A Bittersweet Goodbye: The Estate of Patrick McCarthy

I love integrating vintage items into my designs because they end up being inspirations from different viewpoints throughout history. This is how I learned about Jean Michel Frank tables, mid-century modern furniture differences between Europe and the US,  Louis Philippe cabinets, and the wide variety of Murano glass that exists out there. Very often, I find vintage pieces via estate sales—often carefully curated events by interior designers in the past who may have lovingly designed a home for their clients, the way we do.

It’s a very bittersweet moment for me to write that my first client ever, Patrick McCarthy estate, who kick-started my interior design practice, recently passed on and a great deal of his estate went on sale at Sotheby’s Home. Patrick McCarthy was a terrific mentor who ran W and Women’s Wear Daily, and a fashion icon behind the scenes. But he always took time to support my then fragile creative process when he told me to start my own firm. While estate sales can be a sad dispersal of material life, it’s good to know, and I think he would agree, that these items he loved will go on to inspire beauty in others.