The Connecticut garden of Williams, which makes for a stunning component of the video.
Photo Courtesy of ICAA“It was just fun to rehang all the pictures, add some new things, and change it up,” AD100 Hall of Fame decorator Bunny Williams told AD last January, while speaking of her new Manhattan apartment. “I can spend hours playing house.” Now, that home is one third of the focus of the latest episode of Design in Mind, PBS’s recurring series. The episode, which is titled “Not a House but a Home,” was made in part thanks to the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art and will air on PBS this spring.
“We wanted people to be inspired by the leaders of industry,” Peter Lyden, president of the ICAA, says to AD PRO of the series in general. That mission goes to the very core of ICAA’s own efforts, which are largely educational. Since Lyden took the helm of the organization in 2014, he’s widely expanded the viewership of the ongoing lecture series. And since the onset of the pandemic, it’s become increasingly clear that many are more interested in interiors and gardens than they ever were before. That’s good news for Lyden, of course, and also for Design in Mind, which has more installments in the works.
As for the episode on Williams, it hinges not only on her New York City home but also on two Connecticut estates. One is a project Williams worked on for a client while the other is her own country compound, which she has expanded over the years along with her husband John Rosselli. “I think it was important that we showed a brand-new house that was built from scratch, and a house that was a complete refashioning,” Lyden says of those latter two dwellings, respectively.
And thanks to her clear respect for the work of architects and landscape architects, as well as her own influential role within the industry, Williams made perfect sense as a person of focus. “She’s really inspiring to younger people,” Lyden notes, adding that she cares about future generations becoming involved with the design world. Yet again, the sentiment dovetails nicely with the mission of ICAA. “We want to keep people at any age inspired to learn more,” Lyden says. And certainly, with with new educational offerings such as this video available, the opportunities are out there.
