For this 2017 Kips Bay Decorator Show House, we conjured a fictional narrative about a woman who had suffered much tragedy in her life, now living in an attic room of a once-grand townhouse that had fallen into disrepair after its conversion to an SRO. Her gay cohort had sought to uplift her with decoration, spinning her last remaining bits of finery—a Serge Roche mirrored console, an antique Khotan rug—into a joyful bazaar of color and pattern. Old books, vinyl records, and a hodgepodge of artworks hint at the glories of the occupant’s past life, not as memento mori but as memento vivere. Ultimately, this is a story about beauty that transcends pain and loss.
