Vicente Wolf Blog » Friends

Social Media Connections

Vicente — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:05:34 +0000

Again, for one who is ignorant about the byways and highways of social media, I think it’s interesting how people can use it to connet. It was so flattering that one of my Facebook friends made friends with someone else who is on my list and, because of this connection, will now be working together. It makes the world even smaller, doesn’t it?

Here’s the note I received from my Facebook friend, outlining the situation (I have changed names and other facts to keep it anonymous):

Hi Vicente!

I will make this short… You have opened the door to my life long dream of being in Interior Design…. Recently you have become virtual friends with “Jane Doe”. Something compelled me to click on her picture when I saw it on the minifeed. It turns out she is a known interior designer near the city where I live. So we met up for coffee this morning in town and she had a look at my portfolio and guess what??!!!!…we are going to be working together this Fall! Dreams come true as we also really clicked.

But YOU have made the magic happen!

So THANK YOU for being my friend… (No, i’m not listening to Lionel Ritchie as I’m typing this… lol)

ps: I love reading your blog and of course everything you do!

Cheers,

“Joanne”

I’m so happy I could help you meet a like-minded soul. Best wishes to the both of you.
To all the readers out there, if we are not yet Facebook Friends, please link your page to mine here.

Baby Moe

Vicente — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:33:19 +0000

I am sad, but happy, to say goodbye today to one of my designers Maureen McDermott, who is going on maternity leave. Even until the last day she’s been working on an installation. This despite her apparently already being dilated and ready to give birth any minute – we’ve been joking in the office that we’re all wearing white medical garments, ready to boil the tools needed for the delivery. She will be sorely missed around here because of her concern for others, her devotedness to her work and her all-round sweetness.

And by the way, it’s a boy! He’s head is aimed down and he’s ready for blastoff. Good luck Moe!

AD News

Vicente — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:33:03 +0000

On Thursday night I heard about the decision to bring on board Margaret Russell as the new editor-in-chief of Architectural Digest and I am just so excited for her!

On one hand, to me Elle Decor is so ‘Margaret Russell’, her style permeates the magazine. From the first day we met when she was design editor 16 years ago, I have admired and respected her integrity, point of view and creative energy and now she’ll be bringing all this to AD.

Such a prestigious magazine. But one that needs a fresh infusion from someone who is in touch with the present and able to bring great American design to a magazine that has been sorely missing it. And I could think of no one better than Margaret to do all of this. Hopefully whoever picks up the reigns at Elle Decor will be able to carry on the legacy of Margaret Russell. (And now hopefully many of the great designers who were once banned from published in AD will be able to flood the pages with wonderful work.)

Congratulations Margaret! And congratulations AD!

Lovely surprise!

Vicente — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 12:31:41 +0000

This morning I sat down with my breakfast and opened the latest Elle Decor – always one of my favorite indulgences – and received such a lovely surprise. (Disclaimer: My office Photoshopped the photo of Margaret and I into her editors page – the original features a great photo of her an Daniel Boulud.)

Preston & Theo’s place(s)

Vicente — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 12:25:29 +0000

I thought you’d enjoy a somewhat different view of my work today. Preston Bailey and his partner Theo Bleckmann had their apartments featured on Apartment Therapy this week (read the whole article here). I was lucky enough to be the one to help them bring their creative ideas to live in both apartments and the result is two spaces that really reflect the people that live (and work and play and entertain!) in them. Both have added their personal touch to the final design to truly reflect who they are.

What do you think? Quite a departure from my normal style, right?

Dara’s Design

Vicente — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:58:33 +0000

Photo: Trevor Tondro for The New York Times

I was delighted to see this story in the home section of the NY Times last Thursday on Dara Caponigro’s apartment for her parents in a new retirement home. Dara and her mom have proven that retirement villages need not be drab and dreary. This beautiful project is more proof of Dara’s incredible talent and great style.

For those who don’t yet know Dara, she’s the new Editor-in-Chief of Veranda magazine. Dara is a lady whose talent and great style in design has been admired within the industry for many years while she worked at House Beautiful, Elle Decor and as one of the founding editors at Domino. I’m lucky enough to also call her a friend.

I know we will be seeing great things in Veranda from her – I for one am expecting a really fresh, clean design point of view and cannot wait to see what she does with an already outstanding publication.

Dinner with Wendy

Vicente — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:01:44 +0000

Last night I was lucky enough to have Wendy Goodman of NY Magazine as my guest for dinner and we had a truly delightful evening. She came to my house for dinner – I always prefer dinner at home – and she got to meet Nene and all my hundreds of guppies. We stood out on the terrace and watched a beautiful sunset over the Hudson River and she talked about the new book that she’s about to publish on Gloria Vanderbilt.

The World of Gloria Vanderbilt is a pictorial biography that features portraits of Vanderbilt and her extraordinary homes, filled with original and influential decorating ideas, by photographic legends like Richard Avedon, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Inge Morath, Horst P. Horst, Francesco Scavullo, and Annie Leibovitz. Wendy worked with Gloria Vanderbilt and all captions are in first person and from how she describes it, it was a wonderful experience to spend this much time with such a legend.

We also spoke about the future of Architectural Digest now that Paige Rense is stepping down as editor-in-chief. Another topic we spent much time on is how so many young people in our industry are unaware of the great designers from 30 years ago like Billy Baldwin amd Angela Donghia and how little they are aware of the history of design and how those people helped to create where we are right now.

The time spent with Wendy flew by and I so look forward to our next one. Who knows what we’ll discuss then!

Nina Campbell

Vicente — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:43:59 +0000

I am fortunate to say that I have gotten a new friend. The grande dame of British design Nina Campbell was with me in South Africa. She was just the most delightful and charming, funny, unstuffy and unpretentious person. We shared that neither she nor I had formal training and we both have a certain travel and entrepreneurial streak. I know that we will be traveling together really soon. She was a blast! We talked about going to Scotland together and I’ve never been…maybe!

Mrs Blandings

Vicente — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 19:17:54 +0000

Happy to hear such positive feedback on Westweek! I know they filmed it and am trying to get my hands on a copy to share with you here. Some of the highlights of this week’s trip included having the chance to spend some time with Patricia Shakelford, aka Mrs Blandings, and I must say that she is just so charming.

It is amazing how she has been able to bring together so many people that are into design and how she uses her sense of style to not just pull stories from magazines to put on her blog, but to create copy from interviews or from spending time with designers and commenting on things that are happening in the industry. She really is helping connect people inside and out the design community and does it with such charm and passion. From her orange-blossom perfume to her long slender legs, she is a big prize. Mr Blandings is a lucky man!

I’m out at my house in Montauk this weekend, testing recipes for Easter lunch – rabbit, quiche and a ham. What will be on your table this easter?

Fabulous dinner

Vicente — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:46:09 +0000

On Monday night Preston Bailey hosted a dinner at my apartment (I was invited, of course). It’s always so nice being a host when you don’t know anybody and you don’t really have to do much. And this was like magic. His crew came in and set up the table for 20 people with the most extraordinary center pieces and attention to detail.

Again, proof to me of Preston’s great talent and his ability to transform a space. I’m sure you’ll agree.