A Discussion on Palm Beach’s Venerated Design History

A Discussion on Palm Beach’s Venerated Design History, Connections to the Decorators Club and the Future

Related Companies is pleased to host a discussion on Palm Beach’s storied and rich design and architecture history, recognized for its outstanding beaux arts and Mediterranean-influenced designs. This discussion will touch on the region’s Gilded Age roots, an innovative moment in building design, and integrate a conversation around the inception of the Decorators Club, the nation’s oldest professional women’s organization dedicated to interior design.

Moderated by Daphne Nikolopoulos, Editorial Director at Florida Design and Palm Beach Media Group featuring panelists Anne Foxley, President, The Decorators Club; Amanda Skier, President & CEO of the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, and Gil Walsh, Principal, Gil Walsh Interiors.

RSVP here.

Free and open to the public. $10 VIP tickets supporting Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach includes reserved seat, complimentary parking and gift bag. 

About the moderator: 

As editorial director of Florida Design and its affiliate titles, Daphne Nikolopoulos leads the venerable publication’s creative team in developing design content that inspires. An award-winning journalist and author, Daphne also is editor in chief of Palm Beach Illustrated magazine, a 70-year-old luxury-lifestyle glossy, and editorial director of Palm Beach Media Group, overseeing all creative content for 32 proprietary and custom publications. Her leadership has helped refine content delivery for all titles and employ a service-based journalism model with lifestyle-enhancing information for readers. Daphne also is a multi-published author of fiction and non-fiction lifestyle books, and teaches and lectures widely in the South Florida community.

About the panelists:

Amanda Skier is President &CEO of the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach and began work with the organization as Director of Education in 2012.During her tenure, she has led two capital campaigns to revitalize historic parks in Palm Beach and championed local educational initiatives focusing on resiliency and landscape stewardship.A resident of the El Cid Historic District in West Palm Beach, Ms. Skier has served as Chair of the West Palm Beach Historic Preservation Board since 2016.In 2017, she joined the Board of Trusteesfor the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation and the Board of Advocates for the University of Florida’s Historic Preservation Program.She holds an undergraduate degree in American Studies from the George Washington University and a graduate degree inHistoric Preservation from the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Gil Walsh has been creating luxurious interiors for more than forty years. As a leading interior designer in Palm Beach and Martha’s Vineyard, she leads her talented team from her 5,000 square foot studio in West Palm Beach. It is home to an innovative resource materials library that encompasses the latest fabrics, wallcoverings, architectural materials, and floor coverings. Detailed scaled drawings are produced by the interior architecture team, and realistic renderings are created by their 3D visualization artist. The team has an incredible eye for detail, and together they strive to add value across all stages of the design process. As a member of the Advisory Board of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, Gil attributes her work with Edgar Kaufmann Jr. as a defining moment in her career when she was hired to refurbish the interiors of the historical single family home. She is also a member of the distinguished Design Leaders Network, NY Decorators Club, and a trustee of the Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Anne Foxley launched her career in interiors as a journalist, working during the '90s as a design editor at House & Garden and New York magazines. She then traveled extensively in Asia and Europe, taking on several editorial assignments for international décor magazines and also opening a resort-style boutique in Newport, RI that featured curated home furnishings to reflect her world of influences. Currently based in Newport and New York, and serving as President of the Decorators Club, New York, Foxley leads interior renovation projects in wide ranging locations, including recently a house in Southampton and a seaside property in Newport. Her angle spans residential interiors of a high-rise pied-à-terre in Manhattan, where she converted the master bedroom into an authentic Japanese tatami room, and an Italian restaurant in Boston. International influences aside, Foxley’s style is clean and unpretentious, yet luxurious, with a distinctly American feel