My Kips Bay 2009 Design Diary

KIPS BAY 2009 DIARY
by, J. Randall Tarasuk

Initial Project Review
February 4, 2009


The Kips Bay Selection Committee contacted our office offering us the largest space in this year’s showhouse, inviting us to participate in the this year’s tribute to Albert Hadley. On the morning of February 4, we were lead into the 45’ wide mansion at 22 E. 71st St. built in 1922-23. Passing through an enormous Vestibule and up the flight of stairs we arrive in the Main Entrance Foyer. Souring 20’ ceilings and a grand, sweeping staircase lead us up to the second floor, and into the room at the top of the stairs to the right. 25’x40’ ~! An enormous sheet rock box with 4 windows. Ceiling completely overrun with track lighting. The room was once an art gallery. High-gloss parquet floors shining in the morning sun. 10’ ceiling. Massive. No architectural detail whatsoever. A rectangular hole at the far West End of the room reveals all of the clues to the plenum space and potential for major architectural improvement.

Charles and Randall, Pavarini’s project manager, at first feel overwhelmed. How will we demolish this massive ceiling, completely restructure it, rewire it, close it up, and source and decorate the whole room in 5 and a half weeks! The room would surely take a major commitment. In a project like this, each and every day is important. The whole process which normally takes months is crammed into a little over a month. Constant project supervision is required as unforeseen challenges develop and immediate refiguring and revision to drawings is necessary.

Charles and Randall come around to accepting the challenge and the ideas start to percolate. Charles sees a vision of a telescoping ceiling, vaulting in the center another 2’, with a 5’ perimeter soffits, gleaming in lacquer. Charles feels the opportunity to express himself as a lighting designer by illuminating a cove moulding around the perimeter. What potential~! 2 Images of CPIII and cousin/contractor Peter Di Natale discuss the possibility of vaulting the ceiling and creating a vertical fireplace mantel that punctures the ceiling plane. This makes for a another opportunity to exercise the lighting design muscle. Kitchenette in the back hall is a perfect location for an audio/control rack for the sound and lighting systems.

The room began to stir numerous ideas. The big question was, “What do we do with a space so huge?” The idea of a Lounge quickly became a hot topic with our yearning to delve into the contemporary arena and make a statement….design in a direction where restraint and purity of form and detail create drama and significance. How perfect it would be to design an entertainment space where everyone wants to gather, showing the community our ability to handle grand scale, sharing our passion for both residential and commercial contexts. Comfortable enough to be a home-entertainment space and sophisticated enough to be found in the lobby of one of the world’s leading hotels.

The process begins immediately.



February 12-23, 2009
Design Development

The design team assimilates all of the photographs and begins the coordinated process. The plan is immediately put into CAD so that Charles can start sketching and developing layouts. Multiple concepts for the function of the room are discussed, but what we all agree-on is the presence of a piano in the room. We certainly have enough space to create not only a Piano Lounge, but other connected furniture groupings which could interrelate.

Banter and discussion brings about thoughts like ‘the feeling of a lobby’ combined with piano entertainment and a dramatic yet intimate conversation setting. The concept of a Lounge draws people in, carried by the music, and it should comfort them with a sumptuous décor that evokes fantasy, luxury, and sultriness! The design evolves. Various layouts ensue, but the one which everyone loves is a 3 in 1 plan with a stark and minimalist seating cluster in the center of the room, unifying the casual living zone at the East End and the Piano Lounge by the Fireplace at the West End. The concept is nailed!

From there Charles works his way into the details. His genius is clearly in the details! An entire 40’ window elevation in fabric. Drapery, but very tailored and clean in execution. No layering. No trimmings. Just a pure open-weave fabric, ripple-folding it’s way across the elevation.

The vaulted ceiling takes form. The existing ceiling height of 10’5” is maintained around the 5’ perimeter. Inside, the high ceiling steps-up another 15” to the highest point, a great place to showcase either an incredible mural, spectacular pattern or finish, or maybe even…….brilliant plasterwork! How perfect an idea in such a spectacular neo-Italian Renaissance house! Immediately we propose a conceptual geometric plan with a dropped crown and lighting cove with which we can wash all of the plasterwork in light. A great detail! Charles gets on the phone with Mike Zimmer, a great contact with Balmer Architectural Mouldings, who guides us through the possibilities. He proposes a phenomenal geometric layout with a crown along the bottom of the soffit which wraps underneath. Further collaboration results in a discussion of introducing a completely new concept to the world of architectural plaster….one which Charles has been exploring for the last year on the Apthorp Restoration………allowing the plaster-mouldings to be pierced so they can be lit from behind and further accentuate their brilliant form and pattern. Within days, we have finished drawings on the illuminated plaster lighting system which is destined to be a showstopper!

Product research and specification becomes constant. Every step in the market, every turn in Greenwich village is part of the escapade to be inspired, to purvey, to acquire the most interesting and appropriate product to fill the room. Stark Carpet & Fabrics immediately express commitment to support our endeavors, giving us the entire Lelievre fabric line and
numerous possibilities in carpet and flooring to tie it all together. Koraseal offers us anything from their extensive product line, two of which immediately stand out: Zolatone and Gage Architectural Metal.

Zolatone is a phenomenal paint product that gets sprayed into the room. It has extensive color lines that mix paints through splattering in ways to achieve beautiful and durable finishes that are near perfect when properly applied. Because of their properties and ease of cleaning, they are most often used commercially. They have great depth and evenness of color along the surface. Their new Illuminations and Metal line look intriguing in the catalog and we order samples right away.

Gage Architectural metal, another predominately commercial source, manufactures metal and metal laminated panels for Architectural use. The long elevation opposite the window wall really needs an architectural antidote. It suffers with two uneven punctures in the sheet-rock box, one to the Foyer and the other to the small private hall adjacent to our room. A major architectural statement is required to transform the visually banal elevation into the major axis as well a access point it is!

Avery Boardman and Anthony Lawrence-Belfair quickly step-up to bat, offering whatever we think would best showcase their product. Charles sees this as a great opportunity to exhibit each vendor at opposite sides of the room. Avery Boardman is granted the casual living zone and ALB the piano lounge section and all draperies. Who doesn’t know Avery Boardman? They are a leader in custom furniture and famous for what most feel is the most comfortable hide-away bed in the industry. Anthony Lawrence-Belfair is much more unique. They operate one of the last surviving traditional drapery workrooms in NYC. They produce the most high-end drapery and upholstery products known to man. Their employees are all seasoned professionals with a lifetime of experience. We feel so blessed to have such industry leaders teaming-up to make this room sing! Not to mention, they both give us full creative reign and encourage us to design custom pieces. Drawings are developed and submitted within days.

A visit to Tribeca and passage through Robert Kuo Studios (www.robertkuo.com)brings a great center-table to the middle of the room…..finished in traditional Chinese lacquer….a 4-month process by hand! A trio of shadow-boxes housing a collection of 3 Chinese artifacts present themselves and bring an aura of timelessness to the design concept. Joyce tells us “You can have whatever you want!”

Some of the search and acquisition is not so smooth! After much deliberation, Lorin Marsh offers us their latest and greatest glass slab and nickel cocktail table. Not having spent a day on the showroom floor, devoid of price-tag, the table immediately catches Charles’ eye and he insists it will be perfect in the room. Equally challenging, securing a pair of 7’tall porcelain standing lamps for on either side of the fireplace makes for some drama. The salesperson and showroom manager of William Switzer explain how Allan Knight has no interest in lending his lamps to show houses because of how much is returned to them in poor condition. They continue on about how show houses have not helped sales in any way. With that, Randall sits down and writes a letter to Allan Knight himself, telling him the direction of the room and the importance of the lamps to the overall design concept. Within a couple hours, 3 of Allan Knight’s staff follow-up to assure us that the lamps are in production and that they will make sure they will be delivered in time. Phew!

What could be more perfect than a collection of vintage lighting and furniture in a room like this. Multiple visits to John Salibello Antiques results in finding a splendid bronze doré organic tree-like side-table and a set of 3 1960’s pendants which fit magically into the lighting plan between the rhythm of 3 windows on the long elevation, lighting the 3 shadow boxes!

The thread is first spun for the organic components to this intricate space. Juxtaposition of obvious man-made creation with the organic sentiment. Perfect balance and contrast to create that edginess the room requires. That brings our thoughts to art. What would give the drama and sexiness while engendering the organic sentiment that triggers the mind and brings the spirit to the here and now of current global conditions better than photographs of nature. We start googling. We attend the Bailey House auction. WE become POSSESSED by icebergs! What unbelievable natural creations that speak volumes about our planet and it’s peril. Their complex form but simplicity in color and concept would make Interior Design magic in the room. What could be more perfect? Purity. Contrast. Coolness. Melting.


February 24-27, 2009
Under Construction

Meeting with house contractor on Feb 24th at 11:15am. I bring the RCP so he can cut-open the ceiling and demolish the center portion according to our plan to leave the drop soffits 5’ around the perimeter of the room. A quick handshake and all is quiet for a couple of days. On Thursday, Jim, the owner’s contractor, advises us that he must see Charles on Friday morning to discuss a problem they have encountered: the HVAC ductwork in the ceiling must be re-routed. The owner agrees to do so, and progress continues with the re-supporting of the ceiling and preparation for Peter Di Natale’s work building the working surfaces to accept the plaster mouldings, conceal the old ceiling tracks, and construct the fireplace structure. Charles, Randall and Maria work together to finalize the custom furniture details and work evolves on the custom Pavarini Etageres with splay legs and labyrinth shelf detail. Scuderi wins the bid on those, we specify Cereused oak, and initiate them immediately. They are designed in reverse, with left and right matching pieces on either side of the custom curved sofa framing an important accessory collection TBD.


March 2-6, 2009
Under Construction

Peter begins on Wednesday with a delivery of materials and they begin their work. We meet with electricians to review plans and request an estimate. We meet Ed from All-Pro Painting. He is on-board to do whatever we want. Zolatone is one of his specialties. He plans to give us an estimate after discussing zolatone walls and perhaps ceiling. We meet Lana of Zero-Lux. She plans to secure suppliers of LED lighting which we have designed into the cove lighting in the ceiling of the room as well as the fireplace. The fireplace cube is designed as a rectangular form, floating 2.5” from the back wall and backlit with LED’s. It continues on through the ceiling, passing through a gap of 3” and lit between the ceiling and cube so it appears to pass through the ceiling. Another great Architectural detail and a vertical one to visually ground what’s happening on the ceiling. Thursday we shop antiques. We visit Delorenzo 1950. We decide that the 1950’s were too funky for what we’re developing in this room. We await commitments from vendors to provide recessed lighting and LED systems for our effects.
Friday is a big day. One of his bravest of endeavors, Charles walks into Steinway & Sons with the intent of securing a piano. (Prior to, we spend days seeking pianos with no luck finding a vendor who will let us borrow one.) His salesperson shows him all types, and even a white lacquer one as per his request. But Charles doesn’t feel that Steinway understands the level of design. The salesperson speaks of an Art Deco Piano that just left the showroom and Charles’ ears perk-up. She begins to show him images. A hand-carved Grand Piano by a John Eric Byers. It’s white and the labor intensive hand-carved pattern reminiscent of a checker-board covers every inch of the piece. It’s SPECTACULAR! To top the day, we get confirmation that the order is in production with Allan Knight Dakota Jackson offers us an astounding console with our choice of leather drawers. Susan Sokolov calls to tell us Fabrizio of Casa del Bianco would do anything for us. We are off to a great start!












March 9-14, 2009
Under Construction

We are still waiting for direction from Jesco Lighting company about how to wire their LED systems we are using to float the fireplace and wash the ceiling and penetrate the crown. An entire week goes by and still no information from the lighting supplier. The contractor pushes his work along, and is forced to sheetrock the ceiling before the electrical work is completed. We are under the gun now with the Kips Bay Deadline. They inform us of a major removal of all construction debris and other rubbish from the site, and given that the job was not filed with the Dept. Of Buildings, they don’t want any open walls in the house in the event a building inspector were to see all of the rubbish leaving the site and sneak-in. It is Friday, our contractor is having the fireplace framed, yet since he cannot guarantee that the work will be completely sheet rocked by the end of the day, and the management orders us to remove all framing. Peter Di Natale, our contractor, is furious. Not to mention, the management orders us to work all weekend to get the entire ceiling closed-up. 4 men work all Saturday morning and manage to complete the requested task by 1:30 on Saturday. The contractor is upset, but has paid his men overtime to meet the demands. Unfortunately, the electricians have yet to begin their work. We leave the sheetrock on the soffits loosely attached with minimal screws to ensure easy removal for the electricians. The construction project is then put on hold until the following week until Jesco submits wiring diagrams.

Regarding furnishings, it was a long week of hunting and gathering with little success. There were some good developments though. We are in pursuit of Dakota Jackson to produce a piece for us. His modern console in Macassar Ebony and leather drawers would be stunning in the room in white lacquer against the silvery walls. We meet with Gwyneth in the showroom and she tells us the Dakota is not in support of our idea to showcase his piece in a lacquer rather than a stained wood. We all feel the Macassar Ebony to be out of vogue and too heavy in the space. We go back and forth with Gwyneth stating our perspective and the importance his piece will have in the room as we wish to design it.

We visit Edelman leather in search of leather for the drawer-fronts of the Dakota Jackson console and for Charles’ 1930’s leather-back Mahogany lounge-chair. (www.edelmanleather.com ) Sheryl graciously offers whatever leather she has in-stock for our use. It is wonderful working with vendors like Edelman. They do whatever they can to be represented in the Kips Bay Showhouse in hopes that only Edelman leather is used.
We find a stunning white ostrich leather for the console and a soft white leather for the lounge-chair.

Avery Boardman offers do to additional custom pieces in the room to make more of a presence. We decide to modify a chair in their line by having the front legs made in acrylic and to have the back swoop-down to meet the floor in lieu of having rear legs. We feel this will give a custom look to the chair that will be very much in-keeping with the overall design concept. Charles talks to Luigi Gentile about needing one chair to stand-out amongst the rest in the plan. An art-chair if you will. He suggests a new Vladimir Kagan Chair, the first piece that Kagan has produced in the 21st Century. Charles feels it’s perfect. It features a white lacquer exoskeleton-like frame supporting a tub-chair. Whimsical yet sophisticated; an ideal art-chair to sit juxtaposed to Charles’ 1930’s leather Curved-back Mahogany lounge chair he has in the warehouse. The team is excited to have the honor of introducing the Kagan chair to the US market. This will be its debut, and what a better place to show it off!

All of the fabric selections have been made and Charles has meetings scheduled with the Stark executives to discuss what is needed to complete the room. There is some apprehension over the fact that we are requesting them to give us over $40,000.00 worth of fabric.

Charles arrives with all of the design plans, drawings, and photographs of some of the pieces he has secured. They immediately flag the 110 yards he needs to execute the drapery treatment. Charles explains how the window elevation is not a very grand one, and that in order to make the windows look substantial and appropriate for the design concept, he needs to tailor the illusion that the room is blessed with large, beautiful windows. He explains that by taking a shade from the ceiling above each window and draping the entire wall with in front to mask the architectural anomalies, it will make the elevation appear extremely grand. After what seems like an endless banter back and forth, he successfully conveys the need for so much yardage and they agree to give us whatever we need…for a mere $3500 to cover shipping and import taxes. Hooray! Everyone in the firm is so excited to have the opportunity to freely work with such beautiful textiles by Lelievre of Paris, and they immediately begin the fabric appropriation discussions.

On Friday, Charles meets with Michael and Lana Lawrence of Anthony Lawrence-Belfair. They discuss the window treatments and the ripple-fold-header and how it attaches to the custom acrylic pole. While designed to be visually simple, there are complexities to pull-off the minimalist concept successfully. Fabric must be hand-sewn to fall just right, and the mechanics of the hardware must make all the drapery to look as if it’s floating mysteriously in front of the drapery pole! Charles’ vision for the couture look is completely understood by Lana as always. His background in theater, costume, and couture fashion design immerges with his treatment of fabric and how it speaks when properly structured. Charles’ intent is for the draperies to flow with the suppleness of a Schiarparelli Gown: very structured yet very soft and unencumbered. Such details requires acute knowledge of garment construction, where Charles has extensive experience. Here his talents from his days in theatre get exercised as he directs the master seamstresses in the Belfair Lawrence factory to construct his vision.

Regarding the recessed lighting, we are unable to use the Lucifer lighting we had secured because the ceiling is now closed-up and they do not make a remodeler housing. Lana Lenar of Zerolux pulls-through with USA Illuminations, (www.usaillumination.com ) a lighting manufacturer that makes innovative product and offers their square-hole recessed adjustable MR-16’s for our use. Randall immediately jumps in the car and heads to upstate New York, by West Point, to pick-up the lighting so the electrician can install them on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, all of the focus of the lighting becomes the wiring of the LEDs which should have been figured-out before we had to close-up the ceiling. While the sheetrock is left un-taped with few screws so the electricians can do access their work easily by removing the sheetrock panels, the contractor feels the pressure of needing to close-up the soffits and start finishing-off the ceiling to be ready for the plaster ceiling installation which is due start the following Monday. It is suggested at 8:30 pm on Friday night that if we snake ‘smurf’ tubes from the contact points in the soffits and around the fireplace running back to the system’s control hub outside the room, we could allow the construction to be finalized and electricians could easily pass their wires back to the hub without the need to snake, and we could advance the project two-fold. ‘Smurf tubes’. “You’ve got to be kidding,” Charles says.

So Charles gets up early to hit Home Depot looking for smurf tubes. Most people are watching them on TV Saturday morning. No luck. The tube needs to be flexible, plastic, and at least 1” in interior diameter to fit the wires through. Charles calls Randall and asks him to source the product at electric supply houses while burning daylight. It’s Saturday, and most close by 1pm! Randall finds a place on the Upper-West Side that carries various plastic and rubber tubes and such, but no one on the lighting team can calculate whether or not the cluster of needed wires while definitely fit through the tube! Suppose we had snaked all these smurf tubes, patched, taped and skim-coated the ceiling, only to discover that not all of the wires could fit inside the smurf tube at once!

Charles and Randall start to panic as precious hours go by and Kips Bay demands the ceiling be sealed-up. We must move-on. YIKES! Jesco lighting, the manufacturer, commits to submitting the necessary technical information by Monday so that the lighting professionals can sort out all of their selections and order the product. 3 days are lost, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, on the progress that could have been made on the construction. We fell behind. The team fears a potential domino of trades as the clock ticks…



March 16-21, 2009
Under Construction

The team patiently waits for a response from Jesco lighting with specifications of all devices so the electricians can wire the LED lighting. The lighting team is having trouble agreeing-on on how best to wire the space. After numerous conversations between David Bourgeois of Greenlight solutions, Jesco, and Andrew Scarpinello, electrical engineer of Hig Electricians, it is decided the type of cable containing the precise number of wires that will be needed to carry all of the signal relays from the lighting control system. The equipment selected is the newest of their line, and there is limited information available to share. Much dialogue as a collaborative effort is necessary to understand the needs of the demanding system. By Tuesday the electrician has most of the wiring complete, and the contractors follow behind the electricians closing-up and taping the soffits. The recessed remodeler housings get placed and the plasterer begins to feather the underside of the soffits.

A visit to John Salibello Antiques is always an experience. (www.johnsalibelloantiques.com ) The collection is an enormous one of vintage lighting and furnishings. There is no greater or more generous source for phenomenal art-glass original lighting pieces from the1960’s. Charles find three cylindrical clear glass pendants with brass overlay. Absolutely perfect for the window elevation above the Chinese Shadowboxes from Robert Kuo. Randall finds a phenomenal bronze doré round end table that looks like a tree with a glass top. The perfect piece to reinforce the organic thread that is developing within the room and to blend with the vintage furnishings secured thus far. Charles also has his eyes on a Barovier sconce from the 1960’s but is told that it is not to be represented as a single sconce since it is being sold as a pair. Charles takes a memo and continues searching for another, knowing in his heart that this one would be perfect for the room.

After finalizing the layout of the entry elevation, Randall has discussions with Koraseal about creating a surround around the entry doors in Gage Architectural metal sheeting. He shares a drawing with them indicating a metal casing be applied away from the recesses to the door openings and laminated with sheets of woven metal. The concept will give importance to the weak entry elevation and unify the discordant entrances with dissimilar proportions. Gage, unfortunately cannot meet the deadline and offers another line of product which gets vetoed by the design team. The decision is made to have the casing made of wood and to coat it and all walls within in Venetian Plaster. That same finish will also be applied to the underside of the soffits, giving that glass-like smoothness to contrast the textured metallic Zolatone paint. Fanuka Construction (www.fanuka.com)and Decorfin are then pursued to execute the details, and they both gladly comply with the request to be seen in ‘The Lounge’ at the Kips Bay Showhouse. Bam!

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are dedicated to search and acquisitions. The team starts-off on a lead from a woman at another table at the Moonstruck Diner. She is working with a colleague of Charles, Iris Dankner, and they ask him about the progress on the showhouse. Charles and Iris became close friends when they shared in The Holiday House in November of 2008 where Pavarini designed the “Thanksgiving Dining Room” which won great accolades. See (**TERA PLACE LINK TO SITE**) He expresses the need to secure lighting fixtures and they send him to the Manhattan Art and Antiques Center (www.the-maac.com ) We go all through the building but never find what we came for. What does stand-out is the lighting in Paul Stamati Gallery….as always. Pavarini has worked with Stamati on many showhouses. He’s a purveyor of fine art deco lighting which so often fits in the context of the Pavarini style. Charles has his heart set on a pair of spheres made of sand-blasted glass pieces connected by metal clasps. The fixtures are remarkable Lalique crystal, but they are just too small. Measuring only 20” in diameter, Pavarini realizes he needs something so much more dramatic coming from such a huge ornamental ceiling. Charles’ keen eye for lighting and how he uses lighting as a design tool continues to guide us on our quest for the most appropriate fixtures. His experience from over 16years with the Designers Lighting Forum of New York, a.k.a. The DLF, (producing the best programs throughout the tri-state are on continuing education on lighting design), pushes us onward. We continue-on to one of the greatest antique-shop streets in NYC, 10th between University and 5th. We begin at Ritter Antik. Although a pair of 1960s Italian armchairs would be perfect in the room, they on no condition will permit any of their pieces to be borrowed for the show. They had an experience over 10 years ago that has to this day left a sour taste in their memories. A designer borrowed multiple pieces and returned the furniture in deplorable condition. It’s a shame how one bad experience could destroy numerous opportunities for decades to come. That’s one of the challenges with putting together a room in a showhouse. The Design Team keeps in mind the necessity to keep all of our vendors happy while remaining conscious of our relationships with them, as we shop and put reputation and liability at stake. There are no guarantees the designer will be able to procure the very pieces he/she desires to show. The climate at Maison Gerard and Karl Kemp is very different. Their staffs are both extremely accommodating and knowledgeable having had successful experiences with designers in the past who showcase their treasures and bring new interest to their stores. At Karl Kemp, the team finds some great 1960 vintage pottery by Celine and Heinreich, a standing lamp from the 50’s, and a pair of sconces from the Modernist Era. All pieces are gladly offered by Karl Kemp himself, a premier antique dealer of the century with shops on both 10th St. and Madison Avenue. (www.karlkemp.com). He knows the sort of exposure the endeavor will bring to his exquisite 20th Century treasures. They continue on to Bernd Goeckler (www.bgoecklerantiques.com ), a vintage and early 20th century dealer with a very different look about his furnishings. An incredible Italian standing lamp by Stilnovo that looks like a spear passing through 3 upturned bowls of lacquered metal and a marvelous crystal quartz geode catch the eyes of the team. They keep their fingers crossed for the entire week before they hear back from Goeckler with his support.
The search continues in Chelsea. In Old Goode Things, Randall finds a tremendous Venini pendant from the mid sixties. It features a giant bunch of milk-glass discs with polished chrome spheres in the center. It looks like a giant bouquet of flowers. It would be stunning in the room!! Unfortunately, there is only one of them. Ugh! The search continues….to Silas Seandel (www.silasseandel.com) . He’s a well-established metal sculptor whose pieces have become extremely sought-after and valuable. Charles has used his phenomenal works of art in his interiors for years. In Silas’ short 35 year career, he has started a business and put exquisite product on the market, watching it gain in value as it is traded in the secondary markets. There are many pieces that could work in the room, and Silas offers us whatever we would like, so long as we don’t clean-out his showroom! From there we head to Hudson furniture, intrigued by their new line of lighting fixtures we find in some of their advertisements. They are very original, with ribbons and cords of metal loosely formed into whimsical shapes and forming candles and bobeches in interpretive ways. The biggest problem is getting them here from the Netherlands…and then sending them back! We are told that would be our responsibility…..too much of a financial responsibility for such a large room…so we take some memos and move-on.

While we are out scouting for furnishings, Charles takes a trip to Anthony Lawrence-Belfair (www.anthonylawrence-belfair.com) drapery and upholstery workroom to see the mock-up with Lana Lawrence. He’s extremely excited, as always, to see his designs come to life in brilliant workmanship. Magically, the mockup Lana presents gives a clear indication of how the fabric will drape along the long window elevation. The suppleness of the wool woven fabric proudly drapes, showing great ripple-folds and softness. It’s always amazing to visit the perfectly dustless workrooms of their enterprise and witness their tenured ‘elves’ busy at work. You can’t imagine a more old-world approach to perfection. Every chair is horsehair sprung; every hem is hand-sewn: the only way to reach such suppleness and subtle couture look. Superb!

All-Pro painting company starts on Friday morning, touching-up some of the walls and Stephen begins to prime in preparation for spraying the Zolatone Metal finish in the afternoon. Coat #1 is complete on Friday, and they return on Saturday to apply coat #2.

March 23-28th
Under Construction

The hand-cast plaster ceiling is scheduled to arrive at 7am on an overnight express tractor trailer coming-in from Toronto. Peter Di Natale, the contractor, sends his man to help Randall unload the truck. He’s there promptly at 7. At 7:15, Randall emails the Balmer rep. to check-on the ETA. The rep. says the driver is very near and should be arriving within 10-15 minutes. Randall grabs a hot cup of tea from the street corner vendor to help beat the cold. At 7:45, the 2 Canadian installers arrive explaining that it will be only another few minutes before the truck is to arrive. They wait another 30 minutes or so with no sign of the truck. Randall sends another email to the rep. who assures them the truck is only blocks away. At 9:15, we get a call from the rep saying the driver is 4 blocks away and should be pulling-in momentarily. My man the helper has to leave by 10am. Great! So Randall and he have literally sat on their hands for 2-1/2 hours with nothing to do but wait, and now that truck has finally arrived, they are going to be down to 3-movers to unload all of the individual plaster pieces weighing-in at a combined 4900lbs! The truck actually shows about 10 minutes later to the meter-spots Randall had been safeguarding from other cars parking in them. The driver steps out apologizing that he had fallen asleep at the last rest-area in Jersey and that he had set his alarm but not his clock!

The team begins like ants forming a trail from the truck, into the service entrance, down the flight of stairs into the basement, down the long hallway and up the 4 flights of stairs through the back-door to the room. There are 64 individual 3’x3’ interlocking tiles weighing about 35 lbs. each and 3 crates weighing over 150lbs each. The unload process takes about 3 hours, at which point the installers can start to map-out the mounting locations on the ceiling. The process is explained to be a long one, involving a week of actual field tile installation and another week of installing the crown moulding, custom pierced moulding, and plastering all of the joints to create one connected ceiling. The installers still appear very energetic and motivated to get it done by the end of next week. Explaining that the carpet installation is scheduled for next Thursday and Friday April 2-3rd, Randall puts the pressure on from the start, only to be met with long faces as the laborers still sweat from the unload process!

The installers lay-out the ceiling tiles and discover that one of the chandelier boxes need to be moved again. It’s ½” off! Believe it or not, such an elaborate ceiling cannot allow for more than ¼ in tolerance to avoid disrupting its pattern. It has been a challenge from the beginning for the electricians who have been forced to work around the contractors with little information from the supplier about the technicalities of the LED wiring. Now they have to move a post which is now buried in the ceiling beneath sheetrock and plywood. The agree to do it right away after a short argument.

Charles arrives at the site mid-morning to check progress. He walks into the room and is taken completely by surprise by the condition of the paint job. The metallic paint appears to have exaggerated every single discrepancy in the walls to the point where you can even see the roller marks from the primer application! We all get wrapped-up into this problem which could domino into a catastrophic one! The plaster ceiling installers are now going to work straight-through until they are complete, which we are expecting to take nearly 2 weeks! So when would it get repainted? It’s already March 23, and if the plaster ceiling installation does actually take 2 weeks, that means that when they are complete, we will have only 2 days before Penelope Green of the New York Times is expected to make her visit! Not to mention, we have to tile the fireplace, do a Venetian Plaster on the ceiling and door surround, and paint the ceiling!

Tuesday morning we meet Larry of Morgik Metal at the showhouse. Steven of All-Pro painting is in the room. He and Randall had set-up an appointment to discuss the room and what could be done about the finish. He suggests skim coating all elevations expect the window elevation, which is in pretty good shape. That means, we need to have the room turned back into a spray booth as soon as the fireplace mantle is tiled. That will give us two less days to complete our work for Penelope Green! Going back to Larry, we discuss the drawing we had prepared with a mitered bullnose frame around the rectangular ‘fire box’ and agree on a comprise of the design because of the time it would take to manufacture. To form stainless steel into a bullnose requires intense machinery and finishing which we do not have time for. We go with just a flat metal 1” mirror-finish stainless steel band that wraps the opening and has a blind mounting detail so no screws are seen. Charles has an idea to ‘float’ birch logs within the black firebox. After discussing various affects, Charles decides that he wants 3 stacked logs to levitate in the middle of the box with no visible connection to the box. He suggests fabricating a metal band anchored into the wall behind with 2 metal spikes projecting from the band to support the logs. The first log will slide onto the spikes through holes drilled into the log, and the second log will slide partially onto the spikes so they don’t penetrate the log. The third log will simply sit on top of the other two. The effect will be genius! What one would think is a fireplace that doesn’t function has become an artistic element, drawing reference to a fireplace executed in a rather magical artistic way. Everyone on the team is ‘wide-eyed’ at the concept and eager to see it assembled. Effects like these are typical of Charles’ work and really test the boundaries of perception, of gravity, and of convention.

The plaster ceiling installation continues throughout the week, as the design team scrambles to and from around the city visiting all of the antique stores and studios. A trip to Tribeca proves encouraging yet doesn’t leave the team with much direction. While many great things present themselves throughout the stylish stores and galleries, the precise genre of sleek new and vintage product we are targeting proves to be a narrow market.

The end of the week focuses on refining the scheme, continuing to shop chandeliers with utmost priority. Those will be important elements in the room, as they originate from a highly detailed ceiling and are meant to express in light the tailored and refined style the room embodies. While the best of John Salibello and Venfield prove to be strong possibilities, they are overly strong as statements of their own period rather than types possessing that malleable simplistic quality that a great pear of lampshades could augment!

That’s it! Lampshades!! One of Pavarini’s most important custom interior elements!! With that in mind, Charles continues to shop at Carlos de la Puente looking for a simple 1960’s era chandeliers that could be augmented with lampshades. (www.delapuenteantiques.com) After visiting 2 of the three stores on 60th St., he comes-across some which have tiers of glass ‘icicles’. The fixtures are so simple that they would have no connection with the ornate plaster ceiling. Perfect! Immediately Charles envisions them hanging them from huge lampshades with sparkling trimmings. Randall immediately calls Ed or Oriental Lampshade Co. on West 79th St. (www.orientallampshade.com ) to discuss the possibility. Ed explains that in order to produce the shades in time for installation, he would need the precise dimensions immediately so the frames could be made and leave enough time for the seamstresses to apply the fabric and trim. Given that something of this nature is completely hand-made and hand-sewn, the time it will take to produce the shades is 2 weeks, which leaves no time for deliberation.

The next day, Charles heads to the garment district looking for a wool bouclé and some ‘razzle-dazzle’ trimmings! He immediately finds the fabric at B&J Fabrics (www.bandjfabrics.com ) and an incredible acrylic chain trim and (www.mjtrim.com) to be applied to the top of the shade. Unfortunately, there is not sufficient stock and an inquiry must be made for additional yardage to the factory in Italy to see if they can send it overnight. The following day, we learn that the trim is unfortunately not in stock, and that a reselection must be made to keep the deadline. On Friday, Charles returns and selects another; this one is a flat tape with rows of faceted acrylic beads which turns out to be a better choice than the last! As is frequently with Interior Design, things happen for a reason; and it is because of this mystery that one should not invest too much content with an item before it is secured. There is no telling what may or may not be available!

On a trip around the house, Charles introduces himself to a painter who is working in another room in the house. Jonathan of America Painting comes into the room with Charles to review the geometric pattern and the ideas Charles has of painting a percentage of them to create further creative geometric interplays and color distribution in the room. Jonathan agrees to donate his labor to paint the ceiling. That detail will make create two enormous patterns to emerge from the complex geometrics of the ceiling design.

On Thursday, the team agrees upon the photograph to use above the sofa. The team has been in search of an awesome natural photograph that makes a statement about earth’s majesty and grandeur. It is decided that icebergs are the target for they are not only awesome and majestic, but the are cool and refreshing, very lounge-like, while they also make a somewhat ‘political’ statement about the planet and its volatility given ‘global warming’. After an exhausting search of all know photographs of icebergs, it is narrowed to the work of artist Camille Seaman and a photograph of one enormous iceberg projecting in an angular way from the icy sea. The image is sent to Duggal where it is decided to have the image enlarged to 5’x7’ and mounted behind clear plexi-glass.

Saturday is the day when the Venetian Plaster is scheduled to commence. Decorfin (www.decorfinusa.com ) sends-over three artists to begin the work. When they arrive, the installers for the Plaster ceiling are already busy at work. Unfortunately, nobody from Pavarini is present, and the Plaster ceiling installers send the artists away explaining that if they were to start, their work would be destroyed as the crown is installed around the edge of the soffits. Charles arrives about an hour later, planning to direct the artists. He is absolutely shocked to learn that they had been sent away! This room is never going to come-together if authority is taken from the project managers and left to other tradesmen to schedule! Absolutely enraged, Charles questions the Plaster Ceiling installer only to be met with antipathy and attitude! The heat increases as what was intended to be a discussion becomes a combative argument between Charles and the installer. The fear is that the Venetian Plaster will then have to be rushed at the last minute when electricians and other trades are fighting for ladders and floor space. With no option but to leave and keep the faith, Charles sets back out into the design market to finalize other details.

On a more positive note, we receive commitment of support from Bernd Goeckler. We are absolutely thrilled to be working with the famed dealer who has not been so open to lending pieces in the past. It just proves how important one’s reputation is in this business. You can have all the insurance and experience in the world, but to convince a dealer to lend extraordinary product depends on the exposure. Goeckler obviously perceives the level of exposure the room will generate and rationalizes the value of allowing us to showcase it.

March 30th-April 6th
Under Construction
The ‘Floating’ fireplace elevation has been completed and we are set to begin the tile installation on Monday Morning. Charles and Randall arrive on-site at 9:30am to discover that the installer is in the process of applying the wrong color tile. A quick call to Shelly Tile confirms that a mistake had been made in the warehouse and that there is plenty of stock in the in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Randall immediately begins packing-up the incorrect tile and plans to make the exchange immediately. He assures the installers he will be back within 90 minutes so that they can continue. Dubiously, they set-out for a long lunch and siesta, fully expecting to loose the day. Randall makes his way to Elizabeth, exchanges the tile, and heads straight to the showhouse with the tile, surprising everyone. The tile work begins and the design team is told that work should be complete by Wednesday.

The pressure is mounting over the installation schedule. Wednesday the flooring is to be delivered, and Thursday the one and only carpet installation is scheduled. Under no circumstances can that installation be postponed. That is the only opportunity, and currently, the room is still far from complete. The field of the plaster ceiling is mostly complete, but the tricky pierced crown moulding installation has yet to begin and is described to be the most challenging part. What must happen on Tuesday and Wednesday in order to make the carpet installation seems like an impossibility. The design team keeps the faith, and continues the search for finishing details such as accessories and art.

On Tuesday morning, Randall meets Fanuka at the house to install the wooden frame moulding around the entry doors. The room is buzzing with productivity. While the plaster installers knit the pierced crown moulding, the tile installers lay the final courses and the millworkers cut and fasten the frame. Everyone is pushing to work as quickly and efficiently as possible. By the end of the day, the frame is in, the ceiling is within a day of completion, and all of the tile is up.

Randall arrives at the showhouse on Wednesday morning to receive the carpet. It is utter chaos at the house with every designer and his trades pushing to finish all construction by the end of the week. Everyone is pressed to be room-ready by next Wednesday for Penelope Greene’s walk-though. She’s the editor of the New York Times House and Home Section who will be doing the article on the Kips Bay Showhouse. Winning her admiration is quite a feat, as there is no telling how she might put a spin on all that she sees. Everyone wants to be mentioned in the Times because of the enormous circulation; however, very often her subjective review leaves designers speechless over her insensitive and unrealistic perception of the house as a whole. Her article is more about entertaining readers than about providing a fair and balanced review of the house and all of the work which designers put into it. As the day pushes-on, Randall sizes up the mounting punchlist in order begin the carpet installation: fill all holes in wood frame with wood filler, prime the wood frame and all inner surfaces for Venetian Plaster, remove all debris from the room, clean-up all plaster dust and debris, break-down and remove all scaffolding, pick-up all masonite and temporarily remove from the room, remove paper from the floor, feather underside of the soffits at all joints. Randall calls-in a helper to speed-up the process. They work all afternoon and into the evening, scrambling to get the room ready. At 7pm, they are told to leave, and most of the work is complete. They agree to return at 6:30 am to remove all of the masonite and pick-up the paper to expose the floor.

At 6:30am, Charles, Randall, and the helper arrive. An entire stack of scaffolding has been mysteriously placed in the middle of the room. Randall frantically runs around the house trying to find the culprit. Meanwhile, Charles and the helper get things in order. Randall discovers that the electricians had left all of their scaffolding in the room because they had nowhere to put it with all of the designers working to rid their rooms of tools and supplies. As precious moments tick away, the team manages to get everything tidy, in spite of discovering that the vacuum will not even turn-on. Fortunately for them, the contractor had left a box of green sweeping compound, a great product for suppressing the dust while sweeping the floor.

The carpet installation goes like wildfire. By 2pm, the entire project is complete, much to everyone’s surprise. Randall immediately begins taping construction paper to the carpet and laying-down the sheets of masonite once again so that the scaffolding can be set-up and used for the decorative ceiling painting and lighting installation.

On Friday morning, the Venetian Plasterers show up to begin. They completely disapprove of the skim-coating on the underside of the soffits and being by immediately resurfacing them. Time is critical at this point. The walls still need another coat of Zolatone, and the Venetian Plaster still cannot begin until the surface is absolutely smooth. Most of the day is spent feathering the underside of the soffits and drying it with a hair-dryer, working as quickly as possible to make-up for lost time. Randall advises them to continue late on Saturday morning to allow All-Pro to spray another coat on the walls. By 10am, the 3rd coat of Zolatone is complete, but Charles still feels the walls need another coat. They still have an uneven hazing effect and show an obvious need for more paint. The Venetian Plaster work presses onward, yet they advise of the need to work all day Monday and Tuesday in order to complete. In order for CPDA to be room ready on Wednesday, the window treatments and furniture must be delivered and installed by Tuesday to allow enough time to decorate the space. Timing has become critical, and Randall nervously schedules Jonathan Kutzin to begin on Sunday hand-painting the geometric elements in two tones of violet while the Venetian Plasterers continue on the soffits and areas surrounding the entry.

By 2pm on Sunday, Randall begins to install ¾” metal studs on the ceiling at each joint in the ceiling pattern. This final ceiling detail is thought to be the ‘icing on the cake’ and the detail that will give the ceiling its decidedly unique effect. Randall installs some 288 studs by drilling a tiny whole at each location and inserting a stud with a bit of glue. By evening, the ceiling is totally complete, leaving only one more day to give the walls yet another coat of Zolatone and the ceiling another two coats of Venetian Plaster. Jonathan moves quickly from one rhombus to another, painting them in alternating shades of violet to create the geometric pattern magic to ‘punch’ the ceiling. Randall leaves at about 6pm, and Jonathan agrees to work as late as they will let him work, until the task is complete.

Monday, April 6th is supposed to be an installation day. Randall arrives at 7am in preparation for what probably will be the wildest day yet! The Venetian Plasterers arrive at 7:30am to finish their work. He struggles to explain to the Plasterers how the walls need another coat of Zolatone before they can begin. The painter shows-up about 8am and estimates at least 2-1/2 hours spray one last coat on the walls. When the spraying takes place, no one else can be in the room. The airborne paint could ruin fresh Venetian Plaster and makes it difficult for electricians to do their work with the ‘fog’ in the air and all of the equipment around the room. Randall asks them to sit-tight outside the room while the final coat is applied.

The electricians show-up about 9am to install the chandeliers and to hook-up all of the LED lighting. There’s one problem. We still do not have the chandeliers. Like clock-work, Randall gets a call from Celebrity Moving who is at Carlos de la Puente antiques trying to pick-up the chandeliers. They explain the challenge of transporting them as Carlos forbids them to be disassembled and reassembled due to their complexity. Carlos offers the name of his own mover who tells Randall he can immediately pick them up and bring them over in his van with no problem. There’s only one hitch: he wants $300 to do it! Without any time to spare, he the shipper send them over right away.

Charles is still looking for a sculpture and pedestal for the corner of the room behind the piano. He finds one from at Antiqarium Ltd. From Herculaneum that would be absolutely spectacular. The only problem is, it is worth over 1 million dollars and weighs over 800lbs! Suddenly, as if by fate, Charles gets an email from Lana Santorelli Gallery on 26th St. regarding an exhibition of a Robert Cannon sculpture. His work is fascinating : busts and torsos cast in concrete with moss growing out from all of the joints! Charles has his eyes on a massive male torso that has an enormous oval hole right through he middle of the belly! Charles contacts the gallery and gets a hold of the artist and talks to him about the exhibition. The artist is very excited to have the opportunity to participate in the show. The only challenge is the pedestal. It needs to be 4 feet off the ground in order to fit correctly in the space. Robert agrees to fabricate the pedestal out of wood immediately, and even offers to fit it with a self-watering pumping system to keep it irrigated! With that, Charles calls on the contractor Peter DiNatale to send some guys down to the gallery in the morning to help load it onto Robert’s truck and bring it up to the showhouse!

Phase IV
THE INSTALLATION

While the Plasterers are madly trying to complete their work to make room for the installation crew, Randall frantically cleans and removes whatever doesn’t need to remain in the room. At this point, we have installation mayhem. 1 of the scaffolds has Plasterers en route around the room applying the final coat, while another Plasterer follows with a ladder, buffing wax into the plaster. Another scaffold has the chandelier hanging from it, awaiting installation. On top of that scaffold are the custom lampshades that need to be attached to the chandeliers prior to installation. The 3rd scaffold has electricians moving along the soffits installing the LED's in the cove. There’s another electrician on the side of the fireplace installing LED’s there, and another on top of a ladder in the front of the fireplace installing the LED’s. It gets worse…

Anthony Lawrence-Belfair is scheduled to install the window treatments too. Their work with us is being filmed by Great Scott Productions for development of a PBS program on high-end interior design. While Randall is aware they plan to film while installing today, he cannot stop the Venetian Plasterers from completing their work. Furthermore, Jonathan was not able to work past 8pm last night, and he shows up around 10am wanting to finish the ceiling. As soon as he arrives, Randall has him paint the perimeter band of the soffits in a deep amethyst color to give separation between the white Venetian Plaster underneath the soffits and the silvery walls. Unfortunately, ALB cannot install until that section is painted; otherwise, it will be near impossible to paint above the drapery pole which is being mounted directly underneath.

Lana Lawrence shows-up with the camera crew ready to install and discovers that we are still at least 2 hours out from actually installing. The director looks at the producer and they begin talking amongst themselves. Randall waits in anticipation, worried about loosing the opportunity to shoot the installation. With that, the director decides it would be an excellent piece to have Randall explaining how the project is unprepared for the drapery installation and how important it is to record how things do not always go as planned with the level of high-end artistry and coordination that must take place. The producer wants to illustrate how working with artisans and with complex product can be time-consuming, subjective, and difficult to quantify in a schedule.

The crew hooks Randall up with a wireless microphone and begins to work the dialogue. After 5 or six takes, they have recorded a piece on the unexpected postponement and leave until we are ready for the drapery installation.

By mid afternoon, all of the Lighting is fully installed and the paint is dry. Anthony Lawrence-Belfair returns with the camera crew to film the installation. Everyone cleans-up and prepares for the deliveries which are expected at 9am on Tuesday.

On Tuesday morning, The movers show-up and begin to unload the truck. Fortunately it is not raining, because the entire sidewalk outside the building is crowded with our furniture awaiting entry. The designer of the entrance foyer, Christopher Maya, is having his chandeliers installed and there is no room to pass with furniture. The movers find other work to keep them busy within the house as the design team completely evacuates the room and all of the debris which had remained from the installation.

Randall meets with the moving supervisor about getting the Robert Cannon torso up the stairs and into the room. It weighs about 300lbs and requires some planning. Robert explains that the only way to do it is to move it on a hand truck one step at a time up the staircase. Robert had fabricated what appear to be some Egyptian-like ramps to roll the piece up onto the pedestal once it makes it to the room. The movers get it up into the room with ease, yet their testosterone still boils awaiting a ‘real’ challenge. They decide not to ramp the piece up to the pedestal, but for all six of them to physically lift it onto the pedestal. This is quite a sight! Charles aligns the pedestal in perfect position and steps aside as the 6 men huddle and ‘psyche’ themselves up to make the challenging maneuver. On the count of 3, the grunt and lift the piece into place! Bravo!

As the movers bring the pieces up into the room, the team clears the paper from the floor, revealing, for the first time, the color connections which they have been so carefully coordinating. This is the part that is really exciting for the designer. For the first time, Charles and his crew can see all that they have been planning with little swatches and snippets of fabrics and finishes. To see the Custom Curved Sofa with it’s embroidered alligator fabric sit against the Platinum metallic wall and on the taupe sisal carpeting really exciting for the first time, not to mention how it looks underneath the Karl Kemp Sconces and the Camille Seaman Iceberg, flanked by the two custom ‘Labyrinth’ Bookcases. The vignettes start to take form as the team directs the movers to locate all of the ‘New Contemporary’ elements Pavarini has been focusing his creative genius on producing.

As Charles works to unwrap arrange, he nods with confident assurance, knowing that this rooms will show the world what he has been thinking about and how he sees the next evolution of style in design. What Charles is branding the “New Contemporary” seeks to break convention in modern design by offering a more plush, more livable atmosphere: not stark or cold. That is the major difference in Pavarini’s new vision. While it is sleek and clean-lined, it is also very warm and complete. Comfort is critical to his vision. Each and every piece is designed to be a welcoming place to relax and reflect.
As I-Level professional art installation puts up the David Rockwell Cluster mirrors and the phenomenal textured Frank W. Wimberley Painting – “Lavinia, 1997”, the complete feeling of the room is presenting itself. An enveloping, mostly monochromatic, palette with subtle hints of amethyst in varying intensities provides a soothing backdrop for a complex interplay of prized original vintage pieces and the latest in fine furnishings on the market. The towering mother-of-pearl fireplace elevation pierces the ceiling framed in bright LED light which creates an illusion of levitation that gives significant architectural prominence to the room. Looking from one piece to another, there is a cohesion of style and form that looks very earnest and deliberate. Each Elevation stands on its own with grandeur and great artistry while the individual accessories and flora bring life and realism to the powerful design. The cast plaster ceiling and pierced plaster crown looms overhead with its complex geometrics and crisp nickel studs, ever so slowly changing from violet to pale teal to pale blue. These details best represent the grand showmanship of Charles Pavarini III’s aesthetic, and now it’s time for everyone to enjoy what promises to be a fantastic Kips Bay Showhouse, 37 years running!