Bemelmans New York & London
It is the 1940’s and Robert Huyot, the French-born general manager of the Carlyle is friends with Ludwig Bemelmans and has asked him to paint the new bar in exchange for rooms at the hotel. Although Bemelmans consulted with Huyot, he was given free rein to paint what he liked, and so he depicted Central Park across four seasons complete with animals — an elephant with a parasol, a bunny in a boater, a family of giraffes and his eponymous heroine Madeline. The Carlyle is a New York stalwart and its cocktail bar mural is the perfect playful scene to get lost in as you sip your cocktail while listening to classics from the American Songbook.
Back in London today, Swedish interior designer Beata Heuman has brought a taste of Bemelmans to her London home in her daughters bedroom, as shown in Architectural Digest.
This is interior design that fills us with joy and Ms Heuman does it with real style! It is no surprise that she is listed in the AD100 2021. Her online shop does not disappoint either! We have our eyes on an Oscilla Bench.
What more could a child's bedroom wall want in these dreary times? We are all for being whisked off to Central Park to see a rabbit puffing on a cigar!
Photography by Paul Raeside for Architectural Digest