 |
||||
Going Mad in the Big Easy It's all about Grandma for Bryan Batt, of AMC's 'Mad Men,' as he shares his design sensibilities from his New Orleans interior décor shop  Image courtesy Bryan Batt When Bryan Batt first walked onto the 1960s-era apartment set of his "Mad Men" character, closeted advertising art director Salvatore Romano, the actor's eyes gravitated toward a familiar knick-knack that he was surprised to see there. "There was one of those Murano glass clowns in a little curio cabinet," remembers Batt, "and my father collected those in the '60s. So I just had the feeling of all of a sudden walking into a time machine. I thought, 'How brilliant, they even got the Murano glass clown!' " Batt's amazement at the set designers' attention to detail (and apparent clairvoyance) came not only as an actor but also as one of them. When he's not appearing on "Mad Men" or hitting the boards of the Broadway stage, Batt often can be found in his native New Orleans indulging in his other career as the co-proprietor of Hazelnut, an interior décor shop that he runs with his domestic partner, event planner and former actor Tom Cianfichi. Launched as more than just a labor of love, Hazelnut is based on Magazine Street, a downtown strip of New Orleans that is known for its boutiques, antique stores and museums. And its unusual name comes straight out of Batt's own family. "My grandmother was named Hazel, and her maiden name was Nuss," Batt explains. "So, translated (from German), it was 'Hazel Nut'. [After] my grandmother passed away, we named a production company after her, Hazelnut Productions. So we thought, 'It had worked for that; it will work for this.' It just keeps us thinking about her once in a while. We adored her. She was a great lady of style." Chances are that Hazel would have adored the store that her grandson established in her honor. Anyone who walks through Hazelnut's front door - or visits its Internet portal at www.hazelnutneworleans.com - is instantly confronted by the eclectic nature that marks both New Orleans style in general and Batt's personal philosophy about design in particular. "I like taking the best elements of different eras of design and seeing them blend well together," Batt says. "Some things will not work, no matter how hard you try, but you can push it a little bit. We try to keep everything new and current, because we believe [in] blending the old with the new. As much as I love going onto the set or going into a museum room or something, we don't live in the past. I think we need to mix the old with the new in design. And something else - don't be afraid of color! What did it ever do to you?" Among the highlights that are regularly available at Hazelnut are sets of oyster-themed dinnerware and serviceware from ceramics artist Alison Taylor; and one of Batt's personal creations, a fabric called New Orleans Toile that adorns a wide array of objects. "It's a classic French toile with iconic illustrations of New Orleans, like the streetcar and the cathedral in the French Quarter. We have it on everything from bedding to trays to frames, totes, napkins, place mats." Hazelnut also is known for its elaborate window displays, the brainchild of Cianfichi. Often, his work can be quite thematic: To celebrate the second-season premiere of "Mad Men," Cianfichi came up with dual displays in honor of the drama's main protagonist, harried ad executive Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and his sometimes estranged wife Betty (January Jones). The "Don window" included versions of the tony chairs that are in Don's business office, another feature on the "Mad Men" set that Batt went "head over heels for ... we found a similar reproduction in style that we carry in the shop now. Batt's passion for design developed after he got the acting bug. He describes himself as always having been a "theatrical" child, but it was when he was 13 that he noticed another outlet for his creativity. "My parents built a home, and I really got involved with helping and coming up with ideas," he says. "And after school, instead of wanting to do after-school activities or whatever, I would say, 'Mom, can we stop at an antique shop and check it out?'" That trend continued after Batt moved to New York to pursue a life amid the neon lights of Broadway: "During the days when I wouldn't be doing a show a night, or even when I was doing a show at night, for entertainment purposes I would visit the D&D (Decorating and Design) Building or go to furniture showrooms." Still, Batt's professional focus stayed on his performing, and he excelled in roles in productions such as "La Cage Aux Folles," "Starlight Express" and "Sunset Boulevard." But decorating remained in his blood, and he even got to combine his two sides when he was a guest designer on the short-lived Style Network series "Guess Who's Coming to Decorate." In 2003, during a lull in Batt's Broadway schedule, he got a call from his sister-in-law that a retail space had opened up in the Crescent City. "Tom and I had always talked about the idea of opening our shop in New Orleans on Magazine Street, and she called and said that this great address was available," Batt says. "So we called, we went down, we got the store, opened it and just ran with it. It was just one of those things where opportunity presented itself, and we kind of seized the day." Five years and two major hurricanes later (the store was closed and evacuated during hurricanes Katrina and Gustav but emerged each time with no damage), Hazelnut has been a great success, and Batt's love for the past, present and future ideas about design remains unabated. His décor forecast for the next year? "I believe the important bio sustainable/eco-friendly trend will continue but grow in edgier design ... and a continued love of glamour and opulence with a touch of whimsy will always be 'in'." But Batt has not expanded his duties to include a lot of personal services. He and Cianfichi designed their homes in New Orleans and New York, and they have taken on a couple of individual projects, including the new home of Batt's brother. But there are no plans for much more than that, and not just because of Batt's other job. Friends have asked him for his help, but he usually defers. "I will try to guide them in the right direction and everything, but as far as dealing with fabrics and upholsters and things like that, I'll just say, 'Here'," he says. "Mainly I like to consult and make suggestions and then let people go do it. The main thing is that I want to make sure that they're happy, and if something comes out that they're not happy with or something doesn't work out right, I just don't want to deal with it!" |
||||
|
||||
