Leaving His Mark

The Upper East Side’s newly renovated The Mark Hotel reopened its exquisitely detailed doors this past spring with the help of world-renowned designer Jacques Grange. As the designer to clients like Yves Saint Laurent and Aerin Lauder, Grange takes a step away from his traditional French design and adds a touch of playfulness to the copper-topped building that once held private residences.

The Mark has an upscale and understated tone with a touch of humour. Grange’s personal philosophy of balancing the elements of grandeur, intimacy, colour and art are realised in this Manhattan landmark.

In an effort to bring downtown uptown, Grange collaborated with Ron Arad and Vladimir Kagan for furniture design and even asked his friend Karl Lagerfeld to donate his photography to hang on the walls. ‘‘I adore Karl and would love to work on one of his spaces, but he does everything himself,’’ says Grange, whose drink of choice at Bar Mark is a caipirinha.

Grange’s meticulous detail shines through everything- down to the lobby elevators, the black and white striped marble floors, the tailored Boffi kitchens and the handpicked fabrics and linens. Many of the rooms have terraces that either overlook Madison Avenue, the courtyard, or 77th Street. The French-American Mark’s Restaurant has both a Master Sommelier and a Tea Master. There are 118 rooms on 15 floors, not including the private residences upstairs.

Take a peek into Grange’s Parisian apartment at The Selby.

‘‘Interior design is a great chance for me to do what I want, how I want.’’ –JG

Elle Decor on Aerin Lauder

Kitchen; light fixture by Ann-Morris Antiques, stools are vintage Frances Elkins and lithograph by Ellsworth Kelly

Poolhouse; retractable awning to shade the terrace

Study; designed by Jacques Grange, paintings by Yves Klein and Lucio Fontana

Dressing Room; chandelier by Baguès, wall covering by Gracie and desk by Gabriella Crespi

Aerin Lauder is now on the cover of Elle Décor’s July/August issue showcasing her weekend and holiday home in the Hamptons. She inherited the home ten years ago from her legendary grandmother, Estée Lauder, founder of the beauty company where Aerin currently serves as senior vice president and creative director.

Lauder worked with Victoria Borus of B Five Studio to update several of the rooms that she described as “heritage with a twist.” She noted that she kept all of the blue and white Chinese porcelain from her grandmother in the main living areas. Lauder added, “My grandmother loved blue and white. You can see it in everything, from the way she decorated to her Porthault linens to the packaging of her perfume and cosmetics.”

A New Yorker can really appreciate the spaciousness of her home- and the gold accents in the dressing room are to die for.

Rain, Rain...

Although I've been waiting for a rainy, lazy day here in New York, one of these would have been helpful today!

The Sartorialist

Scott Schuman announced today that he will be releasing his first book in the U.S. on 12 August 2009, based on his incredible fashion photography site The Sartorialist.

The Sartorialist began when Scott Schuman felt a growing disconnect between what he saw on the runways, in magazines and what real people were wearing. It was an attempt to bring back the balance. From the streets of New York to Italy and from Moscow to Paris, the book is an anthology of his favourite images from his travels, accompanied by his insightful commentary. It includes photographs of well-known fashion figures alongside people on the street whose personal style demand a closer look.

Schuman was named one of Time Magazine’s top 100 design influencers. The paperback and Bespoke Edition can be pre-ordered here.

In Good Time

I really love this watch by Maurice de Mauriac, the Chronograph Modern L. It's a men's style, but I love the look of a masculine watch on a delicately dressed woman. As an alternative, there's always this military-style Timex from J.Crew. Read more below:

Maurice de Mauriac

J.Crew

The Oslo Opera House

Dressed in snow-white marble and blue-tinted glass, The Oslo Opera House is the largest cultural construction in Norway since the construction of the Nidarosdomen Cathedral in the 14th century. It is home to the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet and is the national opera theatre in Norway. Designed by the Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta, The Opera House won the Culture Award at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona in October of 2008.

The Opera House took five years to build and consists of 19,000 square metres of marble. The building's exterior is covered with more than 33,000 individual marble stones. This extraordinary building has a slanted roof surface that rises from beneath the waters of the Oslo fjord that is open for visitors to walk on. The space also features a chandelier in the main concert hall that consists of 17,000 glass units and beautiful wooden ramps created by traditional Norwegian boat architects.

Tangled Up In Blue

On any given day, I can usually be found wearing blue and white- which is why I love these free-flowing frocks by Calypso. Christiane Celle’s dresses always make summer-chic look effortless. Shop Calypso here. 

Vail International Dance Festival

The Vail International Dance Festival is an annual event in the Rocky Mountains. This year, the program will run from 27 July – 11 August 2009 in the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheatre at the Vilar Performing Arts Center under the artistic director Damian Woetzel. Woetzel was a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet for 19 years, at which time he earned a master’s in public administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School. He is most notably known now for breathing life into every performance he directs.

The gorgeous background of the mountains makes for breathtaking performances. Some noteworthy shows this summer include the new work from Christopher Wheeldon’s company, Morphoses, and dancer Savion Glover with the Miami Ballet.

Eataly, 2010

Arguably the top Italian market in the world, Eataly signed a lease on location this week in Manhattan for a store opening next year. The 32,000 square foot space, rumoured to be around the corner from Madison Square Park, will feature artisanal Italian foods, wines, liquors and beers. It will also have educational events and tastings, eight restaurants, two cafés and a gelato stand. The first Eataly opened in Turin in northwestern Italy in January 2007. There are also stores in Milan, Bologna and Tokyo.

Eataly is associated with the Slow Food movement, which according to their site is a “non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.” This store is sure to be the darling of every Manhattan foodie.

New Art

Mimi&Meg by Meg Biram is one of my favourite daily blog reads. She recently had an art giveaway and I was the winner! The acrylic on canvas piece above is called "Ice 7" by Kaylie Abela and is one out of a series of ten. Her work is sold on Ugallery, which is a great site for emerging artists.

Check out their sites here:
Mimi&Meg
Ugallery

Labour of Love

Victorian
Fresh
Cinderella

Paperwink is a company that began when two talented women discovered they have the same love for paper, design, vintage life and putting letters and colors together. They decided to share their ideas with others by creating invitations, announcements and stationary, among other things. They packed their bags with pens, fonts, textures and inspiration and turned their craft into their own business.

Tara and Darcey's work has been recognised by many top design publications, organizations and museums including HOW Magazine, PRINT Magazine, California Design Biennial and the book Old Type/New Type. The address stamps above are a great way to put a personal stamp on your stationary. See their full boutique here.

Multifaceted Neutrals

Fendi, under the brand Fendi Casa, now has a lux, complete furniture line of leather couches, tables and accessories. Each piece has the same level of detail and quality as their couture. Shown above, the Fendi Crystal Chair. Also shown is an oversized horn ring (handcrafted in Peru) from Vivre. I’d love to sit pretty in this chair wearing this ring!

A Men's Market

An in-the-know friend told me about this pop-up flea market for men going on this weekend. You should definitely go. Although, I would suggest going to La Esquina before eating the Café Select offerings. Click the image to read more.

201 Mulberry Street
b/w Spring & Kenmare
26 -28 June 2009

Katie Did

A mother of three based in Brooklyn, New York makes all of the clothes for her daughters. Katie Did is her website- and I LOVE her creations. Lucky girls!

Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its landmark building with the exhibition Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward. On view now through 23 August 2009, the exhibition showcases sixty-four of Wright’s contemporary design projects.

Some of the exhibited pieces include privately designed residences, civic and government buildings, religious and performance spaces as well as unrealised urban structures. There are also more than 200 of Wright’s original drawings on view to the public for the first time.

In 1943, Hilla Rebay, the director of Solomon R. Guggenheim's Museum of Non-Objective Painting, invited Wright to design the Guggenheim's home as “a temple of spirit, a monument”. Wright moved away from the traditional box-like gallery in his design and the process to create the building went on for sixteen years. Neither Wright nor Guggenheim lived to see it completed. Guggenheim died in 1949 and Wright in 1959, six months before the museum's 21 October inauguration.

During his seventy-two-year career, Wright worked in developing a new type of architecture in which form and function always worked together. Wright also believed that a strong connection with nature was critical to having a spiritual life, and therefore his designs allowed for the seamless integration of interior and exterior. The exhibit hopes to inspire people to implement Wright's ideas on space into their own lives.

Summer Dresses

Poppy is an amazing little store on Mott Street that is perfect for those dresses that will get you through every occasion of the summer. I absolutely love this casual cut-out back dress by the brand new line called Kenny. It's one of those great pieces you'll love to wear and won't find on everyone else. Available in black, navy, natural and aqua. I can't wait to wear this!

The Nicholas Series

I love these books by René Goscinny! The Nicholas series is a collection of very sweet and very funny children’s books about a French boy and his schoolmates who cause mayhem and are then baffled by the despair of the adults. Originally published in France in 1959, these books have been bestsellers ever since. The illustrations by Jean-Jacques Sempé are just as charming as the stories. Buy them here.

Shakespeare in the Park

Oscar-nominated Anne Hathaway is starring in the New York Public Theater’s presentation of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” this summer as part of the Shakespeare in the Park series. The play is running from 10 June to 12 July, 2009. Hathaway is starring as Viola in of one of Shakespeare’s most popular romantic comedies.

The Theater is providing a limited numbers of vouchers that are available beginning 1 PM on each day of the performance and can then be redeemed for tickets at the Delacorte Theatre in New York’s Central Park. Vouchers can be picked up between 1 and 3 PM and redeemed for tickets between 4 and 7 PM.

This is The Public Theater’s sixth production of “Twelfth Night.” Click here to read more.

Blue Hill Update

As a follow-up to the Blue Hill post, Lauren Braun Costello blogged about us! Check it out here.

An Evening at Blue Hill

An evening at Dan Barber’s Blue Hill promises the freshest of ingredients directly from the farm in upstate New York, mouth watering amuse-bouches and a who's-who of culinary luminaries. This couldn't have been more true on an evening this past winter when a very good friend of mine and I decided that Blue Hill would be the perfect restaurant to try in the middle of a recession.

We had just begun enjoying our starters when the couple next to us seemingly began to feud. The woman, sitting on the inside of the table, bolted as if from a visceral need to escape the presence of her significant other. After several minutes, an older woman at the bar seemed to have calmed her down enough to return to the table.

We tried not to look at them, or wonder what was going on. Just before I could no longer contain myself, the couple turned to us and told us that we simply had to hear what was happening. As it turns out, the two were in fact not in the midst of a heated lovers' quarrel, but instead co-authors at Blue Hill celebrating the completion of their new book, which was soon to be released (and the woman she ran up to just happened to be Dorothy Hamilton, Founder of the French Culinary Institute).

The discussion of the book turned into a discussion on food, then a discussion on life, and how to make the right choices. It seems that knowing your way around the kitchen is a great metaphor for knowing your way around the world- or at least New York. Ben and I made sure to buy the book as soon as it was available.

This past Saturday, we were able to attend what was perhaps the first book signing for Notes on Cooking at The Conran Shop in New York. We were pretty sure Lauren and Russell would remember us, but we never expected the reaction we got. Best of luck to both of you!

Be sure to check out Lauren’s website here.