Paradise Garden: Georgia O’Keeffe’s Visions of Hawai’i on Display at NYBG for the 1st Time in NYC since 1940

What an epic story. Imagine thrilling plant explorations. Art - nearly 20 paintings not seen together in New York since their 1940 Debut. History. Exotic locale. Botany. Gardens. Endangered flora. Plus, a memorable denouement.

Georgia O’Keeffe may have spent only nine weeks immersed in the Hawaiian Islands in order to produce two images for a Hawaiian Pineapple Company promotional campaign - Dole - but it took many years to put together this extravaganza at The New York Botanical Garden, opening Saturday.

The New York Botanical Garden’s secret sauce for producing compelling, comprehensive events that celebrate the relationship and crossroads of fine art and nature (Kahlo, Manet & more) may have reached its zenith in the Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai‘i show that opens May 19th and runs through October 28th.


This show is worth at least a two-day exploration because there is so much to see and experience. Yet, while the show is outsize the experience is an intimate one. When you enter the Gallery to see the 20 framed paintings hanging there, it’s exciting to consider that this is the first time this little known body of work is even on display.
It’s a jewel box of botanic art.

At the press preview, we were told the show was most likely sparked by a November 2012 feature in The New York Times that detailed the story behind O’Keeffe’s unlikely sojourn to Hawaii and her artful plant paintings as a result of an equally unlikely commercial commission.

A more recent March feature in The New York Times that I well remember as provocative reading, could’ve only amplified the Garden’s resolve to showcase the urgent need to sustainably manage threatened and endangered species. The article reported that out of the 1,280 endangered animals and plants recognized by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, 557 are in Hawaii. Conservationists have called it the “extinction capital of the world”. The show highlights the importance of plants in Hawaiian culture and the threat the native species face today.

Visions of Hawai’i focuses on the iconic artist’s immersion in the Hawaiian Islands in 1939, evoking the Hawaiian gardens and landscapes that inspired O’Keeffe. And just as O’Keeffe often painted elements as she imagined or saw them -- adding in elements - so too does the NYBG team employ their artful botanical and horticultural expertise to present an extremely lush flower show; exquisitely curated in the Garden’s Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

 

The walk through the long borders of the Conservatory showcases the remarkable beauty and richness of Hawai‘i’s wild and cultivated flora.



The Hawaiian Paradise Garden is a “starting off or jumping off point” featuring plantings designed by the inimitable Francisca Coelho, former NYBG Vice President for Glasshouses and Exhibitions where she designed and installed the major flower exhibitions in the Conservatory. I believe this is Coelho’s first show since she “retired” from the Garden.

Her touch is evident throughout the exhibit.

The curated plant display is masterfully presented and inspired by O’Keeffes letters to her husband, world-famous photographer, Alfred Stieglitz, charting the chronology of her Hawaii adventure.



There are three flora presented in the show:

• Native Flora: of the more than 1,200 Native Hawaiian species, 90% are endangered and/or threatened 
• Canoe Plants: Cultivated plants that made their way to the archipelago more than 1,500 years ago by the Polynesians, including Bread Fruit, Cordyline, and sugar cane
• Modern Introductions: Plants that arrived with (white) settlers from the late 18th Century for agriculture and ornamentation. 

It’s interesting to learn that many of the plants had to be grown by NYBG, some were grown by others to the Garden’s specifications, while many more were loaned by other botanical gardens.



The colorful tropical garden plants on display there reflect those those Georgia O’Keeffe encountered and painted while in Hawai‘i including: ti plant, frangipani, bougainvillea, heliconia, hibiscus, bird-of-paradise, ginger, and many more tropical favorites.

Pineapple plant. Photo: courtesy Carolyn Campo

 



Coelho’s plant list contains more than 300 types of plants for the exhibition.

This is an inspired introduction to the profound importance of plants in Hawaiian culture.

During our overview, we watched the newly produced video for the show where Georgia writes to her husband how overwhelmed she is by the welcome necklace of flowers - the lei; she describes the astonishing presentation in fastidios floral detail.

Starting in June the outdoor Conservatory Courtyards will showcase a wide variety of Hawaiian plants in beautiful potted and ground-level trough displays.

Pineapples and bananas, among other favorites, will be on view in the Central Courtyard, while hundreds of hibiscus, as well as gardenia and bougainvillea, will fill the Hardy Courtyard - especially a variety of the Hawaiian state flower: Yellow Hibiscus, hibiscus brackenridgei.

Because the brackenridgei is so very imperiled and endangered it cannot be taken across state lines, so you will see the Chinese or “resort” hibiscus, according to Todd Forrest, Vice President, Arthur Ross Vice President for Horticulture and Living Collections.



The set pieces in the Conservatory are designed by Tony Award-winning scenic designer Scott Pask. Beyond the borders, planting beds arranged around an open-sided, thatched-roof pavilion inspired by a traditional Hawaiian hale designed by Pask, tell the story of the canoe plants—those useful plants brought to the Islands more than 1,000 years ago by Polynesian settlers.



Vignettes featuring native Hawaiian plants will teach visitors about modern efforts to preserve Hawai‘i’s imperiled flora, according to NYBG.



O’Keeffe wrote during her visit to Hawaii: “My idea of nature has not been beautiful enough.”
How sweet and authentic is that?

Her immersive works evoking the gardens and landscape of the Aloha state clearly mark her desire to honor and capture that distant beauty and her acclaimed “sense of place.”



Let’s see if I can break down the show into doable categories that will help make it easier to understand and visit because there’s just so much to take in at this epic show.

Botanical Art: In addition to the gardens and landscape art that evoke the spirit of Hawaii already noted, there are a series of outdoor sculptural art installations, designed by contemporary Hawaiian-Chinese sculptor Mark Chai, and fabricated to his exacting specifications in Brooklyn. Mr. Chai and his beautiful wife and manager Makana, were on-site at the preview.


Chai’s outdoor installations are inspired by the forms of the plants that O’Keeffe encountered while visiting Hawai‘i are on view in the Garden. The 13-foot stainless steel sculpture in the reflecting pool near the Leon Levy Visitor Center was inspired by the Heliconia plant.

In addition, the 12 wooden lanterns hanging and illuminated at night, along Garden Way, for evening events celebrate the Hawaiian canoe plants: Kukui (candlenut), Ulu (breadfruit), Ipu (gourd), Awaphuki (ginger), Ohi a ‘Ai (mountain apple), and Hala (screwpine).

O’Keeffe Fine Art: Because this is the first time these paintings are on view in New York -- not seen together here since their 1940 debut, this is a marked occasion for O’Keeffe enthusiasts. Her works depicting Hawaiian subjects garnered critical and popular attention when they were exhibited in 1940 at An American Place, the gallery of her husband, famed photographer Alfred E Stieglitz.

Entering the rotunda leading into the LuEsther T. Mertz Library Art Gallery there are four oversize images of some of her snapshots anchored on giant panels:

Seascapes, Sugar Cane Fields, a Morning Glory, and Lava.


There is also a digitized version of her sketchbook to indulge in.



All the works - 20 in total - were created in 1939 and include:

Heliconia:

Crab’s Claw Ginger (plant depicted is actually a “lobster claw” heliconia)

Pineapple Bud (both of which were used in the (Dole) Hawaiian Pineapple Company’s advertisements and which are held today in private collections.



Hibiscus with Plumeria (loaned by the Smithsonian American Art Museum); and a series of landscape paintings depicting Maui’s interior ‘Īao Valley and lava-studded shorelines (loaned by the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, and a private collector).

The exhibition spotlights a transformative experience in the legendary artist’s life, revealing O’Keeffe’s deeply felt impressions and the enduring influence of the Islands’ rugged topography, dramatic landscapes, and exotic plants.

You cannot miss these feminine, evocative, and really - never-before-seen paintings.




Working together with the Garden’s Curator, Joanna Groarke, the fine art gallery show was curated by art historian Theresa Papanikolas, Ph.D., Deputy Director of Art and Programs and Curator of European and American Art at the Honolulu Museum of Art, the exhibition features these 20 O’Keeffe depictions of Hawai‘i.

In addition, the Garden has published “Georgia O’Keeffe Visions of Hawai’i” landmark volume book, available now in the Shop or online. The fully illustrated exhibition catalog explores this little-known chapter in the artist’s career. It’s a an equally luscious introspective into not only O’Keeffe but the Hawaii of that period. It’s a hardcover coffee table book that beautifully contextualizes the exhibit and explores the pop culture of the time as it relates to Hawaii.



Visitors of all ages will learn about Hawai‘i through complementary events and programs, including a scholarly symposium, an original short film, a film series, and the Interactive Mobile Guide.

A brief backdrop -- In 1939, at the age of 51 (probably kind of “old” in those days), O’Keeffe traveled on the aforementioned commission to Hawai‘i to produce images for the Hawaiian Pineapple Company promotional campaign. Her nine weeks on O‘ahu, Maui, Kaua‘i, and the Big Island of Hawai‘i resulted in stunning depictions of mountains and waterfalls as well as her signature close-cropped views of flowers and plants she observed there.

“Many things are so beautiful they don’t seem real,” she wrote.

At the time of her trip, O’Keeffe was among the most famous artists in the United States, best known for her depictions of the stark landscape and desert flora of her beloved New Mexico.

In the video documentary, you see newspaper headlines of the time, heralding her arrival to Hawaii. We were told that she was whisked into the Island’s High Society, she took took to wearing mumus.
At one point, she was a guest of Willis Jennings on his Hana plantation, where his daughter Patricia took to driving around O’Keeffe. Along with her own motor excursions, the artist painted quickly; often working right in the car.

The curators pointed out the sense of immediacy, brush strokes and liveliness in the paintings.



NYBG offers a rare opportunity to view the O’Keeffe advertising images as seen in the “Woman’s Home Companion” magazine - an example of the many media where her ad art appeared.



Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai‘i explores this lesser-known chapter in her career, the enduring cultural impact of mid-century perceptions of Hawai‘i, and the natural history of the Hawaiian Islands—one of the most ecologically diverse places on Earth—hidden behind O’Keeffe’s depictions.

A Poetry Tour, organized in partnership with the Poetry Society of America, explores the relationship between nature and people in the Hawaiian Islands. The Tour highlights the work of contemporary poets in Hawai‘i, including former U.S. Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin.

Elsewhere in the Garden - in the Britton Rotunda, an original short film entitled “Off in the Far Away Somewhere: Georgia O’Keeffe’s Letters from Hawai‘i—narrated by Academy Award-nominee and NYBG Trustee Sigourney Weaver—features excerpts from O’Keeffe’s personal letters to her husband, famed photographer Alfred Stieglitz, written during her journey to and around the Hawaiian Islands.



The Britton Gallery features Flora Hawaiiensis: Plants of Hawai‘i, tracing the history of Hawai‘i’s flora, from unusual native plants, to those valued by the ancient Hawaiians, to the ornamental and agricultural plants O’Keeffe painted.



Displays showcase archival photos, illustrations, and letters from the LuEsther T. Mertz Library and specimens from the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium. The exhibit also highlights the work of current and former NYBG botanists in the Pacific Islands, including Collaborators in Hawaiian Botany, Drs. Otto and Isa Degener, who explored and documented the flora of Hawai‘i in their magnum opus, Flora Hawaiiensis (1932–80), and worked to conserve its ecology.

In the Ross Gallery, you can enjoy Georgia O’Keeffe’s Hawaiian Voyage, a display highlighting the artist’s journey from her departure at New York’s Grand Central Terminal through her nine-week island-hopping explorations of exotic flora and lush landscapes.

 




Food: Hawaiian-inspired food will be available for purchase in the Hudson Garden Grill and at STARR Events’ new Poke Truck, which will feature four different types of poke (including a Veggie Bowl), the trendy dish of marinated raw fish served over rice with Asian seasonings.

What, no Spam?

Public Programming Throughout the Garden during the exhibition, there is a rich program of performances, events, and activities for adults and children, celebrating the diverse cultural traditions of Hawai‘i past and present, as well as the beauty and variety of Hawai‘i’s flora.

During Aloha Nights, evening programs will spotlight the culture that captured Georgia O’Keeffe’s imagination. On select Celebrate Hawai‘i Weekends, NYBG, in collaboration with Hawai‘i Tourism United States, will feature performers, artists, and artisans from Hawai‘i, showcasing the time-honored traditions and unique cultural heritage of the Islands.

A scholarly symposium and a film series are also among the planned programming. 

In the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden (ECAG), a 12-acre indoor/outdoor educational facility, children and their families will be inspired to explore and observe nature—just as O’Keeffe did, and as many other artists and scientists do for their work. After walking through the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden entry arch featuring larger-than-life flowers and fruit painted in the O’Keeffe style, visitors will proceed along the main path to discover a child-sized model of the lava forms inspired by O’Keeffe’s painting Black Lava Bridge, Hāna Coast, No. 1 featured in Sun Central Plaza, with black sand representing the beach at the base of the structure for children to explore.

Families can participate in guided activities using real plants and plant parts such as pineapple bromeliads and banana palms to introduce cross-disciplinary activities on concepts of scale and perspective using scientific tools such as microscopes and hand lenses to look closely.

Children will then represent these close-up views of plant parts using watercolor paint on paper. Children will pot up a ginger rhizome, Zingiber officinale, to bring home a bit of the Hawaiian tropics to nurture and observe its growth.

A visually stunning Interactive Mobile Guide, available at nybg.org/mobile, complements the exhibition by transporting users to both the current Hawaiian landscape and back in time to the Hawai‘i that O’Keeffe visited in 1939. 

Features include multiple 360-degree videos of the plants and locations O’Keeffe observed and depicted in her work; personal accounts found in O’Keeffe’s handwritten letters; advanced location-aware technology that will help users engage with content automatically; and vintage photo frames that allow participants to create their own digital souvenirs and share on social media.

Celebrate Hawai‘i Weekends, Aloha Nights, Live Music and Hula, Lei-Making Demonstrations,
and More During Exhibition at NYBG

Georgia O’Keeffe and Hawai‘i: A Sense of Place
Symposium

Friday, May 18; 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Ross Hall

Moderated by curator Theresa Papanikolas, Ph.D., Deputy Director of Art and Programs and

Curator of European and American Art at the Honolulu Museum of Art, this distinguished

panel explores the importance of landscape as Georgia O’Keeffe’s creative refuge, inspiration,

and source of restorative power. The panelists are DeSoto Brown, Historian and Archivist,

Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu; Samuel M. ‘Ohukaniōhi‘a Gon III, Ph.D., Senior

Scientist and Cultural Advisor, Hawai‘i Nature Conservancy; and Carolyn Kastner, Ph.D.,

Curator, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe.

Members $25/Non-Members $29

Weekend Performances, Demonstrations, & Film

Saturdays & Sundays, May 19–October 28

Every weekend you’ll be whisked away to the Hawaiian Islands with performances, events,

and activities that celebrate the diverse cultural traditions of Hawai‘i. Enjoy hula, plein air

painting, or see how a traditional lei is made. Explore Hawaiian culture through our Hawai‘i

Past and Present Film Series.

Programs include:

Hula with Music; 12, 1, & 2 p.m.

For full schedule of performance groups, visit nybg.org

Oh - and that denouement? O’Keeffe sent the pineapple company two of her artworks upon returning to New York. The “Dole advertising executives were exasperated to learn that she had painted almost everything except pineapples, including papaya trees, heliconia plants and even fish hooks. So the company had a whole fresh pineapple couriered to her by seaplane, which she graciously did paint.”

Ahhh, the seductions and vagaries of the world according to plants.

Mark your schedule to visit this show. Many times. You’ll enjoy each and every artul discovery inspired by nature --- and the plants…

NYBG's Todd Forrest, Artist Mark Chai, NYBG's Gregory Long

 

Second Helpings: Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse Part II

B.A. Torrey "The After Party" at Kips Bay Decorator Show House

Did you say “More Please” after reading my Part 1 Sneak Peek for the Kips Bay Decorator ShowHouse?

The design compositions are so filled with compelling narratives - yes, there’s a story each designer imbues their composition with -- a kind of fantasy framework for the completed look and world-class designs - that it takes two or three posts to report on the show.

To pay homage to the talent and hard work that contribute to the Kips Bay Decorator Show House, here is the second course -- or chapter two -- of this full-course presentation. Or so many chapters of a design book. Am I mixing my metaphors here? Food and literature… Hmm. Well, while I’m on the book reference, if you simply cannot attend this stellar show, you can indulge with the 40 Years of Fabulous: The Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse.



But there is nothing like walking through the seven floors of dreamy designs and talking to the talented designers and creators of all this magic.

So picking up where I had to leave off in the previous sneak peek show coverage here we go. Because More is well, More!

The entry hall foyer is a welcoming yet opulent visual treat. Mirrored walls, striped upholstered benches and wood chests - is at once grand and intimate. The Michael Herold design here is a celebration of a space dedicated to transition.





The Poussin inspired 17th Century wallpaper by Iksel Decorative Arts adorns the walls with bucolic landscapes; amplified by the mirrors. The antique bachelor chests stand sentinel-like on either side of the room, further performing as a palette for objects d’art.

Keeping with this year’s trend of employing Art, Herold placed Joan Miro lithographs low, atop the chests for a modern juxtaposition to the classic look to create a marvelous sense of balance.

Too often underused, Roman shades (I had a devil of a time getting a seamstress to make mine) mark the two windows here with a Schumacher silk, cloud-patterned fabric that allows natural light in. I use my flower-bordered Roman shades as a kind of scrim - allowing light in yet one can see out to the garden just beyond…

Finally, Herold embellished the walls and ceiling with gold leaf fixtures to add layered depth.

A nice detail is the Jo Malone Lime Basil & Mandarin scent surround diffusers that added a sensual element to this room’s’ comings and goings. I love this brand of fragrances and their heady, natural botanicals - the Mimosa & Cardamom is one of my signature fragrances…

We walked downstairs next to the Juan Montoya Design. It’s an expansive living room with sweeping good looks.



The story here, according to Montoya is inspired by 1903 and the Wiener Werkstadt in Austria, with pieces dating to that era, and artwork done by Montoya. Montoya calls the space "Moonlight” with lots of different shaped items - furniture and modular coffee table pieces grouped together that reminded me of the wood stumps used for children’s storytelling.

Even the blue and white rugs are punctuated with egg-like shapes.

I liked the floating table that I first mistook for silver angels but then, upon closer inspection, discovered was silver crocodiles and their hapless victims (ergo the body parts). I love this kind of whimsical furniture piece.



There is a garden here just beyond French doors.




The severe rectangular space with no light is overcome with simple, clean lines, art, a wall of Tasmanian tree ferns to create a cool, neat-looking oasis with an assist from white table, chairs, and bar cart.



And Art.

Back upstairs on the entrance and “Garden Floor” we walked through the Dan Fink Design Studio Gallery Stair.



Out to the Nievera Williams Designed garden terrace as seen from the kitchen and sitting area. It’s like walking in a dream through the French doors onto the terrace...



Look at the balance and scale. Essentially, there are two garden “rooms” here punctuated by the similarly-patterned but different rugs; a dining table and sitting or lounging area perfect for a summer cocktail party. The design maximizes the rooftop garden’s L-shape to offer plentiful seating, flow, and of course, plants, including topiary. The green curly-cues and the antique aviary, in particular, tickle your fancy.

The umbrella is a trapezoid shape. I never got the answer as to whether it was customized or adapted. Regardless, I think you could make this from a square umbrella if you have a corner spot needing shade.

The landscape, designer, Nievera Williams, who I’ve had the great fortune to meet in person and get his autograph for my copy of his book, Forever Green” when he was a featured host at Pennoyer & Newman’s “What’s New, What’s Next” at the annual NY Design Center.

For the Kips Bay showhouse, Williams said he collaborated with Schumacher to “come upon their ‘Citrus Garden’ pattern originally designed by Josef Frank in 1947. ‘Citrus Garden’ complements was the inspiration for the garden design’s organic, ‘accidental’ design of the space.



The staircase. Ah yes, the staircase… In my experience covering the Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse, this space is a source of challenge and befuddlement but in the end - usually ends up almost stealing the show. Back in 2014, it was designer John Douglas Eason who wrapped us around his design pinky - while wrapping the walls with a sinuous design embrace.

This year proved no different. All were agog at designer Sasha Bikoff and her spiral sensation. Bikoff - in her vintage Courreges leather sky blue jacket



was beaming as she explained the concept for the fun, Memphis Milano-inspired look. She juxtaposed a “1980’s Miami design movement with the Old World European traditional architecture of the showhouse.” The one-two, sock-it-to-me power punch of zig-zags, polka dots, squiggles and triangles creates visual eye candy and a sense of movement as you traverse the stairwell. Bikoff added, “You just want to dance on the stairs.”

I saw what she was getting at.



Entering the Barbara Ostrom designed “Art and A La Carte” room is like gliding into elegance. The designer claims she decided to transform the room into “the vivid sense of color and excitement I felt when viewing a great painting.” Indeed.

Given my passion for the art of tablescaping, I especially loved this room. Here, there is art-plus: literary, fine art paintings, culinary art, and a dining space that according to Ostrom, …”encourages discussions on the latest in books, theater, and progressive ideas.” That’s dramatic sophistication. In addition, check out the rainbow-inspired ceiling. More design in that “fifth wall.” Don’t overlook this design element.

The Decorator Showhouse offered a number of stellar examples of a well-designed fifth wall that makes you “look up.”



I loved the saffron or Hermes-orange-hued room and table accessories: Hungarian Herend - dinnerware was exquisite - dazzling a resonant undertone of gold present in the lighting, the shimmer of the glossy walls, and the gold-rimmed Saint Louis glassware -- the oldest European maker.



I’m just crazy for the look of lucite and have been adding pieces to my own home design. Here, Ostrom uses the lucite in a way that juxtaposes the “ghost” lucite column against the traditional look of the room’s furnishings, topped by a cinnabar urn to to a brilliant finish!



Look at the detail in the window treatments both in terms of color and style. 

The inside roman shade is a gauzy crayon-colored lines and the long, floor-length drapes style the mandarin sherbert colored glossy walls. Lots of layered texture here. In the dining room and the sitting area of the library as well.

Grey is my new favorite color and it just swept me off my feet to see it paired up with the sherbert and cinnabar color here. Very unexpected and yet sophisticated.



Bravo!

The Brian del Toro designed bedroom could be my favorite -- its artful, layered composition is a tour-de force: compelling and enduring. And so livable. I didn’t want to leave. 

 It was explained that del Toro began his design with a great find: a hand-painted Robert Chowder screen from the 1960’s - adorned with birds and flowers - with a soft, pale green the takeaway color.

The room’s color scheme is that pale green, accented with taupes and pale pinks for a completely soothing sensation. See how the designer fluttered the bird motif from the classic screen to the bed linen pillows.



Textures reign! Consider shagreen chests of drawers, (designed by Alexander Lamont) -- the randomly-placed acrylic knobs glamorously reflect the light.

Innovations papered cork with gold accents on the fifth wall/ceiling,

linen-like fabric graphic walls from Quadrille, and the shimmery, silk curtain fabric are pure ball gowns - whispering the green, pink and neutrals of the room.



The designer employed an acrylic-legged dressing table for more of my favorite “ghost furniture” glamour - especially as it sits against an antiqued glass inset panel design by del Toro.



Details matter. To whit, del Toro extended the greens in the vestibule with a Farrow & Ball wallpaper - which he hung upside down -- “to create a naturalist reference back to the floral screen,” according to del Toro.



This is a very peaceful, restorative boudoir.

Branca -- Alessandra Branca - designed the master suite; recasting the room into a “sunshine” space. The lucite/plexi-glass and brass bed shimmers. American raffia grasscloth by Phillip Jeffries is a star of the mixed media here: the white wool carpet, an inlaid ivory cabinet and bench; lacquer,


and her cool as the ocean bed linens from the designers’ signature Casa Branca Collection for Sferra. I want these...



The sitting area incorporates that sunshine yellow with the cool-blue accented with the Tina Barney landscape photograph.

The “living wall” in the Marcia Tucker designed Master Bathroom bathroom is a lush eye-appealing retreat that is both bold, yet peaceful. The focal point of the sanctuary is from Magnaflora Design and Mauro Gomes is the floral designer. As a horticulturist, I’m often skeptical about the maintenance of this kind of envy-inducing green walls. The interior gardener putting the finishing touches on the wall, explained how it works and was quite positive on its durability; while agreeing that it does take maintenance -- which the company provides.

It sure is transporting to take a spa bath with a kind of jungle wall peeking next to you.



As a doyenne of cocktail culture, I really took to the Wet Bar, designed by Wesly Moon. There is in fact three “rooms” here: the Wet Bar, the Butler’s Pantry, and the Elevator Landing.




The Wet Bar is darkly glamorous - the lighting effect creates a kind of come-hither glow. The countertop and back wall are covered in a dark Belgian Bluestone.

The astonishing wallpaper was designed by Moon -- it’s a digital murals based inspired by the “medieval hymnals from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

The flower and leaf, textured Eglomise glasses are on full-frontal display and are works of art themselves, enhanced by the lighting.




Look up: the ceiling light fixture is also a work of art:

The Landing is highlighted by a kind of “sitting pod” - which is a contemporary bronze bench from Wexler Gallery.

The walls are gold paper in a customized de Gournay and the ceiling/fifth wall is covered in a bespoke paper by Holland & Sherry. I dare you to take your eyes off that Bill Cunningham big, feathered mirror the designer spied at Jonathan Burden



The top floor is a welcome surprise - and a complete retreat. A spa or as designer Pavarini describes it, a “Home Wellness Retreat for Mind, Body, and Spirit.”

I’m all in.



This design possesses so many elements: there are spaces for meditation, yoga, massage, relaxing. The color wheel is dialed up to cool greys and silver, along with gold.

And green - as seen in the outdoor/rooftop fountain and garden and cafe sitting area.



The indoor space envelops you in texture: glass, that reflective and glamorous lucite; metals -- there is a beaded curtain separating the massage table from a sitting area.







And a hammered sink, art, and crystal, all bring a sense of harmony and luxury to this extraordinary room. The subtle colored lighting illuminates the crystal wall insets.




One last nod to pure glamour -- the Drake/Anderson Master Sitting Room. Wowsy. Where to look first… The sexy, sinuous, saffron velvet sofa is a swoon-worthy place to start.




The custom Mathieu Lustrerie chandelier is heart-clutching.

And speaking of shimmering, even the walls are covered in a hand sewn beads and sequins by Ankasa on a Lelievre fabric that like an exotic dancer, wend their way along the upholstered walls. You can’t take your eyes away…

Except maybe to look at the asymmetrical cocktail tables in brass and tiger’s eye that accessorize the ochre colored sofa and walls.

And just when you think it can’t get any better, you walk - trance-like - to the room next to the sitting room only to discover a sophisticated, shimmering jewel-box of a bar.

This is something right out of the cinema.



The wrap-around is encased in smoke, gold, and clear mirrors.

The bar itself is designed by Drake/Anderson; a five-tier Murano glass chandelier hangs overhead and tall, ochre pouf bar stools, complete with kick plates - right above the showgirl fringe, anoint the bar.



Thank you, Kips Bay, for another superlative, inspiring show.

Be sure to stop by for a design retreat. You have till the end of the month to take it all in.

You can revisit, too as there really is so much to see. Tickets are available on site or go to the Kips Bay website.

Cheers to all that glamour and talent.