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Above left and center: Amy Weinstein's Birmingham home is a testament to her ability to create pleasing vignettes. Above right: Her pottery collection fills the dining-room china cabinet. She inherited the cabinet,
part of the Dunbar collection from the 1950s, from her grandmother, who she calls an inspiration. "She had great style, and the pieces are really hot now," she says. "Furniture designers are copying them today."
Master
A Birmingham designer fills her own home with the things she loves.
BY KHRISTI ZIMMETH
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ARMANDO RIOS
A
my Weinstein worked for a few years
as a display artist for Chicago's Crate
& Barrel, so it's not surprising that
she knows her way around a home
accessory. In her own Birmingham
home, however, she often opts for items with a bit
more age — specifically distinctive vintage boxes,
colorful pottery from the 1930s-1950s (including
Red Wing and Haeger) and an enviable collection
of unusual portraits, most from the 1920s through
1950s, that she affectionately calls her "dysfunctional
family."
"I've always loved going to flea markets," says the
die-hard fan of New York City's famed 26th Street
market. "My home has old things, new things, pieces
I've bought and pieces I've inherited. I believe that
incorporating what's meaningful and special in a
home is the key to making it personal and indi-
vidual."
It's a philosophy she puts to work daily as vice
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SEPTEMBER 2006 • JNPLATINUM
president and an interior designer with Birmingham's
Jeffrey King Interiors. While the firm is known
primarily for its clean-lined, contemporary spaces,
Weinstein also appreciates pieces with a little patina.
"One of my favorite things is using clients' collec-
tions or helping them to build a collection," she says.
"I have a client who's into African art, another who
has an amazing collection of vintage glass. My broth-
er-in-law has a huge Winston Churchill memorabilia
collection, and we built a whole room for it. Most
interests can be accommodated."
For Weinstein, antiquing is often a family affair.
Many of her favorite pieces were found while shop-
ping with her mother, Dorie Miller; her sister, Janet
Mutchnick; and sister-in-law, Arlene Miller. The
group even had a small business, the Talented Table,
when Weinstein first moved back to the Detroit area
from New York. "People would call us when they
were having a party and ask us to come and set their
tables," she remembers. "We all love to shop and
antique, and we loved having the excuse of buying
beautiful vintage china and tabletop items and saying
they were for a client."
AN ARTISTIC CHILDHOOD
Born in Detroit's Sherwood Forest neighborhood,
Weinstein's family eventually moved to Bloomfield
Hills, where she attended Cranbrook's Kingswood
School. There she developed an early interest in tex-
tiles.
"I got into textiles and weaving and took advan-
tage of the whole Cranbrook environment," she says.
"It really influenced me. I still spend as much time
there as possible."
While at Cranbrook, she took a class that explored
the school's history and rich artistic traditions. "We
all joked about how we dreaded going, but I really
loved the class," she remembers. She later studied
at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina
and the University of Michigan, before moving to