A Walk Through the Neighborhood

With Nantucket Looms Interiors

The ideas behind the design at this year's The Nantucket Project Lounge

For the sixth year in a row, Nantucket Looms Interiors has had the pleasure of designing the lounge at The Nantucket Project (TNP). The Nantucket Project takes place over four days every September at the White Elephant, where a collection of speakers participate in a variety of formats, which include individual presentations, panels and intimate one-on-one conversations. Notable participants at TNP include Tony Blair, Jennifer Garner, Moby, Hope Solo and George W. Bush.

The Nantucket Project was co-founded by Kate Brosnan and Tom Scott. Kate, a former member of the Looms family, approached Nantucket Looms about sponsoring TNP after CEO Bess Clarke attended the project as an Inquirer & Mirror Fellow in 2013. “Nantucket Looms has been a consistent business on island that thrives on craftsmanship and I just love the spaces they create”, says Kate. We jumped at the chance to represent the Nantucket design aesthetic to this eclectic group of attendees, while being given the opportunity to attend the project ourselves.

In the spirit of this year’s theme “Neighborhood” the Nantucket Looms Interiors team made this year’s expanded tent feel inviting by creating multiple seating vignettes to encourage conversation. Since the lounge tent not only displayed monitors for people to watch the presentations, attendees could also eat meals in the tent. Therefore, four distressed wooden dining tables each with six bright red chairs provided areas for people to eat and drink. Two additional vignettes were designed each with two 84” sofas, four woven rope chairs and a coffee table. Back by popular demand were the four swivel chairs in colors of white and red anchored by a coffee table. Three high performance area rugs were layered throughout the tent while a 60” round dining table was staged with six white wire chairs.

This year the Interiors team chose modern iterations of a classic nautical color scheme using a color palette of bold reds and slate blues. To bring balance, shades of white and gray were included while accent pillows made out of fabrics by Schumacher, Cloth by Christopher Farr and Tillet Textiles, added layers of comfort and interest. These pillows were also featured in the Reception and Quiet Tent so that all the areas were cohesive. The textured woods and pops of color tied in Nantucket’s own proximity to nature.

As lead designer Stephanie Hall explains, "Overall our goal was functionality. We needed the space to have a variety of sitting areas for different ways in which participants could relax and connect with eachother. The best part, however, is seeing people sit in the lounge and look out and appreciate the docks and the water and all the boats. You can watch the ferry's come and go. For the people who have never been to the island, which is a lot of them, it is sort of surreal. TNP is such a special experience because you can speak one-on-one with many of the speakers throughout the weekend. Providing a comfortable space to do so is really important.”