Talking with Celerie Kemble

[Editors Note: We caught up with designer Celerie Kemble the week of Christmas at her family home in Palm Beach. Bob, too, was in Florida and, being long-time family friends of Celerie’s father and mother, designer Mimi Maddock McMakin, he was anxious to chat with the young, formidable designer about everything from working with clients to working with colors. The conversation also included kids’ rooms, showhouses and Ms. Kemble’s brand new book,Black and White (and a bit in between).And so begins. . . a conversation with designer Celerie Kemble.]

Bob Vila:Was your mom a big influence on you becoming a designer?

Celerie Kemble：Well, I think being lucky enough to grow up in a very personal and beautiful house made me aware, from an early age, of the kind of pleasure a well-designed home brings and how much it adds to a family’s sense of connectedness and identity. Even in high school and college, I realized how much I was drawn to design and how much work and thought went into creating something as special as the house I grew up in.

Bob Vila:What do you think you learned from your mom?

Celerie Kemble：I learned to respect craftsmanship and artistry, and that without great risk it’s hard to see a home become distinctive and special. She set a very high bar and I’m continually challenged to make everything that I do really dynamic. Through her I also learned how to look at a space or an empty room and envision it as a reflection of the homeowners.

Bob Vila:Is the hardest part of your job working with the client? Trying to figure out what’s right for them?

Celerie Kemble：我认为最困难的部分总是解释这一点，无论他们手头或他们的计划是什么资金，因为房屋的建设，建筑，成本和内部建造了很多妥协 - 妥协 - 妥协家庭动态。你很少为一个人设计。因此，不难以承担某人的优先事项，并试图以他们的最佳兴趣为态度。与您在沿途中的妥协和可能需要做出的妥协和挑战的同时，难以这样做。这一切都是关于导航妥协。

Bob Vila:我喜欢那个。。。'导航妥协。'所以如果这是最具挑战性的方面，那么最愉快的是什么？

Celerie Kemble：有一定的亲密和信任is required between a designer and client, and I think the enjoyable part, at least for me, is getting to know someone well enough to help realize their dreams. To be able to use the tools of my trade—color, fabric, pattern, furniture, and construction—to really change the entire disposition of an interior space.

Bob Vila:让我们谈起颜色。当我在七十年代签约时，我总是被问到使用颜色，即使我没有进行内部。我记得纽约的一位女士卖掉了地毯，他说地毯是房间的灵魂。但如果你没有地毯，你如何开始选择颜色的过程？

Celerie Kemble：I actually think your carpet lady wasn’t far off. For me, the soul of the room is in the fabrics or in the wallpaper, and I usually try to find one element that has at least 70% of the colors that I intend to incorporate into the room. It could be a piece of pottery, a beautiful dish, a painting, or a scrap of fabric or wallpaper; something that I can use in the room that links the majority of other disparate elements together. And, once you have that one thing—for your lady friend the carpet; for me the wallpaper or upholstery—then you have something to help keep everything cohesive.

Bob Vila:混合所有这些东西怎么样？是否有任何规则可以提供成功混合颜色和材料的最佳方式？

Celerie Kemble：I think that it’s important to know your base non-color so that your whites or your creams are pretty consistent throughout the space, and people forget that. They concentrate on a color, and they miss that the most cohesive element might be having all of your whites (for trim and molding) be the same. The next thing is to look at the value of each color. I don’t believe you have to limit the number of colors or that there are bad color combinations, but you do need to consider the hues, tones, and shades of the colors.

Bob Vila:You don’t think there is any such thing as a wrongcolor组合？

Celerie Kemble：好吧，我认为所有颜色都可以一起工作，但人们需要做的是务必改变强度和价值。如果你在一个房间里有五个强大的大胆颜色，那就才能感到挫折，沉重和黑暗。您需要一些具有略微不透明度，透明度，亮度，羽化量的颜色。

Bob Vila:有趣。

Celerie Kemble：If somebody were to take all of their pigments directly out of the tube and paint with every single color, it would look sort of childlike and heavy handed. But if you cut some of the colors—you know, water them down—the mix becomes more interesting. So, I think it’s about moderating the intensity of whatever colors you are using together so that there is some variety; something light, something heavy, something in the middle—two or three balancing parts. People always talk about color, but I think it’s more about balancing values and intensities to create variety in a room.

Bob Vila:Any thoughts on good color choices for specific rooms, like kitchens or bathrooms, for example?

Celerie Kemble：Well, I think kitchens and bathrooms is where white is just a good standby because those are your operating rooms. You want to be able to ensure cleanliness and keep them bright. Kitchens andbathrooms是您可能只想要一两种颜色的地方。当它被简化并且自然默认达到白色时，大多数人都会感到更清晰和空间。

Bob Vila:那个空间的大小是多少，这对颜色选择有任何影响？

Celerie Kemble：Size wouldn’t have impact on color for me unless I was planning to go really bold, and then the bigger it is the less likely I want to do something intense. For me, it would seem a little over-served.

Bob Vila:Any advice on paint finishes? When it is best to go with a flat or a gloss, an eggshell or super glossy finish?

Celerie Kemble：我一直在使用很多超级光泽，就像欧洲油漆的精美涂料一样，因为它们真的模仿了漆的效果。我倾向于使用那些更强烈的颜色，因为你真的可以通过光泽层看到深度良好的颜色。我一直在图书馆，入口大厅和餐厅的超级光彩。最近，几乎每个项目都有工作的，至少有一个房间，我们真的去了光泽。而且，我也把它放在一些房间的天花板上，以创造一点闪耀和反射的光线。一般来说，涂料的幽灵般的涂料越哑光我想要完成。

Bob Vila:Do you find that if you are going with those super gloss paints you sometimes have trouble with the quality of the sheetrock whether it’s the walls or the ceiling?

Celerie Kemble：总是这样。我的意思是每一个缺陷显示,这是为什么it’s really important to have an excellent skim coat. But, I’ve also learned that, even though contractors are really eager to use spray guns to achieve an auto-like finish, the solvent they add to the paint grays the shine. Even if it is applied with a really fine roller, if you get close enough you can still see the marks. So, I’ve resorted to having gloss finishes hand applied.

Bob Vila:When you say “hand applied” are you talking about a brush on?

Celerie Kemble：刷它，是的。这是昂贵的 - 并且涂料本身是昂贵的 - 但是当你使用真正好的东西时，效果使墙壁看起来永远湿润。我的意思是他们变得几乎是陶瓷。

Bob Vila:听起来很华丽。让我们谈谈在佛罗里达州在佛罗里达州在颜色调色板上的影响力，因为你现在叫纽约家？

Celerie Kemble：Well, I crave levity and cheer and in almost every design I work on I am much more concerned about things that will feel delightful rather than impressive. The feeling that when you enter a room you’ve had your thirst quenched as opposed to just making a statement.

Bob Vila:Yes, I follow that. And, do you still apply that kind of sensibility even if you’re working in a really formal Georgian interior?

Celerie Kemble：我做。我认为颜色真的没有出来。因此，只要您使用正确的材料，您有权使用它。它可以让一个地方感觉真的很新鲜。

Bob Vila:Let’s talk about kid’s rooms. You’ve got three now, are any of them sharing a room or how does that work?

Celerie Kemble：哦，我在同一个房间里有三个。

Bob Vila:Fabulous.

Celerie Kemble：我喜欢他们成长思考，他们是同一个POSSE的一部分。而且，在纽约生活在太空中如此紧张，我宁愿让孩子们凝聚，并有更多的生活空间。他们的卧室适合睡觉，早上穿衣服。

Bob Vila:你也在房间里放置中立吗？

Celerie Kemble：Actually, my children’s bedroom is a bright Granny Smith apple green with faux leather upholstered walls and a navy rug. Everything in the room is navy, apple green, or white, and—with their toys and books adding more primary colors—it all kind of plays off that strong color sense. I avoided the pastels because they are going to have to live with it for the next five years or so, and I wanted it to be exciting and stimulating.

Bob Vila:有趣。

Celerie Kemble：为儿童装饰时最重要的是效用和耐用性。我寻找像人造皮革等材料，或者真正的白人和可以被覆盖，洗涤和漂白的东西。

Bob Vila:And what about wall finishes? Would you go with the semi-glosses or eggshells?

Celerie Kemble：Probably an eggshell on the walls with semi-gloss on the trim for kids room. Or, I would do vinyl wallpaper which I know some people think sounds bad, but there are some really beautiful ones in the marketplace now.

Bob Vila:And, they are washable, and durable, and all of that.

Celerie Kemble：Exactly, just pretty much wipe them down.

Bob Vila:Let’s talk about your new book,“Black and White (and a bit in between)”。Why do you feel that the combination of black and white gives you so much opportunity in terms of decorating?

Celerie Kemble：思考为什么黑白背包仍然是如此经典的乐趣。没有人似乎厌倦了它。这是一种易于适应的配色方案;您可以随时间添加或减去它，仍然保持一切凝聚力。它在市场上很容易获得，来自像箱子和桶，陶器谷仓和埃兰艾伦的主要零售商，到精品和定制商店。而且，如果你有一个黑色和白色的事情，那么无论是黑色和白色都真的真的得到突出的 - 镀金饰面，古董镜，木质色调和颜色的流行。而且，我认为黑白可以是一个令人耳目一新的世界，这是一种如此装满产品和狂热的世界。黑色和白色只提供更多呼吸空间和更多的装饰自由。

Bob Vila:My absolute favorite design element of our house here in Florida is the black and white marble floor in the lounge, which you know is the heart of this house.

Celerie Kemble：而且，它的一切都很顺利，对吧？我并不是为了建议人们出去，并在黑白中完成整个房子，但它是一个有趣的范式，以考虑到一个或两个房间的选择。

Bob Vila:What was it like to design the Kips Bay Show House? Is there more pressure working on a showhouse than one for a client?

Celerie Kemble：这是一个完全不同的压力，因为在一天结束时，我是写作支票和兑现的人，乞讨和借用并在六周的时间表中完成项目。

Bob Vila:That must be intense.

Celerie Kemble：It’s insane, and the idea that people are just going to be scrutinizing it adds even more pressure. There’s also having to work with what’s available, including donations, within that timeline—so it’s sort of like cooking with what’s in your refrigerator.

Bob Vila:Right.

Celerie Kemble：There’s also the pressure of wanting to show great creativity because this is the one chance where you can test the limits of your design. A lot of different priorities get shelved into one little room, and with thirty designers traipsing in and out, all of them pulling their hair out and crying daily, you can imagine the tension. For Kips Bay, I was able to work with a material that I’ve never been able to install in any of my client’s houses—eglomise, a reverse painting on glass with precious metals, that I used as the entire ceiling in a library.

Bob Vila:Wow!

Celerie Kemble：We installed roughly17“x 17”方块创造一个镜面上限，揭示了在24张Karat钯叶中涂上的天空，水和树木的闪闪发光的背景。涂上它并伸出它是一种非常努力的努力，但整个房间因为从大落地窗户反射的光线而闪闪发光。天花板改变了房间，成为一个黑暗的图书馆到沐浴在阳光上反射的房间。

Bob Vila:Now, you are evoking a Palazzo on the Grand Canal in the middle of the day and having the sunlight and the water kind of enter the room.

Celerie Kemble：正是，这是壮观的效果。我必须与Miriam Ellner一起工作，我认为可能是美国的Premier Verre Eglomise艺术家。而且，你知道它是否不适用于展示房屋，我无法将这样的大委员会拉到一起或推动这种水平的极限。Miriam和我在一起工作了很棒，我现在能够与我的客户在几个项目中与她一起，因为他们看到了如果你真的有镜子会发生什么。

Bob Vila:I’m assuming the ceiling remains when the show house closes.

Celerie Kemble：不，我们不得不把它击倒。

Bob Vila:哦，你做到了。你至少能挽救吗？

Celerie Kemble：No, there was nothing that could be salvaged. It was kind of jackhammered into a gazillion little pieces. We all kept shards for souvenirs.