Randall Tarasuk

As grandson of Charles Pavarini, Sr., Charles Pavarini III has reinterpreted the legacy of the Pavarini Construction Company, known for creating historic landmarks including the Seagram Tower, the United Nations, the State Theater at Lincoln Center, and numerous other landmark buildings in New York City and throughout the world. Charles Pavarini III graduated at the top of his class with a B.F.A. in Architecturally Based Interior Design, winning the Bronze Medal for Design Achievement in 1980. After working as Design Assistant to the legendary International Designer, Ruben de Saavedra, ASID, Charles gained pivotal career-building experience which allowed him the opportunity to develop his own design sensibility--thereby setting his own firm into motion in 1981, Pavarini-Cole Interiors, Inc. As founding principals, he and Elizabeth B. Cole, IIDA, DLF, produced residential and commercial interiors in New York City and State, Connecticut, New Jersey, Texas, Arizona, Florida, and Ohio. When Elizabeth retired at the end of 1997, Charles became sole principal of Charles Pavarini III Design Associates, Inc. and has continued to uphold the distinguished achievement standards set forth by Pavarini-Cole.

The work of Charles Pavarini III has been recognized by numerous organizations throughout the design industry. Charles holds interior design license accreditation in the State of Connecticut and is an active member of IDLNY, an organization which supports accreditation of interior design in the State of New York. Charles was a charter member of the International Society of Interior Designers (ISID) and was elected to the Board of Directors of the New York Chapter for fifteen years. During that period he served a term as President of the N.Y. Chapter of ISID and was subsequently appointed ‘International Representative’. He received numerous Presidential Citations from ISID for his contribution and outstanding work. Charles later became facilitator for the formulation of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) and remains a charter member. In addition, he served on the Executive Board of Directors of the Designers Lighting Forum for six years and is currently on the board of managers. Last year, Charles Pavarini III Design Associates participated in The Designer Showhouse of New Jersey and this year the firm was contracted to restore and renovate the Apthorp Apartments for the 21st Century.

Pavarini-Cole Interiors, Inc. was a featured design team in the northeast edition of “Showcase of Interior Design” published by Vitae Publishing, Inc. In addition, the firm is featured in “For Your Home: Bedrooms” by Jessica Elin Hirschman, published by Little Brown and Co. Their installations are used for illustration in the interior design textbook titled, “Interiors” by, Nellson-Taylor, William C. Brown Publishers. Their work was included in the 1989/1990 edition of “Architects of the United States of America”, published by the Images Publishing Group, Melbourne, Australia. Additional publications have included the New York Times, House Beautiful, Southern Accents, Home Entertainment, Modern Millionaire, The Designer, and McCall’s. The firm won the 1984 Design Elements Award, sponsored by the resource council. Charles was selected by the Wool Bureau to design a fabric and a coordinating carpet featured at NEOCON 1988 and later designed carpet for commercial production. In February of 1999, Charles was featured on HGTV for designing a Music Salon for the actress and recording artist Vanessa Williams and again during the summer of 2000 for a dining-room in the 2000 Hudson River Designer Show House. Charles Pavarini III Design Associates, Inc. was also selected to design the Salle de Bain in the 1999 French Designer Show House in Manhattan. In February of 2001, the firm was featured on the cover of Phoenix Home & Garden for creating ‘Theatrical Interiors (that) Redefine Southwest Style’. In the fall, the firm participated in the Abigail Adams Show House for the Colonial Dames of America with an outdoor garden vignette. In 2002 the firm won 4 First-Place awards given by the IIDA. They include First-Place for a Residence Over 3,000 s.f., (the project featured in Phoenix H&G), First Place for Product Design, (a cantilevered desk veneered in Fruitwood), First Place for a Special Function Room, (the Dining Room of the 2000 Hudson River Show House), and the Designers’ Choice award for Best Designer in the competition. In 2003, the firm won two First Place awards given by IIDA. They include First-Place for a Residential Single Space (A Music Salon for Vanessa Williams) and the Designers’ Choice Award for the second year in a row. In 2004, the firm again won two awards by IIDA. One was given for the bathroom in the 1999 French Designer Showhouse and the other for Cabin 17 of the Kips Bay Showhouse 2003. Articles about his work have been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Staten Island Advance, Design Intuit.com, Time Out New York, New York Spaces, Connecticut Cottages & Gardens, Fine Furnishings International, and Sources and Design Magazine over the last five years. The firm participated in the 2005 Designer Showhouse of New Jersey with a stately Sitting Room and in the 34th Annual Kips Bay Showhouse with a room called Buonanotte. In 2007 the attraction was a Conservatory in the debut of Stately Homes by the Sea in Rumsen, N.J. That showhouse lead to Pavarini Design’s induction in to the 2007 Hall of Fame by Designintuit.com

2008 was a big year for Pavarini Design. CPDA was credited with creating a new vision for the Apthorp: a historic landmark building commissioned by the Astor Family and conceived by the renown Clinton & Russell architects in the early 20th century. The firm was responsible for redesigning the exterior lighting, redecorating the public hallways and elevator cabs, and providing plans for the complete redesign and refurbishment of 19 apartments for resale. That same year, CPDA participated in the Holiday House, a showhouse for the Susan G. Komen Cure for Breast Cancer. Charles designed a magnificent Dining Room which has received extraordinary acclaim but numerous publications. Meausuring 32’x20’, the tremendous room feature a 14’H barrel vaulted ceiling with antique plaster mouldings, and a stone colonnade on the South elevation leading to a sculpture garden. It was designed to represent the Pavarini Thanksgiving, and the decoration, complete with scenic murals and period antiques, reflected a passion for living with its exuberant fall color scheme, contemporary art, and massive-scale table scape. To further benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure, CPDA hosted a 4-course Celebrity Dinner in the room, which was sponsored by Sonnier & Castle and The Wine Enthusiast. Pavarini is currently participating in the 2009 Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse in honor of Albert Hadley with a massive space called ‘The Lounge’.

During the summers of 1998 and 1999, Charles dedicated himself to academic pursuits. He went on sabbatical to study product design and marketing under Massimo Vignelli at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. From there he studied Palladian Architecture throughout Venice, Florence and Vicenza under Manuel Ponce León.

In addition to his academic interests, Charles’ extensive background in theater as performer, costume designer, and scenic designer/stylist still plays an avid role in his life. During the fall of 1999 he designed the sets and costumes for the Off-Broadway production of “Celestina”, and during the fall of 2001, he designed and constructed the sets for an off-Broadway production of “Mornings at Seven”. In 2005 it was “High Spirits”, a fitting set for an interior designer, where Charles brilliantly designed and constructed a pivoting mechanism revealing the interior and exterior of a period home.

Annual fund-raising events have also included theme design and execution, not to mention dozens of charity benefits to raise money for organizations like Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Bailey House, The March of Dimes and the Summer Theater of New Canaan. For the fourth year in a row, Charles Pavarini III has launched the Kips Bay Annual Summer Cruise: a fundraiser with Kips Bay Designers which Charles himself developed to fund the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club.