My Interview with Carl Dellatore, Editor of ‘Interior Design Master Class’ from Rizzoli

Glenn Gissler - Blog - 2016 - IDMCCoverFN_HR-842x1024

I first met Carl Dellatore three years ago this month; after having followed his blog for some time I’d asked him to visit with me at my office to talk about the work he was doing around developing content strategies. We’ve been working together ever since.

At the time, in addition to working with designers and vendors on crafting digital presences that advance their brands, Carl expressed a wish to study design formally, but was challenged by how to go back to school at his age. I made the suggestion that he begin with Edith Wharton’s The Decoration of Houses first published in 1897 — still widely regarded as the first book to read when embarking on a career in interior decoration.

What follows is a Q&A that explains what happened next… (more…)

Melvin Dwork – An Honorable Man

I don’t recall when I first saw the interior design work of Melvin Dwork, it might have been in the 1970’s in Architectural Digest; his work had a big impact on me. I remember it to be current with both minimalist and ‘high-tech’ sensibilities, but it also included select antiques (and even some color) to create spare yet rich environments that were ‘his alone‘. Time and time again I would be drawn to his work…

(more…)

Lindsey Adelman: 10 Years (with love) and Counting!

Glenn Gissler - Blog - 2016 - sfw_risd_richardbarnes_1-1024x576

For creative people, inspiration can be found almost anywhere.

At the Rhode Island School of Design all students are required to look at nature, not just a passing glance but to REALLY LOOK, to understand what is at work on a structural level. This is encouraged in a magical place now called the Edna Lawrence Nature Lab.  Edna Lawrence founded the Nature lab in 1937, and it has served as inspiration for many, many generations of art and design students at RISD.

Glenn Gissler - Blog - 2016 - DSC04766-229x300
In discussions I had with fellow RISD alumnus and lighting designer Lindsey Adelman while mocking-up an enormous custom chandelier in a Greenwich Village home project, her profound connection to the innate understanding of structure, learned in the Nature Lab, became very clear to me.

Lindsey’s lighting designs are a wonderful combination of fine engineering and hand-craftsmanship, culminating in fixtures that have the essential structural characteristics found in nature.

But there’s more….

(more…)

Donald Kaufman on the Art and Science of Color, at the New York School of Interior Design

Last week my long time friend and sometime collaborator Donald Kaufman shared some of his knowledge about light, color, and materials to a nearly full house at the New York School of Interior Design.

To set the tone for the evening’s discussion, Donald showed this legendary film clip from the 1948 movie Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, in which Mrs. Blandings (Myrna Loy) describes in ephemeral terms the ‘exact’ paint colors she was looking for in her Connecticut home.

(more…)

Painting the Metropolitan Museum

Glenn Gissler - Blog - 2016 - FullSizeRender-008Selecting paint colors for a single room can be a real challenge, but can you imagine the process of selecting paint colors for the Met?

One of the largest museums in the world, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has an estimated two million square feet of space (yes, that’s two million) – so there are a LOT of walls to paint!

The legendary purveyors of fine paint, Farrow & Ball, hosted an early morning breakfast this week at the Metropolitan to launch some new colors. After breakfast our group had a private tour in a nearly-empty building that offered insights into the complex process of selecting paint colors at this outstanding museum.

(more…)

Winter Antique Show 2016 – New York City

Glenn Gissler - Blog - 2016 - FullSizeRender-007-tiffany-728x1024

The Winter Antiques Show in New York City is an extraordinary annual event, showcasing exemplary art and antique dealers and their wares. There are so many outstanding offerings to see, ogle and understand that it can can literally make one’s head spin!

Louis Comfort Tiffany‘s more architectural chandeliers hold great appeal to me; this amazing example from Macklowe Gallery is a showstopper. My friend, New York designer Alan Tanksley, told me that this fixture is “My NUMBER ONE, MOST COVETED item in the Winter Antiques Show. Its’ beauty haunts me…” 

(more…)