Bronson van Wyck
Photo by Christian Oth
If you could have a second home anywhere, where would you live? I have a little shack on a freshwater lake in North Sea that’s a great place to retreat to and recharge. But my home is New York City, and if you’re already in the greatest city in the world, why leave?
What are three words to describe your style?
Whimsical
Welcoming
Wow
Tell us about your childhood bedroom? I give my mother all the credit for my childhood bedroom. She made it magical. It’s on the second floor of a Garconnière that I shared with my sister, Mimi. It was built by Louisiana architect A Hays Town. It is attached to the main house by a covered walkway. Ivy covers the building which tries to enter at all windows . . . and often succeeds. Wisteria has taken over the balcony’s railing. The balcony is level with limbs of a giant 100 yr old pecan tree. Squirrels go back and forth from the tree to the balcony every morning. Inside the room were bookshelves, floor to ceiling, filled with books of European history, every book by and about Winston Churchill, World War I and II, naval history, historical biographies, mythology, comics and Dungeons and Dragons games. On top of these shelves was a stuffed armadillo, an old Darth vader telephone, photos of friends from Groton, Yale, Family and a picture of Jackie Root Onassis, a 250 pound pot belly pig from the farm. Mom let me paint the shower tiles when I was 9 or ten years old. I made a scene of dangerous sea creatures: stingrays, sharks, eels, barracudas, and carnivorous coral. I had a secret ladder in the back of a hallway linen closet which led up to a hidden attic space where I stored all my comics.
What’s the first investment piece you ever bought for your house? My dining room table which was the officer’s mess table for the British regiment assigned to guard Napoleon on the tiny South Atlantic island of St Helena. The former emperor dined here, and rumor has it that some of the dishes included arsenic.
In the history of design, if you could hire any designer other than yourself, who would it be? Well, for an interior, Oliver Messel, Tony Duquette, Jacques Garcia, Axel Vervoordt. For a party, only Alexis de Redé.
No room is complete without: Candles, candles, candles everywhere. Living items: flowers, trees, plants, something natural. Photographs of people you love.
People think of me as, cool because I throw parties for a living, but I’m really a closet nerd. I’m just as happy playing Axis and Allies at home as I am going to Rihanna’s Met Ball afterparty.
Things you omit from:
A flower arrangement: Pussy Willow
An hors d’oeuvre platter: Anything without salt. Salt is where it’s at with hors d’oeuvres. Salt makes people thirsty. Thirsty people drink. People who drink feel more beautiful and often make others feel more beautiful. Once two people have established that they find each other beautiful, anything can happen.
A bar cabinet: NOTHING, more is more at the bar
A song for:
Dinner at home: Hopefully, the dinner lasts for more than one song, so here’s one of my favorite playlists, made by a friend Nick Colletti: here
Working at your desk: I can’t play music while I work. I’ll just get up and dance.
Going for a run: Hopefully, the run only lasts for one song: Culture Academy’s Nelly vs BeeGees Stayin Hot (lobsterdust mashup)
Biggest Vice? Cigarettes. I quit a while ago, but I still dream about them.
If you were on an Ambien high and internet shopping, what would you buy? Books, books, books and more books.
Who is your star crush? Henry Cavill
What is the thing you would never do on a project, but don’t detest when you see others do it? Overcharge.
If there were a fire, and you could only keep one design book, what would it be? More is More, Tony Duquette. Rather break my arms than get rid of my books, too hard to choose just one.
For posterity, what would you like your work to be known for? That we always translate the host’s vision into its most gracious, warm, welcoming, generous, perfect form. That guests at our events feel both awed and included. That we make our hosts feel like guests. That we were never afraid to add or take away another layer if the situation called for it. The 20-Minute Rule: something happens every 20-minutes, we change the music, or lower the lighting, or serve tequila shots, or go to a different room, or shoot fireworks. I wrote a whole chapter about the 20-Minute Rule in my book, BORN TO PARTY, FORCED TO WORK: 21st Century Hospitality.
Photo by Donna Newman
A Few Favorites:
Movie: The Hunger
Book: The Leopard
Scent: Christian Dior Eau Noire
The fabric you always come back to: Canvas, because I can paint it!
Dream project: The next one!
Meal: Fried chicken, greens, mashed potatoes, biscuits, black-eyed peas.
Drink: Spicy margarita in the summer and dark & stormy in the winter
Hotel: Playa Grande Beach Club (5 Aut, 33000, Dominican Republic; +1.809.589.2070) in the Dominican Republic is one of my favorite hotels with the interiors designed by my life-long best friend, Celerie Kemble. I love the St. Regis (2 E. 55th St; +1 212 753 4500) in New York. Hotel Costes (239-241 Rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris; +33 1 42 44 50 00) is a must-stay in Paris. I’ve been inspired by architect and interior designer Jacques Garcia’s luxurious, whimsical touch and the hotel lobby launched a thousand mood boards.
Travel Destination: Greece, Mexico City, Paris, England
Artist: Mark Tansey
A cause near and dear to me: Friends of the High Line, the Apollo Theater.
Thing to collect obsessively: Comic books, salt cellars and old decanters
Era in the history of design: Today
Museum: Musée de la chasse et de la nature in Paris (hunting and nature museum)
Paint Color that always looks great: Down Pipe
Favorite person to follow on Instagram: @pascalpprl @robertstilin @marsandminerva @savoygardens
Dogs, Cats, or No Pets? I’m fundamentally a dog AND cat person. I like animals better than most people. I don’t have any cats right now, but my dog is named Cat.
