifer, who was Frank Lloyd Wright’s apprentice, scope out building details to use on scarves for MoMA.
Not that she’s forsaken museums. Bonnie continued to advise MoMA’s retail merchandising and design efforts after she resigned her post. During her 14 years as director of creative marketing / merchandising, MoMA dramatically 2
Rising Stars of Design Thursday, November 13 Charles Pavarini, III, Emcee
IFDA Holiday Party Wednesday, December 10 IFDA/NKBA
expanded its retail operations, adding exclusive products created around the world. Now, Bonnie confides, she has designs on new projects for IFDA, “a fantastic organization, a great network of people in all aspects of design and furnishings. “I’d like to see the awards program enlarged. We have the opportunity to become the Academy Awards of the home fashions business!” Red-carpet thinking comes easily to Bonnie: she’s married to the famed documentary film maker Bob Eisenhardt, three-time Emmy winner and Academy Award nominee. She herself has eight documentary credits. They live in Brooklyn, but her outlook is world-wide. People call her “Bonnie Mc-Eyes,” she told a recent interviewer, “because I seem to be able to see what’s coming.”
Remembering Valerie Moran IFDA mourns the loss of past New York Chapter President Valerie Moran, who died June 26 after long struggle against cancer, during which she never lost her innate sparkle or her interest in the industry she served for more than three decades. The furnishings and design industry lost a great talent, generous spirit, and dazzling smile. Recalls Leslie Young, President of Cliff Young, Ltd: “We met the week after the whole country was shaken to the core by 9/11…She invited me into her office (Valerie was then CEO North America and Director of Groupe Grange, the France-based global luxury home furnishings company), and told me, ‘Leslie, it’s going to be okay! New Yorkers are resilient.’” As Valerie herself was resilient. A graduate of the State University of New York at Geneseo, she’d started her career as an interior designer. In l985, she began a longtime affiliation with Grange, later serving for a short period as chairman of B&B Italia, America. Always a visionary in the design industry, Valerie also became professional consultant in product development, space design, and business, marketing and merchandising for several brands, and presented popular seminars, here and abroad. IFDA was a special interest. She led the New York Chapter, chaired the Past Presidents Council, and helped keep IFDA afloat during a tumultuous period that threatened its very structure. IFDA New York honored her with its “Circle of Excellence” award in 1998. Other industry honors include the SPEC and ROSCOE awards, and a place in Metropolitan Home’s Design 100. Valerie was also Advisory Board chair for Furnish-A-Future and Partnership for the Homeless, as well as a member of Fashion Group International, the French-American Chamber of Commerce, Industry Foundation ASID, WithIt, and NKBA. Survived by her husband Kenneth Meyers and her large extended family, Valerie will also be remembered by future generations in the design industry: IFDA New York is establishing an Educational Foundation grant in her memory, and Leslie Young has created the Tribute Mentorship Program to honor Valerie.
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Remembering Anne Bertsch Anne Bertsch died earlier this year, in Lima, Peru, after a long battle with cancer. She and her husband, Manuel Tirado, retired to Lima some years ago, where she established a marketing consultancy business specializing in the home field.
NY Wins Three IFDA EF Awards Three 2014 IFDA Educational Foundation (EF) awards have gone to New York winners, Susan Hirsh, New York VP Education/EF announced this fall. The New York School of Interior Design (NYSID) won the Educational Foundation’s Ina Mae Kaplan Grant for Historic Preservation. According to NYSID President David Sprouls, NYSID will present a series of public programs on interior landmarks, reaching a wide audience through an exhibit at its East 69th St. gallery (Mar. 6 – Apr. 24), a related website, and other programs.
RENOWED FOR COLOR, TEXTILES: Anne Curley Bertsch Tirado led NY Chapter
Rosemarie Hittmeyer, IFDA NY’s administrator and part-time student at FIT, has won her second Educational Foundation award, this time, the PartTime Student Scholarship. Also a freelance designer and marketing consultant, Rose is as creative director of Urban Samaritan, a non-profit that employs homeless and handicapped sewers to make saleable tote bags from donated advertising banners.
Anne was a graduate of the Tobe Coburn School and began her career success in the home field when she joined Bloomingdale's training program in 1963. She rose to become the Home Fashions Director for the store, developing home fashion products with sources around the world. She was known for her color acumen and particular knowledge of home textiles. She served Macy's in a similar post and held executive positions with prestigious textile and fabric companies in New York before moving with her husband to Peru.
Mergan Czaja, a Master of Industrial Design candidate at Pratt Institute won the Ruth Clark Furniture Design Scholarship. She is Pratt Representative at Kilding Design Camp, Barret Endowed Scholarship Recipient and a finalist in 2013 Umbra/Pratt Design Challenge.
A gathering to celebrate Anne's life was hosted in the spring by long-time friend and former IFDA NY President Debby Brown.
See IFDAEF.org for details on other Educational Foundation scholarships and grants.
Seen at the Summer Social: What they did this summer: Corwin Thompson of 41 Madison, left, and Penny Sikalis catch up.
Designers Julie Schuster, left, and Deborah Martin discuss color with Amy Figueroa of Benjamin Moore
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IFDA NY past president Claudia Giselle Tejeda right, and Jennifer Powell of Kravet
Members Making News SHINING STARS IN NY SPACES -- The September issue names three IFDA members to its Top 50 Designers for 2014 list of New York architects, designers, and decorators, who “bring color, form, comfort and delight to the environment we inhabit:” Jamie Drake, Amanda Nisbet, and Anthony Baratta. Also tagged : Sara Story, who was an IFDA Rising Star in 2009.
galvanized trash cans, a gold cape and impressive pair of white-feathered wings. But there it was, front, center and acting the part of a bizarre throne for Benjamin Spierman’s production of Rigoletto for the Long Island North Shore Music Festival in August. Spierman, who also is the artistic director and conductor for the Garden State Philharmonic, had been looking for props that pulled together the “decadent Gold Coast STARRING ROLE FOR TAS CHAIR: look” he wanted the ‘Duke’ David Guzman on His IFDA Throne (Photo: John Bruno) Roaring Twenties setting of his Rigoletto, reports Maureen (who also conjured costumes from home décor left-overs).
FENG SHUI HOLDS SWAY ON DIFFA PICNIC DAY – So what if the largest rainstorm of the summer hit on Picnic Day, August 13. When the black clouds PICTURE-PERFECT AT DIFFA: parted, Julie Schuster’s Interior Design Shot Julie Schuster’s ‘Zen Garden’ picnic Picnic tableau shone brightly enough to catch the eye of the Interior Design editor, who photo’ed it for the magazine’s report.
Held at the Midtown Loft & Terrace – under clearing skies -- the third annual DIFFA Picnic by Design drew 300 guests – no ants --and raised $35,000. EDITING A (Remarkable) LIFE – Never mind that he’s MAKING HER MARK AT MACY’S -- IFDA VP Anna Israel spent most of his impressive career in home design, has joined Macy's Merchandising Group as Assistant former Chapter President Merv Kaufman, FIFDA, took Designer for Hudson Park bedding, a line exclusive to on the job of editing a memoir by New York artist / Bloomingdale's. “It's an exciting time to be involved musician / poet / composer / decorator / chef Jimmy with Bloomingdale's bedding as we have just launched Jannuzzi, who is terminally ill with cancer. our newest private label brand, 1872,” Anna reports.
Due out this fall, A Life in the Moment of…Jimmy Jannuzzi is a family-funded, limited edition that includes “amusing stories about his life, career, and family relations,” according to Merv, who managed to edit the text without altering the artist’s tone or intent. The book also includes artwork by the author and a recording of him singing a few of his own songs.
WATT’S UP? – Ask Elissa Grayer, the guiding light of Elissa Grayer Interior Design in Rye, NY. Westchester Home magazine did, and shares Elissa’s bright ideas about lighting in its Fall issue.
SHE’S A CRAFTY ONE -- Out to spotlight Brooklyn’s world-renowned community of artists, Jeanne Byington is promoting the second annual American Fine Craft ALSO MAKING INK – It’s the house that Deborah Show Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Museum, November 22- Martin Designs (almost) built from the ground-up, featured on six colorful pages of House magazine’s July/ 23. See brooklyncraftshow.com. August issue. Deborah was called in at the get-go and SUPPORTING ROLE (Literally) FOR TAS CHAIR – When worked with the empty-nester homeowners to fineClaudia Giselle Tejeda designed it and Maureen Klein tune and completely decorate their “North Shore New bought it, neither IFDA member foresaw a stage career Traditional.” for the chair conjured for Take A Seat 2013 from 5
Members Making News WHAT’S NEW & NEXT – Two new additions to the prizewinning KAVANTE Collection made their debuts in The Bright Group’s showroom during the day-long festivities at the New York Design Center Sept. 18. KAVANTE designer Kim Price, IFDA VP Education, created the eight-drawered Canyon Credenza from cinder grey birdseye maple on an DEBUTING AT WHAT’S NEW/ oxidized bronze base. The NEXT: Kim Price, Blvd Cocktail Blvd Cocktail Table, Table for Kavante handcrafted in America, is available in custom sizes, lacquers, and woods.
School of Interior Design, among them, IFDA student liaison Catarine Wright. As inspiration for his curtain fabric, Charles used a second Paul Thomas painting to pick up his theme, “Healing through Color and Light.” Healing also takes money – $20,000 to host a family for two years -- the goal Charles has set for his endeavor. Says Paul: “Please donate what you can. All donations are 100 percent tax deductible.” WHAT’S IN STORE? -The International press is now hip to the US shopping scene, thanks to IFDA VP Su Hilty, FIFDA. For the second year, Su led a tour of specialty retail stores for visiting foreign journalists, in town for TIPS ON THE NY RETAIL SCENE: Su last month’s NY NOW. Hilty Takes Foreign Press Info- From Germany and Shopping France, the five journalists and their guests were introduced to Whisk, Fishs Eddy, BEAM, Cucina & Tavola, and Abode.
1 + 1 = 2 BRILLIANT PROJECTS -- When Charles Pavarini III borrowed a Paul Thomas painting for his room in the Ronald McDonald House in New Hyde Park, it was, as the song says, the start of something big. A Paul Thomas Fabric Collection, perhaps? Safe haven in the House for the family of a sick child? Both are in the works at the House, opening to the public this month, October 10-19. New IFDA member Anthony Baratta is honorary co-chair, and participating designers include alumni and students from the NY
Welcome, New Members! Anthony Baratta, Anthony Baratta, LLC, began his design career 30+ years ago after taking a degree in art history from Fordham University and founding Diamond Baratta Design with William Diamond (now retired). Featured on more than 40 covers, Anthony’s work has been seen in such magazines as Architectural Digest, World of Interiors, House Beautiful, House & Garden and Veranda. His own homes have appeared in the New
York Times Magazine on three separate occasions. He is also a sought-after lecturer at museums, design centers and antique shows around the US. In 2003 the Cooper-Hewitt Museum celebrated the firm's work in its National Design Triennial: Inside Design Now. Last year, William and Anthony were named among Traditional Homes "20 Design Icons," and won Benjamin Moore's coveted "Hue Award" for lifetime achievement in design. Diamond Baratta has also created multiple collections for both Lee Jofa Fabrics and Stark Carpet, and produced two books, "Diamond Baratta Design" (Bullfinch Press) and "All American" (Pointed Leaf Press). 6
Welcome New Members Carly Bassen, is an interior decorator and event planner at The Fabric Mill, Plainview, NY, the largest fabric wholesaler in the New York Metropolitan region and a contributing editor for HOUSE magazine, Long Island’s premiere architecture, design, and fashion magazine. Jonathan S. Bressler, Jonathan Bressler Studios, has been painting faux finishes, murals and trompe l’oeil on the walls, ceilings, and floors of some of the most prestigious real estate in the US since l983. His work has been featured in three Kips Bay Decorator Show Houses (1998, 1999, 2001), and the French Designers Showhouse (2001). Jonathan has also taught faux finishing at the New York School of Interior Design, and privately in his studio. Vanessa Deleon, Vanessa Deleon Assocs., was born in New Jersey but says her Cuban roots influence her art deco style. Branching out from her family furniture business, she created Vanessa DeLeon Associates as an interior design student at Berkeley College. A recent graduate of FIT and a graduate of the Feng Shui Institute of America, Vanessa is also a writer, award-winning Designer for the Italian Trade Commission, and television personality, seen on such shows as the Food Network’s Restaurant Impossible, HGTV, the DIY network, BRAVO, and, most recently, NBC’s “American Dream Builders.”
Young Huh, Young Huh Interiors, NYC, has been published in House Beautiful and Westchester Cottages & Garden, and won Connecticut Cottages & Gardens 2011 Innovation in Design Award for Interior Design. In 2013, the firm’s room in the Ronald MacDonald House of Long Island Project Design was featured on LXTV Open House. She is also taking part in the RMH Project Design Phase II, debuting in October. Young was selected as a new designer by the 2014 Kips Bay Decorator Show House, and her "Hollyhock Lounge" was featured online in Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, Flower, House Beautiful, Interior Design and Lonny magazines, plus numerous blogs, including Martha Stewart's. Shannon Maher, Assistant Professor, Home Products Development, FIT, won a degree in Fashion Merchandising from Marymount University and logged 20 years’ experience in product development, sourcing, and merchandising of home textiles. As SVP of Hanover Direct, Inc., a multi-brand catalogue and e-commerce retailer, she established the product development department and formed global partnerships within the industry. Specializing in private label development, she helped make The Company Store a leader in home fashions. Earlier, Shannon held senior positions with CHF Industries, Dan River Inc., and French Country Living. She is also acting advisor to the FIT Home Products Club. Not Pictured: Hanna Odun, New York Valerie Rennert, Styles Design, Miami, FL; Sherrell Watson, Big Ass Fans, Lexington, KY; Residential Public Relations Manager.
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HUNTER DOUGLAS CELEBRATES WINDOW COVERING SAFETY MONTH: This October, the window covering industry, with the support of the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission), will celebrate Window Covering Safety Month to raise awareness of the potential dangers posed to young children by window treatments with cords. “Raising awareness is an ongoing issue as new families and households are created every year,” says Joe Jankoski, Hunter Douglas VP of Merchandising. “We ask that you join us and have a meaningful conversation about cord safety with any client that is interested in purchasing window coverings.” hunterdouglas.com .
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RESOURCE FURNITURE ANNOUNCES FRIENDS & FAMILY FLOOR SAMPLE SALE: To maximize space with Resource Furniture, take advantage of this special opportunity for friends and family in greater New York City. The Italian-designed line of wall bed systems, shelving and cabinetry is perfect for guest rooms, studios, kids’ rooms – anywhere that needs more than one function. Popular multi-functional systems are available, like the Swing (pictured). Call Resource Furniture at 212-753-2039 or visit http:// TABLE TOP HAPPENINGS resourcefurniture.com/friends-and-family-floor-sample/. AT FORTY ONE MADISON: Orrefors KRAVET COLORS Kosta Boda is returning FOR PANTONE: after a 10-year absence to Kravet has Forty One Madison, and introduced eight its new showroom on the pattern books in th 9 floor will be open for partnership with The New York Tabletop Pantone, the Market, October 21-24. global color Also happening: 40 Years of Tabletop at 41, a celebration authority and honoring the original tenants who helped make the building provider of the No. 1 address for tableware. To be cited are: Noritake, professional color Nikko Ceramics, Oneida, Mr. Christmas, Reed & Barton, standards for the design industries. Designers will benefit Rosenthal, Royal Doulton, Villeroy & Boch and Wedgwood. from the uniformity and ease of use when fabric is placed in 41madison.com a specific range of Pabtone Colors, and Kravet will benefit from the expertise Pantone brings to bear through color NYNOW PARTICIPANTS intelligence and trend forecasting. Kravet.com ENJOY STRONG CHELSEA FRAMES / SUMMER MARKET: The GALERIE PROTÉGÉ presents summer 2014 edition of Life Under the Black Sun by NY NOW®, the Market Bryan McGovern Wilson, for Home + Lifestyle, Oct. 9 – Nov. 8. The opening presented a record reception is Thursday, Oct. number of new and 9. Gallery hours: Mondayreturning, as well as an expanded array of resources for Saturday 10 am-6pm. attendees. The winter 2015 edition will run Jan. 31– Feb. 4 at Galerieprotege.com or NYC’s Javits Center and Pier 94. NY NOW’s four chelseaframes.com comprehensive collections — HOME, LIFESTYLE,
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