Stolman - 40 years of fabulous: the Kips Bay decorator Show House

40 Years of Fabulous

THE KIPS BAY DECORATOR SHOW HOUSE

STEVEN STOLMAN

Photographs by

40 Years of Fabulous

THE KIPS BAY DECORATOR SHOW HOUSE

Digital Edition 1.0

Text 2015 Steven Stolman

Photographs 2015 as noted throughout

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except brief portions quoted for purpose of review.

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The definitive salon by Bunny Williams.

Photography by Oberto Gili.

Like flower shows, dog shows, garden tours and antique shows in high school gyms or tents, the decorator show house is a convention of polite society that harkens back to a gentler time, when ladies wore white gloves and men donned hats to the office. Or when people got dressed up for air travel and the theater. These happenings, designed to give interior decorators a platform to showcase their talents and their wares, continues to fascinate and inspire, drawing the oh, so social to their gala openings and general admirers of all things beautiful to their open-to-the-public hours.

For more than four decades, the pinnacle of this convention has been the Kips Bay Decorator Show House in New York City. Started in 1973 by several dedicated supporters of the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, its ironic that something so patrician and refined was born at the very time when interior design was leaving the world of traditional dcor in favor of more modern expressions. Gone were velvet-covered sofas and silk damask curtains with tassels and fringe. In their place: mirrored walls, vast expanses of lacquer and acres of shag carpet accented with huge chrome gazelles and paintings of the number 2. There were conversation pits, bethrooms (ridiculous combinations of bed and bath) and undulating platforms sporting chairs shaped like handsor lips. Lets just say it was a time.

Early on, the Kips Bay Decorator Show House was very much a grassroots affair. It didnt matter that the core supporters came from the privileged world of New York high society; everyone just dove in with a kind of lets put on a show in the barn enthusiasm. You would see one of the DuPonts in rubber gloves cleaning the loos! remembers designer Sandra Nunnerley.

From the pages of Town & Country magazine, one years stellar designers.

Photo courtesy Town & Country Magazine/Hearst Publications.

Photography by Dana Fineman, (courtesy Town & Country Magazine/Hearst Publications)

So much of the credit for maintaining the high standards of the Kips Bay Decorator Show House belongs to the late design visionary Harry Hinson, a trustee of Kips Bay who also chaired the designers committee for 33 years. A soft-spoken Southern gentleman whose decidedly chic wallpapers, textiles, furniture and lighting survive him in countless interiors, Hinson served as a lightning rod not only for talent but also financial support. Harry was beloved for his dedication and commitment in taking a nascent endeavor and turning it into a major fund-raiser, said designer and fellow trustee Gary Crain.

Today, the Kips Bay Decorator Show House sets the standard by which all others are judged. Trends have begun there, traditions have been celebrated or revived, and careers have been made. The roster of Kips Bay alumni reads like a Whos Who of American interior design, with names as revered as Sister Parish, Albert Hadley and Mark Hampton to the superstars of today and, more importantly, tomorrow. Many designers credit their first appearance at Kips Bay as their seminal moment, and those that have designed rooms for subsequent years acknowledge the powerful stamp of validation and relevance that this one show house wields.