By MARIA PUENTE
Ordinarily, it's the nominees who glitter at the annual Primetime Emmys, but this year -- the 60th anniversary of the awards -- the behind-the-scenes green room may put all the diamond-dripping stars to shame.
Forget about green. This 625-square-foot room is all about flash: shaped like a diamond, lined with sparkly mirrors, bathed in silver, platinum and gray tones, with diamond-patterned floors and faceted, sculptural chairs and tables.
But the piece de resistance is a honking big chandelier of diamonds -- 3,300 of them with a total carat weight of 1,000 and worth more than $10 million -- casting a whole lot of twinkle in the room.
''You can't even imagine when it's illuminated how spectacular it is,'' says Katherine Rosenberg Pineau, jewelry designer for the Boston diamond jewelry company Hearts on Fire, which made the three-tiered chandelier for the Architectural Digest Green Room (and hopes to sell it for $10 million once the show is over).
''We will be offering white-gloves service -- people will be able to put on white gloves and touch it and feel the movement'' of the thousands of round diamonds, she says. (Yes, there will be 24-hour security.)
Green rooms are where theater and TV show guests gather just before going on. Typically, they're not green -- and not elegant. But for the past seven years, Architectural Digest has taken them to a new level, choosing one of the designers on its respected AD 100 list to do up the rooms at the Oscars and Emmys.
This year, for the Emmys' 60th anniversary (7 p.m. Sunday on ABC), AD editor-in-chief Paige Rense chose designer Mark Boone to design the room.
''It was a great opportunity to use the traditional diamond anniversary to embody all the characteristics of a diamond - clarity, facets, sexiness, glitter, mystery and romance,'' says Boone, who has been working on (and blogging about) the project since March. ''We embraced all the ethereal qualities as well as the concrete qualities of the gem. Diamonds are everybody's best friend this year.''
In keeping with his theme, Boone chose mercury-antiqued mirrors to line the faceted walls. Furnishings include sculptural cocktail tables of reclaimed walnut that resemble rough-cut gems, rock-crystal sconces and platinum-toned sheepskin banquettes. Custom hardwood flooring made of reclaimed barn timbers have an inlaid diamond pattern.
''Architectural Digests'' ''staff loved Boone's design, says ''AD ''executive editor Margaret Dunne. ''Mark has an incredible eye for incorporating luxurious materials into a creatively imagined space,'' Dunne says.
Although green rooms are supposed to have a calming effect on performers, they're usually shabby and bland, Dunne says. This one ''will make them feel special -- and it'll be something to talk about before going on.''
Gannett News Service
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It is a great way to use the traditional diamond anniversary to embody all its characteristics. Such as "clarity, facets, sexiness, glitter, mystery and romance"