Scene Last Night: Ainslie, Colbert, Isay, Soldier Stories

Lee Ainslie went to business school in North Carolina, a hub of the U.S. furniture industry, but when he moved to Dallas to start Maverick Capital after working for Julian Robertson in New York, he had nary a chair.

Literally, we didnt have any furniture between us, we had a futon, Ainslies wife, Elizabeth, said last night at the Cooper Hewitt museums National Design Awards Gala.

To address the situation, some 20 years ago, the couple hired a professional interior decorator, Jane Rejebian, who helped turn Elizabeth into a designer herself.

Ive just loved it, Elizabeth said. Its been a part-time thing for me, something I can do as often or as little as I wanted to do, raising children. The Ainslies have two sons, Ford and John.

Elizabeths style is modern and traditional. I like using antiques, but I love contemporary art.

Her favorite perch at home in Brookville, New York, is watching TV or reading in bed. Her husbands is the comfortable leather chair in my office, he said.

And Lees favorite desk accessory? Its corny, but its the pictures of my family, he said. I have about 20 of them.

Last night the couple were co-chairmen of the National Design Awards, held at Pier 60 at Chelsea Piers. Among the 11 winners were Etsy for corporate and institutional achievement, Narciso Rodriguez for fashion, and Spire, a wearable health-tracking device, in the Peoples Design Award category.

At the Ainslies table: Ellen Niven, who owns a design shop in Locust Valley, New York (leather trays and umbrella stands from Spain are currently popular, she said); Chip Allemann, who works in golf course management, and John Danzer, a garden furniture designer under the label Munder-Skiles.

Elizabeth is a board member of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian National Design Museum, housed in a 64-room mansion built for Andrew Carnegie from 1899 to 1902 on Fifth Avenues Millionaires Row. After a major renovation, the museum will re-open on Dec. 12.

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Scene Last Night: Ainslie, Colbert, Isay, Soldier Stories