Green Machine

Green is the new gorgeous! 

Collection of antique "Shipwreck Antiquities" from Les Antiques

We will be living on a green planet someday, 
so here are some ideas to help us keep up. 


1. Allan Knight actively planning to transition to LED lighting in the Dallas showroom.



2. We are also ahead of the curve in conservation. Acrylic, one of our #1 bestselling categories, is a sustainable commodity because of it's incredible resistance to aging. A piece of our acrylic is yours forever, while a piece from a big box retail out of China could be replaced as many as 10 time during a lifetime. Then the acrylic is handed down to the next generation!


3. We are also actively moving to a more paperess ordering system. Everything from quotes to final invoicing may be had in a paperless fashion at Allan Kngiht, please request this service!

19th C. Antique Chinese Screens and James Lockridge Eda Tori Chandelier

4. Natural materials like stone, are an excellent option for the green conscious patron. There is no material more sustainable and lasting from its very inception, than stone. 

Stone Sculpture Reproduction form Les Antiques

5. Antiques are recycled furniture and antiquities, so by their very nature, they are green.

Rare Burmese Family Totem mounted
on Acrylic 19th C.

Question: "What is the greenest thing you do everyday"? 

Levy Project on Armstrong Parkway

We love design so it is a real treat to see a new construction project materialize out of thin air and become reality.             

Brett and Lester Jr. Levy's Armstrong house in progress.

Every so often, one gets to work on a project that is near to the heart for one reason or another.

Either the project itself holds immense promise or the location is really wonderful or the clients happen to be good friends. In the case of our work with Lester and Brett Levy on their new house on Armstrong Parkway, all of the above happen to be true. 

We have known that Lester and Brett were interested in building a house somewhere close in for several years. Their first idea was for a house in Preston Hollow on Seneca, but they decided against that one when a lot on Armstrong Parkway became available. Not satisfied with the house that was sitting on the lot, they demolished it and with the help of Cole Smith (Architect) and Sherry Hayslip Associates (Designer), the house and project began to materialize. We were happy to see that to Hayslip Design would be orchestrating this amazing job. We are pleased to be the sounding board as Sherry and her team provide the design direction and vision.

Allan has traveled with Lester over the years and has enjoyed working with him on his homes. They were excited to ride the wave of Asian antiques that began to be available in the late 80s and early 90s and as such, Lester has a large collection of very good pieces from all over the East. Allan's "Allan Knight East" was our wholesale concept that ran along this vein in the early 2000s until the product out of China dried up. Through Allan's inevitable incarnations, Lester has remained a friend and fellow art lover. 

Brett and Lester's Armstrong project will have become a labor of love when it is completed. 


The house will have taken over two years. I have heard of some projects taking 4 and 5 years, but I cannot imagine waiting that long for my new home. To have the right house in the end is what will make the wait worth it.


We have many special pieces on order through the showroom including a  Nancy Corzine Maillot Bed and a James Lockridge Bamboo Chandelier for the master bedroom. The living room will have a gigantic custom Venetian glass sconce which may surprise some, but will work well with a custom embroidered Divine Ottoman from Magni Home Collection.. A custom Marina Sofa Sectional and Delmonico cocktail table, both from Nancy Corzine, a long sofa/dining table from First Circle and Hera dining chairs from Moura Starr will round out the living room. Throughout the house Brett is penciling in other items which she has collected. Many pieces of art and furniture from their previous house will be brought out and given a new home. In their travels over the the past two years, they have found many of their own antiques for the house. Clients with good taste and their own opinions and options are always a good thing!


Well, the dry wall is up and the plaster is going on. As I said to Allan when we were at this stage with our own house.. "This is when the fun really starts"!      

Acrylic: The Trend is Clear

Scene from "Tron Legacy" courtesy of  Walt Disney Pictures

     Nowhere are trends more evident than in movies out of Hollywood. We see everything that is coming into vogue first in the films we love. The shingle style Hamptons house in Something's Gotta Give was practically one of the stars of the movie. My partner and I loved it so much that we modeled our kitchen in our new house after it! Sex and the City and The Devil Wears Prada induced a new level of powerfully feminine dress from spike heals to slick and stylish, well, everything. Hollywood and its partners in the press are the storefronts in our global village. I have literally gone right out and bought a pair of jeans directly after seeing them on an actor in a film I had just seen. We are indeed a captive audience.

On a recent foray to the local cinema, I was lucky enough to catch Tron Legacy. Now, before I am labeled a techy nerd or some kind of adolescent with yearnings for the past, let me say that although I was a fan of the first Tron released over 2 decades ago, but I really wanted to see this movie because I had heard tell of the incredible computer graphics that went into it. Disney poured serious cash into the look of this film and since I am in a field that focuses, well lets face it, on the "look" of things... I really couldn't wait to dive in. I wasn't disappointed. +

Midway through the film is a scene which focuses on the living space of one of the main characters: Larry Flynn.  I almost jumped out of my seat when I noticed carved acrylic furniture in the ultra-slick bachelor pad. It was Louis XV in style.
The nonchalant way that the makers of the film presented this scene was actually mind blowing considering the work and expense that
went into every detail of the furnishings. +

Leg of Chambord Chaise 
from Allan Knight

Later, after some research, I discovered that the pieces had been painstakingly carved out of solid acrylic, much like we do some of our furniture here at Allan Knight. We have experimented with other more elaborate kinds of carving, but the cost is prohibitive. The table and the Bergere chairs in the movie would cost many thousands of dollars. Not many clients are willing to pay for that kind of detailed extravagance, but we are very appreciative when Disney decides to spend part of their development budget on a look which we have used as a main focus of our business for years. +

The Louis XV shapes in the movie hearken to several of our more popular styles; the most notable being the Chambord Chaise leg. We came up with this leg 5 years ago for a Las Vegas hospitality project. The piece didn't sell for the job but it did launch and become very popular residentially; eventually multiplying to become an entire category of acrylic upholstery. +

Glass Waterdrop
Lamp from
Allan Knight

Besides acrylic, another clear trend is ultra clear, high quality glass. It began coming to us in simple angular shapes from Asia. We have tirelessly tweaked the shapes and have just recently been able to launch Allan's signature Water Drop Style lamp, formerly available only in porcelain, in solid glass. +

Our newest represented line in the Dallas showroom focuses on lighting that has a transparent floating quality. Not only is there no solid main column within some of Moura Starr's chandeliers, but additionally, these pieces are constructed to seem to float in space thanks to the invisible line from which they hang. Amazingly, the photography we use everyday to sell this line looks like the image from the movie Tron!
It seems that this is another instance of art imitating well... art! +

Balance Chandelier from Moura Starr

Dreamy interiors with ethereal furnishings seems not only to be popping up on digital sound stages and in magazine spreads, they are creeping into the consciousness of the average American.



Who could resist coming home to the icy, Battlestar Gallactica world of Larry Flynn in Tron? I would give my eye teeth for the light-up flooring alone! +

But upon further reflection, maybe life should instruct art. I don't think anyone really wants to deal with light up flooring at 5:00AM... before they have had their first cup of coffee.       

Nancy Corzine New York. aka: Dream Showroom Deluxe!

Front Entry

When I dream, I dream in shades of Nancy Corzine textiles.

Everyone has a favorite textile or furniture line and it seems that we at Allan Knight have always been most captivated by our friend Ms. Corzine's  subtle and celebrated mix of chic and stylish forms and palettes. Subtlety is an art form that many aspire to. I can always count on one of my favorite luxury brands to have exactly what I need.

Front Bedroom Vignette

Nowhere is her amazing line shown better than in her own New York showroom on the 7th floor of the D&D Building.


We knew from the moment she asked us to relocate our lines to her flagship New York showroom that it was a done deal, so to speak.


The excitement we feel daily at Allan Knight Dallas in seeing her line interspersed with Allan Knight Acrylic and James Lockridge Lighting  was immediately reconstructed last year as we launched in what we feel is the best showroom in New York. The acrylic plays with light in a similar way that her Venetian Sterling Silver finish captures hues and colors. Lockridge Lighting hangs overhead with its auspicious integrity.

The whole feeling is that of hushed magic.  At certain times in our careers in this industry, we get that "feeling" that everything is working at the same time; that a synergy of design is happening. This is the constant feeling I get when I am in a Corzine showroom. Capturing this synergy is what Nancy seems to do best.

Dorothy Winkler and Jayson Garcia at NC New York 

We are lucky to call this jewel of a showroom home!


www.nancycorzine.com