Quick five questions with Melissa Byrne, Founder of Byrne Communications.
24th November 2023
Since designing the Restoration Chateau Paint Collection for Graphenstone I have become the #colourpolice when watching period films, freeze-framing images to examine the colour. Working so closely with paint colours do you do the same?
I’m not sure anyone is as forensic or knowledgeable in their historical examination of colour as you!
Colour makes people happy! It’s important but so is the texture and finish of a paint. I’ve got an old house that is quite beaten up – we left the walls rough rather than re skimming – the Graphenstone lime-based paints cloak them but you can still see the imperfection – it’s matt and highly pigmented and goes on like velvet – because it’s clean and green there is zero smell.
You work with many different brands including Steinway – how do you manage the public’s perception of an American company that originated in Germany?
I work with Simon & Simon, a brilliant agency, on Steinway. Steinway started in Germany and has only two factories world-wide based in Hamburg and New York. The first Steinway piano was made in a kitchen. Built by Heinrich Steinweg, it is currently in the Musical Instruments Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. When Heinrich’s son and successor William Steinway died in 1896, such was the esteem that he was held in, the Mayor of New York ordered flags to be flown at half-mast. Since 1853 the company’s pianos, each of which take around a year to make, have set an uncompromising standard – sound, craftsmanship, design, and investment. It is the piano of choice for nine out of ten concert pianists and it collaborates well with renowned designers – most recently, the French multidisciplinary designer, Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance on a beautiful sculptural piano – a piece of art.
Lalique is a global brand synonymous with the ultimate in French Luxury, ranging from interiors to jewellery. With such a wonderful catalogue are you able to choose two pieces you would like to own?
The Lalique state owned museum in Wingen sur Moder, Alsace is incredible, and I’d like everything in there – from the original jewellery to the perfume bottles and lights – it attracts over 70,000 visitors a year despite being in quite a remote area of Northern France but there’s also the Hotel Villa Rene Lalique which was Rene Lalique’s former home (with a 2 Michelin star restaurant) and Lalique’s Chateau Hochberg opposite the Museum as well as the Factory (not open to the public). The Languedoc in green is a favourite .. a classic, designed in 1929 by Rene Lalique and inspired by the arid region in the South of France. From the new collection I’m particularly taken with the serpent bowl in Amber – textural and decadent but a practical size – would look great on a coffee table with nuts .. or the perfect ash tray!
Photographer: Samuel Guigues
The images on my instagram are things that catch my eye and are mostly client related – from David Hockney socks from the National Portrait Museum to ‘Seize this Day’ posters from the Imperial War Museum shops and vintage Tolix from Merchant & Found. I was lucky enough to work with Terence Conran as PR for the Conran Shops. He had a very clear aesthetic and a talented visual merchandising team led by Betsy Smith who mixed contemporary and vintage with ease. Rather than a period, perhaps it’s materials that resonate more… beautiful wood, natural materials, and woven textures.
We met up at Collect at Somerset House, if you were choosing a piece to take home would it be contemporary or historic?
Somerset House is the perfect venue for Collect which is unusual in the art world in that all the pieces at the show are made by living artists and within five years. I think I’d have to choose something contemporary .. porcelain by Hitomi Hosono represented by Adrian Sassoon Gallery is incredible and I wouldn’t say no to a Simon Gaiger sculpture from Cavaliero Finn.