Joe Nye
The design world has lost one of its great talents and he will be greatly missed not only in LA but throughout the world. I only knew of Joe Nye socially and through his work, but I always have adored him from afar.
I once paid him a visit at his office, on a summer morning. He met me at my car, looking dashing in his velvet smoking slippers, silver hair brushed back away from his rosy face, signature round horn rimmed glasses perched on his nose and that great grin spread wide across his face. He opened the door and held out a hand to help me out of my car. Such an elegant gentleman.
"Integrity, personality, and idiosyncrasy
will always be stylish."
"I love stuff. I want to come home to more. Being around a lot feels good to me." |
"My mantra is mixing humble with grand.
If everything in a house is at the same level of taste and importance,
it comes off looking like an upper-middle-class tract house."
" I recently contemplated doing my bedroom ceiling
with raffia wallpaper, but my friends all told me to "Stop decorating!"
................................................................
The West Hollywood Home of Courtney Haas, by Joe Nye:
an antique mahogany daybed is flanked by a pair of floor lamps from Downtown. Throw pillows covered in Pali from Manuel Canovas. Painting over daybed by Robert Frame. |
"She
owned a piece of porcelain that was bright turquoise and she said, 'I
really love this color, can it be the catalyst?' One thing led to
another and we came up with turquoise and raspberry pink, a combination
we both love."
"The
wallpaper in the powder room was an idea I stole from the decorator
Steven Gambrel — he had done that same thing with a book called Albertus
Seba's Cabinet of Natural Curiosities, where he took the book apart and
used the plates to paper a wall. Because my client is such a fashion
girl and we had a sad second bathroom to make pretty, I bought that
Taschen book called The Complete Costume History and I had my brilliant
master wallpaperer cut it up. We figured out the arrangement of the
plates on the floor first. I think it looks as good as an $1,800 roll of
de Gournay."
"This is an old decorator's rule, but it's important to remember:
For every piece of furniture with a solid base, including a skirt, you need to balance it with something leggy, more delicate."
walls are painted Benjamin Moore's November Skies. The bed is from West Elm and the bed linens are from Williams-Sonoma Home. The French settee came from Chapman Radcliff. Double-gourd pink bedside lamp was handmade by Christopher Spitzmiller, through Hollyhock. The lavishly patterned window shade fabric is Manuel Canovas's Bragance in taupe. |
"In
her very feminine bedroom, I used a beautiful 1920s copy of a Louis XVI
settee and we put a pretty serious Scalamandré raspberry silk damask on
there. I wanted to make the room girly without being silly."
"This job was really done on a budget. Her
mother and father had given her some fine antiques, like a French
Directoire daybed and a painted chinoiserie cabinet. But there's also
stuff from flea markets and Crate and Barrel. There's pedigree going on
with no pedigree. We did spend a lot on beautiful fabrics."
English handmade charger plates from Deborah Sears. Salad plates from Bardith, New York. Dinner plates are Antique Davenport from Hollyhock. Turquoise bowl from Evans & Gerst. |
"[What makes a room great is]
the last 10 percent.
People get the big stuff done
and they ignore the accessories."
Such a loss to our design world and to the world in general. He will forever remain one of my great sources of inspiration. Rest in Peace, Joe Nye.
All photo credits: House Beautiful
Comments
He was (and this is the highest compliment....(.I learned it from my divine mother9 "he was a "darling"! They are few and far between! He was indeed; "a darling"!
I adored him. And I did not tell him enough. This is the lesson!
We have to tell all people we love every single day! Joe was 57 (are you kidding? I am 66 .......it makes no difference....tomorrow could be my last day; your last day!)
Tell those you love how much you love them....make sure no stone is unturned!
Penelope