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DesignDiary november | page 36 | 2010 Design Talk On Friday, November 18, there will be a bona fide design star in our midst: Jonathan Adler — mad potter turned author, furniture designer, needlepoint pillow stitcher and candle maker — will swing into Houston for a meet and greet chez Kuhl-Linscomb. Start the queue at 6 pm, when K-L fêtes the irreverent talent, who will sign copies of his two new tomes, Jonathan Adler on Happy Chic Colors and Jonathan Adler on Happy Chic Accessorizing (Sterling Innovation, $17.95), as well as all things Adler in store. To tide you over, Laurann Claridge chatted up the devilish design mind and queried him on color and accessorizing, then played a little game of word association. LC: In Jonathan Adler on Happy Chic Colors, you take us into your world of bright, color-hued rooms. Who are your color muses? JA: I'm in love with colors, and I have so many inspirations! In the book, I give major shout-outs to Gio Ponti's Hotel Parco dei Principi, which has the most gorgeous use of blue. And, of course, India is a fave when it comes to pink — and, really, where would we be without it? LC: For those who play it safe with color and pattern, how do you coax them out of their shell to live fearlessly with both? JA: Come into the light! Do not be afraid. You can start with painting or wallpapering one wall of a room — say, the wall behind your bed. Or start with a powder room or entry hall, a smaller space so as not to overwhelm. People who are afraid of color are afraid of life! Live a little. LC: Let's do a little word association. What's the very first thing you think of when I say: Minimalism — Dry Beige — Halston The 1970s — Studio 54 Tchotchkes — Exclamation marks for the home an aDler-eD sTaTe Our own Rob Brinkley — PaperCity's Dallas editor and a regular contributor to the super-chic Elle Decor — roams Houston in the November issue of Elle Decor. Brinkley spins a tip-top travelogue of some of Houston's best shops and restaurants, and illuminates lore about the city, too — everything from our burgeoning arts scene to our can't-miss architecture. What stores made the cut? Pick up Elle Decor's November issue (a New York foyer decorated by Miles Redd made the cover); Redd will be speaking at Decorative Center Houston on November 17. elle Decor HearTs HousTon Vicente Wolf, the designer much lauded for crafting elegant and livable environs, will sign his newest book, Lifting the Curtain on Design (The Monacelli Press, $50), at the Houston Design Center Monday, November 8, at 6 pm at Alkusari Stone Showroom (Suite 229). Wolf — who also photographed every frame in the book — will speak about his methods and process, with before- and-after pics revealing the stages and tricky decisions behind every aspect of a project. At the Houston Design Center, 7026 Old Katy Road. Reservations 713.528.1703; events@ theladaygroup.com. Laurann Claridge DESIGN VicenTe Wolf signs Tome C arol Piper now has quite a bit of room to stretch out: The effervescent redhead has doubled the size of her lauded West Gray showroom, Carol Piper Rugs, to house her ever- expanding line of broadloom and custom carpets, as well as the kind of stunning, one-of-a-kind rugs that designers snap up. After an exhaustive yearlong renovation by architect Stephanie Eugster and interior designer Pam Pierce, Piper celebrates with a grand reopening Tuesday, November 16, from 6 to 9 pm. The evening honors artist Randy Twaddle, who this month launches a collection of seven rugs, as well as a handmade tapestry he's designed exclusively for Carol Piper Rugs. It seems Twaddle, known for his large charcoal drawings, searched high and low for the perfect rug for his living room a couple of years back. Finally he approached the famed rug dealer about creating one of his very own. From one came seven, and a collaboration was born. 1809 W. Gray, 713.524.2442; carolpiperrugs.com. Laurann Claridge HeaDs Will roll Bits of Roman statuary lying about the lawn .... how divine. We would have Golden Boy half-in, half-out of the ground, looking a tad excavated. Each is unique, crafted in a Cathedral White fiberglass and stone cast mixture — a heraldic 24 by 24 by 30 inches. For indoors or out. $480, at Mecox. carol PiPer reDux, anD ranDy TWaDDle, Too Jenny Antill M iles Redd is launching his fabric collection for Oscar de la Renta Home with Lee Jofa and will be in Houston Wednesday, November 17, for Decorative Center Houston's Fall Market keynote address at 11 am, moderated by PaperCity's Holly Moore and Laurann Claridge. Designer Marjorie Skouras from L.A. and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston's curator of modern and contemporary decorative arts and design, Cindi Strauss, along with Redd, will debate "Fresh Design: Merging Art, Architecture and Design." To RSVP for the keynote address, e-mail klarson@ decorativecenter.com or call the marketing office at 713.961.9292, ext. 1320. Calling all anglophiles: You officially have a Houston stockist for Farrow & Ball, the English house paints famed for its heavily pigmented hues and depth of color, and evocative names like String, Skimming Stone, Book Room Red and Ointment Pink. Dennis Bracken, one of the four owners of Houston's Boxwood Interiors, tells us that they simply rang the lauded paint and paper maker and asked to carry the line in their newly expanded interiors shop. Boxwood now offers a slew of Farrow & Ball colors in gallons, quarts and even tiny test pots ($7 each). From a dead-flat finish to a gleaming high gloss, the all-green, VOC-free latex has 25 percent greater coverage than other paints. Best of all, if you need to order a shade Boxwood doesn't carry, shipments arrive weekly and include free shipping. As for Farrow & Ball's hand-printed papers, just place your order, and the lot is custom-made (never pulled from a warehouse) within two weeks. 3833 Dunlavy, 713.528.1501. Laurann Claridge PainT by numbers Miles Redd Vicente Wolf Jonathan Adler Randy Twaddle's Transformer rug