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Design

Designer Abbe Fenimore’s Take on the D-TV Set

By Ryan Conner |
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The D-TV living room set designed by Abbe Fenimore.

Surely you’ve been tuning in to D-TV every weekday morning to catch D: The Broadcast at 9 am and D Living at 10 am, right? If not, consider this your reminder. But being the design-minded folks we are here at D Home, we are mostly interested in the gorgeous set. How did the D-TV team make it happen? Follow us after the jump for the story.

When D partnered up with London Broadcasting to develop D:The Broadcast and re-brand D Living, a total set redesign was needed to represent the taste and vibe of the D brand. So, they looked to local designer Abbe Fenimore to guide them in their design. When Abbe got the call the week before Christmas to design a show set to premier in mid-February, she immediately got to work. How did she start? By pulling inspirational images from D Home, of course. “D is attracted to a traditional elegance with a modern flair—a youthful vibe with color,” she says. Abbe also realized the importance of making sure that the set could stand up to the ideas and stories from D Magazine Partners’ publications that would be re-purposed for the show. Abbe says, “The number one priority was that it felt like D. I knew that we going to be regenerating material from the magazine on to the show. It’s important that these things can co-exist together.”

Abbe’s vision began with the modular sofa you see in the picture above. JC’s Upholstery designed and constructed the gorgeous custom sea-green piece, complete with wheels on the back of each seat. Because sets are constantly being moved around to reflect a segment change, Abbe had to think about each piece with regard to mobility and function. She says, “Every piece on the set needs to operate easily and quickly.” After the sofa was designed and in the works, she started gathering tables and accessories for ways to make the set unique and fresh. A painting from local artist Megan Adams, side tables, a tray, a coffee table from Adriana Hoyos, a Catella rug, pillows from The Rug Company, as well as accessories from Z Gallerie and Abbe’s home were pulled together to complete the look. Total Design and Manufacturing designed and built the faux wall, fireplace, and door behind the living room. “The wall bridged the gap between the kitchen and lounge area. It was just a plain gray wall,” says Abbe. “We needed something to merge everything together.” The team at Total Design suggested building a door, and Abbe rolled with. “He had some shapes lying around at the warehouse and we thought we needed to hang them on the door. They help tie it all in,” she says.

 

D-TV's Poggenpohl kitchen.

 

 

The chat table from Adriana Hoyos.

The modern kitchen by Poggenpohl Dallas perfectly complements the fresh feel of the existing set. The chat table is actually a console table from Adriana Hoyos.  Abbe says, “We weren’t able to find a table that was the right height, or maybe we did and it was not the right design. It was a fluke that this console table worked.” The city backdrop was designed in house by advertising art director Michael Hassett. Abbe chose the paint color based on the backdrop. She says, “When they showed me the proposed image behind the talk table, I knew we had to do gray. There had to be something cohesive, especially if you’re shooting from one space to the other, you don’t want it to be crazy over here and boring over there.” Abbe does have plans to change up the set design based on the season and maybe adding some accessories for holidays. Stay tuned for more design notes from the set!

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