When faced with an already ornate venue such as the Ukrainian Institute of America, it's easy to let the architecture and the interior details speak for themselves. But a home furnishings magazine aimed at hip young women is expected to make some kind of statement when hosting an event. At Domino's party to celebrate the success of the Woodycrest House design project (and acknowledge the mag's successful first year), Olga Naiman of design firm Aparat made a big impression with a contemporary look dominated by paper. Naiman worked with Domino special events manager Michelle Rubel, editor in chief Deborah Needleman, and decoration director Dara Caponigro, blending the magazine's playful but style-conscious content with her own avant-garde approach.The Woodycrest House project is a collaboration between Domino and eight interior designers to furnish a 43,000-square-foot apartment complex in the Bronx for families affected by HIV. The idea originated with designer Sara Bengur, whose own experience with breast cancer opened her eyes to the idea of how important a surrounding environment is to the healing process. Using that as their inspiration, Naiman, Aparat's artistic director Miranda Lloyd, and the Domino team chose plain white paper as the primary material to create whimsical, inexpensive decor that contrasted with the venue's more serious architectural details.
Inside the Upper East Side mansion's trilevel space, paper topiaries by artist Leah Singer acted as the springboard for the rest of the decor—curly paper decorated the all-white bars and the staircase's carved banister, and littered the two fireplaces. Paper tongues and green eyes on the carved lions and pointy hats on the gargoyles at the entrance completed the design that Naiman called "irreverent, quirky, and unexpected." To highlight the purpose of the event and showcase the project, the Condé Nast publication filled one room with photographs of the designs from Bengur, Celerie Kemble, Katie Lydon, David Netto, Thomas O'Brien, Ruthie Sommers, the Apartment, and Timothy Whealon. And to raise further funds for music and art classes for the residents of Woodycrest House ($15,035 in total), a silent auction offered artwork inspired by the "meaning of home" and donated by 30 emerging artists.
Rather than give a gift bag filled with the usual goodies, each guest took home a clear plexiglass box filled with postcards of the artwork up for auction. The boxes were carefully piled in the library on top of shelves that had been emptied of their books and stacked with issues of Domino.
Servers in white uniforms passed nibbles from Olivier Cheng including crab cakes topped with marinated cucumber and chipotle dressing, roast beef on Yorkshire pudding with horseradish sauce, mini truffled grilled cheese sandwiches with celery relish, and almond meringues dipped in chocolate.
—Anna Sekula
Photos: Patrick McMullan
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Inside the Upper East Side mansion's trilevel space, paper topiaries by artist Leah Singer acted as the springboard for the rest of the decor—curly paper decorated the all-white bars and the staircase's carved banister, and littered the two fireplaces. Paper tongues and green eyes on the carved lions and pointy hats on the gargoyles at the entrance completed the design that Naiman called "irreverent, quirky, and unexpected." To highlight the purpose of the event and showcase the project, the Condé Nast publication filled one room with photographs of the designs from Bengur, Celerie Kemble, Katie Lydon, David Netto, Thomas O'Brien, Ruthie Sommers, the Apartment, and Timothy Whealon. And to raise further funds for music and art classes for the residents of Woodycrest House ($15,035 in total), a silent auction offered artwork inspired by the "meaning of home" and donated by 30 emerging artists.
Rather than give a gift bag filled with the usual goodies, each guest took home a clear plexiglass box filled with postcards of the artwork up for auction. The boxes were carefully piled in the library on top of shelves that had been emptied of their books and stacked with issues of Domino.
Servers in white uniforms passed nibbles from Olivier Cheng including crab cakes topped with marinated cucumber and chipotle dressing, roast beef on Yorkshire pudding with horseradish sauce, mini truffled grilled cheese sandwiches with celery relish, and almond meringues dipped in chocolate.
—Anna Sekula
Photos: Patrick McMullan
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Domino's fund-raising auction and anniversary celebration gave the Ukrainian Institute a contemporary look using plain white paper, including topiaries from Leah Singer that flanked the mansion's entrance.
Bids for the silent auction were taken on long scrolls of paper on a table in the third-floor library.
In homage to Christo and Jean-Claude, designer Olga Naiman wrapped the venue's chairs and couches in painter's canvas and tied them artfully with white grosgrain ribbon.
The event also acknowledged the magazine's one-year anniversary with a large oval cake from Olivier Cheng that matched the moldings in an oval room of the institute.
