Niermann Weeks and John Saladino are a Great Match for Savel Fabrics

John Saladino has been spreading his design genius around lately. Niermann Weeks held a party for him in our New York showroom to celebrate his newest fabric line, Saladino for Savel.  It’s a couture collection of exquisite fabrics in the subtle colors for which John is famous – grays, periwinkles, pinky browns – in mohair, silk velvet, linen, wide-width sheers, and subtle patterns.  For me, John’s palette soothes the soul, and the feel of his fabrics is as comfortingly soft as a baby’s skin.

Saladino for Savel at Niermann Weeks Showrooms

Niermann Weeks represents Savel’s line in both our DC and NY showrooms.  The mother/ daughter team of Sallie Hall and Andrea Elish for 20 years has combed the mills of Europe to present artisanal fabrics to an American audience.  John chose well when he chose Savel for his fabric collection. You can see a smattering of their range at the website www.savelinc.com

At our showroom fete for Saladino for Savel, John held a dialog with his audience about the impact of light, color, and texture in interiors, and how the interior nourishes the soul of its residents. After an hour of formal dialog, we all gathered around a late lunch to keep talking, although we did drag John and his assistant Jane Seamon into this photograph with me, Joe, and falls of John’s fabrics.  To enjoy more of John’s virtuosity, go to www.saladinostyle.com.

John Saladino, Jane Seamon, Eleanor McKay, & Joe Niermann at Niermann Week's NY Showroom

A week later we all gathered again in New York for the opening of Hearst magazines’ joint showhouse, Designer Visions: Cinema Style. On opening night, the exterior courtyard featured stills from the films that inspired Thom Filicia, Richard Mishaan, and John to do the interiors in the three adjoining townhouses. John repeated the image in a cozy study on the ground floor of his interior for Veranda, inspired by Girl With A  Pearl Earring.

Designer Visions: Cinema Style, Girl With A Pearl Earring

Guests packed opening night, just like peanut butter in a jar, but I managed to get some photos, but only of details.  New Yorkers must be starved for good design ideas, judging from how many of them attended this event.  Because of the throng I fought my way through John’s work, but completely missed the work of Thom Filicia and Richard Mishaan.  Sorry, gentlemen; I’m sure you did great jobs! Dear readers, you’ll just have to go see their townhouses for yourselves – open through the end of the year at the Soho Mews.

To create a pleasing stop to his living room, John hung his Savel fabric, Stonewash in Natural.   It did a good job in softening the sound and the feeling. The visual is soft but the power is strong.

Saladino for Savel

Savel’s Andrea  Elish was smiling as she enjoyed the fall of her fabric.  Standing next to her reminds me that I got my mother’s 5’2″ in height, not my father’s 6 feet.  In another life, maybe I’ll be taller.

Savel's Andrea Elish and Niermann Weeks' Eleanor McKay

My photos don’t do justice to John’s interiors.  His signature wall treatment. scratch coat plaster, adds depth, texture, and patina to several of his walls.  Joe and I plan to repaint our downstairs this winter, but I know I’m too impatient to prepare that texture on all our walls.

John Saladino Signature Wall Treatment

After John was interviewed by TV crews, this study was temporarily abandoned, allowing me a larger view of his design.  John is as height-challenged as I, so he left enough pillows on the sofa for people like us.  He also used iridescent silks on his pillows, reflecting a different color depending on how the light falls.  The lamp placement would let me happily sit and read, as long as a cat or small dog could join me.  The light glowing from the pillows, the lamp, in the painting, and off the walls, reminds me of the luminous quality of the pearl from Vermeer’s painting.  Finally, John’s romantic dinner setting for two seemed like an added blessing in this space.

Saladino's Romantic Dinner Setting for Two

As I pushed out of the study through the crowd, kind people parted long enough for me to snap these two tabletops.  Being married to a design freak, I can imagine the time, pain, and anguish invested in making these vignettes perfect.  The steps include: find the right objects, clean and place them so their patina is just so, find the right flowers, make sure the overall composition balances, add a hint of spontaneity, etc.

John Saladino

John Saladino

For more information about this showhouse, which is open through December 2009, please see www.designervisionsonline.com.  The magazines will also publish a story in several months on the project they sponsored:

• Thom Filicia for House Beautiful, based on the film The Big Chill
• Richard Mishaan for Town&Country,  based on Dinner at Eight
• John Saladino for Veranda, based on Girl With A  Pearl Earring

John Saladino is my friend and so my praise may not be trustworthy, please see this unsolicited praise of John’s work, reproduced from Things That Inspire,  posted on October 27, 2009.