Designer's Debut ~ First Place Judy Soccio, WFCP Associate 2006 Envision Design Competition 
A Main Street building was renovated to house three separate but connected retail specialty shops in the Nemacolin Collection stores. “Our design parameters were to create a treatment that would look as good from the street as it did inside, and to provide as much display space in each window as possible,” says Judy Soccio, who designed two padded wood cornices for each window, one to face the interior and the other to face the street, with narrow, tied-back drapery sandwiched between them. The entire assembly was mounted into the window arches, flush with the wood frames. “I added a personal design requirement—the treatments should be finished with the same attention to couture details as seen on the designer clothes being sold in the stores. To that end, I lined the insides of all the cornices with the face fabric, and inside edges were finished with color-coordinated gimp.” The cornices range in size from 82" to 108" wide. Three windows were full arches, and three were eyebrow arches with support columns interrupting the span. “We had the columns boxed in to even the window space on either side, and then requested they be mirrored to minimize their appearance.” Since the shops flow into each other, a modified historic French-drapery design on all the windows unified the space. The men’s shop treatment is in gold and mustard, while the two ladies’ shops are in an oyster-colored cotton/silk blend. The trims complement the gold leafing and ornate plaster crown moldings throughout the shops. To allow windows to be washed periodically, a pulley system was designed to raise and lower the treatments as needed. “We used metal cable and eye hooks and the whole treatment slides quite neatly within the window arch.” Annette Stramesi calls this design “a wonderfully elegant solution that looks great from outside and inside. The designer understood what was needed and came through in fine fashion.” Credits Sources |
