So far, Trump’s name hasn’t been plastered to the White House roof. And so far, there seems to be minimal gold being splashed about. But that may soon change. Trump recently announced the name of his White House interior decorator, and it’s left interior design buffs baffled.
Tham Kannalikham will be Trump’s new decorator. But if you aren’t exactly sure who that is, you’ll be forgiven. Nobody else does, either — her website requires a password, her Instagram is private, and her Pinterest no longer exists.
“Everybody in the decorating world today is wondering: Who is Tham Kannalikham?” Architectural Digest wrote following the appointment.
Here is what we do know: Kannalikham has worked for Ralph Lauren Home and now runs her own firm. She grew up in Stockton, California, and studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is a classical architecture buff and has a special interest in 18th Century building interiors. Melania Trump made the pick.
However, Architecture Digest was able to uncover some of her work and it was far from brass accents in Trump Tower. She has used the midcentury-mod furniture of William Haines in a house in Greenwich, Conn., and she made two-drawer desk covered almost entirely in zebra hide.
But everyone will just have to wait and see what she plans to do with the most famous address in the nation.
“I am honored by the opportunity to be working with the First Lady to make the White House feel like home,” Kannalikham told Women’s Wear Daily. [WWD | AD]