The Genius Behind Style/Swoon: Samantha Reitmayer

If you haven't discovered Samantha Reitmayer's blog, Style/Swoon, you're in for a treat. I learned about the Dallas-based graphic designer last month, when her house was featured in Design*Sponge.

She didn't really like me taking her photo when I was at her office a few weeks ago. But I know fans of her blog would love to see what she looks like, so here goes -- she's adorable!

Naturally, I loved her letterpress cards, which she designed and Missing Q Press printed.

Samantha is one half of Rovillo + Reitmayer, an amazing boutique graphic design and branding firm. They've been around for 18 years (Sam has been a partner for about 10), and they've got an amazing list of clients. But before I get into that, I want to show you around her office....

Here's a chalkboard leaning against one wall with inspirational sayings, or whatever pops into her head. Samantha painted one wall in her kitchen at home with chalkboard paint, and this has inspired me to find a company who makes colored chalkboard paint! Apparently you can paint anything with it, furniture, even.

These two photos reflect the Grange Hall side of Samantha...look closely at the letter R --it's a broken, old florescent sign, with its wires poking out (click on the photo to enlarge it).

This porcelain hand is hanging on her wall. It's probably my favorite thing in her office.

These vintage chairs, reupholstered and repainted, are part of her burgeoning collection (she's got a toolshed full). Sam's into the graphic look of Kelly Wearstler, and the white, textural whimsy of Jonathan Adler. You can really see both of those influences in this one vignette.

Notice the rustic tree stump table.

Samantha tells me she's not big on color, but big on texture, such as this pebbled leather and shaggy pillow. The dusky lavender is pretty great.

Look at her desk! It's so tidy, with neat, modular piles. Are all graphic designers like this?

I could study her shelf for days, it's so cool.

Rovillo + Reitmayer's clients include the Dallas Cowboys. This is a brushed stainless steel invitation -- one of many invitations they designed leading up to the launch of the new Cowboys stadium. Unless you're on the VIP invitation list, this is the only place you'll get to see these incredible invites.

This invitation is made from mirrored Plexiglas.

Another client is the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, as you can see from this unusual silk screened stainless steel invitation.

Another Plexi invitation.

Rovillo + Reitmayer produce these beautifully designed mailers updating arts patrons on the progress of the new opera and theater houses, which will open in October.

Another cool thing happens in late October -- Samantha will announce a new online invitation company called social/Swoon. She'll be teaming up with graphic and fine artists here and in New York to design them, and may even do some letterpress invitations with MissingQ. I predict this will be a huge hit since there's nothing out there like it yet. Stay tuned....

Young New Dallas Designer: Heather Asbury

Heather Asbury

Heather used to be the GM at Beretta Gallery in Highland Park Village, and she's now out on her own with a newly opened design firm, Heather Asbury Interiors. Check her out.

Stylish & Small

A young couple wrote to me recently asking if they could show me their work. Sarah and Miles Durham have a fledgling house renovation business, and this house at 3975 Highgrove in Midway Hollow is their second project on their own. Built in 1951, it's 1,800 square feet.

Sarah writes:

Miles worked for four years under his father, who has a small residential design/build firm in Dallas. They built houses in the Park Cities, Briarwood, Bluffview, and Midway Hollow - all larger homes, typically speculative.

With Miles working as the superintendent/ project manager, he was also responsible for finishes. Because he was so busy, I began to help him, and eventually took over entirely in this department. I had no experience at this point with finishes, but it was benefical to work with an architect who would push the envelope to a degree. The houses were all somewhat contemporary, so as each house was completed, Miles and I developed a love for contemporary design.

The Durhams added 1,100 square feet of rift cut red oak floors

Sarah continues:

A year back Miles went to work for a commercial general contractor. We decided to continue to renovate houses and live in them while they were on the market. Miles handles the drawings, and I am learning to run the construction end of things. The interior and exterior finishes are a collaboration.

The Kitchen, Before

The Highgrove project was a major challenge due to the state of the house. It was abandoned for years, the plumbing, electrical, and hvac was outdated, there was no insulation, and the floor plan, as many houses tend to be that are built in 50's, was very chopped up. We made the decision to gut the house entirely, leaving only the exterior walls, foundation and roof structure. We also decided to remove almost all of the interior partitions in order to create a series of interconnected spaces.

Exterior, Before

A few years ago, I'm not sure anyone would have considered saving this house. Nowadays, it makes sense to work with what you already have.

After!

And what a simple yet lovely re-do.

"My husband and I love design and the challenges that come along with it," says Sarah. It shows. This stylish renovation of a crumbling old house just sparkles with new life. I love seeing small projects like this, and I hope more and more people will renovate instead of tearing down.

The Durhams are still working on a website, but meanwhile if you want to get in touch with them, email Sarah at skdurham1@sbcglobal.net

Too Cool For The Pool

Gary Jackson

This is Gary Jackson. Most of you know him as the style guru at Barney's in Dallas. I'm sure he has a proper title, but guru fits him just fine. He's also a furniture and interior designer on the side. On Sundays, he spends the afternoon at the very hip rooftop pool

at the hotel Joule in downtown Dallas. The pool furniture, etc. was all designed by Todd Fiscus. You can tell by the signature orange color. (I was having brunch at Charlie Palmer a few Sundays ago and took a peek at the pool. They were nice enough to let me in with my camera.)

I simply love how the tops of these buildings intersect with each other and the sky.

If you go to the hotel's website, you'll see how the pool, with its glass bottom, actually cantilevers over Main Street. Read more of what I've written about the architect of the Joule here.

Fiscus' event company also runs the bar at the pool (it serves light fare from Charlie Palmer's downstairs) and his mix of music is ultra hip, like you've stumbled into a night club.

Dallas Design Gossip

Rest in Peace

The news that Southern Accents has folded came as a shock to many people including designer Joe Minton, builder Trey Laird, and architect Larry Boerder, who were frantically trying to get the $2.5 million Southern Accents Show House in Fort Worth readied for the magazine's mandatory photo shoot on August 17. Minton says he got a call on Friday from editor-in-chief Karen Carroll who had just heard the bad news herself the day before from bosses at Time Inc.

Carroll told Minton that Time Inc., planned for the show house to continue. But how? In lieu of the promised 12-page magazine layout and cover of the November issue, the show house would appear on the magazine's online website. There was also the possibility of a spread in Accent's more downscale sister publication Southern Living and a shot or two in Time Inc.'s Coastal Living (since Fort Worth is essentially landlocked, that's a bit of a stretch).

"Hundreds of plants and flowers are being put in as we speak," Minton told me on Sunday. "Next week, we're picking up all the furniture and draperies and everything that's been loaned by the showrooms, and we're worried that they won't want to do it because it's not going to be in the magazine. I haven't been able to sleep the last two nights thinking about all the ramifications."

Hey, there's always room for levity.

George Cameron Nash left a message on Minton's phone during the weekend, which was "so funny that it didn't even make me mad," says Minton. "He said, 'Joe, how are you going to like being in Southern Living next to the bundt cakes?' But, that's how we all feel. If people start to pull out, I don't know what we'll do. And in the middle of all this, we can't talk to Karen about it because she's in Alaska."

Come again?

"Karen already had a cruise planned for Alaska so she left on Saturday morning," says Minton. "I told her while she's there she ought to apply for governor, there's a job open."

Laura Lee Clark

Interior Designer Laura Lee Clark has teamed up with renowned modernist architect Frank Welch to do a house in Greenway Parks, slated to be finished in late 2010. Yes, it's a tear down, probably of some great old house, but if you're going to level a good piece of architecture it might as well be rebuilt by someone of Welch's caliber.

Frank Welch

I'm fascinated, too, because Clark, who is quite talented, is known almost exclusively for a more classically traditional look. Welch is a modernist all the way, no questions about it. I'll definitely keep you posted on the progress of this one.

Room designed by Brant McFarlain

Interior Designer Brant McFarlain has teamed up with architect Joshua Nimmo to open Bloc Design Syndicate, a hospitality architecture and design firm. Both McFarlain and Nimmo were formerly with Morrison Seifert Murphy. McFarlain left four years ago, with Nimmo only recently leaving the fold. McFarlain and Nimmo will continue to do residential projects separately, but together they'll tackle hotels and restaurants. (Read more about McFarlain's work in the October issue of Modern Luxury.)

Mary Crosland

Mary Crosland is opening a salon in Preston Center dubbed Lucien, named after husband Luke (Lucien B) Crosland who is the developer on the project. Luke just finished a cool, mixed use condo and retail center on Cedar Springs called Ilume. The salon, slated to open in October, is being designed by Travis Terry, an Aspen and Dallas based designer might as well be the Crosland's in-house designer, having done their Highland Park home and Ilume, among others.

Brochier, a new line by Cleric Tessuto & Co

ID Collection has picked up a new line of Italian fabrics, Brochier. "The line, if you remember, was around many years ago," Jim Williamson, partner in ID Collection writes. "It, like some of the older fabric houses, had become somewhat dated and uninspired....basically languishing until last year when it was purchased by Cleric Tessuto & Co. They relaunched the line in January at Maison & Objet.

"This collection was designed by Italian designer Erasmo Figini, known for his innovative takes on traditional fabrics. He also designs for Rubelli....

"The line is especially noted for its technical and innovative excellence, and for the very high quality of the natural silk, cotton, and linen they use," says Williamson. "To put it simply, It is elegance with ease.This is the first collection of the relaunch of the brand. Look for this line to really grow in the years to come."

Ann Fox

After last week's post about Dallas-based Room Service Home catalog shuttering and leaving many of its vendors in the lurch, I got an email from Robin Riddle a former employee at the original store on Lover's Lane, when it was under designer Ann Fox's ownership. She wanted to set the record straight. I was unable to get a hold of Fox herself in time for this post, but verbatim, here's what Riddle had to say on Fox's behalf:

My name is Robin Riddle and I am a really close friend of Ann Fox. I also worked at Room Service ( the store) for many years. Another mutual friend sent both of us the link to your blog. We were both heartsick to read it. I think that both Ann and the store’s memory, if you will, are owed that the record be set straight. Room Service Home (the catalog) was a completely separate company with separate investors and a board of directors. The company was started when Donna King, who was a parent at the elementary school in which Ann’s son was attending, approached Ann with the hopes of putting together the catalog which had always been a desire of Ann’s. After putting in several years of juggling both the store and the buying for the catalog, Ann felt that it best to close the store and devote her energy solely to the catalog. The store was closed a little over a year ago with all vendors paid in full and a stellar reputation as part of our community for nearly twenty-one years. The year that followed brought many changes to the catalog which was at the hands of the board of directors. Ann left the catalog this past January as a result of her disapproval at the way things were being run, namely how investors and vendors were being treated. She was in fact “let go” and betrayed by her partner, a fact to me that was the most shocking considering there would have been no Room Service Home if not for Ann’s vision, creativity and hard work for so many years since the inception of the store itself. I hope you can pass this on to your readers to correct any confusion and misinformation.

Dallas Design Gossip

James Magni's Rooms

Cory Pope has picked up Los Angeles-based interior designer James Magni’s s new line of furniture and will be selling it exclusively in Texas. Magni used to live and work in Dallas, until the late 80s.

Jewel Noir Side Table, $7,975 has a top made from hand-cast recycled glass

The Colette table in handcast bronze and glass, is a limited edition of 50, signed by Magni. $14,920

Rest In Peace

Room Service Home, which had been going gangbusters since it went from a bricks and mortar establishment on Lovers Lane a couple of years ago to an online catalog, has filed for Chapter 7, says one of their long time vendors who received a notice in the mail last week. The Florida-based vendor says she is owed thousands of dollars, and hasn't been able to get anyone on the phone for weeks. That's probably because the place is empty. A trip to their site confirms that the company is closed.

Ike Isenhour

Dallas Interior designer Ike Isenhour is taking only "two pieces of art and some choice selections from my shoe collection" with him to New York City when he relocates there this fall. Ike will still office here in Dallas, but he's got so much work in Manhattan that he's been obliged to take an apartment-cum-office there. "I’ve always been a reductionist, but I am taking it to the next level for NYC. Simplicity!" he says.

Ike is currently working on a 1920s era apartment on Park Avenue designed by legendary architects Rosario Candela and James Carpenter, who designed most of the most architecturally significant buildings along Park and Fifth Avenues during the Gatsby era. Here's a book that Ike dropped off for me that features the floor plan of the apartment with its wonderful circular entry.

[click on the image to view it bigger]

David Call

Designer David Call is designing two luxury suites at the Nokia Theater -- one for the theater's owner, and the other, the Entertainer's Suite, which will serve as the press box. They should be ready around November, he says, and will be featured an upcoming issue of D Home.