Galerie’s Founder, Lisa Fayne Cohen, Celebrates Penny Drue Baird with a Party at Rizzoli

Penny Drue Baird’s new tome, On Interior Design. Photo: Images Publishing

Rizzoli bookstore was packed last night for the launch of designer Penny Drue Baird’s new tome, On Interior Design, cohosted by Galerie’s founder, Lisa Fayne Cohen, who is also a good friend of Baird’s. The two discussed Baird’s experiences in Europe and her own design practice. Here, we share six of Baird’s memorable quotes from the evening:

1. “There is a different way of looking at life in Europe that is obvious in every aspect of daily life. I always make a joke that when French people decorate they need a sofa so they can sit down and they need a table so they can eat dinner. It’s not about filling your house with all kinds of luxurious things and impressing other people.”

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Rizzoli Bookstore. Photo: Courtesy of Twilight Venetian Plaster and Painting

2. “I think architecture and architectural details are extremely important in design, and I think if a place starts out without any, the important thing is to put them in.”

3. “In the 1980s and ’90s, it wasn’t so people would take a plain white square box and put in a whole bunch of French furniture and think that they had some French-looking apartment. I think what I like to do with the architectural detailing is to be creative. So I try to see that the space and the ideas that come to me are reflective of a combination of things. I always try to infuse the space with more whimsical or unique ideas that other people haven’t done.”

Penny Drue Baird signing books at Rizzoli Bookstore. Photo: Jacqueline Terrebonne

4. “I think there are a lot of very strong design trends right now, and I think people are really buying into it. I think that with the new millennium comes this idea of getting rid of everything before and starting afresh. But I one hundred percent believe that ‘traditional’ is coming back. I mean, I’m not saying it’s coming back next week.”

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5. “I don’t think traditional will ever be the same as it was in the ’80s and ’90s for a very long time. I do think it will come back as more of an eclectic mixture.”

6. “I really think it’s the combination of the chemistry between me and the client. I can do a tiny little job, and I can do a great château in France that’s not too bad.”