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What's Your Fancy: Farrow & Ball's Color Guru Takes on Entertaining
This article features an interview with Patrick O'Donnell, brand ambassador for the British paint company Farrow & Ball, known for its distinctive paint colors and finishes. Founded in Dorset in 1947 by John Farrow and Richard Ball, the company has grown from a niche luxury brand to a widely recognized name, particularly after a New Yorker article highlighted its unique hues like Elephant’s Breath and Breakfast Room Green. O'Donnell, described as a "divining rod for color," possesses a unique skill in matching interiors with Farrow & Ball shades, even through virtual consultations. The author of the article shares a personal experience of consulting O'Donnell for their own home during the pandemic, expressing satisfaction with his color advice.
Beyond his expertise in paint, the article explores O'Donnell's recommendations for entertaining, emphasizing that color plays a crucial role in setting the mood for a dinner party. He extends his discerning eye to various aspects of home decor and tableware, offering a curated selection of his favorite items. For dining rooms, O'Donnell strongly advocates for rich caramel or tobacco paint colors, suggesting they create an intimate, warm, and welcoming atmosphere. He views these shades as strong neutrals that are versatile for pairing with other colors in upholstery and curtain fabrics. When it comes to table settings, O'Donnell starts with the menu to determine his choice of plate color, typically opting for white or green. He advises against overmatching and prefers to incorporate color through heavy Belgian linen napkins in shades like burnt orange, ochre yellow, or off-white.
His tableware preferences include Japanese Gozan ceramics from David Mellor, appreciating their hand-thrown, irregular quality and the "broken" color effect, especially on the green pieces, which adds softness and highlights their artisanal nature. For cutlery, O'Donnell uses a mix of hand-me-down and collected silver, including bone-handled knives. He also admires David Mellor's English Sterling Silver collection for its simple, elegant design with a nod to early Georgian style, considering it perfect contemporary cutlery. Lighting in a dining room is critical for O'Donnell, who insists on wall lights over overhead fixtures for dinner parties. He particularly favors candle sconces, recommending a specific double candle brass wall sconce from Tinsmiths as an excellent modern alternative to his own antique Swedish pieces.
For glassware, O'Donnell enjoys a mixed approach, combining vintage crystal, William Yeoward wine glasses, and handblown "terrazzo" tumblers from Late Afternoon, which come in vibrant colors. This eclectic mix contributes to the informal atmosphere he prefers for his suppers, influencing everything from cooking to floral arrangements and table dressing. His drink recommendations include a good smoky single malt, Campari and Vermouth for negronis, and his favorite, slightly kitsch crème de violette from South West France, which he uses to create a colorful spin on Kir Royale. O'Donnell's seasonal candle choices reflect his preference for lighter, cleaner scents in warmer months and deeper, woodier notes in fall. His regular fall/winter candle is Laurier 62 from Le Labo, which he describes as evoking "lamp light and log fires." Finally, as a connoisseur of textiles, O'Donnell highlights a book titled "Global Ikat: Roots and Routes of a Textile Technique," which he values for expanding his reference library on fabric design.
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