When in Doubt, Decorate Your Room with Puppies, Puppies ... and More Puppies
In "60 Seconds With," ELLE Decor editor Charles Curkin chats with creatives and industry leaders, getting the scoop on their life and work in one minute or less. In this installment, he chats with Sheila Bridges, the legendary interior decorator (President Bill Clinton, author Tom Clancy, and music mogul Sean "P. Diddy" Combs are just some of her clients) and creator of Harlem Toile de Jouy. Earlier this month, she presented her first room for the Kips Bay Decorator Show House, which is a kind of high-minded dog heaven. Bridges's one minute starts...now.
The room you designed for this year’s Kips Bay Decorator Show House has been all anyone can talk about. And it's not even a bedroom.
No, I wish. It's a very small room off the main entrance on the ground floor facing the street. I call it the Salon des Chiens.
Dogs? Why dogs?
Well, I got the dog of the rooms in the house. It looks out on the street and parked cars.
Woof! I see dog clothes hanging in the closet and a sofa surrounded by sculptures, portraits, and a mural depicting dogs. So it's designed for a dog to change its outfit after a long day and spend some time alone curled up with a good book?
It's more a place for owners to play, wash, and feed the dogs. For the past 10 years, I've been walking my two dogs to the great hill in Central Park every morning at sunrise and sunset, which is what inspired all the colors. The art is a combination of portraiture and archival images from places like The New York Times and the Associated Press.
Aside from canine, how would you describe this space you designed?
It's very colorful and provocative. Small but impactful.
You have yummy-looking gold-leafed treats glued to books. I just tried to take one for my dog, Leonard, that's how I know.
Yes, I heard that people like to take small things from the rooms. I glued them down because I didn't want anyone to steal them and poison their dog by mistake. If you have to put a whole book in your purse, it's definitely more challenging to take.
Tell me about the shower covered in moss.
The biggest challenge was the fact that there was a closet with a working shower, which no one knew about. So I decided to make a dog bath. Anyone who has a dog knows, you have to be able to wash them, so that's the little doggy shower.
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Switching topics. You’re a founding member of the recently launched Black Artists + Designers Guild. What is your role?
I’m on the advisory board. My role is to provide guidance. I’ve been in the industry for nearly 30 years and I have a lot of experience and perspective. I have built many important relationships in the industry that I believe can be helpful to the other members.
Aside from stories in magazines like ELLE Decor, have you noticed a positive change in the industry?
Yes, I’m definitely starting to see more inclusion of black designers in both editorial content and at design events and on panels. I just hope that it’s more than a passing fad.
What’s the most racist experience you’ve had as a designer?
There are way too many to list. Remember, I started doing this in the late 1980s. The most common experience I’ve consistently had over the years is being followed around in antique stores and being told that things are “expensive” when I've inquired. You know, rather than the actual price.
ELLE Decor is about to unveil its 2019 A-List of decorators. Who would be on your personal A-List?
Oh, gosh! I don't know. There are so many wonderful designers and I am a fan of many. Maybe Jean-Michel Frank if he were still alive.
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