The Hamptons and Hickory Chair

In my speech on "Timeless Interiors" that I presented a few weeks ago, I mentioned two designers whose work I believe will stand the test of time. Those two designers are Mario Buatta and Mark Hampton, two of the best decorators this business has ever seen. I have already written much about the two in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

But not until the day before I gave my lecture did I realize how appropriate it was to include Mark Hampton in a speech presented in Hickory, North Carolina. As you probably know, Mark Hampton created a wonderful line of furniture in collaboration with Hickory Chair. In fact, it was my friend Will Merrill who, while working at Hickory Chair as Design Director, was responsible for bringing Mark Hampton to the venerable furniture maker back in the 1980s. I was fortunate enough to have been given a fantastic tour of Hickory Chair while up in North Carolina, and while I certainly appreciated their furniture before the tour, I have even greater respect for it now. How impressive to learn that almost all of the furniture is still made in America! While on my Hickory Chair tour, I saw how furniture designed by the likes of Thomas O'Brien, Mariette Himes Gomez, Suzanne Kasler, Mark Hampton, and Alexa Hampton are made. While Mark Hampton's line has been edited down to a smaller number of items, Alexa's line is filled with all kinds of wonderful chairs, tables, and casegood pieces.

So, in the spirit of timeless interiors, the Hamptons, and Hickory, North Carolina's own Hickory Chair, I thought I would highlight a few pieces from the Hamptons' collections and also show a few of them in situ. While I had a heck of a time trying to find Mark Hampton designed interiors where his Hickory Chair line was used, I was able to find some great photos of Alexa's work where Hickory Chair furniture does make appearances, including a photo of a room in which she used a writing table that was part of her father's collection.

Mark Hampton Collection:




Regency Bamboo Writing Table, part of Mark Hampton's collection for Hickory Chair. According to Will, the table was part of the very first collection that Hampton did for Hickory Chair. Alexa used the table in one of her projects, seen above.



Faux Bamboo Bench, which I have always loved.



Tufted Victorian Pouff. Only Mark Hampton could make Victorian look good.



Alexa Hampton's Collection:



Ash Cocktail Table





Nadine Chairside Table






Chris Set of Four Trays



And I couldn't find an interior photo where the Susannah Side Table was used, but I'm showing it anyway because I absolutely love this piece:

Susannah Side Table


Alexa Hampton interior photos from Alexa Hampton: The Language of Interior Design.

A Professorial Dream Team

A few weeks ago, I attended Alexa Hampton's presentation on her new book, Alexa Hampton: The Language of Interior Design, at ADAC. If you ever have the opportunity to hear Alexa speak, you MUST go! She has to be one of the best speakers in the design business. Not only did I learn a great deal about both the language and the process of design, but I was thoroughly entertained as well.

In fact, I was thinking about Alexa's talk over the weekend, and it occurred to me that Alexa would make a very good design teacher. Her lectures are the kind that hold your attention. You won't find yourself doing the drifting off/head snapping thing. If Alexa taught design classes, then I just might consider going back to school. Maybe I should even start my own college- The Peak of Chic University.

Who else would I like to see teach class at PoC U?




Adam Lewis, most definitely. I attended his lecture on Billy Baldwin last Fall, and he too is a terrific speaker. I would want Adam to teach a class on 20th century American design. After all, the man has written the definitive books on Van Day Truex, Albert Hadley, and Billy Baldwin, and we can't forget The Great Lady Decorators. I have a feeling that Adam would end up as my advisor as well.






Of course Charlotte Moss is absolutely qualified to lead a course on anything design related, but I would want to see her teaching a semester long seminar on "Women in Design History". This would be right up her alley- and mine, too. And seeing that she owns antiques once belonging to the greats like Madeleine Castaing and Nancy Lancaster, perhaps she might be convinced to lead the class on a field trip to her home to see the pieces firsthand.






Mitchell Owens would be allowed and encouraged to teach about anything that he wanted to because what doesn't he know about design history, 20th c. culture, and the arts? What about something like "Great Aesthetes of the Past"?






In my opinion, no study of interior design would be complete without a survey of the decorative arts. Who better to teach this than Florence de Dampierre? Course study might include such topics as Chairs, Painted Furniture, and of course, Walls.






Emily Evans Eerdmans would just have to be on staff! Emily has range, and, like me, she has an appreciation of the not quite so high-brow side to design history. With her knowledge and expertise, she should lecture on proper subjects like English Antiques, Country Piles, or maybe the Empire Style. But then she would have to teach an elective that was rather salacious like "John Woolf and his Woolf Pack". (Google it if you're not quite sure what that class would be about.)







And last but certainly not least, David Netto. Of course, his looks help (weren't those 8am college classes made just a bit easier when the professor was handsome?), but in case you're not reading the terrific new WSJ magazine, then you don't know just how much design history and knowledge is packed into that brain of his. He really knows his stuff. I also recently read somewhere that he is inspired by the 1930s (me too! me too!), so he would have to get first crack at teaching a class on that era. I also see him leading tutorials on hip Euro designers of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Do you think that might be too cool for school?

A Beauty of a Table

So what's today's "I want it. I need it. I have to have it."? Why, that would be a William Kent style table. A stretch, I know. I think that my desire for pleated lamp shades will be fulfilled long before that of a William Kent table. Still, one has to have those aspirational pieces on her wish list. After all, you gotta have something to work for.

So, who was William Kent and what did he have to do with tables? In a backward history lesson kind of way, that will be the focus of tomorrow's post. But in this post, I'll show a few examples of how these beauties are being used today.

See that photo at top? That's a William Kent table in the home of Oscar and Annette de la Renta. An elegant table for an elegant couple.



In the manner of William Kent, this eagle based console resides in the London home of Sue Stafford, former marketing director for David Hicks.



Alexa Hampton has this William Kent style table in her office.



I wonder if Alexa's table is the same one that her father, Mark Hampton, used at the Kips Bay Showhouse in 1997. Looks like it.



Mark Hampton also used a William Kent table in his Manhattan dining room.



Who could forget that Miles Redd used his William Kent style table to serve drinks?



A William Kent style table appears in another Redd project.



I'm not so sure about the red plush finish to this William Kent style console and mirror that was recently auctioned off at Christie's. That said, the carved eagle base is rather nice.

(Image #1: Vogue, 12/08, François Halard; #2 from House & Garden, October 2010, Sarah Hogan photographer; #3 from New York Social Diary, Jeff Hirsch photographer; #4 and #5 from Mark Hampton: An American Decorator by Duane Hampton; #6 from House & Garden, Paul Costello photographer; #6 from Elle Decor, Simon Upton photographer.)