Wrap up your
holidayshopping(with the click of a mouse!)
47pages of retail design tricks worth stealing Liz Cruise:
Explore her Brad Ford-designed earthy retreat
issue two
WINTER2009
Store to Home
Host a winter garden party!Festive ideas for fireside entertaining
73 Lonny issue two Written by Shawn Gauthier Photography by Miguel F lores Vianna Styled by Lauren Goodman
Written by Shawn Gauthier Photography by Miguel F lores Vianna Styled by Lauren Goodman
Textile Designer Lisa Fine brings the Indian culture to her Parisian flat
“I was always in pigtails just so I could wrap my hair in ribbons,” she remembers, a smile lilting in her Southern drawl, still intact despite having been away from the south since college. “And I adored visits to Biloxi to see Jefferson Davis’ home; I liked that better than [going to] the local fair.”
These childhood interests may have seemed incon-sequential at the tender age of six, although they both proved to be a bit of a premonition; ribbons translated into a delving passion for textiles, and the design of Davis’ former residence launched Fine’s obsession for home décor. Initially, her post-collegiate career choice sent her seeking out the world of fashion (she worked at both Mademoiselle and Mirabelle directly after graduating), but she soon switched gears and became a contributing editor to Elle Décor and House Beautiful. Although the interest had been nesting in her since child-hood, it was New York, she claims, that officially hatched her fascination for interiors.
“There is so much to learn about design [in New York] if you’re curious,” she says of the city where she has a studio apartment. “As long as your keep your eyes open, remain exposed and make an effort to be meet the right people.”
Growing up in Hattiesburg, Miss., textile
designer Lisa Fine distinctly remembers
an endearing love for both hair ribbons
and the historic home of Jefferson Davis,
even if at the time she couldn’t quite put
her finger on the reasoning.
76issue two Lonny
Fine often turns interesting pieces into lamps as opposed to buying them as is, but not when shopping in Paris. “The French make the best read-ing lamps,” she says.
Fine and fellow tex-tile designer Carolina Irving use the same Chikan embroidery found on the head-boards for Irving & Fine blouses. “It’s one of the most popular summer embroider-ies,” says Fine.
*Keep your fabrics fresh by never
letting them look too matched.
79 Lonny issue two
80issue two Lonny
Paris is the most perfect contrast
to New York! As much as I love the constant pace of New York,
Paris allows one to really appreciate the little things of day to day life, the outdoor
markets, the local fromagerie, the cafes and bistros...
in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Paris can really take you back in time. That’s what I love most.
81 Lonny issue two
Fine certainly followed her own advice, exposing herself to the art and design of worldly cultures and making ac-quaintances along the way. She quickly developed a distin-guished admiration for exotic textiles, particularly from India, and began designing her own fabrics in accord with Indian design, including tailor-made headboards that ig-
nited a stir within the design community. She also paired with fellow textile designer Carolina Irving to open Irving & Fine, turning the for-eign prints into peasant blouses for retail; upon its launch, the blouses flew feverishly off the shelves.
But perhaps the real showcase of Fine’s inexplicable talent for tex-tile design is the transformation of perfectly articulated fabrics into breathless décor, as is evidenced throughout the guest apartment of her Seventh arrondissement flat in Paris, where she has shared her
Constantly in-spired, Fine created the tables on the sides of the couch with beaded copies of geometric tiles, and the tables directly in front of the sofa with copies of the Iznik tiles (one is a fox, and the other a lion).
5 Tipsone
Similar to how many designers will start with a rug and then build a room, choose a fabric to inspire the space and work from there.
twoPlace special fabrics in unexpected places or ways, such as creating lampshades out of saris.
threeAdd a pop of unexpected color within the patterns, perhaps on a chair or pillow.
fourMix different techniques from all over the world, including
blockprint, ikat, tie-dye, antique woven fabrics, etc.
fiveMix different textures, like old tapestries or rugs.
*Market finds for little money can be as stylish as expensive antiques
for Utilizing Fabr cs in your Home
time (along with Manhattan) for the past six years. Calling the purchase of the initial flat a “fluke,” she saw the place before it went on the market and was instantly moved to buy, investing in the neighbor-ing guest house a few years later.
T he first project Fine tackled in the guest apartment involved rework-ing the interior space structurally; she changed the kitchen into the bathroom, and the living room into the master bedroom. Her thought
was to create the perfect “hotel suite atmosphere” by keeping the kitchen at a minimal space while maintaining the emphasis on the leisure spaces. After the renovation was complete, the apart-ment boasted a stunningly spacious master bed and bath, along with a sitting room and additional guest bedroom. The bones were set in stone, and Fine set out to perfect the décor.
Not surprisingly, fabric proved to be Fine’s main source of inspiration as she moved her way through the guest apartment, envisioning each room with
its own distinct personality. In fact, the master bed-room, guest bedroom and sitting room each hold privy to their own individually thematic textiles, all hand-picked from India and designed by Fine her-self. When it comes to choosing textiles for her own spaces, Fine finds herself drawn to a wide variety of fabrics. “I gravitate toward most any textile as long as I like it,” she says, “anything from embroideries to ikats, block prints to solids – I truly love them all.”
Both bedrooms are wallpapered spectacularly in fabric that is handblock-printed on silk; the guest bedroom was inspired by the flowers in the popular Tree of Life designs, whereas the master one (Fine’s favorite room, in close competition with the bath-room) features a pattern inspired by a Persian tap-estry, block-printed with white curry and gold on silk saris. Above the master bed is one of Fine’s own headboard designs, a white-on-white Chikan em-broidery (created only by the women of Lucknow) that is one of the most feminine and elegant em-broideries available, according to Fine. The room is laden in soft washes of pink, one of her favorite colors; she also loves reds, indigos and curries.
84issue two Lonny
I gravitate toward most any textile as long as I like it,
anything from embroideries to ikats, block prints to solids –
I truly love them all.
85 Lonny issue two
*Never be victim of trends. If mod-ern is in style and you love Victorian, go Victorian. Style is an expression of yourself and not what fashion dic-tates.
A Kutch embroidery enraptures the sitting room, a beautifully sunny space that carries a breath of freshness and warmth through a variety of rich colors and a mixture of contemporary and vintage pieces. An Indian Pakistan embroidery, it is often done with mirrors, and Irving & Fine uses the same textile on their coats and peasant tops. “It’s a pattern I absolutely adore,” says Fine, “so much that I couldn’t help but do my entire living room in it.”
The master bathroom is the only room not inspired by a spe-cific fabric, but it certainly does not take away from the invit-ing nature the apartment as a whole exudes. Outfitted with an old-fashioned tub and sink, Fine finished the floor in white marble edged in black and the walls in pink wainscot. The space has a touch of art deco, and carries the quaint hote-lesque sophistication Fine was striving for.
86issue two Lonny
Fine literally made almost all décor-related items in her apartment herself (all materials were hand-picked from India), with the exception of her West
Elm table, banquette made in Paris, a rug from Kashgar, China, and the two red chairs in her sitting room, which were constructed in Africa from tomato cans. The project took her several years, and she’s always on the lookout for additional acces-sories to add extra life to her space. A big fan of perusing unique finds at In-dian markets and not afraid to apply clever tricks, she collected a series of Indian miniatures which were cop-ies of the authentic antique versions, and then framed all in bone so they appeared to comprise an expensive collection.
89 Lonny issue two
Five Favorite ShopsGeorgia Tapert Living
New York - SoHo
Bungalow 8Mumbai, India
D. Popli & SonsMumbai, India
Indian Textiles at the City Palace Museum
Jaipur, India
Mehmet CetinkayaArasta Bazaar, India
Most re-cently, Fine launched a new fabric line inspired by Persian,
Indian and Turkish designs, which can be found at Sulleli and Hollywood Home in LA. She also loves flowers, and turns to Persian miniatures and Indian Palamp-ores for additional inspiration. Not one to shy from opportunity, she actually used the decoration of her guest home as a method of experimentation for the line, taking into consideration how the fabrics and patterns worked amongst one another. The latter is evidence that Fine is talented not only in creating pat-terns, but in pairing them as well.
90issue two Lonny
*Don’t be afraid to be passionate about what you love. If you love pink, do all pinks and reds. If you love camels, collect camels.
91 Lonny issue two
Designing and decorating the guest home took about three years, but it now successfully reflects what Fine refers to as a “cozy apartment that doesn’t feel like you’re in the city,” a re-invention of Indian aesthetics within a charming Parisian court-yard. Though the home is mostly complete from a décor standpoint, Fine is always seeking further inspiration, most commonly on her trips to India, where the culture, energy and artistic beauty she encounters fuel her imagination for the next textile pattern.
“Traveling in India is a never-ending journey and education in textile,” she says. “The colors of India are a constant surprise; each trip I discover another beautiful color combination or shade.” r
Get the look with Lisa’s textiles...
92issue two Lonny
*Learn to love research. The more you see the more your eye and taste evolves.
