Texas Design Week Houston — Architect Peter Pennoyer, the Entertaining India Hicks and All Things Chinoiserie with Aldous Bertram
Architect Peter Pennoyer discusses his Czech Cubist-inspired masterpiece
Wednesday, April 27, 2022: 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Decorative Center Houston followed by a signing session with Schumacher
The Challenge: Design a sprawling estate and sculpture park for a contemporary art collector client in Hunting Valley, Ohio, with the intention that it be both a family home and ultimately bequeathed to the Cleveland Museum of Art. The twist? Take inspiration from Czech Cubism, also known as Cubo-Expressionism – a short-lived avant-garde design movement that peaked for less than five years in the early 1900s.
architect AD100 Pierre Pennoyer of New York architecture and design firm Peter Pennoyer Architects served as architect and designer for this extraordinary project, integrating 20th century furniture collections, decorative arts and a world-class collection of contemporary art, culminating in a sculpture park with 146 acres of reed-grasslands, orchards, forests and ravines designed by Hildebrand. Pennoyer’s resulting work—a domain built to showcase art that is itself a work of art—is chronicled in his book Rowdy Meadow: house, land, art (Vendome press).
With a foreword by World of Interiors editor Mitchell Owens and stunning four-season photography by Eric Piasecki, the book is like spinning a kaleidoscope, with each image illustrating how the geometric angles of the structure appear to expand, contract, refract and transform – a fascinating energy that comes to life within its majestic stone walls. An added delight is the extraordinary art collection with works by Damien Hirst, Walton Ford and Takashi Murakami, as well as the 150-acre garden with sculptures by Ai Weiwei, Richard Serra, Anish Kapoor, Sol Lewitt and six installations by Andy Goldsworthy. .
Pierre Pennoyer will deliver an illustrated lecture Wednesday April 2710 a.m. to Houston Decorating Centerfollowed by a reception and a book signing Schumacher exhibition room. This event is open to Decorative Center Houston Spring Market guests and Texas Design Week Houston ticket holders. TXDW ticket holders will have reserved seats for this Keynote.
Texas Design Week is a ticketed event. For more information, the full schedule for Texas Design Week Houston, and the link to purchase tickets, go to TexasDesignWeek.com.
Design royalty: India Hicks
Wednesday, April 27, 2022: 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at OKA
Of all the entertaining guides peppered with recipes and seasonal tables, the gatherings featured in India Hicks‘ book An entertaining story (Rizzoli) are the ones we would really like to attend. The hostess – as well as designer, entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, Bravo Superior design host and mother of five – showcases her slightly crazy spin on entertainment with breezy style and a sense of humor. The book begins with the most important meal of the day – cocktail hour – and moves on to the Panic Dinner, when you suddenly find yourself playing host, interspersed with memorable anecdotes about former party guests such than Mick Jagger.
Such gems are plentiful in Hicks, who was born in London and whose father was interior designer David Hicks and mother, Lady Pamela Hicks. Hicks is the granddaughter of Lord and Lady Mountbatten of Burma, first cousin of the Prince of Wales and was maid of honor to Lady Diana and Prince Charles. She has lived in the Bahamas for 26 years.
Bonus: Discover in preview the new collection of the British brand Hester Bly, for which India consults.
To meet India Hicks for cocktails as she discusses life in the Bahamas and growing up in Hicks, followed by a book signing Wednesday April 275:30 p.m. to OKA.
Texas Design Week is a ticketed event. For more information, the full schedule for Texas Design Week Houston, and the link to purchase tickets, go to TexasDesignWeek.com.
Dragons & Pagodes, a celebration of chinoiserie with historian Aldous Bertram
Friday, April 29, 2022: 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Found
Calling lovers of chinoiserie: a delicious art history lesson awaits you. The very charming instagrammed book of Aldous Bertram Dragons & Pagodas: a celebration of chinoiserie (The Vendome Press), is replete with his study of pagodas, follies, summer palaces, ornate plasterwork, painted wallpapers, and illustrated with delightful watercolors by Bertram’s own hand. With a doctorate from Trinity at the University of Cambridge on the historical influence of China on the design and architecture of English gardens, Bertram, who grew up in England visiting country estates, began his life artistic by building miniature houses for Harrods in London and painting murals in private homes. in Palm Beach working for designer Amanda Lindroth.
Cocktail with Aldous Bertram as he discusses all things Chinoiserie followed by a book signing friday april 296:30 p.m. to Found.
Texas Design Week is a ticketed event. For more information, the full Texas Design Week Houston schedule, and a link to purchase tickets, visit TexasDesignWeek.com.