Meet the designer: Darren Henault

We asked NYC designer Darren Henault to reveal some of his must-see showrooms at the DDB. Henault, one of the multitude of talented professionals available through the DDB's Designer Referral Program, is known for his luxurious and yet liveable environments, as seen in the bedroom of this NYC townhouse:


-Christopher Hyland. He's got the most gorgeous jacquards and lampas' I have ever seen. If you want super high quality, Old World weaving techniques, this is where to find it. Being a textile fan, it's love love love.
-Chesneys. We're currently installing a beautiful marble mantel into a home upstate New York. Chesney’s has got everything and if they don't, they will make it. They have done a very good job of offering very traditional profiles in a modern way by varying the stone selections.
-David Sutherland. They have got beautiful seating based on Louis XVI furniture. I'm tired of all of the distressed finishes that are ubiquitous and poorly done. They're doing furniture in a waxed, unfinished quality that is more beautiful.
-Farrow & Ball. Finally I can get their gorgeous colors in wallpapers as well.
-Fortuny.  Even before I visited the printing facility in Venice I was hooked.  Now I'm addicted.
-Gracie. We're using their papers in clean monochromatic tones, taking the tried and true and making it fresh and crisp.  The ever-lovely Jennifer Gracie is so nice to work with besides.
-Holland & Sherry. The ability they have to turn anything we come up with into the most exquisitely executed embroidery is unbelievable. I'm, of course, loving their new ever expanding rug collection which includes my own designs, including China Gate [pictured below].

-Jerry Pair & Associates. More and more clients who like traditional are asking for cleaner lines.  The Madeline Stuart collection is perfect and fits to a T.
-John Rosselli. If you are looking for a masterful mix of furniture, Bunny Williams and John Rosselli have done all the work for you.
-Pindler & Pindler. Wonderfully cheerful fabrics. If you're on a budget, you're going to find all of the same basic solids and textures here as everywhere else but for half the price.

Check back soon when we'll share what caught Henault's attention for summer on an afternoon of shopping at the DDB.

Hyland tackles the iPad

We sat down with Christopher Hyland for the scoop on his latest project, the first shelter and lifestyle magazine to be designed expressly for the iPad.


The avid skier, sailor and climber tells us what to expect from his new monthly magazine, HYLAND, which debuted in November, and is available through iTunes. With so much content in each (around 350 pages), it's no wonder it's hard to pick just one cover image. So each issue has four covers which flash before settling on a single one.






How did HYLAND come to be?


I met Kyle Marshall at a luncheon to benefit Malta House, a women’s shelter. We stayed in touch because of Kyle’s writing on my photographic work, which was actually originally prompted by his reflections of time spent in the South Pacific as a point of departure for reviewing my own photography, a series of work concerned with the idea of transformation. At one point, I mentioned the magazine I was starting and the rest, as they say, is history.






Who is the reader of the magazine?


HYLAND is being viewed in several dozen countries on a monthly basis, as has been the case since its inception. We have readers on all continents (except the poles!), in countries including South Korea, Saudi Arabia, China, Ireland, France and of course the United States. During some periods we have noticed that as much as 18 to 20 percent of our readership comes from China. So far, readership has tripled from month to month.





How does it differ from other lifestyle and shelter magazines?


It's the first of its kind created and designed for the iPad. I was thrilled that Jason Sheftell of the New York Daily News, said HYLAND "goes to the highest level of design imaginable" and  “blows the top off the competition”.






What have been a few of your favorite features to date?


Juan Pablo Molyneux’s own house in Paris, Geoffrey Bradfield’s spectacular triplex apartment project in Mexico City, Jamie Drake’s London and New York townhouses for Mayor Bloomberg, Jleslee Basualdo’s fantasy gallery for legendary art collector Henry Buhl, Samuel Botero’s stunning deco top-floor project. I loved our articles on house parties at Blenheim Palace with designer Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill, at Lismore Castle with designer Suzy Moran, and Sally Quinn and Ben Bradlee’s Grey Gardens, and AGi Architect’s three dramatically modern villas in Kuwait. And then in terms of my favorite art stories, I'd have to include Israeli artist Eti Jacobi's alluring nocturnal masterworks, Stephen Wilkes’ ‘Day to Night’ photography series, Alexander Creswell’s watercolours of Malcolm Forbes’ Battersea House and Chateau de Balleroy, and the vitrines and drawings of Arne Quinze. For the writing alone, I'd choose Lorenzo Carcaterra, writer of ‘Sleepers’ article: ‘Italian Memories: Michelangelo and Grandma Maria”, Bob Colacello’s article on his time at Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine, illustrated with his own photography, Bette Middler’s article on her New York Restoration Project, Leonard Barkan’s missive on his five year Michelangelo project, and, for good measure, Anthony Haden Guest’s cartoons are always a blast.






Any surprises in store?


We're pulling together a book featuring interiors highlighted in HYLAND.

And the first HYLAND Design Awards will be presented in April at an event sponsored by the real estate agency Nest Seekers, with their brokers Ryan Serhant and Regis Roumila.

Where in the DDB?

Think you can guess which DDB showroom we snapped these two photographs in? Leave us a comment with your guess to show us how well you know the DDB. The answer will be in next week's Where in the DDB? post.

Hint: Known  as a worldwide fabric editor on all five continents, this company sticks to the motto that it "does not simply sell fabrics, but a lifestyle."

If you guessed the Christopher Hyland showroom for last week's Where in the DDB? post, you're right!