Wednesday, May 18, 2011

The Fortuny showroom was the place to be following the Decoration and Design Building's Spring Market keynote What's Next in Decorating? Editor in Chief of WSJ Magazine Deborah Needleman hosted the expert panel consisting of Sara Ruffin Costello, WSJ Columnist; David Netto, WSJ Contributing Editor and Decorator; and Miles Redd, Decorator. The four joined their audience for a reception in the Italian atmosphere Mariano Fortuny is known for to celebrate Spring Market.


We were greeted by the co-owners of Fortuny, brothers Mickey and Maury Riad, who welcomed us in. We chatted with Mickey and interior designer Adrienne Neff about the morning’s discussion.




"I loved the discussion; I thought everything that they talked about was spot on," said Adrienne. "And I totally agree with what they had to say about televisions over the mantle! It's so awful that that has caught on so much and it needs to stop!"


Deborah gave us a few minutes of her time to share her favorite points from each of the panelists.


"I loved that the colorful maximalist Decorator, Miles Red, was swinging minimal and beige!" Deborah said. " I also loved that Sara Ruffin Costello wants to be the love child of John Fowler and John Dickenson; David Netto is aspiring to a messier modernism; and that I'm striving for a perfect imperfection! It may seem that we're all a mass of contradictions, but really, it's the beauty of great juxtapositions!"




Sara also sat down with us and told us more about the morning's topic and Deborah's role in the keynote and at WSJ Magazine.


"It's a total pleasure to be in Deborah’s orbit again at the The Wall Street Journal," said Sara. "I am smitten with the entertaining editorial Deborah's producing in the Off Duty section and WSJ mag. When she asked me to speak about trends, love them or leave them, it seemed like a good idea—though totally intimidating sitting between those two old pros Miles and David!"


"Trends are difficult, as Deborah mentioned in her introduction, and so often feel invented by the media just to foist advertiser’s merchandise our way. But there is certainly a collective unconscious out there that mysteriously makes us all unwittingly desire the same thing simultaneously! Amazingly the three of us independently zeroed in on a real zeitgeist moment happening: Baroque Minimalism, a new kind of restrained excess. It reminds us all of the 80’s—unbridled everything—except redefined for this generation. Smarter and less showy, it’s chintz upholstery in a clean room of Balenciaga-style curtains done up in muslin, deep bullion fringe attached to a common stripe, and ... more beige rooms! To look at Miles Redd’s slides and not see a room with color, well, that’s really telling you something. You heard it here first!"




Afterward, Fortuny Sales Associate Samantha Feder told us that the reception was an absolute success. "It was nice to see such a large group of people in the showroom utilizing the space the way we wanted it to be used. I saw people on every piece of furniture, and even saw a woman curled up on one of the chairs, reading the newspaper while sipping her coffee. It was wonderful!"




Mickey concurred with Samantha. "We were hoping the new showroom would have this effect on people, so we loved hearing it all of the people's comments about it today. It was also great to meet Deborah, Sara, and David, as well as see Miles again."


Stay tuned to GoDesignGo for more DDB Spring Market Buzz this week.

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