Photography: (shirt) Ratko Radojcic; (boxes) courtesy of WPA; (cuff) courtesy of Douglas Rosin;
(all others) Anna Knott
“I like new things and not knowing certain outcomes,” says Anne Kaplan.
Which is why earlier this year the 73-year-old interior designer and society doyenne decided to transform the Museum of Contemporary Art Warehouse into a factory—complete with dinner rolling in on conveyor belts—for a benefit she cochaired.
She has inspired many of her clients to be just as fearless, persuading one to switch her confining dining room with her much grander living room. “Now she has a cozy little living room off the kitchen and a big dining room with a fireplace in another part of the house—and she loves it,” Kaplan says.
A modernist at heart, Kaplan lives in a Highland Park house designed for her and her late husband, Burt, a mattress manufacturer, by the New York architect Peter Gluck in 1995 (they raised their three children in a circa 1918 house on the same site). It’s filled with midcentury modern classics by such masters as Bertoia and Noguchi, with curve balls thrown in. She brings that same sensibility to her wardrobe, mixing minimal and whimsical with panache. See below to take a look.
10 Things She Loves
BARCELONA CHAIR ($5,068, Design Within Reach, 10 E. Ohio St.)
“This chair struck me when I first saw it in my 20s; it was my introduction to modern furniture.”
CHLOÉ BOOTS
“I wear them with skirts, dressier dresses. I like their attitude. They’re comfortable, practical, and clever.”
GOOSE DECOY (similar pieces at Harvey Art & Antiques, 1035 Wesley Ave., Evanston)
“It has a beautiful shape and texture, and I love that it was made for a purpose.”
CHANEL CUFF ($6,600, Douglas Rosin Decorative Arts & Antiques, 730 N. Wells St.)
“It’s elegant and a bit showy.”
LE CORBUSIER BOXES ($1,020 for chestnut, left, $710 for oak; WPA, 314 W. Superior St.)
“They are playful in a strict way.”
BERTOIA CHAIRS AND NOGUCHI TABLE (Chairs $677 each, table $1,898; hivemodern.com)
“These sculptural pieces seem to gravitate to each other.”
SERGE MOUILLE CEILING LAMP ($6,759, Design Within Reach)
“This is a nice tailored fixture that isn’t screaming.”
IZUMI SCULPTURE (Masatoshi Izumi is represented by Japonesque Gallery, 824 Montgomery St.,
San Francisco.)
“He was an apprentice of Noguchi’s; they have a similar sensibility that I like.”
BRUNELLO CUCINELLI SUEDE SHIRT ($4,145, Brunello Cucinelli, 939 N. Rush St.)
“This top is soft and easy to wear, and when you look comfortable, you have creative license.”
DUBUFFET PAINTING
“You see only the ground in this work. There is a really complex, wonderful materiality to it. It feels too precious to hang, so I keep it propped up on a console.”