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March 2016 - Dallas

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DECORATION A PERFECT PALETTE CULTURAL REVOLUTION W hen Rupal Dalal launched her sleek collection of mother-of-pearl furniture during a party at Art of Old India, her family's showroom on Dragon Street, nine pieces sold within minutes. Clearly, there was a market for them. Handmade by artisans in India, her furniture merges ancient techniques and traditional materials for a fresh look. "I was always drawn to the antique mother- of-pearl furniture in the showroom," says Rupal, who joined the family business in 2011 after earning an MBA in finance from Southern Methodist University. "I wanted to design something that would go with any decor and wouldn't go out of style." Her father, Pankaj Dalal, opened Art of Old India in 1974, and the two now run the 20,000-square-foot showroom together. (Her mother, Jayshree Dalal, a jewelry designer whose fine, gold and diamond pieces are sold through Stanley Korshak, shows her semiprecious jewelry and clothing collection at Art of Old India.) To showcase Rupal's 20-piece collection of mirrors, accessories and side, coffee and console tables, the showroom's front room received an all- white makeover. Interior designer Neal Stewart mixed Rupal's new generation of furniture with the showroom's inventory of antiques. This stunning iteration of the old-world space has mother-of-pearl doors; glass fixtures; ornate, hand-carved teak sofa and coordinating chairs; architectural columns; inlaid chests; and jeweled brass lanterns. Art of Old India, 1030 Dragon St., 214.760.9216, artofoldindia.com. Rebecca Sherman R ichard "Dick" Bass, who died in July 2015 at the age of 85, was renowned for his business savvy as an oilman and rancher, but his worldly hobbies — international mountaineering, specifically — are what garnered him unexpected fame. He was the first man on record to climb all Seven Summits, the tallest mountains on each continent including Mount Everest. He also financed Utah's Snowbird ski resort in 1971. Friends and family say it was during those adventures that Bass developed an intense love for beautiful objects, ranging from French and British works created during the Napoleonic Wars to antiques discovered on travels to Nepal, Japan, Thailand and Hong Kong. On Wednesday, March 30, an unprecedented 146 pieces from Bass' diverse estate go up for bid during the Living With Art sale at Christie's in New York. Biddable items include Old Masters, Impressionist, British and 19th- century paintings; 18th-century English furniture; and works of Chinese art. Information christies.com. Christina Geyer At a tidy 800 square feet, Curated by Kristin Mullen packs a lot of style between its French faux bois walls. What makes this newest addition to Snider Plaza's lineup of home design shops a standout is the targeted and talented eye of owner and interior designer Kristin Mullen. She sources from antique dealers across the country, with whom she's fostered relationships since launching her Dallas- based design business 15 years ago. Her design acumen was honed from decades of living abroad with her investment-banker husband in Tokyo and London, as well as in New York. "What I culled from living in the Far East is the sense of less is more," says Mullen, who became a master of ikebana THE EYE HAS IT Farrow & Ball paints Choosing paint colors is the Achilles heel of even the most seasoned deco- rator. Not only are the options endless, but even tried-and-true hues look different in every space. That's why many interior designers are obsessed with Farrow & Ball, whose palette is refreshingly restrained to 132 colors, each one creatively and aptly named — for example, Railings, Mouse's Back, Borrowed Light, Elephant's Breath and Manor House Gray. Made in Dorset, England, Farrow & Ball com- bines high levels of pigments and rich resin binders with key ingredients for a superior finish. Every few years, the company retires nine colors and intro- duces nine new ones. Among the latest, we love Drop Cloth (the precise shade of the painter's dust sheet), Shadow White (white with a dash of shade) and Peignoir (a dusty gray-pink inspired by chiffon nightgowns). At Artifkt, 2026 N. Henderson, 214.281.8834. Anne Lee Phillips Rupal Dalal Art of Old India co-owner Rupal Dalal's mother-of-pearl table designs, mixed with antique and vintage doors, lighting and architectural elements RACHAEL WISE RACHAEL WISE RACHAEL WISE at age 24. "You can only appreciate an object when it has breathing space." That aesthetic spills into her decoration of rooms and how she advises her customers, although her focus has now turned more to Swedish and French antiques. "There may be a lot of showstoppers in my store, but I always tell people a room should only have one star," she says. "Every other piece plays a supporting role." Bit parts are important, however — and Mullen's store is full of examples. There are abstract paintings mounted in antique frames; small collections of 19th-century books; antique bottles, including some in sumptuous violet hues ($35 and up); mounted architectural fragments; botanicals; antique candlesticks; custom Lucite boxes decorated with antique Tole leaves and filled with woodland elements ($175); exquisitely hued quail and duck eggs ($5 each); and vintage flower pots. Jaw-droppers include a rare eight-foot Swedish dining table, circa 1830, that cleverly disassembles into multiple smaller tables ($16,250) and a late-18th-century Swedish grandfather clock in its original faded gray and crackled patina by renowned clockmaker Sven Nilsson Morin ($12,600). Mullens is also a retail resource for trade-only fabrics from Manuel Canovas, Lee Jofa, Miles Redd for Schumacher and Mary McDonald for Schumacher, which she can whip into pillows or upholstery. Curated by Kristin Mullen, 6725 Snider Plaza, 469.930.9811, curatedbykristin.com. Rebecca Sherman TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

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