Viyet, the design aficionado’s destination to buy and sell timeless furniture and accessories, asked our Creative Director, who is also an interior designer, to choose an item from their incredibly chic selection of gently loved furnishings and explain why he likes it. He chose these fun and space-saving little chairs. They also asked him a few Q’s about design. See it all here, then go shopping here.
Our Creative Director Michael Tavano is always a very happy guy. But today he seems extra-specially happy because he found out he is getting on loan from the fine people at Lenox these amazing Scalamandre for Lenox chinoiserie toile plates, mugs and bowls in delicious amethyst and lively teal tones. These will be a star attraction in his colorful TEA HOUSE GARDEN PARTY table design for the upcoming Partnership with Children gala dinner. We’re happily sewing away on other elements of the display, and will update you regularly until it all comes together on the big day.
MT Custom provides couture draperies, custom shades and meticulously executed upholstery from a workroom located right in New York City. This means that everything they do can be easily accessed by New York’s designers, architects and other specifiers of high end custom clothwork. “It means if you have a question we’re literally here for you,” notes MT Custom Creative Director Michael Tavano. Tavano, an accomplished interior designer and home fashion stylist founded the workroom more than a decade ago to answer his own most challenging upholstery and window treatment requirements.
Tavano co-owns the business with MT Custom President and Chief Operating Officer Lloyd Marks, and together they serve a who’s who of elite interior design and architectural professionals. Not only does MT Custom craft the items, but they also send white glove teams to measure and install in New York’s five boroughs and throughout the tri-state area. Says Marks, “We’re so proud to be entirely made by hand by the talented artisans and craftspeople here in the great city of New York that we’ve decided to make it official.” The firm joined the nonprofit trade organization Made in NYC and all MT Custom products bear the mark which indicates a firm has created employment and products in the Big Apple.
Made in NYC is a project of the Pratt Center for Community Development. The Pratt Center works for a more just, equitable, and sustainable city for all New Yorkers. As part of Pratt Institute, they leverage professional skills – especially planning, architecture and public policy – to empower communities to plan for and realize their futures.
We’re so thrilled to be a part of Matthew Patrick Smyth‘s rooms in the Hearst Designer Visions 2012 show house, opening soon in Manhattan. Here are some previews from the beautiful December issue of ELLE Decor. Above, Matthew tells ELLE Decor about the Roman shades we made for the beautiful arched windows. All of the shades had the same feeling, but Matthew specified varied fabric and trim, giving the apartment continuity that’s never match-matchy. Perfect. That headboard you see is actually an antique door!
Love this moody image of the sofa, which we upholstered with this sharp, tailored box pleat finished with a button. The crisp treatment of the Schumacher fabric contrasts with its elaborate and large scale print, while the muted colors keep the whole thing soft. What we knew already but this project underscored for us is Matthew’s deft hand at color, scale, contrast, texture. This is what separates the masters of decoration. We love the notion of mixing an edgier art piece with these classic furniture shapes and placing the whole thing against a wall of deep, dark stormy grey – Benjamin Moore‘s “Notre Dame”. The mix is brilliant.
You can see it for yourself. The opening has been delayed by Sandy but keep checking back here for updates. Meanwhile, you can view the two short films that were created in the apartment during the 48 Hour Film Project Invitational. Matthew’s is just one of three incredible apartments that will be on view. The wonderfully talented architect David Rockwell and accomplished designer Antony Todd also did entire apartments:
Photos: ELLE Decor
Outdoor draperies? Yes! Overhead shades for a custom cabana? Yes! Outdoor upholstery, cushions, pillows and bolsters in linen and velvet? Yes! When interior designer and our own Creative Director Michael Tavano came to us for everything he needed to create an outdoor room for ELLE Decor’s 2012 Modern Life Concept House, we answered yes, yes, YES! We love this cabana by DESIGNLUSH with its coating of golden Ferrari auto paint, and it made the perfect place for lounging in Michael’s concept for an urban oasis, which also includes an area for dining. We crafted some overhead shades to add privacy and give a respite from bright sun, and we added sheer white curtains on the sides to add a blowsy touch of casualness to the mod circle screened cabana “wall”. We’ll soon be collaborating with the New York-based modern design brand on drapery and shade treatments for its line of custom cabanas, and adding features such as wind sensors and complete motorization. To connect the townhouse with the cabana, we used a lively Ikat outdoor fabric from Kravet to make curtains. All of the outdoor curtains are weighted at the bottom hem to prevent them blowing up, up, up and away in a summer storm. People who visit the showhouse are surprised to see so much fabric used outdoors, but it can all stay out all summer long, creating outdoor rooms as cozy and private as your indoor spaces.
Michael selected wonderful outdoor fabrics from Perennials for these great cushions to enhance the lounge-ability of Restoration Hardware’s two very deep and generous daybeds. Everyone has gone wild (so to speak) for the terrific tiger-striped velvet, that great black and white woven and a solid azure velvet the color of a perfect summer sky. We handcrafted theses pillows using coordinating outdoor fabrics to create trim. The water actually beads up off of these fabrics and rolls right off. Watch the video to see it in action:
This makes them great for indoor applications, too. Imagine that red wine stain beading up and rolling off of your sofa, dining chairs or draperies. It will if you use one of the hundreds of chic and durable outdoor fabrics on the market today. MT Custom can help you with your fabric selections and specification questions, and collaborate with you to design custom clothwork for both indoors and out.
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