“Portrait of a Lady” serves as the décor theme for a design showcase room.
A handmade silk scarf, purchased as a gift for a client, served as the inspiration for the stunningly detailed bedroom Chicago designer and architect Suzanne Lovell created for the annual Architectural Digest Home show in New York City.
“I adore textiles,” Ms. Lovell said during an impromptu interview, adding that the piece was purchased because “it looked like the lady.”
That metaphor carries through the “Portrait of a Lady” theme for the dramatic room, where the narrow coral, gray and white weaving was arrayed along the foot of the bed and the space also draped with linens and silks from Twill Textiles, a company co-founded by the designer with Sam Kasten, a prominent Massachusetts weaver.
A tour of the showcase room demonstrates the diverse mix of furniture styles, fabrics and art (from her personal collection) at Lovell’s command.
“My Mom was a docent at Winterthur so I was trained in furniture styles,” she said.
Lovell holds the distinction of being named to the AD100 Best list and shrugged off her formidable eclecticism as “typical” for her and merely a result of her interest in the “beauty of craft in art, design and photography.”
“The room was all put together, then I saw the rug” she said of the vibrantly colored, antique Malayer (from Orley and Shabahang Persian Carpets) one of several elements that contributes to the richness of the ensemble but might well carry another room on its own.
“Come in,” she said, inviting me under the rope for a closer look at the carpet as well as the intricate paper-wire “dress” sculptures suspended at each side of the bed. Reaching under a perfectly aligned pile of brochures, she whipped out a catalog of work by the Korean “dresses” artist Keysook Geum, and flipped through pages of other pieces by the artist she thought were especially good. Lovell could be nicknamed “Suzanne Lovely.”
When pressed as to why she thought of placing a large, square marble-topped low table at the foot of the bed – in the very spot a comfortable sofa is often found – her forthright answer came as no surprise.
“Books!” she declared. I love to live with books. They are how we experience the entire world.”
