decoRATING with Jason Kontos

I celebrated my Valentine's Day a little early last week as this year I had the honor of a seat at David Easton's 7th Annual Valentine's Dinner.

I joined a number of other editors and some showroom reps at his studio in Union Square, so that David could show his love for all the coverage we've given him over the years, and crack a few jokes while he was at it.

What's Valentine's Day without a little naughty?

David also made us aware of all his licensing deals -- that includes Lee Jofa among a number of others -- the extent of which I wasn't aware of. Lighting and fireplaces are a couple categories that are on the horizon for him. And in such crazy times, he's able to do product design in a way that is not pretentious. I credit that to the fact that even though he approaches everything architecturally, he's still a comedian at heart which forces out the formality.

When we arrived for dinner, he was still drafting in the other room as his guests mingled and staff was trying to draw him out. David reached out to me years ago, during my time at Classic Home, to tell me that I had an eye for a specific aesthetic that many people don't appreciate anymore. I told him no, I just grew up in it. So we bonded over that, and the fact that I honestly find his rooms just so inviting. He makes the traditional look good again by adding fantasy and his love for Neoclassicism.

We featured David as one of last year's Top 50 (October 2009).

photograph by Michael Weschler

Between the macaroni and cheese and the pink cupcakes, my diet went straight to hell in a hand basket on Thursday night.  But as editors, they made us feel like rockstars.

Many thanks!

~Jason Kontos