Amy Lau: Urban Biomorphic

Interior designer Amy Lau spouts not only in-depth knowledge but also avid enthusiasm for her highly curated brand of interior design project—spaces acutely tailored to their occupants through couture furnishings, inventive palettes, and rare and exquisite artworks that either lie at the cutting edge of collectibility or rest stealthily at the heart of a genre awaiting discovery. Darting from one project to another and issuing taut directives, Lau radiates the sort of visionary energy her design heroes, Louis Comfort Tiffany and Mary Coulter, did. Like they, she takes a no-holds barred approach to design, rallying a team of expert craftsmen to imprint most every type of decorative art in almost every imaginable material with an artful sensibility worked out through a pain-staking collaborative process. Lau’s design is steeped in scholarship, in nature’s lush forms and hues, in the cloaked details of her clients’ lives, and in the sensitive perceptions of gallery owners and artists who devote themselves to breaking visual ground.

When she was recently commissioned by two businessmen to design the interiors of their 2500-square-foot apartment in New York’s Chelsea district, she characteristically turned to a canvas for inspiration. In this case, it was one that already belonged to the owners.

“They had a painting by Rex Ray and as soon as I saw it, the concept hit me. I knew they’d be interested in a playful, colorful, and sculptural interior with a biomorphic look.”

LIVING ROOM, VIEW OF SHELF UNIT AND TWO CHAIRS, RUG, SIDETABLE:

Part of a budding painting and glass collection the two owned, the Rex Ray artwork displays fluid biomorphic forms that suggested an interiors scheme rooted in contemporary and vintage biomorphism and a palette predominated by browns, yellows, greens. “The first thing I did was look into the artist,” recalls Lau, “and I found that he worked with Elson & Company to create a Tibetan hand-knotted rug.” The rug formed the basis for subsequent purchases that shared the freeform sensibility. An unattributed Scandinavian wall-hung shelving unit bought at Wright Auction, a biomorphic inlaid wood table by Nino Zoncada, and pair of sumptuous biomorphic chairs by George Nelson shape a secondary living room seating area that is as visually arresting as it is comfortable.

LIVING ROOM, SOFA AND SCONCES
The first furniture purchase was the living room’s Vladimir Kagan sofa. Working with textile designer Tara Chapas and A & M Collections, Lau created custom cotton-wool-linen-mix fabrics for this and the apartment’s other Kagan pieces in keeping with the original upholstery’s nubby texture. “Kagan’s partner was a fabric designer and I did this as an homage to him,” Lau explains. “I always take an archival approach.” Couture pillows developed with Judy Ross display a pattern derived from a section of the rug.
An avid aficionado of lighting and its ability to behave as art in a room, Lau created an artistic composition on the wall behind the sofa using 15 custom-colored David Weeks sconces from Ralph Pucci. “I had to put in 15 J-boxes and come up with an installation that would work around the wall studs,” she says. “Though it had to be designed over and over again, the ultimate effect is magical.” Each shade rotates to affect the interplay of light and shadow, forging an ever-changing tableau. Benjamin Moore’s “Honeydew” paint on the walls adds “a dewy-fresh feel to the space,” says Lau.

DINING ROOM:

A walnut dining table and six chairs designed by Vladimir Kagan in collaboration with Henry Dreyfuss and a Paul Lazlo walnut-and-lacquer cabinet hold court in the dining room. “I went crazy over the biomorphic pulls,” says Lau. The neutral-toned pieces, as commanding as works of sculpture, form the backdrop for a colorful collection of 1960s German Op ceramics with lava-like glazes. These play off the table’s mosaic sunburst insert and the burst-like patterns in a pair of low serving dishes created by the Higgins—a husband-and-wife glass-making team who were prolific in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Says Lau: “I found the vases in New York at various Pier shows and antiques shops and took them out on approval to see what would work.” She hung a contemporary painting comprising richly colored fractured circles to echo the round glass disks in the 1960s Mazzega chandelier. “The owners were already collecting glass; I just guided them in some new directions,” says Lau. “Since the adjacent kitchen is purposefully subdued, I wanted to install something very unusual for them that would make the dining table the focus and deliver a big pop.“

KITCHEN:

Stripped of all hardware, the kitchen is intended to showcase the luminescent glassworks that dot its surfaces just as a gallery would without sacrificing any of the functionality of a traditional galley. Lau partnered with architect Jacqueline Miro-Abreu to specify pale Corian countertops and backsplashes and sleek wood cabinets lacquered in the same Benjamin Moore “Honeydew” paint that appears elsewhere in the apartment. Topped with a lighted glass panel, the upper cabinets set a series of sheer vases created by glass artist Michael Anchin aglow. He also crafted the three pendant lamps, which Lau modeled after Massimo Vignelli’s cone-shaped versions. “Because no two mouth-blown pieces are alike, it was incredibly difficult to arrive at three lights with perfectly compatible forms and colors,” recalls Lau. Green custom leather seats on a trio of Bertoia wire stools blend beautifully with the tones in the owners’ vintage Scandinavian and Italian vases.

MASTER BEDROOM:

In the master bedroom, Lau took her design cues from the maple headboard’s vivid slumped glass inserts: She commissioned glass artist Michael Anchin to fashion the multi-hued pendant lamp that hangs over a Paul McCobb side table and asked Judy Ross to create hand-embroidered chain-stitched fabrics for the bed pillows and upholstery on a Robsjohn-Gibbings chair. “It’s a fabric version of a cowhide,” says Lau of the chair covering. “There are multiple pieces stitched together in patchwork style.” A Russell Wright floor lamp topped with a linen shade bridges the space between the chair and a Paul McCobb chest of drawers. The James Lecce artwork that hangs above is formed with poured resin, and, says Lau “evokes the look and feeling of glass in its pre-formed state.” The cool ice-blue hue of the bedroom walls highlights a grouping of white German Op ceramics.

Amy’s Decorati Favorites
IN-1 Container by Vessel USA Inc.	Outdoor Dining Ensemble by DESIGNLUSH	Tobias Wong On/Off Switch by Vivre	Strickland White Butterfly Photographs by Winter Works on Paper
T.A.E 1879 Oil Lamp by Vivre	Ox Lounge Chair by Dennis Miller Associates	Avalon Chair B by Niedermaier	TH-1 Planter by Vessel USA Inc.
Mary Pinto by Winter Works on Paper	AP-100 Pineapple Planter by Vessel USA Inc.	Tree Lamp, Ivory by Vaughan	Large Murano Glass Box by Vivre