Home Design Showcase Benefits Breast Cancer Research and Awareness

The eight-bedroom modern estate on Seven Ponds Towd Road in Water Mill, NY, glowed white this past July when Holiday House Hamptons staged its seventh Designer Showhouse. The opening-night “White Party” is the marquee kickoff for a month-long exhibition that pairs high-concept interiors with a single, urgent purpose: raising money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF).

Holiday House founder Iris Dankner—an interior designer and 28-year breast-cancer survivor—created the showhouse formula in 2008 to unite her two passions. “It’s a designer show house that benefits the Breast Cancer Research Foundation,” she explains, distilling the concept with the matter-of-fact confidence of someone who has repeated it for nearly two decades, “The hook is I am a breast-cancer survivor of 28 years,” Danker adds. “Fund-raising was what helped me personally get through my journey.”

A Social Calendar Winner: With a Cause

Since its inception, Holiday House has raised almost $2 million for BCRF, a figure the Hamptons edition is expected to lift significantly. Tickets for the July 12th preview started at $300 (or $500 for a VIP press hour that also gives journalists a first crack at the rooms), while general admission from now through August 17 is priced at $40. Those dollars matter, Dankner stresses: “This year, more than ever, the private dollars that are raised are so important.”

Designer Christian Siriano

Holiday House is as much a showcase for interior-design talent as it is a philanthropic engine. Dankner says she builds the roster the way an editor assembles a magazine: a mix of marquee names that draw crowds and emerging voices that deserve a platform. “I try to get a balance of your A-list designers and your new up-and-coming designers,” she notes.

This summer’s lineup reflects that philosophy. Veterans such as Huniford Design Studio, The Up Studio and Ciuffo Cabinetry share square footage with rising firms like Brianna Scott Interiors, House of L Designs and COC Interiors. Fashion designer-turned-decor auteur Christian Siriano, a Holiday House co-chair alongside Campion Platt, and Andrea Stark, adds celebrity wattage.

Dankner also plays a creative traffic cop. Because the Water Mill house—built and brokered by presenting sponsor East End Building Co.—leans contemporary, she nudged participants toward a cohesive, neutral palette that fits the open floor plan. “If you want this space, then you have to be a team player,” she recently reminded one color-happy designer, later quipping, “Everybody’s neutral is different.”

Designing for Impact, Not Just Applause

For the founder, aesthetic bravado means little if a visitor leaves uninspired. “If a consumer walks through a show house and gets one good idea, then it’s successful,” she says simply . Even so, she understands the ego-management required when more than 15 design firms share one canvas. “You have to make each and every one of them feel like they’re the only ones in the house,” she admits, likening her role to “a lot of therapy and communication” in ordinary client work.

Technology now amplifies the fund-raising potential. Each room features a QR code linking visitors to price and purchasing information for everything from custom millwork to CB2 accessories, with designers pledging a percentage of sales back to BCRF. The system, Dankner says, answers the inevitable “I want that” impulse without compromising transparency or distracting from the installations.

Opening Night: When White Lets the Rooms Sing

Holiday House’s Hamptons run traditionally begins with an all-white-attire fête. “When everybody wears white, it lets the design of the designers shine through,” Dankner says. Jean Shafiroff, the celebrated philanthropist, reprises her role as Philanthropy Chair, while rosé brand Whispering Angel joins a sponsor roster that ranges from Stark Carpet to DCS Appliances. Elegant Affairs will handle hors d’oeuvres—no small task in an 11,200-square-foot residence that contains nine full bathrooms, two half baths and a backyard built for mingling.

Why Private Dollars Still Matter

Beyond the glamour lies a sober reality. Federal research budgets ebb and flow with political tides; meanwhile, 44,000 U.S. women die of breast cancer each year. Dankner’s answer is persistence. “I’m going to do it until we find a cure for breast cancer,” she vows, half-joking that her husband may threaten divorce before she hangs up her clipboard. Her determination resonates with East End Building Co. co-founder Nick DeMarco, who calls the showhouse “a perfect example of how luxury development can serve the greater good.” DeMarco’s firm donated the freshly completed property, and Corcoran will market it once the last wallpaper panel comes down in August—proof that altruism and real-estate pragmatism can co-exist comfortably in the Hamptons.

What Visitors Can Expect

The house is open Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., until August 17. Docents are on hand, but self-guided exploration is encouraged; Dankner wants guests to linger, photograph and, above all, imagine. She sums up the ideal takeaway: “Walk away with one new thing you’ve learned—and with the knowledge that every ticket helps fund the science that will end this disease."

For the design community, Holiday House functions as both stage and laboratory; for survivors and their families, it is a rare celebration where beauty and resolve occupy the same room. “Breast cancer doesn’t take a break,” Dankner says matter-of-factly. Neither, it seems, does she.