Last winter, my mom got some amazing deals on botanical prints and chinoiserie-style furniture when one of New York's luxury hotels, The Mark, was selling its furnishings to go hybrid—in other words, to convert a third of their building into co-ops and become somewhat of a boutique hotel. Fast forward nine months and Jacques Grange, France's most famous interior designer, has given birth to a new Mark, transforming what was once an elegant, traditional, and antique-filled space into a buoyantly modern mix of 20th century furnishings and contemporary furniture designed by Grange himself. I was a bit anxious about how the Mark would metamorphose, but I think the results are everything that the Upper East Side needs today: a dose of humor, a dash of trend, and a dollop of Paris.
