I met Michael Pelkey years ago when I had my design business in New York. I was always looking for good crew people, and he was introduced to me by Cheri Wagner. She brought him to my brownstone on 15th Street. I was still working from home then, and the dining room table was the work table.
We were hand wiring a zillion flowers, and I asked Michael if he could do this, and he said sure. So I asked him to make a dozen corsages for a wedding, and he made the most beautiful ones. From that day on, he became a part of my A-team, and a friend forever. Later he confessed that he had never hand wired a thing, or made a corsage, and that is so typical of this man with a myriad of natural talent.
Michael in his kitchen in Key West with a portrait someone did of him Michael lived off his innate talent (we used to call it living by the seat of our pants). A rough childhood resulting in dozens of foster homes, he learned to use humor as his calling card. And uber generosity. And a tremendous capacity and joy for hard work.
The door to Michael's deck revealing the shell encrusted folly he made He started collecting antiques when he was sixteen. He lived in the Boston area, where the pickings were fine. He always had a the eye for the hidden gem, the treasure buried under the grime. Eddie Ross and Michael are cut from the same jib when it comes to this.
Besides working for me for many years, Michael was a personal chef before those words ever became trendy. He worked for many interesting wealthy clients, and this took him all over the world, traveling with the people he cooked for. In every port and city, he dug out little treasures to bring home. He had several warehouses over the years of beautiful things.
In every home he worked in, he often did a little redecorating, along with planning and executing the most fantastic parties for his clients. He often used things from his collections, and the word got out. Eventually he accumulated an impressive list of interior design projects and dedicated clients.
Michael eventually made Key West his home. He bought a derelict Conch House and turned it into a show house, and nearly every style editor from Mary Emmerling to Martha Stewart used his home for a photo shoot.
The book
Key West, A Tropical Lifestyle, features his home on the cover, along with a great spread inside.
Michael was so ahead of the time, as often is the case with original thinkers, and those with true talent. He was collecting alabaster lamps twenty five years ago. His ironstone collection is dedicated to pudding molds, and is legendary. He also used old ironstone bowls as vessel sinks long before the words vessel and sinks were used together in design jargon. The farm house sink was another one of his ideas that pre-dated it being a catalog item.
He was also first in using Carerra marble, rain shower heads, and so many things that became mainstream in bathroom design.
Note the black and white stripe gross grain ribbon used to extend the length of the shower curtain
The fan light window is an antique especially fitted into the shower
He collected windows and doors of all sizes, always knowing he would find a perfect place to build around them.
This little old stained glass window is hinged to open
When I lived in New York, Michael and I saw one another every day, yakked on the phone, hung out. He moved away first to Key West, then I moved away to New Orleans. We see each other every couple of years, and it is not nearly enough.
Recently he bought a new house he is re-doing in North Carolina. He is working for the design firm Tanda Design, who currently specialize in luxury projects all around hunt country. He seldom gets back to his Key West gem of a house, and often rents it out now. Once in awhile a buying trip will bring him to our open arms in New Orleans.
I don't have many photos of Michael's house. BB, Before Blogging, taking photos of houses was just not something we did ha ha. I found these in a folder tonight, and it made me miss Michael more than ever. Alberto took the bathroom photos the last time we visitied Michael in Key West, as an idea notebook for our bathroom renovation in New Orleans.
Alberto appreciates Michael on every level, but he is enchanted by all the little built-in cabinets in Michael's tiny 600 square foot house.
Michael and Alberto one Christmas in Key West-
I spy a clock that you all seem to love these days
Michael has had this clock for as long as I know himI hope to do a book on Michael's body of work one day.
Michael doesn't do the internet; he doesn't blog; he doesn't twitter. He rarely uses the cell phone, except for work. So I doubt that he'll ever see the posts I've done about him, but I hope he feels my tenderness reaching out to him where ever he's making beauty today.
