Norman Mooney

Coffinier Ku Design Delights Visitors to the 2010 Kips Bay Decorator Show House

Filed under: Decor, 10 Luxuries, By Design

Etienne Coffinier and Ed Ku of Coffinier Ku Design used a bubble theme in two of the rooms for the 2010 Kips Bay Decorator Show House in New York.

There are numerous delights to be found inside the townhouse showcasing the 2010 Kips Bay Decorator Show House on the upper east side of Manhattan. One of the most uplifting, however, is the bubble theme used in two of the rooms designed by Etienne Coffinier and Ed Ku of Coffinier Ku Design.

The acclaimed designers, who are based in New York, started with a single photograph by Melvin Sokolsky. Ku had found the image, which had been used in a fashion shoot for Harper's Bazaar in 1963, and was mesmerized by the beauty of a woman who was seemingly floating on the surface of the Seine in front of the Pont Neuf in Paris. The model was photographed while standing inside a large plexiglass bubble in a scene that would seem to be precarious yet it exudes calm and serenity.

The designers decided to use the overscale 50" by 50" archival print they found at the Staley-Wise Gallery and contrast it with a modern piece of art by Norman Mooney. Entitled "Smoke Panel 02", it was made through a process of blowing smoke onto a metal panel, which evokes another world.

Gallery: Coffinier Ku Design at Kips Bay