BEAUTY: Interior--Amy Lau

After I posted here about L.A. designer Jeff Andrews' masterful 2010 Showtime House room based on the Showtime series "Dexter," I came across these pictures on Amy Lau's website of her "Dexter" room for the 2008 Showtime House. It's fun to see two very different and equally perfect takes on the show and the character played by Michael C. Hall; and it proves that there is no "right" answer in Interior Design, just expressions and interpretations.

First, Lau wrapped the ceiling, table, and floor in plastic, just like Dexter does before he chops up a victim. The clean white room (referencing the clinical and forensic work Dexter does as a blood spatter analyst) is an excellent backdrop for the slashes of red in her design. The red is intensified because it is the only color in the otherwise sterile space.

Blood references continue in the table setting. Stemware by Thomas Fuchs looks as if veins are running down the stem of each glass. Chargers and plates are cutsom made by Choplet. The flatware by Steve Butcher is from a line called
Dismantled Flatware--each piece has been amputated or drilled. And if you drink all of your wine during dinner,
you can help yourself to refills from the array of wine in test tubes in the centerpiece.

The art over the fireplace is by Nava Lubelski. The pierced and torn canvas, titled "Day Dreams,"
is stitched with red thread and splashed with red ink. Stephen Antonson's white candlesticks look like human vertebrae.

More art. On the wall over the credenza: the many pieces of Jane D'Arensbouirg's glass sculpture "Veins,"
inspired by cross sections of the human brain and the circulatory system. On the credenza:
Dustin Yellin's resin cubes in which are suspended the image of a human skull.

The chandelier over the dining table is Gregoire Abrial's "Drink Another," made from wine glasses
dipped in white latex and strung with wood, light bulbs, cables, wires, wax rope and ribbon.

On a mirror framed with human vertebrae by Stephen Antonson is a reference
to the string method Dexter uses to investigate crime scenes.

At the benefit dinner, guests enjoy sushi served on meat cleavers!

http://www.amylaudesign.com/
http://www.sho.com/site/showtimehouse/home.do

BEAUTY: Interior--Jeff Andrews

Jeff Andrews, of the wild, retro extravaganza in the previous post here, created a room for the third annual Showtime House in New York City. His inspiration? Showtime's "Dexter," starring Michael C. Hall.

California Home + Design writes: "Andrews played with organic materials and hard surfaces to create a place where the forensic scientist/serial killer main character could decadently embrace his darker side. Andrews covered the floor in embossed leather with a patchwork cowhide rug in the center and designed an entertainment center, bar and hanging platform bed using salvaged wood and metal (a reference to Dexter’s beloved boat, where actor Michael C. Hall told the designer his character feels most at home). For the bar area, Andrews enlarged a screen shot of Dexter’s eyeball peering through a microscope and separated it into six black-and-white segments. Above the bar, Andrews created a light fixture using 22 exposed light bulbs. For an art installation in the office area, he arranged pieces of petrified wood into two fragmented circular designs on the wall. 'We had fun alluding to Dexter’s dark side, but we didn’t want the room to feel like a set. His character is an intelligent blood-splatter analyst who basically gets away with murder every week, so all items were well considered,' says Andrews, who also designed Hall’s own West Hollywood condo, albeit with fewer sharp objects."



http://www.jeffandrews-design.com/