Drinks with Deborah Needleman

On one of my trips to New York a few months back, I had a yummy dinner with my uber creative & stylish friend Rita Konig at Peels on the Lower East Side. For you former domino mag readers, Rita’s was the smiling face you would see each month who travelled to cities and reported on the cool places to shop and dine. We had just come from a show of Hugo Guinness work that John Derian was showing. We were settling in for a meal and lots of stories and catching up, when along came Deborah Needleman, who had also been at the Hugo show. She nestled into the booth alongside Rita, and said we should join her after our meal for drinks. An introduction, Deborah was the founding editor of domino, and is currently the editor of the WSJ magazine. She sat with us for a bit while we started our dinner. It was lovely to see the easy rapport and friendship the 2 share. After our meal, we headed downstairs and met up with Deborah at her table. She is a person who makes you feel comfortable, is easy to talk with, looks you in the eye when she speaks with you (and is not looking around the room to see who is there)–she is just one very cool gal in my book. Which leads me to her new book.

The Perfectly Imperfect Home, with a tag line of, How to Decorate & Live Well, just arrived at the shop yesterday. It is a must read if you were a domino fan or are a fan of design. I sat last night in my favorite worn leather chair perusing the pages. It is written with her warmth and smarts, with an experts eye. The drawings are fantastic, and are a welcome change. Deborah is signing bookplates for me, so our copies will be signed by the author. A perfect gift, for yourself or to give.