WOMEN at home
by JENNIFER DAVIS DODD
Two of our favorite Dallas women, jewelry designer Rebecca Collins and clothing designer Bea Harper, invite us—and our readers—into their homes.
JEWELRY DESIGNER
Working from home has a number of advantages, but jewelry designer Rebecca Collins could tell you a few of the disadvantages. “I have such a hard time giving myself the day off,” she says. “I have to rationalize myself into it. I always have one project or another in the works—that’s in addition to my work. Lately I’ve been reorganizing my house, room by room.”
Rebecca has lived in her 1920s house for five years, but she’s filled it with a lifetime of intriguing collections—everything from red coral to exotic textiles to religious artifacts. Her décor is a wonderful mix of old and new. For some reason—it wasn’t planned, she says—the majority of her favorite pieces (Parisian leather chairs, antique Madonnas, candlesticks from Mexican churches, Chinese figurines, and a Tibetan sculpture) have come together in her living room. And it’s become her favorite spot in the house. “I love looking at the things in this room,” she says. Possibly because of the memories and stories attached to most of her pieces. “I remember exactly where and when I bought that Cambodian statue on the mantle,” she says. “I don’t have to know the history of a piece. I’m drawn to the aesthetic. If I look at something and it resonates with me—if I get a feeling that might translate to ‘yum!’—I know it’s supposed to go home with me. And I always remember that meeting.”
Rebecca doesn’t buy things just to fill holes: “I’m still looking for the perfect dining room chairs. I’m using French metal garden chairs right now. I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for—maybe those chairs don’t even exist. But if they do, I’ll know when I find them.” And the pieces she buys seem to find a home for themselves: “It will just belong wherever it lands.”
Rebecca believes in the miraculous, the meant to be. “Men like to make things happen, but women can allow things to happen,” she says. “When I found the Louis Philippe bench by my front windows at a flea market in Georgia, I couldn’t decide if I loved it or hated it. The dealer offered to have it delivered for me, to help make the sale. When I found out that the woman who was going to deliver the bench was returning to her home in Texas, which just happened to be behind my own parents’ house, I knew it was meant to be.”
She had the same instantaneous reaction to her house the very first time she saw it. Mary, a former employee who knew Rebecca’s taste very well, told her of a house that had just gone on the market. “The for sale sign had just been planted in the front yard that very morning,” she says. “But as soon as I walked in, I knew it was right. I bought it that same day.”
Just as she has an eye for finished pieces, Rebecca can also see the potential in raw materials. She had the painted cabinet in her dining room made in Bali from scraps of other projects. And, of course, Rebecca is nationally known for her designs. From small pieces of jade, precious stones, raw minerals, even ivory, bone, horn, and pre-Columbian artifacts, she crafts necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and small sculptures that she calls table talismans. Rebecca sells her jewelry through Neiman Marcus, her own store in Preston Plaza, and Forty Five Ten. She’s even designed doorknobs for commercial spaces. “I keep thinking I should design something for my own shower doors,” she says. “Some day. When I take a day off.”
REBECCA COLLINS PHOTOGRAPHY BY JASON DONNELLY/COLLEN DUFFLEY STUDIO STYLED BY BILL MACKIN
CLOTHING DESIGNER/MANUFACTURER
Given her position as one of Dallas’ best-known clothing designer/manufacturers, it might seem trite to describe Bea Harper as tailored. But it’s true.
When we meet, Bea is wearing a sweater set and a long, pleated skirt. (Free fashion tip: pleats are back.) It’s immediately obvious that Bea is all about comfort, simplicity, and clean lines—both professionally and domestically. “Less is more to me,” she says. “In fact, it’s perfect for me. Life isn’t simple, so I like my space to be as uncluttered as possible.”
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| Bea says that she Appreciates the styling of a good shoe. “Oh, okay,” she says, like we’ve caught her in a fib. “I love this shoe. I love red shoes. I wish I had more of them. But most of the time I’m wearing my other Favorite: Dr. Scholl’s.” |
Her space might be uncluttered, but it’s not cold or impersonal. Bea’s décor includes warm colors, a mixture of touch-me textures, and pieces with interesting details. One can understand why the second floor, which includes her living room, is her favorite spot. “I love to sit in the living room and look out the windows,” she says. The windows in question are about 30 feet tall. “I love the way the light comes in. And I watch the trees beyond. In fact,” she says, “it’s that view that sold me on this house.”
When Bea met with her Realtor, Ned Cammack, to look at houses, he drove her straight to a three-level townhouse. Bea took one look at the exterior through the car window and refused to budge. “It was so far from the image I had in my mind,” she says. “I couldn’t imagine that it had anything to offer.” They moved on. After two more houses, Bea finally consented to walk through the townhouse. “Once inside, I could see that my furniture would work well in the space. Then I got to the 15th step on the flight of stairs to the second floor; I saw those windows and that view. And I was sold.” 
| The view of Bea’s living room from the third floor of her townhouse is spectacular. Looking around her space brings friends to Bea’s mind. “The Knoll cigarette table on the left was a gift from a friend,” she says. “And Otis found the couch for me. The floor pillows were made by my friend Ann Tenney. She’s moved on to candle making now. I adore her Purelight candles. They make such a simple display on the coffee table.” |
Her furniture is such a perfect fit for the space that she must have bought it all new when she moved in four years ago. “Oh, no,” she says. “I’ve collected this furniture over 20 years. The only thing I bought specifically for this townhouse is the seagrass rug in the living room.” She goes on to tell the story behind several of her pieces. A friend, artist Otis Jones, found her George Nelson couch. Because she loved the couch’s shape, Bea overlooked its home-fashion faux pas (original ’70s brown and orange upholstery). After being recovered and dressed with suede-striped pillows and a round striped-silk pillow, the couch is perfect.
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| The classic Mies Van der Rohe tobacco-colored leather daybed was a favorite piece of the original owner, who was evidently a very tall man. He’d relaxed on it so often that he’d created a small valley the shape and length of his body. Steve Smith of New Life Service restored the piece. (BELOW) “I knew the couch had good bones, despite the hideous upholstery,” Bea says. “All it needed was a little update.” Bea had it upholstered in charcoal grey chenille and added a few striped pillows from Ken Knight, and the couch is now a stunner. |
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The leather daybed is a Mies Van der Rohe. When Bea decided she wanted something in tobacco-colored leather, she called Collage. In the nicest terms possible, they basically told her not to hold her breath. But two weeks later, she got a call: they had pictures of a leather daybed in New York; it needed work. Bea was intrigued, so she bought the piece—and turned it over to Steve Smith of New Life Service. Steve, whose business is mostly airplane interiors, restored the daybed. Yes, restored, not reupholstered. It’s one of Bea’s favorite pieces.
“I’m drawn to things by the details,” she says. “The stitching on the daybed, the covered buttons on the couch, the hand-stitching on the floor pillows—craftsmanship counts.”
Bea’s appreciation for craftsmanship comes from her own understanding of the creative process. “Simple isn’t always easy,” she says. “It’s not really easy to make a ‘simple’ garment, to make it hang ‘just so’ on a specific person.” Though she’d been making her own clothes for years, at 13, Bea asked her father to take her to interview for an apprenticeship with a tailor in Omaha, Neb. Jack Cigelman, a Jewish tailor who’d made Nazi uniforms while interned in a concentration camp, took her on. She worked for 50 cents an hour—and promptly spent her wages on new fabric for her own clothes. Though for a time Bea managed the alteration department of the Polo Shop (where she gave Todd Oldham his first job), she’s had her own business for the last eight years.
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| Of course Bea Harper makes her own Slipcovers. She chose Italian linen for this chair and ottoman, where she settles to watch TV. “The pillows were handmade by my friend Ann. I love her detail work.” |
The Fitting Room on Lomo Alto is as clean and serene as her home. You might expect a successful clothing designer’s space to be a bit chaotic, but calm and order reign supreme. Bea’s clients slip in and out of the Fitting Room, picking up everything from beautiful, custom-designed evening gowns to carefully altered suits, skirts, and shirts. After a fitting, she sees a female client to the door. They chat about shopping and restaurants in Santa Fe. Bea reaches out and offhandedly straightens her client’s collar just before she walks through the door.
Like we said, tailored.
BEA HARPER PHOTOGRAPHY BY GUSTAV SCHMIEGE STYLED BY JANET ROSELL FLORAL DESIGN BY DEBBIE JEWESSON/ M BOUNTIFUL
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