Sometimes Twitter is actually usefull, lol, so when I Tweeted NYC based doyenne of design Bunny Williams to see if she might answer 5 quick questions, and she said yes, I knew I would live to Tweet another day! Bunny is a mixmaster at heart, with the kind of verve and flair to confidently mix contemporary art with antiques and a jolt of unexpected colour. Her storied life in interior design includes writing books - An Affair With A House and Point of View are both bestsellers, soon to be joined by another book that'll hit shelves this Fall - and BeeLine Home, a just launched line of scrumptious furnishings inspired by her own furniture and collectibles.
Below you'll see the BeeLine Chicken Feather lamps (a personal fave of mine), plus an interior shot that gives a peek at more of BeeLine Home (you'll find the line at Celadon Collection in Montreal, and Ribbehege & Azevedo in Toronto). There's also a couple of snaps of Bunny's Kips Bay Show House space from last year and an entryway from Point of View. Click here to read more 5 quick questions! [Images 3, 4: House Beautiful]
Arren Williams: What's inspiring you right now?
Bunny Williams: Colour, I am increasingly drawn to beautiful colour. We have been living with a palette of neutrals and whites for sometime and I feel exhilarated by colour especially as a background on walls. I painted the walls of my Kips Bay Show House room a fabulous turquoise from Benjamin Moore called California Breeze, everyone who walked in was just dazzled by the space. I'm thinking too about brilliant yellow, and working that hue into a space soon.
AW: What drives me crazy?
BW: Bad scale and badly arranged furniture. Most rooms have furniture that is either too large or too small for the space. Good design is all about balance, harmony, and proportion. One needs to make sure the furnishings are in the proper scale for each space. a bad floor plan makes a room uncomfortable. If the furniture is arranged all around the edge of the room, there are no intimate seating groups. If there isn't a place to sit and read with good light next to it - how frustrating that is - if you have no table to put your coffee cup or drink on next to your seat, you'll end up balancing it all night.
AW: What's the next thing you're buying for your own house?
BW: Buying art from young contemporary artists and editing out some of my 19th century decorative pictures.
AW: How would you describe your look, and has it changed over the years?
BW: I have always strived to create beautiful, comfortable, useable rooms and that has not changed. What has changed is the addition of more contemporary furniture, and the paring down and simplifying the details. I'm into less "decoration" but I never want my rooms to lose the feeling of comfort and warmth.
AW: What's next on the horizon?
BW: I have so many things on the horizon that I am excited about this Spring. My BeeLine Home collection will be expanding to include several new pieces, as well as new lamps. I'm working on a tabletop collection that will include both china and linens, and I'm thinking about other areas of product design. I'm also just finishing a new book called "Scrapbook for Living" that will be published in the Fall.
In my design work I'm working on several projects that incorporate very sophisticated technology both in electronics as well as materials. These projects force me to stay on my toes and keep learning every second. I've just completed the installation of a hallway that has a staircase with a railing made of glass tubes. I love the challenge of solving my clients design problems in surprising ways!
