Holiday House, founded in 2008 by interior designer and breast cancer survivor Iris Dankner, is an interior design showhouse where top interior designers and lifestyle brands showcase their talent to raise critical funds for the prevention and cure of breast cancer.
In 2017, Holiday House celebrated its tenth year of showhouses with the 10th annual Holiday House NYC at the Academy Mansion in NYC, the inaugural Holiday House London, and the launch of Holiday House: Ten Years of Decorating for a Cure, a beautiful coffee table book documenting Holiday House’s history from Pointed Leaf Press. Iris also celebrated twenty years as a survivor!
Iris Dankner was inspired to combine her two passions — interior design and fundraising for breast cancer research — when she saw a lack of high profile interior design events in the New York City area benefitting this great cause. After its inception in 2008, Holiday House became the first designer show house in New York City to benefit a breast cancer organization, attracting talented designers from across the country to transform the historic Academy Mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side each fall. Holiday House has since created a summer expansion in the Hamptons and is now established as one of the premiere show houses in the country.
Iris currently serves as a member on the advisory board of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation® (BCRF) while her interior design show house, Holiday House, directly benefits the organization. Since partnering with The Breast Cancer Research Foundation® (BCRF), Holiday House has granted over one million dollars to this renowned charity that invests 91 cents of every dollar to support its mission of ending breast cancer by advancing the world’s most groundbreaking research.
We decided to take Holiday House to London because it is known for being a stylish city with a long history of beautiful interior design and is home to many revered companies that create exquisite home décor. We also introduced the showhouse, which has been a tradition in the US for 50 years, to the UK to give design lovers here the chance to experience extraordinary designs firsthand.
The co-chairs of Holiday House London, Joyce Misrahi and Rachel Laxer, along with Marketing Chair Grant Pierrus are entirely committed to ensure the great success of Holiday House London. A breast cancer survivor herself, Joyce Misrahi resides in London and Herzliya, and divides her time between working on Holiday House London, being an ambassador of Chai Cancer Care and various other charities. Having designed for Holiday House NYC, dynamic interior designer Rachel Laxer, founder of Rachel Laxer Interiors, committed herself to launching Holiday House London, as she saw the city as a multi-metropolitan global city, much like New York. Grant Pierrus runs a marketing agency for the luxury interior design sector as well as an award winning luxury publication Interior Style Hunter.
