Ellen Hanson at The Beacon in Sag Harbor

New York-based interior designer, Ellen Hanson has managed to turn the perception that green sacrifices luxury over onto it’s head.  Her designs are beautiful, artful, and manage to remain practical while bestowing the homeowner with a sense  of absolute comfort and serenity.  She is never one to shy away from color, and incorporates sustainability and responsibility into her design principles.  Her firm, Ellen Hanson Designs, is a member of the New York Chapter of the US Green Building Council, showing it’s commitment to responsible building.  With a background in art history (she has a B.A. from Cornell University) , experience with textiles and furniture (she apprenticed at Philadelphia’s Fabric Workshop), and this deep rooted sense of eco-responsiblity, her talents come together to create absolutely beautiful rooms that one can feel good about.

Ellen’s residential projects have included cottages in the Hamptons, Park Avenue penthouses, and occasional clients in London and Sun Valley, Idaho. Recently, Ellen added a hospitality project to her roster when she redesigned the interiors for Hotel Indigo in Athens, Georgia. It is a truly wonderful transformation and I hope that you will stop in the next time you are in the area.

Ellen also writes a beautiful and informative blog and for the new eco-conscious column “Green Scene” on popular designer resource 1st Dibs. What a multi-talented woman with an aesthetic mind worth envying!

I understand that your passion for the environment started at a young age. What sparked this and how did it evolve?

Back in the mid-seventies my passion for the environment was ignited before I was even able to drive. I used to have to beg my father to take me to the local recycling center – this after I bullied everyone in the family to rinse out and collect all of the bottles and cans in the house. Even at very young age I hated to see waste.

A green kitchen/dining area Ellen Hanson Designs did for a show house in the Hamptons last summer

How did you decide to enter into interior design, and how did you marry it to your dedication to the environment?

When I was about eight, my mom allowed me to decorate my room when we moved into a new house.  That was the beginning of a life-long passion to create beautiful environments for myself and those around me.

Your work is proof that one does not need to sacrifice beauty and luxury to be green.  What are your design go-to’s to achieve this goal?

More and more of our suppliers are offering green products in their collections, but we still have to think outside of the box.  We always go back to two of the three Rs.

Reduce- We specify heirloom quality furnishings that will last for lifetimes and we try to keep our work simple and uncluttered without an undue amount of superfluous objects and accessories.  It is always an interesting exercise in discipline as we, and our clients, are constantly falling in love with beautiful yet unnecessary things.

Reuse- We always shop for vintage furniture on 1stdibs and in flea markets and whenever we can we reuse items from clients prior residences in their new home.

We also try to try use locally-sourced material and suppliers whenever possible.  Recently we fabricated a spectacular dining table from 300- year-old beams found in a barn on the property of a house in the Hamptons.  The rotting timbers were headed for the dump when we rescued them for this amazing piece.

The lobby at the Hotel Indigo in Athens, GA

You recently designed the Hotel Indigo in Athens, GA, a very eclectic college town.  How did you collaborate with the vision of the hotel owners and the unique vibe of the setting?

This has been one of our favorite projects to date and is our first hospitality project. Our collaboration with the owners, Rialto Property Partners, was a wonderful journey and a great case study for Lisa Hargus (design associate at my firm) while she pursued and achieved her LEED accreditation. Our design concept “southern farmstead modern” incorporated themes of rural Georgia (the covered bridge inspired forms of the building, galvanized steel inspired fixtures and accessories) and the southern hipster attitude of the arts and music scene in Athens. The Hotel was just awarded LEED gold designation –only the fifth in the country.

What aspect of your personality do you find inadvertently shows up the most in your design projects or processes?

Though we work primarily in the highest end of the interiors market where luxurious fashion and the latest trends are of paramount importance to many, I am always surprised by how my practical nature inadvertently dominates the design process. For example we shy away from the most trendy choices while keeping our interiors stylish and fresh, we are always mindful to use child-friendly textiles when our client has children, style never outweighs comfort ….. Most importantly we always stay within the budget set out by our clients whether it’s a boutique hotel in Georgia or a Park avenue penthouse.

What are your other interests and passions, and how have they shown themselves in your work?

I travel extensively throughout the US and Europe as well as a few remarkable journeys to China and India that have influenced my design sensibilities in every way including my color sensibilities, feeling for proportion and use of materials.

What inspires you most when making a plan for entertaining?

When I plan a party I am very inspired by the season and what I might find at my local farmer’s market. This will always be my first stop in planning the menu -those seasonal offerings will in turn shape my choices for how I set the table and so on…

What is your favorite recipe, and where did you find it?

During the installation of our hotel project in Athens Georgia, our team was invited to a glamorous private supper party hosted by The Four Coursemen in a shotgun house on the edge of town. Dinner was served entirely by candlelight at long trestle tables covered in white linen. The extreme simplicity of the space belied the complex and layered menu that would be presented during the evening. The first course was so good I just couldn’t get it out of my mind so I begged Damien, one of the partners, to share their recipe for Radish Soup with your readers and me. Radishes are abundant at this time of year as are all of the other ingredients for this wonderful fall soup.

The Four Coursemen Radish Soup with Candied Lime

Radish Soup

1 medium sweet onion, diced

1 medium fennel bulb, diced

1 1lb. baking potato, peeled and diced

1 lg. clove garlic, minced

25 red radishes, trimmed and quartered

1 1/2 T. Pernod

2 qts. vegetable stock

small bunch of thyme

1 c. heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste. Sweat the onions and fennel with 3 T. olive oil in a 4qt. soup pot for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, stir and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the pernod, stir and cook for 1 minute. Add the vegetable stock, radishes, potatoes, thyme. Simmer for 1 hour on low. Extract the bundle of thyme and puree the soup in a blender, until very smooth.  Whisk in the heavy cream

Warm and Serve.

Candied Lime

Peel zest away from two limes using a vegetable peeler. Boil strips of zest in simple syrup for twenty five minutes. Then strain and transfer to a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for just a few minutes to help them harden. Crack and sprinkle on your soup.

CREDIT: The FourCoursemen, Athens, Georgia http://www.thefourcoursemen.com/

[All interiors photos by Kristy Knight; Hotel Indigo lobby photo with people by Marisu Wehrenberg]