Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1366501
A bitare 18, which opens this month in Dallas Decorative Center, s h o w c a s e s o n e o f Italy's most prestigious contemporary furniture brands, Molteni&C, whose creative team in Milan designed the showroom. The 6,500-square-foot space is curated by Molten&C creative director Vincent Van Duysen and will show more of the brand's collections than any location to date. In addition to Molteni&C's furniture and accessory collections, Abitare 18 debuts the Dada kitchen collection designed by Giorgio Armani, along with Van Duysen's Gliss Master series of wardrobes and closets. Vignetted spaces, created with a residential feel, showcase licensed collections by international design stars Gio Ponti, Foster + Partners, Patricia Urquiola, and Rodolfo Dordoni. NEW AND NOTEWORTHY BLOSSOM AND BONE P re-COVID, Carol Piper and Sanaa Sahi traveled the world to find rare and unusual rugs and other textiles for Piper's eponymous Houston-based showroom. These days, much of the buying is done from their phones and the Internet via their network of dealers around the world, but business is booming, so Piper has met demand with a new 2,750-square-foot showroom in the Dallas Design District, managed by longtime team member John Corso. "We're constantly looking for collectible, artistic, or quirky rugs and textiles that are beautiful and well made," says Piper, who began sourcing rugs in the 1970s for friends, and studied weaving at Camden Art Institute in London. In addition to vintage and collectible rugs, the showroom carries custom rugs woven in luxurious materials such as mohair and cashmere. She and Sahi, who runs the Houston showroom, monitor global rug trends for new looks. "We're seeing a lot more color and more floral-designed rugs," Sahi says. One of their recent finds on display in the Dallas store is a stunning 1920s Oushak in soft spring colors, with classic Oushak designs. Piper has a soft spot for textiles, so the showroom also has a dedicated area for antique tapestries and vintage and rare textiles, some as old as the 17th century. Carol Piper Rugs, 1209 Slocum St., carolpiperrugs.com. Rebecca Sherman It's the first Abitare 18 showroom in Texas; Abitare 18's parent company is Mexico City-based Piso 18. Abitare 18, Dallas Decorative Center, 1617 Hi Line Dr., abitare18.com/dallas. Rebecca Sherman WHAT'S NEW UNDERFOOT Molteni&C at Abitare 18 Carol Piper, left, and Sanaa Sahi ART + DECORATION I n the galleries, we're obsessed with sculptural installations that reference faded beauty and the cycle of life, via works by Alicia Eggert at Liliana Bloch Gallery (through May 31) and Celia Eberle at Cris Worley Fine Arts (through May 8), respectively. Eggert takes flowers, which bear a fragment of text, as objects of contemplation to examine the fleeting hours. Eberle continues her intensely m e t i c u l o u s b o n e c a r v i n g , transforming a primal substance i n t o m e d i e v a l t o w e r s t h a t recall tales from the Dark Ages, conflating that time with our own. lilianablochgallery.com; crisworley. com. Catherine D. Anspon From top: Celia Eberle's City of Bones (detail), 2021, at Cris Worley Fine Arts Alicia Eggert's Alas, 2021, at Liliana Bloch Gallery COURTESY THE ARTIST AND CRIS WORLEY FINE ARTS. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND LILIANA BLOCH GALLERY.