Kristen Buckingham joins Elle Decor “A-Listers”

[elle]

http://editoratlarge.com/articles/el...t-nyc-lunch--2

ELLE DÉCOR unveils the 2013 “A-Listers” at NYC lunch

Posted on Friday, June 07, 2013.

On Tuesday afternoon, top industry professionals came together for an intimate lunch and celebration at the Modern restaurant in New York City, to honor the 10 designers and firms most recently named to the ELLE DÉCOR A-List.

The A-List is the magazine’s fourth annual salute to the country’s top talents—designers who continue to excite, inspire and intrigue ELLE DÉCOR readers and editors.



From left: Michael Boodro, Robert Mishaan, Larry Laslo, Jamie Drake and Barbara Friedmann

“This is the first year that we have included some international designers,” said editor-in-chief of ELLE DÉCOR, Michael Boodro. “ELLE DÉCOR has always had an international focus, but this is the first year we have included some of the wonderful international designers we feature.”



From left: honorees Kristen Buckingham, Jessie Carrier and Mara Miller

This year’s A-List honorees included: Kristen Buckingham, Carrier and Company, Champeau & Wilde, Jean-Louis Deniot, Thomas Jayne, Brian J. McCarthy, Larry Laslo, Tom Scheerer, Studio Peregalli and Alan Wazenberg.

“We're very proud of the diversity of this year's list,” said Boodro. “It ranges from well-known designers who probably should have been on the list already—Thomas Jayne, Tom Scheerer, and Alan Wanzenberg, for example—to rising stars such Kristen Buckingham and Jesse Carrier and Mara Miller of Carrier and Company. And the range of styles in which they work is inspiring, from the laid-back California chic of Kristen Buckingham to the high Parisian glamour of Jean-Louis Deniot.”

These designers join the ranks of other A-Listers from previous years including Jamie Drake, Thom Filicia, Bunny Williams, Alex Papachristidis, Vicente Wolf, Kelly Wearstler, Alexa Hampton, Miles Redd and many more.

Here’s a bit more about each of the designers, as seen in the June issue of ELLE DÉCOR:



Buckingham's living room in Los Angeles. Photo Credit: Simon Upton, ELLE DÉCOR

Los Angeles–based Buckingham discovered her passion for design while working on a dream home for her family. Her Wallace Neff–inspired house led to decorating an actual Neff homestead for actress Reese Witherspoon, as well as to an eponymous shop along the La Cienega design corridor, where she showcases antiques and modern art, as well as her line of bespoke furniture. “Everything I gravitate toward is traditional at heart but has an edge to it,” said Buckingham. “I like things fresh and clean—nothing is worse than a home where no one could possibly be comfortable."



Den of a home designed by Carrier and Company in Connecticut. Photo Credit: William Waldron, ELLE DÉCOR

In 2010, ELLE DÉCOR named Carrier and Miller as designers to watch—but over the past three years, the husband-and-wife team has gone from emerging to established. Ever since a boost from Vogue editor Anna Wintour, an early high-profile client, the New York couple has been turning out a stunning string of interiors for clients in places from Connecticut to Florida, each with a distinctly different vibe. “Every project is shaped to fit the user—we don’t have a stamp or a look,” said Carrier. “What we maintain,” added Miller, “is a point of view that’s edited, light, and tailored.” This fall, that vision will extend to product design, with a collection of carpets for Studio Four NYC.



Champeau & Wilde-designed living room in Manhattan. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Champeau & Wilde, ELLE DÉCOR

The Franco-American husband-and-wife team of Laurent Champeau and Kelli Wilde has been creating sophisticated interiors since 2011. Fluent in spaces of all kinds, the Paris-based couple is as adept at designing a New York white-box penthouse as an ornate apartment on the Seine. “Every home you design is a collaboration,” said Champeau, “between your taste, the client’s taste, the location, and how the client lives.” While they don’t have a signature look, the phrase “understated chic” resonates for them, said Wilde. “When you walk into our rooms, you are not afraid to sit down,” she adds. Currently working on a loft, a pied-à-terre, and a house in Paris, they will open a U.S. office this year.



Paris living room designed by Deniot. Photo Credit: Miguel Flores-Viana, ELLE DÉCOR

With a gifted sense of scale and proportion, Deniot creates interiors with classic architectural details that have been cleaned up and sharpened for today. “I’ve always loved his- tory—every period,” said the Parisian designer. “But even when I use academic details, I come out with my own versions of them.” Frequently working in muted colors, Deniot adds drama with show stopping finishes and materials, and no shortage of sculptural and textural elements. His current projects include residences from New York to New Delhi, as well as furniture and lighting collections for Jean de Merry, George Smith, Bronze d’Art Français, Marc de Berny, and Pouenat.



Jayne's sitting room in New Orleans. Photo Credit: William Waldron, ELLE DÉCOR

“I’m deeply interested in history, but employ it in a contemporary way,” said Jayne, a go-to designer for grand interiors with an impressive sense of age. “I think of tradition in an active voice, not a passive voice—because it’s not a tradition if it’s dead.” After his training at the Winterthur Museum and brief stints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Historic Deerfield, Jayne brings a curator’s depth of knowledge about American decorative arts along with a top designer’s eye to each of his commissions. It’s an ideal mix for projects like the President’s House at Yale University, which Jayne is currently designing with selections from the school’s art gallery.



Library in McCarthy's New York apartment. Photo Credit: William Waldron, ELLE DÉCOR

The New York–based designer McCarthy draws inspiration from the culture and elegance of European living, but “distilled through an American thought process,” he said. That translates into eclectic spaces grounded by an understanding of history, but realized with a focus on functionality, comfort, and sumptuous materials. McCarthy, a former partner at Parish Hadley, frequently strikes just the right note in his clients’ homes by creating custom elements with far-flung artisans—from a Japanese textile designer to a Parisian atelier that normally specializes in appliqué and embroidery for haute couture. His first book, aptly titled Luminous Interiors, is due out this fall.



Laslo's Palm Beach living room. Photo Credit: Eric Piasecki, ELLE DÉCOR

“My work is classic, but with a surprising twist,” said designer Laslo. “There’s that edge that tells you it’s 2013, not 1998.” He creates crisp interiors that pull freely from different periods, and the unexpected elements often come from striking contemporary artworks or bold combinations of colors—hardly a surprise given Laslo’s background. He worked as a painter and fashion illustrator before landing his first big interior design commission: overhauling Bergdorf Goodman in the 1980s. Since then, in addition to homes for private clients across the country, he has designed furniture, fabrics, and other products for companies such as Robert Allen and Guy Chaddock & Co.



Guest room in Scheerer's Paris home. Photo Credit: Simon Upton, ELLE DÉCOR

Although this native New Yorker has a degree in architecture, Scheerer prefers the term “decorator.” “We’ve lost confidence in the power of decorating,” he said, “which is the part of design I like best.” He’s calling his upcoming book Tom Scheerer Decorates, an homage to inspiration Billy Baldwin. “I like to think of my rooms as cheerful,” he said. They also tend to be tailored, textured, and tonal rather than heavily embellished, although his “relaxed modernism” can also embrace the occasional antique or saucy textile. New projects include a house in Antigua, a resort in Panama, and a home on Harbour Island in the Bahamas.



Sitting room of a London house designed by Studio Peregalli. Photo Credit: Roger Davies ELLE DÉCOR

The Milan-based duo of Roberto Peregalli and Laura Sartori Rimini specializes in baronial rooms that are steeped in history without being tied to any period. Working with salvaged fragments and highly skilled artisans, they fashion dramatic spaces “that do not live in the past but interpret it,” said Peregalli. “We match the past with something that lives now,” continues Rimini, “but gives the impression of having always been there.” The firm’s American projects include a Manhattan apartment for style arbiter Hamish Bowles— who wrote a foreword for their monograph, The Invention of the Past—and a Gramercy Park townhouse for artists Rachel Feinstein and John Currin.



Wazenberg's living room on Fire Island, New York. Photo Credit: Peter Estersohn, ELLE DÉCOR

“I don’t think I have a signature look,” said Illinois native and Harvard-trained architect Wanzenberg. “It’s more like a sensibility,” he added, describing his work as confident, spontaneous, and edited. It’s also elegant, understated, and serene. Common to his clients, he says, is “a high commitment to art and exceptional furniture.” His work is modern, but far from cold or sterile. Currently on his calendar is the renovation of an apartment in Manhattan’s famed Ansonia building and the conversion of the Toy Center building into condos. He’s also designing a line of fixtures for Remains Lighting and working on his first book.

Photos from lunch courtesy of Angela Pham, BFA for ELLE DÉCOR



thanks to Amlyn for the find

[Amlyn]

Looks like we got some pics from the event here.

http://bfanyc.com/people/kristen-buckingham

[bombaysaffires]

I find it fascinating that the celeb (or one of the celebs) Kristen decorated for was Reese Witherspoon. Reese of course has a connection to Stevie, being the person Stevie wants to play her "in the movie about us" as she said to Mick in her documentary. And Reese was in the studio hanging out with Stevie and Dave Stewart...

Is there never anything Stevie or LB does that doesn't circle back to entangle the other??

[Nico]

Great for Kristen! I was just wondering...they seem to show that picture of the living room with the picture collage wall a lot when showcasing Kristen's accomplishments. I know she has done more. She has the two homes that were in Elle Decor, then the Reese Witherspoon home, and I believe one other room was featured in a magazine or news article a few years back.

What is everyone's opinions of her work?

Do you have a preference: minimalistic verses...um non-minimialistic?

What do you think of that living room with the "picture frame collage" wall?

How about her separate pieces? Anything stand out?

I'm curious because- outside of Elle Decor I really haven't heard much about her as an interior designer.

Has anyone been in her store?

[nicole21290]

Anything stand out? Um, yes. My absolute favourite of her pieces is the darling crescent moon lamp.

For no particular reason...

(and i hate that wall with the pictures frames, lol)

[Nico]

Originally Posted by nicole21290

Anything stand out? Um, yes. My absolute favourite of her pieces is the darling crescent moon lamp.

For no particular reason...

(and i hate that wall with the pictures frames, lol)

Yeah that crescent moon lamp...I'm sorry but it bothers me a tad. Why would it have to be specifically a crescent moon lamp? I'm not saying it wasn't a completely original idea- but it does seem dubious that it would be the precise style of moon someone else wears religiously around her neck. Maybe it was a sweet gesture to her?

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by elle

“I like things fresh and clean—nothing is worse than a home where no one could possibly be comfortable."

But I think some of her rooms do look like places where no one could possibly be comfortable.



Even just visually, this room is exhausting.

And as for the picture frames, that's not the only place where she's done them. She does them in the bedroom too and even in the anteroom you can see through the doors in that photo above, there are picture frames all over the place.

Michele

[Nico]

Originally Posted by michelej1

It's too cluttered for me. My ideal room needs as little as possible so that certain things can make a statement. Like that piano would probably be the center of my room, and maybe 3-5 framed pictures. I don't want to make it look like a museum and, like, feel worried if there was a black-out that I would knock over some precious porcelain item or hurt myself trying to move around in there.

Also, I've always loved the "less is more" approach. I just like the idea of walking into a room and being able to see the light from outside shine on to one or two things, not an assortment of things. I love color but it does not need to look like a Pollack painting of furniture, home accessories, paintings, etc. just everywhere. I like space. I like room. I like to feel like my house is about me and not my things.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by Nico

It's too cluttered for me. My ideal room needs as little as possible so that certain things can make a statement. Like that piano would probably be the center of my room,

That piano is shoe-horned into the room. It looks like it's trying desperately not to be noticed, hunching its shoulders, huddling up: "Don't mind me. I'm just a baby grand. Please go on about your business."

One good thing about this decorating style is if you have a pink elephant that you want to ignore, Kristen could camoflage it for you.

Michele

[TrueFaith77]

She's not beautiful.

She looks like she had work done to me also, though I can't tell what.

And I really like the room.

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by TrueFaith77

She's not beautiful.

She looks like she had work done to me also, though I can't tell what.

And I really like the room.

Cheek implants. Possible dermal fillers in her face as well. I think she is stunning, though.

Regarding her decorating style, I love her usage of vintage/retro objects, patterns, & colors. Sometimes she pulls it all together gorgeously; other times it looks cluttered and/or things clash monumentally.

For instance, I think this is an example of her at her best. Each painting in this collection is beautiful, and the number of them together really makes an impact. The unusual placement of them is really cool.



Her kitchen is beautiful... the floor is so unique, the contrasting cabinet & island colors really pop, the lights are exquisite, and the whole space looks very livable (having the stove so far off to one side is kinda weird, though).





This room is Kristin at her worst, though. So much clutter; so many clashing objects, styles, colors, patterns, etc.

[michelej1]

What was really great about that one picture of the crazy frame room was the shot where she had the flower arrangement on the table. The way those flowers pulled out the color in the sofa was amazing. Even though I think that sofa is super ugly, the way it was staged in back of that flower arrangement was stunning. When you can add tiny adornment like that, you don't need to do too much more.

But I'm crazy for flowers anyway. If I was independently wealthy, a lot of my money would go to flower arrangements.

As for her looks, I think her features are close to what is generally considered classic, symmetrical beauty.

I'm ok with her being called beautiful. I don't think it's as much of an exaggeration as it is in most cases. I don't particularly think she's beautiful, but I can only think of 3 celebrities I've ever thought were beautiful anyway. Lindsey, Gillian Anderson and Kristina Malandro. Other than that . . . meh. And even with Gillian, I'm aware that she's not beautiful, because when I saw her before Scully I didn't think she was. Scully just made me fall in love with her and then, I guess, I thought she was beautiful.

I think that Kristin is much more attractive than either the gal or the dame, but I'm not about to trade either of those 2 in for Kristin any time soon.

Michele