Our next Holiday Tastemaker introduction is the talented interior designer, Ariel Okin, founder of Ariel Okin Interiors, a New York based, full-service interior design firm. Her “traditional with a twist” signature style has been featured in Archietural Digest, Elle Decor, House Beautiful, Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, and New York Magazine, among others. Her work for Lena Dunham’s West Village home graced the cover of Domino, and she designed the New York headquarters for Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop. She has a capsule collection with One Kings Lane, a furniture collection with Society Social, a wallpaper collection with Chasing Paper, her editorial and e-commerce site, Fenimore Lane, and an upcoming book. Ariel is a contributing writer to Vogue.com, Architectural Digest and Domino.
Ariel was paired with Dogwood Hill artist Gina Langford who created all of the beautiful watercolor artwork for the Ariel’s tastemaker collection. Gina said she was inspired by some of Ariel’s favorite things, from Chinoiserie and trellis, to natural elements like holiday greens and clementines. She worked to embody Ariel’s signature style by combining “classic elements and color combinations, but in a fresh and airy way – just like her aesthetic!”
Gina shared her mood boards for the Bespoke collection with us below.
Continue scrolling for a preview of the Bespoke Collection (the entire collection can be shopped here) and to read our Holiday Q&A with Ariel.
What do you love most about the holiday season?
I really love the holidays and look forward to them every year; the music, the twinkling lights, the frost in the air – it’s such a magical time and I always feel a sense of festive cheer!
What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Every year my husband and I used to throw a holiday party in the city for all our friends – we looked forward to it every year! Then we had a newborn, and then it was Covid, so we haven’t done it for two years now – I’m hoping this year we get back in the saddle!
If you had to pick one holiday movie to use as inspiration to decorate your own house, what would it be?
The Holiday, of course! Cozy, English inspired decorations are very much up my alley.
What is a holiday tradition that you wish you could do all year long?
Listen to Christmas music and eat ridiculously unhealthy foods. Also making latkes, all the time. (They are so good.)
What is your most memorable holiday and why?
I love Thanksgiving, because I always host Friendsgiving for my girlfriends, and we have a great big dinner (I cook a full Thanksgiving dinner) and we drink wine and laugh for hours. It’s the best.
What is your go-to holiday hostess gift?
Loria Stern holiday shortbread cookies.
Are you team real tree or faux tree?
REAL! Always. Nothing beats the smell!
Are you team white lights or colored lights?
I love both (colored lights are so fun and festive!), but personally for myself, I’m a white lights kinda gal.
Styled Card Photography by Mary Margaret Smith Photography