Interview with Sarah Raymond, Decorator NY
VG: When did you start your career as an interior decorator?
S.R: I feel like I have always been in design. When I arrived from France I studied interior design at FIT and started working immediately after for Sarah Tomerlin Lee. who was in her time editor-in –chief of House Beautiful and worked in fashion. She took over her husband’s business Tom Lee, a successful interior designer, when he died in a car accident. She is famous for her work as the interior designer of the Helmsley Palace and the Parker Meridien hotel in New York among many others. Then and when the business was later acquired by Beyer Blinder Belle. I worked on an number of hotel and commercial projects. Later at BBGM I designed interiors for major Casino & hotels in Atlantic City and Las Vegas .
Schedule was very demanding and by 2000 I was ready to start my own company and work on residential projects. After a stunt at renowned firm McMillan Interiors I opened my own design studio.
VG: Tell me about your current projects:
S.R: The projects are very mixed, I would say more modern than classic but I like the mix of styles.
VG: What stands out in your work?
S.R: I’d say the extensive use of color because color can solve a lot of problems with space, for example a narrow corridor leading to a large room. I will mix paint, wallpapers, mirrors, several fabrics to have texture and break the dullness of a space or enhance it. I will bring in artists who can create custom finishes for the project. I also pay a lot of attention to window treatment looking for solutions out of the ordinary. For example I recently used leather straps which at first horrified the client but when they saw it in place they loved it.
In terms of furniture my taste is very eclectic and I like to mix modern with 16th century Spanish furniture for example. I like to propose using artist furniture because it interests my clients. For them it is like collecting art, they enjoy discovering artists like Eric Schmitt http://www.valeriegoodmangallery.com/signature/eric-schmitt/ or Christian Liaigre although he is now quite well known. I ask them to not only look at Architectural Digest US but to also buy the French and the Italian editions to broaden their knowledge of design.
