Unlike the Westweek event a few weeks ago, which completely neglected any greenspeak, Veranda celebrated the dynamic eco duo from the Q Collection, awarding them with one of their four coveted awards for the Art of Design. 

Each winner and all the panelists championed the green cause, one even defined luxury as a clean glass of water.  Again and again they reminded us that respect for the planet’s resources and healthy built environments go hand in hand with luxury, something our firm has been touting for over a decade.  The slides of their projects were breath taking and entertaining, especially the image of Kid Rock’s bedroom which looked nothing like I thought it would.  It was originally designed as a love nest for him and Pamela Anderson and apparently they were quite taken by a trip to St. Lucia.  Windsor Smith intelligently spoke about redesigning the way we use space, sharing plans on her new Mandeville Canyon equestrian compound. I wanna be Windsor when I grow up!

Dedar and Kneedler Fauchere held the reception.  As always the fabrics, flowers and food were scrumptious.  My favorites were the chocolate dipped macaroons.  Because an HGTV camera was following me around filming a day in my life, I received extra attention and a special, little interview from Carolyn Englefield, Veranda’s Editor At Large.  Fun fun fun.

Anytime I have the opportunity to listen to a person who is this successful, I take it.  Mr. Montoya is in his 70s and is going strong after decades due to his common sense approach and passion for interior design and architecture.

 One of the things I love so much about being an interior designer, is that if you’re good,  you get better with age- like a fine wine.  It was reassuring to hear someone I hold in such high esteem, espouse the same principle that I hold dear- a green approach to design.  No he didn’t use the words “sustainable” or “eco-friendly” or “green” but he practices these things none the less. In most of his designs he uses furniture, art and accessories from the 20s, 30s and 40s, some of my favorites being  Jean Michele Frank and Jacques Rhulmann. 

(This one is actually one of my projects, but it’s a Rhulmann table and chairs in the Frederick Lowe Estate.)

 He rarely uses carpets  and instead creates design in a hard (more easily cleaned and longer lasting) surfaces.  He is well known for his liberal use of exquiste veneer on columns, walls, ceilings- but always prefers to restore what is there vs. ripping it out and installing new.  And the greenest of all is his attitude, his very best advice being to smile a lot.

Christian Liaigre at Holly Hunt

Richard Frinier at Century

Corbin Bronze at Sutherland

Janus Et Cie

Chinoserie at Robert Allen

Janus  Et Cie

Richard Schultz at Summit

In a town where we are literally running out of water, it was great to see Synlawnand Astro Chic make a green statement.  I’ve noticed about five of these synthetic lawns on my nightly strolls, along with a lot of gravel and succulents. I’d like to say it’s concern for the environment, but it looks like the water bills finally converted a few folks to the sustainable side.

Synlawn at Fall Market

Astro Chic Pillows, Ottoman and Lawn

The first floor gave us a sneak peak of what was to come on the second floor open house.  I especially loved these three sculptures made of everything green including cleaners of the kitchen sink.

Cleaning Up at Fall Market

Worm Hole by Lynn Aldrich

A More Combustible Smoke by Greg MacLaughlin

Broken Sofa by Jeremy Everett

DJs were spinning and one piece was more interesting than the next throughout the second floor galleries.

Green Wall at Pucci

Love this Chandelier

How much is that Horsey in the window?-Twentieth

So sad……. mine is even better.

Art by a USC Graduate?

By this time the world’s most stylish builder, Mr. So Cal Contractor, and Junior Designer Elle started getting a little sleepy……

but woke up for a bit more fun in the best installation of the night. Little Miss Elle obviously shares her Designer Mommy’s love for graffiti art!

Bravo to the PDC for another Fall Market success. Take that recession!

As I was sipping my delicious libation, I headed through the Green Building lobby and saw fashion and furniture collide in the Barbie/Student Designer exhibit.  Cisco, one of my favorite sustainable vendors, provided this adorable campaign inspired seat. Barbie can fold it up into a suitcase and hit the road in her hybrid.

My daughter Elle and niece,  now 2 1/2 and three months old, made their first appearances at Westweek this year. Elle was much more impressed by the bagpipes at Edelman Leather than the Barbie exhibit.  I always imagined she’d be a singer, so this was encouraging. Her smoking hot daddy carried her around in the Baby Bjorn. You can  imagine all the attention he got!

Stylemaker Thomas Lavin embraced green design with open arms. He’s included an entire line of sustainable fabrics, Creation Bauman and featured Chista’s gorgeous tables at Westweek this year.

And as always, Thomas had the hippest flowers arrangements. They reminded me of something I’d see in the Jetson’s living room.  Brook Casey really loved them because they actually looked like his work.

The show stopper was at Moura Starr, a wholly sustainable showroom which just relocated to the PDC after 14 years on Melrose.  I can only imagine how they got this table into the showroom, it’s enormous.  The table is made from a fallen tree which was nearly impossible to win at auction and fabricate.  You only have to look at it to know it was well worth the effort. I had admired Moura Starr’s furniture for years without knowing about their committment to sustainability.  Westweek was a hit and I now have another green showroom in my arsenal!