ABOUT
I am a Creative Director, Interior Designer, Design Consultant. My passion is to create experiential space as evidenced by over 20 years in the position of EVP of Art and Design at abc carpet & home. My work includes design direction for the three abc restaurants with Jean-Georges Vongerichten- (abc kitchen, abc cocina, and abcV) and art & creative direction in photography, video, merchandising, visual merchandising, styling, space planning, and store design. I spent many years traveling the globe in search of vintage and antique treasures. My work has been featured in Vogue, The Cut, AD, The Wall Street Journal Off Duty, and Remodelista among others. I live in the Hudson Valley with my husband, painter Jim Denney, and our 3 cats. Our home is shared on Instagram, before and after an extensive renovation as @thelavenderghost .
I take an individual non-formulaic approach to designing residential and commercial space, created to reflect my client’s expression, lifestyle, and preferences. We begin with a deep dive, and work collaboratively with a mix of modern, vintage, and antiques, texture and color. I am happy to work with existing furniture if it is functioning practically, visually, and emotionally. Contact me if you would like to discuss your project.
TESTIMONIALS
Amy’s eye is indisputable – that much you can know from a quick perusal of her Instagram. But I have never worked with anyone – in any profession – whose competence across all of the relevant areas left me feeling as confident and taken care of as Amy did. Far from being just gifted in the creative aspect of design, she considered how the space would be used and by whom, the ease/difficulty of sourcing materials, how spaces worked together, etc. And she was a full time fun collaborator, I loved the process so much, I worked with her a second time!
Working with Amy was nothing short of a dream, and certainly the highlight of our project. Amy delivered her work timely and on-budget, which is often a rarity on these sorts of projects. Additionally, we found Amy exceptionally easy to work with, showing flexibility, dedication and wild talent. Most importantly, she listened carefully to the vision and executed it with perfection and passion. We look forward to working with Amy on future projects.
Amy is an extraordinarily talented creative presence, and is a master of envisioning spaces and manifesting her vision. She resonates with her clients’ needs and lifestyles and fully collaborates with them, so that the final result is beyond what the client imagined. The design process with Amy was one of my greatest joys, and I am forever grateful to wake up to the incredible beauty she created.
I’m so delighted with everything I’ve worked on with Amy. She has an incredible ability to see possibilities. She creatively puts together totally unexpected parts to create a whole that is sublime. She finds gorgeous and unique vintage pieces with history that are beautifully made, and feel like a responsible, sustainable choice. It’s such a collaborative and fun experience working with Amy. I get squealy anticipating meetings with Amy- like a kid awaiting a gift!
Every time I walk through my house I sing praise to Amy Ilias. We worked entirely remotely, with my floor plans and existing design choices. Amy efficiently selected dozens of vintage rugs and decorative pillows for my consideration. One perfect rug will transform an entire room, and this is what happened to my 5 rooms and 2 hallways. Amy used her efficiency, intuition and expertise to guide me through this process. She was organized, sensitive to budget and completely focused on my project. I could not imagine a better collaboration and outcome.