I was so excited to learn about this great new resource for finding inspirational books (although, it’s probably dangerous for me as I tend to hoard design books). It’s called Designers and Books. Right now I’m deep into one of my personal favorite creative person’s book list, the fabulous Cynthia Rowley. There are architects, fashion designers, interior designers, product designers, graphic designers, car designers…you get the idea. Every Tuesday another designer adds their personal book list. From there, you can create your own personal reading list and email it to yourself (be warned; if you clear your cookies, it will be lost. Upcoming technology on the site will provide password protected reading lists for users. Here’s a little peek at the clean and simple format of the site:

So far, Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi have created my favorite list.

If you’re like me, you noticed that there are not any landscape architects on the site yet. Do not fret. Lists from Michael Van Valkenburgh and Deborah Nevins’ lists are coming soon.

I recently received a copy of Light x Design: 20 Years of Lighting by Bentley Meeker. Meeker is a lighting designer. While he started at The Palladium during the Wubba Wubba Wubba era (if you get that reference you are as old as I am!), his focus today is on event design. Now here comes the part where I am embarrassed. As I looked through the different pictures of the events (many of which were planned by Preston Baily), it took me until my third perusal to realize a lot of them were taken of the very same spaces (at the same angle even). The lighting design had so transformed the spaces that I could did not even recognize them.  The other thing I appreciate about this book is that Meeker’s lighting highlights and transforms some of New York City’s most glorious interior spaces, from Gotham Hall to The Museum of Natural History (imagine the whale in shades of blue and green speckles). While Meeker and architecture are a great pair, you’d be amazed at what he can do with a tent as well.

Pardon my photography, which does not do the book’s photography justice; my scanner is on the fritz so I had to shoot the book with my camera. Not ideal.

• All photos from From Light X Design: 20 Years of Lighting by Bentley Meeker, © 2010, published by Glitterati Incorporated. www.Glitteratiincorporated.com

There will be no flickr faves today as I had the privilege of interviewing event designer extraordinaire David Stark this week and I wanted to post it posthaste (there is some kind of new, lame, blogging pun in there somewhere, between “post” and “posthaste” but I’m going to leave it alone). Also, one of you lucky readers will have the privilege of scoring his new book, David Stark Design FOR FREE! Just leave us an event planning story, tip, or just tell us a go-to item you find yourself using to decorate the table with again and again in the comments section to enter. If you can’t wait or if you don’t win, click here to purchase the book. We will choose a winner on Friday, May 7.

We’ve talked about David’s projects here before; I had picked a favorite awhile back (the Metropolitan Opera, bedecked in graphics from operas past), but after browsing his projects again I realize it’s impossible. I mean, how intimidating must it be to design the event for the anniversary of Cooper Hewitt’s National Design Awards? No sweat for David and his team.

Event for the Metropolitan Opera

So many of your ideas go beyond my wildest imagination – What’s the best piece of advice you can give someone on how to get inspired when they are planning their decor for a party?

Open up your mind to the world of material possibilities.  Flowers are my first love and the reason I got into this business in the first place, but flowers are simply one tool in the tool box.  Paint swatches from the hardware store, Post-it notes, number 2 pencils – anything really can be lassoed to become lovely touches to or an entire, breathtaking transformations of a space.

Please share a secret or two on how to set a striking table on a tiny budget.

I always say I would rather do one or two things perfectly than 25 things in a watered down way.  If I am buying flowers, instead of buying one bunch of three different species, I buy three bunches of the same species for more impact.   The supermarket holds a bounty of centerpiece ideas.  A line of green apples marching down the table is a centerpiece one night and a snack or pie the day after.  Pin a place card to a perfect apple at each place setting to create the “exclamation point at the end of the sentence!”

For this wedding in Maine, local flora was put to use. Trees that had been cut on the property were chopped into logs to create dramatic backdrops, and pinecones were put to work as placecard holders.

Our readers are very environmentally conscious. How can we stay green when decorating for an event that will only last a few hours?

The best start is by avoiding disposable silverware, plates, napkins, and cups.  I know it is EASIER to clean up by simply tossing, but it’s not that much extra work to wash your dishes.  For centerpieces, potted plants, especially this time of year, can begin as a centerpiece for your dining table.   The next morning,  plant your centerpiece in your garden to enjoy all summer long.

If you are crafty, you can turn your trash into treasure.  I have made all kinds of topiary and paper flowers out of our office paper waste, and in fact, we are creating a whole flower shop, called The (purley paper) Flower Shoppe to celebrate the launch of our new book at the west elm store on Broadway and 62nd Street.  The store is open to the public for two days only:  May 13^th and 14^th and is filled with all kinds of garden-y treasures that we have hand-made from the pages of old books.

So you ever feel creatively blocked? If so, how do you break through it?

I go  for a looong walk at Target. J

What is one of your favorite indulgences?

I am addicted to the gym and the trainers that keep me healthy and in my head and my heart.

Please share a favorite project with us and tell us a little bit about it.

Oh, I don’t have a favorite project!!!  That would be like singling out your favorite child!  But . . . I am particularly fond of a gala we designed for the Robin Hood Foundation a couple of years ago where we received a million dollars worth of donated items that the program recipients needed – food, clothing, shoes, alarm clocks, blankets, and so on.  We created radical and towering installations with these materials for the event, and then after, each item went to the people that needed it most.  100 percent charity, playing double duty as art, without any waste.  I like that.  A lot.

Yup, that is a cyclone of shoes!

Thank you so much for your time and all the inspiration I glean from you!

OMG!  It is my honor to be interviewed by you!  Thank YOU!

all images from davidstarkdesign.com

Lately I’ve been trying to make sense of Kelly Wearstler’s latest Bravura Modern designs. They seem to be in every magazine this month, as part of the promotion for her new book Hue. While they are way too much for me, when I deconstruct them, I can appreciate the pieces and what she’s getting at. Seeing how beautiful her line for SFERRA has helped me see this, as well as how much I love some of the wallpapers she’s designed. She gets a lot of her current inspiration from the 1980s. The eighties usually make me think of shoulder pads, Miami Vice, too many florals, chintz, and peach.

This week, I decided to take down an old book from my shelf, The Decorator by Florence de Dampierre. It’s fabulous. You’d never guess it was published in 1989, because the designs featured in it are so timeless and elegant. You can see how much the works of Sister Parish, Albert Hadley, David Hicks, Bunny Williams et. al. have influenced more classic designers like Michael S. Smith and Celerie Kemble today, as well as renegades like Wearstler. Here are just a few favorites from this must-have tome.

Mario Buatta mid-1970s bedroom. photographed by Richard Champion.

Garousle/Bonetti Design. photographs by Simon Kentish; sketch by Mattia Bonetti

2 preceding photos: Albert Hadley Design. Photographs by Antoine Bootz

Michael Krieger Design. Photograph by Antoine Bootz

Sandra Nunnerly Design for a Kip’s Bay Show House. Photograph by Grand Mudford

Does this one scream Jonathan Adler/Kelly Wearstler or what?

Betty Sherrill Design. Photograph by Grisby and Michael Dunn

Right now The Decorator is available used at amazon for under $5.00. Buy it! You won’t regret it! As for Hue, I haven’t previewed it yet, so I can’t recommend it, but I am heading over to pre-order it now and I’ll let you know.

first image via mirror mirror via Vogue.

One of the most inspiring books on my shelf is Mid-Century Modern by Bradley Quinn. Though I picked it up a few years ago (2004, about the time this blog began to come together), I pull it down again and again to admire the textiles, furniture, accessories and even the wood paneling. It’s just a perfect tome – this is one every modern library should have. Here is just a little schmear of proof:

Sultry Panton S-Chairs-OOHLALA!

A Killer Sputnick Light Fixture Adds a KAPOW!

This is such a great mix: The wide pine boards on the floor are so 1800′s New England, the room seems to have Georgian/Deco traditional detailing, the Persian rug is straight out of some Yale professor’s office, the light fixture and chairs are totally mid-c-modern and the biomorphic Paul Frankltable is totally stepping out into bravura modern – YOWZAH!

all photographs from Mid-Century Modern. Top photo by Verne Fotografie, second by unknown , third by Ray Main/Mainstream