Allegra O. Eifler
photo by Tim Lenz
If you could have a second home anywhere, where would you live? A farmhouse in the south of France
What are three words to describe your style?
1. Warm
2. Refined
3. Unexpected
Tell us about your childhood bedroom? It was a small bedroom furnished with a vintage hand-painted furniture set with pretty flowers on it that included a secretary with a glass front bookcase, a large dollhouse in the shape of a townhouse that had been my mother’s, and a vast collection of stuffed animals.
What’s the first investment piece you ever bought for your house? Not an investment piece by any means, but my first treasured piece was a French brown wicker lamp from the 40s that I bought at Bermondsey Market in London and hand-carried back on the plane. I love it and it will always be with me wherever I live.
In the history of design, if you could hire any designer other than yourself, who would it be? My grandmothers. Neither of them were designers but they are my constant design inspiration. My Italian grandmother exemplified European elegance and my American grandmother epitomized understated refinement. They both loved an unexpected pop of modernism. I would give anything for them to be here and design with me today.
No room is complete without books and art.
People think of me as obsessed with antiques, but I am really good at creating new bespoke pieces when the project calls for it.
Things you omit from:
A flower arrangement: Calla lilies
An hors d’oeuvre platter: Any raw vegetable that isn’t an olive or a radish
A bar cabinet: Nothing! Better to have too much than not enough when entertaining
A song for:
Dinner at home: My Baby Just Cares for Me by Nina Simone
Working at your desk: Getz / Gilberto album
Going for a run: Running (around the city in heels maybe): Think by Aretha Franklin
Biggest Vice? Baked goods, and high-end chocolate with nuts
If you were on an Ambien high and internet shopping, what would you buy? Clothes for my daughter, but I would not let myself loose like this in an antiques market
Do your clothes reflect your design sensibility, if so, how? Yes, in that I love beautiful cottons, linens, silks, Italian fabrics, stripes. But, I am probably more feminine with my clothes than I am with my design sensibility.
Who is your star crush? Gregory Peck
What is the thing you would never do on a project, but don’t detest when you see others do it?
Use black leather
If there were a fire, and you could only keep one design book, what would it be?
Marella Agnelli: The Last Swan
For posterity, what would you like your work to be known for?
For creating beautifully curated and warm spaces that really feel personal to my clients.
photo by Tim Lenz
A Few Favorites:
Movie: Roman Holiday
Book: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Scent: Citrus
The fabric you always come back to: Ticking stripes
Dream project: Parisian apartment or a rambling beach house in Maine
Meal: Grilled cheese from Viand Coffee Shop on Madison
Drink: Gin & Tonic
Hotel: The Bristol, Paris
Travel Destination: Italy
Artist: Giorgio Morandi
A cause near and dear to me: I’m on the board of The Society for the Relief of Women and Children and it’s a wonderful cause
Thing to collect obsessively: Antique jewelry
Era in the history of design: Europe in the Late Nineteenth Century, New England in the Mid-Twentieth Century.
Museum: Musée Rodin
Paint Color that always looks great: Benjamin Moore Pink Damask
Favorite person to follow on Instagram: @newyorkercartoons
Dogs, Cats, or No Pets? All creatures great and small
