Ghislaine Viñas Balances Country Club and Kitsch for Floritauk Tennis Club

One of the East End’s chicest spots isn’t open for business. But it has nothing to do with the pandemic. Instead the Floritauk Tennis Club is the entirely private venture of a Montauk, New York, homeowner, a contemporary art collector and former gallerist with a passion for entertaining and vivid vignettes. She’d been seeking an environment where she and her guests could mix athletics and leisure, something like a traditional country club—but with a touch of retro irony. Who better to call on than her comrade in color Ghislaine Viñas, who’s designed nearly a dozen projects for this client, including the property’s main house up the hill.

On the outside, the white-brick pavilion is restrained in appearance, with a planted roof that effectively camouflages the single-story structure when viewed from the main residence. But any sense of subtlety stops there: Its 1,650 square feet are rife with exuberant greens and yellows and contemporary forms, plus a dash of calculated kitsch. “We were playing off the old country clubs of Florida and suburban Philadelphia,” Viñas explains. “It’s all very tongue in cheek.”

Indeed, clubby diamond-tufted leather stools line the bar and prim lattice prints abound. But they are countered by the unexpected. An acid-green cotton-viscose blend akin to the shade of tennis balls upholsters the lounge’s banquette; Viñas had discovered it years earlier, but never had occasion to use it. “I was almost worried it had been discontinued,” she recalls. A sister shade coats the umpire chair supervising the court outside the pavilion’s French doors. Back inside, Viñas introduced graphic black and white in the custom ping-pong table and the striped indoor awning above it. The mode turns decidedly sunny in the locker room, wrapped nearly top to bottom in a saturated citrus, from the carpet to the parrot-patterned wallpaper. But black-and-white pops of modern contrast turn up again in the oversize wheel of a pendant fixture and the powder-coated sink fittings shaped like birds.

To mastermind a branding package for the project, Viñas turned to another frequent rallying partner, her graphic designer husband, Jaime Viñas. “Even though it is not a real club, it needed to feel authentic,” he notes. He conceived a Floritauk crest and applied it to tennis balls, ping-pong paddles, hand towels, and even cocktail napkins, which go perfectly with a post-match martini.





Product Sources: Net World Sports: Umpire Chair (Court). Zazzle: Custom Tennis Balls. Custom On It: Custom Towel. Bob Collins & Sons: Wallpaper (Locker Room). Serena & Lily: Table. Kravet: Chair Fabric. Kirkby Design: Chair Piping Fabric. Ardwyn Decorative Trim: Locker Tassels. Dunes and Duchess: Pendant Fixture (Locker Room), Sconces (Bathroom). Aronson’s: Carpet (Locker Room), Rug (Lounge). P.E. Guerin: Sink Fittings (Bathroom). Collector: Custom Mirror. Kaufmann Keramik: Tile. Through 1st Dibs: Sconces (Lounge). New York Art Upholstery: Custom Banquette. S. Harris: Banquette Fabric. Through Property Furniture: Ottomans. RoseHyll Studio: Custom Awning. Sunbrella: Awning Fabric. Samuel & Sons: Awning Trim. Through ddc: Chaise Longues. Through Osborne & Little: Chaise Longue Fabric. Knoll: Cocktail Table. Regeneration: Credenza. Pablo Designs: Pendant Fixtures. Perini: Bar Tile. Richardson Seating: Barstools. Douglass Fabric: Barstool Upholstery. Florence Broadhurst: Wallpaper. Sika Design: Chairs (Terrace). Scenario Home: Stool. Anthropologie: Table. Urban Archaeology: Sconce.
Project Team: Architect of Record: Arcologica. Tom O’Donoghue Associates: General Contractor.