It’s hard to believe another year is ending! The past 12 months have been a whirlwind of rewarding projects for our design firm. Looking back on what we accomplished, I feel so grateful for the trust of my clients, the dedication of my team, and the support of my family and friends. I can’t wait to see what 2017 has in store!
Here’s a look back at some of our professional highlights of 2016. Many thanks and a very happy new year!
January 2016: CTC&G — Gorgeous Georgian
April 2016: Serendipity Feature & Design Market Honoree
May 2016: AtHome Magazine — Take a Seat
May 2016: Meet the Design Market Digest 2016 Honorees
June 2016: Serendipity: Women in Business
July 2016: The Local Vault: Interview with Amy Hirsch
This collection is an eclectic mix of beautiful living room items, all available for purchase through The Local Vault.
It’s been a year since my family and I sold our charming 1940’s center hall colonial, a home and life full of so many rich memories. It’s time for a new start and we are about to begin our journey. While collaborating with The Local Vault recently, I considered what to do with the trove of items from our house. They are great pieces and served a wonderful role in my family’s life, but like anyone I want to shed some of the old and start new. What to do with them? Well, sell them of course! One thing many people do not know about me is that I am not sentimental about certain things, especially once I have enjoyed them. I can easily let go and move on after they served a purpose and I have grown from their use. Plus, change is good for the soul. You can peruse my collection and hopefully something you’d love to have in your own home will catch your eye. Everything has a wonderful spirit and I am thrilled for someone else to take pleasure in these pieces.
The complete curated living room.Pair of vintage petite arm chairs.Callisto Home Lavender Linen PillowEgret Oil PaintingZebra Print Stenciled Cowhide RugGeorge Smith style love seat.Urban Electric Floor LampToile Linen Credenza from Studio A
You can see the full collection and shop online here.
The July/August issue of At Home in Fairfield County is now available and features a recent kitchen remodel we designed for a couple’s NYC apartment.
The July/August issue of At Home in Fairfield County is now available and features a recent kitchen remodel we designed for a couple’s NYC apartment. For this client, we opened up the kitchen to better take advantage of the building’s views and natural light while also creating a space that better suited their tastes and needs. They were thrilled with the result! I hope you’ll pick up a copy of the magazine to see the full article!
I recently sat down with Local Vault for an interview and as a guest curator.
The Local Vault is a really cool marketplace in Greenwich that buys and sells pre-owned local decor while also showcasing the talent of area artists and vendors. They specialize in bespoke furniture as well as unique vintage finds, all of which is carefully curated by an expert staff. I recently sat down with Local Vault for an interview and as a guest curator. Here is that interview along with my curated product choices. Hope you enjoy!
Interview with Amy Hirsch
thelocalvault
Here at the Local Vault we have been so inspired by the surge of fabulous items we have in stock this Summer, that to showcase them, we have a brand new website we couldn’t be more excited to share!
To celebrate the launch of our new site, we sat down with one of our all time favorite interior designers, Amy Hirsh, to talk personal style, the zen element of her office that she can’t live without and find out her must have item this Summer.
But we couldn’t just stick to talking when we could be shopping with Amy! We invited her to shop our current collection and here she shares her top picks. From chic silver modern lamps in the Bauhaus style to a stunning rare pair of vintage Edward Wormley for Drexel Lounge Chairs circa 1947, we think you will love Amy’s selections as much as we do.
TLV: What is the best piece of advice that has impacted your life as a designer?
AH: Total communication and transparency with a client. It’s important to have a healthy understanding between the two parties. The more information a client can convey allows for a better design journey. As well for myself and my team to be realistic with the expectations of the client. You never want to kill the spirit of design, it’s an intimate process so the more open and as much information provided is best.
TLV: What architect or style of architecture are you most drawn to?
AH: Lately, I find myself looking at Australian architecture – the architecture is more modern, streamlined yet still holding core traditional roots. Urban, open spacial plans connecting the land to the interior of the house.
AH: The foundation of a room – especially with well executed architecture, even in the simplest form. The backdrop is so critical for making a room work properly. We provide so many layers to a room it is important to understand scale, proportion and circulation of the spaces.
TLV: What are some ways people can quickly update their houses for summer?
AH: I love inserting light cashmere throws – they are great for cool nights. Plus, it is a good way to add color without feeling as if you have to keep it. Pillows are the other easy fix – a light weight linen for the summer can change the mood completely. For the kitchen, new table settings, wine glass or pool bar ware – let me tell you the things you will find at home goods! I absolutely love my new lavender wine glasses!
TLV: What item or element of design in your home makes you most happy?
AH: At this moment I am in a temporary situation so the thought of a new home makes me happy. When I am at my studio, I have a beautiful accent wall of 10” wide walnut planks. They are bare with a hint of stain applied and nothing is hung on top of them, they are a true form of art and always bring me peace.
AH: I like to think that I am very simple, tailored but with a bit of an edge. Personally, I am influenced by Alexander McQueen and Helmut Lang on the fashion front.
TLV: Do you have any design rules you follow?
AH: There is no true formula or rule I follow. To be honest, I always follow my intuition and gut instinct – it never fails. When something is unsettling with in, it just means I have to keep working on the space or selections.
Greenwich based Amy Hirsch of Amy Aidinis Hirsch Interior Design is known for her innovative take on furnishings and materials and her understanding and expert execution of architectural detail.
I’m really proud to be part of Serendipity Magazine’s Women in Business feature.
I’m really proud to be part of Serendipity Magazine’s Women in Business feature. It’s humbling to be included in this group of inspiring and talented businesswomen! You can see the full editorial in the June 2016 issue. Enjoy!
I’m very excited to be a Serendipity Design Market Digest Honoree!
I’m very excited to be a Serendipity Design Market Digest Honoree! Tonight is the cocktail celebration for this year’s Design Market Digest and I am really looking forward to it. I’d like to thank Serendipity for this great write up by Amy Levin Epstein about my approach to interior design and why I was chosen as this year’s Honoree.
When the founder of Amy Aidinis Hirsch Interior Design, LLC, takes on a new project, she first reflects on a home’s past. “Every house has a history or a story, even if it is brand new. The architecture is my primary focus, as well as the land which the house is nestled in,” says Hirsch. She will examine the details, from paneling to wood flooring to original ceiling treatments, and identify ways to enhance them. With the house in these photos, she focused her work around existing water views. “Everyday is a changing back drop so I wanted to embrace the interior, capture moments of the exterior, yet add a bit of femininity which reflects the home owner,” says Hirsch.
“To be surrounded by the view of Long Island Sound and the marsh—what’s not to love?” says Hirsch.
The designer’s path started as a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, where many of her professors were architects rather than designers. “I feel my foundation was more structured than a painterly, artsy approach,” says Hirsch. Even then, she had her eye on building her brand. “I always knew I wanted to own my own business, but never thought it would happen so fast.”
Comfortable sofas are covered in a sage green mohair and paired with a durable extra large coffee table.
Hirsch is well known in Fairfield and Westchester counties, as well as farther flung locales like Boca Raton and Montana, for her style, which she describes as “tailored and masculine, subtle and unexpected.” Those unique characteristics take time to pull together and Hirsch says she makes it a priority to speak with new clients about realistic timelines. “This is an investment and should be about the longevity, not about instant gratification. The creative process has to be organic and fluid. Everyone is excited, however, the process needs time to curate,” says Hirsch.
Elegant place settings from Hoaglands of Greenwich
Part of the process, of course, is inspiration—and Hirsch finds it everywhere. “I believe you have to be open and sensitive to every sensation you encounter. I take so much from the architecture, land and the client,” says Hirsch. “They are the initial start to the entire process.”
Brass accents create a chic lounge area in the master bedroom.
Listening to those clients, says Hirsh, is ultimately paramount. “If I am not listening, then the clients’ expectations will not be met. It’s simple: The design should not be about the interior designer and her style, it has to be a reflection of the clients and their needs,” says Hirsch. “It’s critical to pay attention to simple things a client says at any given moment.”
Trowbridge Gallery embroidered prints hang above the breakfast bar.
While she particularly loves working on second homes—“the design is more liberating and you may do things differently then you would in your primary house”—her dream project would be her own, “a home which is expressive of myself and my family.” This future endeavor, she says, will be a compilation of all that she has seen and done in her illustrious career. “I see so many beautiful things in the world and it will be interesting to see how I edit and focus on the right selections from the ground up,” says Hirsch. “You would think it would be easy—but I think it will be the most challenging of projects yet.”
Speed round with Amy Aidinis Hirsch
One word that describes you: Edgy
Your top design tip: Push the envelope.
What you’d do, if not in the design world: Fashion or photography
Favorite restaurant in the area: Winfield’s—but you need a ferry to get there!
Favorite cocktail: Margarita with lots of salt
People would be surprised to know: I love art deco.
A home should be filled with: Laughter
Favorite room in your home: We are house hunting—so I will let you know!
What you enjoy most about your work: Creative independence
Best design book: ABCDCS: David Collins Studio, by David Collins
Save the Date!
You’re invited to a cocktail recption celebrating our 4th annual 2016 Design Market Digest. Meet industry experts and the 2016 Design Market honorees, designer Amy Aidinis Hirsch and architect Douglas VanderHorn.
Wednesday, May 11th from 6:30p.m. to 8:30p.m at Lillian August, Greenwich, CT with Marcia Selden Catering
I’m so happy to be part of a feature in At Home Magazine called Room Service: Take a Seat.
I’m so happy to be part of a feature in At Home Magazine called Room Service: Take a Seat. The feature demonstrates how five designers approach living room design in ways to perfectly suit their clients. My featured living room design is for a Colonial in Greenwich. The client wanted to give the room a modern feel, keeping some existing elements while adding new items and changing the color palette. To read more about this project and to see how other designers work their living room designs, pick up the May/June 2016 issue of At Home in Fairfield County!
