Archive for February, 2009

C'est Inspiré is simply that - what is inspiring. Where the words end, images continue to speak. Seeing all that is around us, we seek some aspect of something that is life enhancing... something that you would like to be reminded of - to revisit. Something to capture and bring into your world, not leave behind... . That is why I take a camera everywhere; have spent countless hours organizing images in scrapbooks and pouring over them later to revisit the place, the people, the memory.

So, C'est Inspiré may be a single photo - or it may be 50, it may mean one thing to me, another to you - the meaning isn't important. Did it inspire? Did it make you smile? Did it bring back a pleasant memory? One or all of the above will do.

During a brief period of his life, the legendary art historian Bernard Berenson kept diaries where he wrote about how to see - and what he saw. These diaries were published under the title The Passionate Sightseer and edited by Raymund Mortimer.

Anyone, anywhere, anytime can be a passionate sightseer - just look.

CharactersInterior Design : Albert Hadley, a jet-setting Giraffe…and Kips Bay!

In Albert's illustrated thank you note to Charlotte: "My legs are too short! But I'm wearing them anyway - love you for them - A."

One of our favorite stories is the tale of Zarafa, a sweet & gentle giraffe who was captured in Africa, sailed across the Mediterranean, and walked on foot from the South of France to Paris, where she was given to King Charles X as a diplomatic gesture from the viceroy of Egypt.  She elicited crowds of onlookers along the way, and she still draws new fans who hear her incredible story…

Just after Charlotte finished reading Zarafa: A Giraffe’s True Story, she happened to be at a dinner party – and what better dinner conversation than this captivating (and jet-setting) creature?  Albert Hadley happened to be at her table, and the next day Charlotte sent him his own copy of the book.  Thus began the giraffe exchange!  Albert thanked her – first with an antique giraffe statue – to which Charlotte replied with a pair of his very own giraffe socks!  And in return she received a wonderful self-portrait of Albert wearing them!!

Clockwise from top left: Charlotte's giraffe statue from Albert; "Zarafa" by Charlotte for Brunschwig & Fils, cover of Zarafa: A Giraffe's True Story; needlepoint picture framed in Charlotte's office.

This year, the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club Showhouse will be honoring Albert Hadley…and we thought we’d start our showhouse series with this great story about how he, too, fell for Zarafa!

Check back for updates as Charlotte gears up for Kips Bay 2009.  In the meantime, you can order the DVD A Connoiseur’s Eye: Inside the 34th Annual Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club Decorator Showhouse for a private tour of the 2006 showhouse!

February 23, 2009

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