Palladio owner, ex-Hiller, wins nationwide competition

By MARIE FOWLER

"We make people cry all the time," Jay Davidson Susanin of Palladio says, "and that's the most gratifying part of the process."

Palladio, named for the fabulous Palladian windows that admit great washes of light into the former bank building on Butler Avenue in Ambler, was the idea of this former Chestnut Hill businessman's younger brother, a Wall Street financial analyst. Playing to Susanin's strengths, the financier incorporated custom picture framing, the retail sale of unique gifts and accessories, photo restoration, interior design and landscape design into the business.

Custom framing constitutes the lion's share of the business at present. "It's not just a question of mat and frame," Susanin says; "it's a transformation into a work of art."

Palladio's frames are from industry leader Larson-Juhl. One of some 2,000 partners nationwide, Susanin competed in a recent Larson-Juhl contest. Designers were shown a series of household rooms with frames artfully arranged to illustrate how framed artwork contributes to the décor of an interior space. Participating designers were challenged to come up with a concept for "the next room" in the series.

Susanin was chosen as one of three finalists in the first round, held at the company's Atlanta base. In the final round of judging in New York, the high profile judges unanimously awarded Susanin first place. The winning ad, entitled "The Play Room," was launched in trade magazines in October and will subsequently appear in the consumer market in publications such as Traditional Home, Veranda, and Architectural Digest.

"There are two reasons it flew," Susanin explains. "First, it was colorful, and secondly, it focused on children, who are near and dear to all of us." As Susanin cleverly notes, "There was no focus on kids in any of the existing rooms, and I felt there needed to be more of a focus on color. In addition, I tried to come up with a theme that could be used in almost every home -- something totally fresh, totally new -- but not off the wall."

Not yet married, Susanin doesn't have children himself, but he does come from a large family with lots of nieces and nephews. "I love kids -- can't wait to have them! I'm an overgrown child myself," he admits somewhat sheepishly.

And like children everywhere, Susanin exhibits a great curiosity about the world. At Franklin and Marshall, he was a history major with three minors (one of which, happily for future clients, was in art history). He has a master's degree in historical preservation from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from the Dickinson School of Law. His focus in the law was on land conservation law and the question of preserving and maintaining older properties and buildings.

Just out of college, Susanin's dream was to be an international accessories buyer for Ralph Lauren, traveling the world in search of treasures. "And now, 10 years later, I'm doing it for myself," Susanin says triumphantly. He goes on a buying trip once a year, usually stopping in London or trying to make it to Italy (where he studied while at Penn).

Susanin understands well the value of travel and the memories it engenders. Indeed, a good bit of his framing revolves around works of art customers purchase abroad. Susanin is able to frame in an appropriate period style, whether it be 19th century German or 18th century French.

"Through my education, I've learned how to successfully integrate the old with the new." When he asks customers whether their décor is traditional, modern or eclectic, he has learned most will admit to "eclectic -- mixing purchases as young married with inherited pieces and items picked up later in travels."

With a background in preservation and conservation, Susanin brings scientific museum standards to his work. Often, he frames objects with considerable monetary value, but just as frequently, he works with more humble objects that have great personal value. Palladio customers find their heirlooms treated much as Winterthur curators treat Henry Francis du Pont's.

"The thread running through all of this is that I have always been so fascinated with the past. I am the family genealogist," says this young man whose mother's family has been in Philadelphia for five generations. Not surprisingly, he now resides in a 200-year-old gate house that originally was the toll house for Stenton Avenue. Still, few scholars so steeped in the past make the transition back and forth between old and new so seamlessly and stylishly.

Susanin indicates a new restaurant about to open across the street. "They are basically rehabbing a turn-of-the-century building. The owner named it after his daughter, Bridget. Asked to "be creative with the art work," Susanin took his inspiration from the restaurant's chairs, found in the islands. "Each has a sun on the back-splat," so Susanin selected vintage posters of Victorian ladies from The Sun and antique orange crate lids from Sunkist.

Then he set about looking for contemporary paintings. In the end, he commissioned them from nine-year-old Bridget herself. Susanin is a firm believer in the uninhibited, abstract quality found in the artwork of children at primary levels and below. "It's colorful, imaginative. Kids have a great way of expressing what's in their heads."

And so, Susanin waves his magic wand, transforming humble artifacts like grandfather's old gardening shears and more elegant ones like the buttons from mother's wedding dress, into works of art in their own right. "People come in here all the time with things and I'll send them home for more," he explains, his own creativity sparked. Old photographs, architectural drawings, scraps of material and wallpaper -- all can be integrated into a vision of the past.

Susanin points out some of the treasures he has made into art. There are the contents of three generations of sewing boxes -- thread bobbins, needlepoint, crochet hooks. An especially poignant composition, Grandma's Kitchen, combines a rolling pin, cookie cutters and handwritten recipes.

Susanin's customers "become part of the design process. No two pieces are alike. When it becomes a conversation piece, they feel they have done it." Perhaps. In reality, the designer himself is so skillful, he deftly allows his clients to think they've done all the work. Most of us lesser mortals are not nearly so creative!

Palladio, at One West Butler Avenue, Ambler, may be reached by telephone at 215-646-1012.