Stephen Sills Associates
by habituallychic
03 . 09 . 09
My internet research often leads me to interesting places. One was a very old New York magazine article about the perils of interior design business. It was as juicy as a soap opera. After that, I discovered that the interior design duo of Stephen Sills and James Huniford (Sills Huniford Associates)parted ways in summer of 2008. Did everyone else know about this? I hadn’t heard anything about it until I found the fancy new website for Stephen Sills Associates. Going out on his own seems to agree with him. The website and portfolio look beautiful. Sills is known for his eye for antiques and I personally love that each design is tailored to it’s environment and client. This is high end interior design at it’s finest. Enjoy!
26 Comments
Love the living space nine pictures down. That rug is amazing. I love how he can mix and match antiquic furnishes with modern accessories so seamlessly. Gorgeous….
I think that no matter what the rumors or gossip are- there is NO QUESTION that his work is just TOP DRAWER!
Wasn’t his work in House Beautiful or Elle Decor maybe six months back with his weekend place?
Wow, quite beautiful stuff! Is that a Calder sculpture in the third to last photo?
Thank you, thank you… this is not only an opportunity to recognize a great talent, but also to take notice of the positive possibilities of a dyer time.
Fantastic, inspiring post.
Thank you.
A couple of the rooms embrace an all-weather indoor/outdoor quality that I love to see. Refined elegance mixed with natural materials. Very pretty.
I love his design! I remember seeing a programme about him some time ago, and the predominantly grey (1, 5, 6, 7 & 8 photos) house was featured. I am very grateful to you to be reintroduced. In photo 3 the pointed wall panels are wonderful obelisk-inspired decorations.
The colour of those walls is absolutely perfect! Yum. Thanks for sharing, I’m heading to his website now…
Elegant rooms!
The carpets in photos #11 and 12 are knock-outs – do you have any info on them?!
The lacquered wall in the first photograph took my breath away.
He’s got a great eye for furniture placement.
Thanks,
Black Rooster
He has an incredible eye.
That article WAS a soap opera!
These rooms are stunning, particularly in the use of silver greys and neutrals which give them a crepuscular feel.
Incredible use of texture and balance. Every detail is attended to and yet the rooms all feel harmonious and serene.
you are right to say…. “it certainly does agree with him”… lovely post….
So funny you should bring up Sills Huniford. When I saw “Ford’s” remote island getaway in the St. Lawrence seaway in a magazine a while back I thought to myself that this long-standing famous design duo had broken up. It appears that Ford is handling the couples’ Dwell furniture collection and that he has adopted two children and Stephen is still running the design side of the business. Truly magnificent interiors in their country house. Their book is great, too.
Great post – interesting article about design ethics and maintaining good relationships with your peers adn clients. The design is beautiful and complex, I guess that makes up for personality…
Great to see their work on your blog!From the NY article saying”In search of a larger showplace, in 1992 S&H purchased a run-down white-shingled house and guest cottage on twenty acres in Bedford, New York….It was Anna Wintour who got the nod. She reserved ten pages for the house, and slated it for the December 1995 issue. But a week before Vogue hit the newsstands, the December issue of Elle Décor came out, with the Hi-Low Farm prominently featured on the cover.” Many of the pics on the designer’s site are actually of this house as seen in Vogue and Elle Decor in 95. Fascinating stuff- It is still as beautiful as ever-The garden areas were gorgeous, I saved both articles!I remember Issac Mizrahi being quoted as saying something to the effect that he could not imagine designer’s being able to live like that— Typically they don’t. pgt
so beautiful.
every single room.
but the 1st room with the greek key head board is too fabulous !!!
xx
Extremely beautiful and inspiring post…
Thanks for sharing..:)
Wow, that looks good. His designs are definitely something to watch for. Does he prefer designing residential homes only?
so i reread that article, and it was rather astounding. speaking from personal experience, i KNOW designers don’t get jobs if they are unpleasant to work with, so how much of it i believe, i don’t know.
i do know i don’t entirely believe the client’s side on the purchasing- for all we know, S&H could have had furniture repeatedly rejected because it wasn’t grand or expensive enough, so they could have just been giving the clients what they wanted. i mean google was around, even back then- the clients could have researched prices if they were concerned. also, if the article were completely true, and s&h really were unethical monsters, would they still be working? who would hire them?
no matter what though, there is no denying the sills’ talent- his work is stunning.
The mirror in the second to the last photo is absolutely gorgeous! I wish I had one like that. I’m sure their clients love their designs, who wouldn’t?
Thanks for this nice post.
Sills ford are my favorite and my inspiration! Yes the sculpture is Calder,the rug in the Midwestern house is antique Ventian, and the one in the library I believe is from F.J. Hakimian. The photos of the dinning room don’t do it justice because the walls are actually covered in two toned panels of gold leaf and walls of the living room of Hi-Low farm are “hand grooved plaster” painted white. It’s interesting to see these photos because they’ve updated and tweaked many of these rooms, an SHA trademark, since their original publications in Architectural Digest and the like.
Bless you for your blog! From California, buying a pied a terre in NYC and feeling quite at sea as far as decorating – have spent three days Googling and finally came upon your web site which is filled with great ideas and resources. Thank you!