Bloomingdale’s Window

I was honored to design a window at Bloomingdale’s to celebrate the launch of Scalamandré’s new tabletop collection with Lenox.  I chose to celebrate Lenox’s Toile Tale, a pattern that was adapted from Scalamandré’s Pillement Toile. It features a whimsical Chinoiserie landscape. The timing of the window coincided with the Chinese Lunar New Year, and besides, John and I have always admired Chinoiserie. The appeal of Chinoiserie lies in the history of how it came about. It’s a romantic European take on the Orient, which melds different styles of Asian influences – Moorish, Chinese, Japanese and Indian. This mixture creates a rich, fanciful look that has many different facets. English and European Chinoiserie rooms like that at Brighton Pavilion provide me with endless inspiration and ideas.

I started the design with the idea of a strong patterned wall to build the vignette around. Scalamandré’s silk Paradiso covers the upper walls and striped silk Sunset is at the bottom, encased in fretwork molding.  My Pagoda Coffee Table in red lacquer from Bunny Williams Home sits centered, encircled by many special elements my friends loaned for the vignette, including 18^th century Italian palm trees and early 18^th century dragon sculptures from Newel, an antique pagoda cabinet from Gracie, early 19^th century palace vases from Niall Smith, 1940’s mirrored pedestals from Full House Antiques and a gong from Marvin Alexander. On the floor, on top of a sisal from Stark sit velvet poufs sewn by Rebecca Omweg, and jewel-toned Vietnamese silk lanterns cap off the space in a magical way.

Many thanks to the wonderful Celebrity Moving for their installation. And, of course, Steven Stolman, Louis Renzo and Janice Langrall of Scalamandre. And, Harry Medina, Laurent Kurtz and the wonderful staff of Bloomingdale’s.