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SHEILA BRIDGES’S HUDSON VALLEY MASTERPIECE
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CONTENTS
RICARDO L ABOUGLE
The alfresco living room of Chiqui de Echavarría’s home in Cartagena, Colombia, page 86. The 1950s cocktail table, from Jaisalmer Art Palace, sits on a Mamayana rug. The teak chair is by Toko Tri Devi, and the blanket is from Pasola.
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CONTENTS
The living room of Byron Peart and Stefan Weisgerber’s apartment at Habitat 67, the Moshe Safdie–designed landmark in Montreal, page 78. The sofa is from B&B Italia, and the vase is by Carina Seth Andersson for Svenskt Tenn. 18
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WELCOME TO THE ISSUE
RSVP
REMEMBER THIS HOUSE
CONCRETE POETRY
For her new home in upstate New York, ED A-List designer Sheila Bridges has created a light-filled haven of meaning and memories.
How eco-design tastemakers—and identical twins—Byron and Dexter Peart carved out homes for their families at Montreal’s famed Habitat 67.
POV
BY JO RODGERS
Why home libraries are becoming the new place to be. Plus: Michael S. Smith on decorating for the Obamas
BUILDER
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TOOLBOX
WHAT’S HOT
51
The best design discoveries
The home office is no longer a cubbyhole—it’s a reflection of who you are.
34
BY TIM McKEOUGH
TRUTH IN DECORATING
102
Designers Joy Moyler and Sig Bergamin on the boldest mirrors you’ll ever see 38
RESOURCES 104
BY VERONICA CHAMBERS DESIGNER SHEILA BRIDGES
74
BY STEPHEN HEYMAN DESIGNERS BYRON AND DEXTER PEART
CHAOTIC GOOD
86
The sly inventor of the 1960s Hand chair, artist and designer Pedro Friedeberg, lives in high-spirited bliss in his Mexico City townhouse. BY ELISABETH MALKIN DESIGNER PEDRO FRIEDEBERG
THE HOUSE OF GOOD SPIRITS In Cartagena, Colombia’s Old Town, jewelry designer and hostess extraordinaire Chiqui de Echavarría has put together a vacation home
Breguet’s new watch collection focuses on the beauty of underwater life
ON THE COVER
FEATURES
The dining area of Sheila Bridges’s home in New York’s Hudson Valley.
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PHOTOGR APH BY FRANK FRANCES
SHORTLIST
SPLENDID ISOLATION
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Dexter Wimberly and eight things he can’t live without 44
TALENT The joyful hues of designer Daria Zinovatnaya
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THERE’S A PATTERN HERE Textile designer Nathalie Farman-Farma’s London home and studio are a riot of prints—and a study in celebrating the past while keeping it cool. BY DAVID NETTO DESIGNER NATHALIE FARMAN-FARMA
NOT FOR SALE A dazzling mosaic map of the world by New Ravenna
SHOWCASE
BY VANESSA LAWRENCE DESIGNER CHIQUI DE ECHAVARRÍA
After a 20-year restoration, a historic French manor becomes a creative refuge. BY JAMES McAULEY DESIGNER JEAN-LOUIS DENIOT
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WELCOME TO THE ISSUE
Are We All Bohemians Now?
P
OET ANNE SPENCER WROTE VERSE ON HER KITCHEN
cabinets. Georgia O’Keeffe painted while looking outside her bedroom window. Matisse created his iconic cutouts in a private chamber plastered floor to ceiling with them. If artist studios are the work-fromhome prototype—you might even call them the Platonic ideal—what can we learn from these infinitely inspiring 18
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interiors? Lighting is key—just take a look at that window in Andrew Wyeth’s studio. Equally essential is the company of good furniture—note James Baldwin in prone writing position on his bed and Cy Twombly leaning back in that antique chair in his palazzo in the 1960s. Clutter is optional: Picasso was for it; Helen Frankenthaler, not so much. Many of us, if we are fortunate, are now at home, artists in our
CLIFFORD COFFIN/CONDÉ NAST VIA GET T Y IMAGES
In 1948, Henri Matisse turned his bed at home in Vence, France, into a makeshift studio. Here, he creates his paper cutout artworks.
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WELCOME TO THE ISSUE studios, shifting and shaping the spaces around us in order to attempt our own mini masterpieces. (Let the redecorating commence!) In this September issue of ELLE DECOR , which we produced entirely away from our New York City office, we looked to some of our favorite members of the creative class for a model of, and a window into, how the objects we choose to live with—and the spaces we live in—can serve to sustain and inspire us all. —The Editors of ELLE DECOR
FR ANKENTHALER: © BURT GLINN/MAGNUM PHOTOS; W YETH: BONNIE JO MOUNT/THE WASHINGTON POST/GET T Y IMAGES; T WOMBLY: HORST P. HORST/CONDÉ NAST/GET T Y IMAGES; O’KEEFFE: PHILIPPE HALSMAN/MAGNUM PHOTOS; SPENCER: ANNE SPENCER MEMORIAL FOUNDATION/JOHN HALL; BALDWIN: BET TMANN/GET T Y IMAGES
CLOCK WISE FROM RIGHT: Helen Frankenthaler in her New York studio in 1957. Andrew Wyeth’s studio in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. Horst P. Horst’s portrait of artist Cy Twombly in his Roman palazzo. Georgia O’Keeffe at home in Abiquiú, New Mexico. Poet Anne Spencer’s verse was painted on her kitchen cabinets in Lynchburg, Virginia. Writer James Baldwin in his Greenwich Village apartment in 1963. For more home-office envy, follow @blauwerke on Twitter.
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introducing the
C’est la Vie collection
perennialsfabrics.com
Read the ROOM
ONCE THE DOMAIN OF THE CIGAR-CHOMPING AND BRANDY-SWILLING, HOME LIBRARIES ARE BECOMING THE PLACE TO BE. BY SHEIL A M ARIK AR
CHRISTOPHER SIMON SYKES/HULTON ARCHIVE/ GET T Y IMAGES
Keith Richards in 1995 in the library of his Weston, Connecticut, home, which was designed by Mica Ertegun. Produced by Charles Curkin
T
HE FIRST LIBR ARY I EVER K NE W TOWERED OVER
my childhood bed in a split-level Colonial in suburban New Jersey. There were two floor-to-ceiling wood-laminate bookcases stacked with books that my father, an insatiable reader, generally didn’t need but wanted to keep nearby. It was a weighty enough collection that my mother sometimes worried about the cases toppling over and crushing me as I slept. What happened was far more dire: I amassed my own collection. I got a job at the local library, then a liberal arts degree. I attempted to make a living reading, writing, and thinking, a folly in which I remain actively engaged.
During our long, international nightmare of isolation, the personal library—which has always been stereotypically thought of as a refuge for professor types with patched elbows to chomp stogies and sip brandy—has emerged as a tool to convey the intellectual wherewithal of talking heads Zooming onto cable news from their own homes. On social media, onlookers gave a coup d’oeil to the contents of celebrities’ bookcases—20 volumes of the Oxford English Dictionary neatly lined up on Cate Blanchett’s sage-green shelves, a row of bobbleheads and a bottle of Maker’s Mark in Andy Cohen’s modular oak unit. But a dissection of a person’s bookcases obscures the visual cue that a library is more ELLE DECOR
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POINT OF VIEW
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O N S H E LV E S
THESE NEW BOOKS ARE MUST-HAVES FOR ANY PRIVATE LIBRARY. The Lives of Others (RIZZOLI)
The first monograph for photographer Simon Watson is a voyeuristic journey of epic interiors, from Roberto Peregalli’s riad in Tangier to the late Duchess of Alba’s home in Madrid.
Young, Gifted and Black (ARTBOOK)
This important survey of contemporary art by Black artists, edited by critic Antwaun Sargent, includes work by Mark Bradford, Mickalene Thomas, and Kerry James Marshall, among others.
Through a Designer’s Eye (THE MONACELLI PRESS)
The world as seen by ED A-Lister Matthew Patrick Smyth includes a look inside his own beautiful 1970s prefabricated home in Connecticut.
Décors Barbares (VENDOME PRESS)
A survey of interiors showcasing the exuberant textile designs of Nathalie Farman-Farma (see page 94), with photographs by Miguel Flores-Vianna. —Bebe Howorth
WORKSHOP/APD: WILLIAM ABR ANOWICZ; SILLS: THIBAULT JEANSON
do—judge a book by its cover —f ueled my r i ad design trends. Thanks to companies that charged by t he l i nea r foot for ready-made collections of leather tomes and paperbacks, appearing to be well-read suddenly came at a n attainable price. Then there was the Instagram directive to arrange books by color, thereby creating an installation with all the nuance of a Rainbow Explosion cake. But that was then—i.e., A sun-filled before March. This newly modernist home found time at home invites library in New an opportunity to conYork City by Workshop/APD. sider not on ly wh ic h books are on our shelves and what they look like, but also how The library in a the library makes us feel. We now want Fifth Avenue to be like Keith Richards in his Mica apartment designed by Ertegun–designed Connecticut library, Stephen Sills. to kick up our feet and stay awhile. To find solace in the warmth and beauty of hu ma n k i nd’s va st creativ it y a nd acquired knowledge. There’s now a growing need for interior designers to create “sorbet for the soul,” as ED A-List designer Katie Maine of Maine Design describes the modern library. “The world outside is crazy,” she says. “You can go to this place to shut it out.” But how does one set about creating such an oasis? For ED A-List designer Alyssa Kapito, it’s simple: “We wrap libraries in oak paneling or fabric,” she likely to suggest: that of contemplation. says. “Not only to create warmth, but Since most of us lack the soaring also to allow you to visually disconnect ceilings of the New York Public Library from everything else around you.” My own library consists of a bookor the made-for-Instagram atrium of the Tianjin Binhai Library, in China, shelf and a single-cushion love seat. the bookcase, in many homes, serves as Books and records culled from my late a signpost that here is a room or a nook father’s collection stand alongside canto stop scrolling and consider some- dles and photo albums. “I have two thing of more permanence. It embodies bookca ses pi led w it h l ig hts a nd a greater purpose, though it’s easy to tchotchkes,” Brudnizki says. “It’s an get it twisted. “I remember the trend eclectic, mishmashy-looking thing, that all books should be white,” says ED which is the whole point.” Unlike A-List designer Martin Brudnizki. t he t y ra n ny of color codi ng a nd “That’s not what a library should be. social-media moments, the new trend Thought is not minimalist.” in personal libraries concerns what’s Home libraries had it bad for a while. on the inside: ideas, inspiration, and The very thing we were taught not to respite from the rest of the world. ◾
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POINT OF VIEW
CLOCK WISE FROM FAR LE F T: The
Michael S. Smith THE ED A-LIST DESIGNER DISCUSSES HIS NEW BOOK ON DECORATING THE OBAMA-ERA WHITE HOUSE. Your book Designing History (Rizzoli), out in September, tells the story of how you designed the White House private residence for the Obamas in 2008 and 2009. It’s a good, long read—not your typical coffee table book. MSS: We thought a serious
subject warranted a serious examination. A friend of yours, real estate agent Katherine Malkin, who was close with Desirée Rogers, the White House social secretary from 2009 to 2010, wrote you a letter of recommendation for the job. She stated that you move at the speed of lightning, stand by your convictions, and are socially responsible and a genius. Did she forget anything? MSS: I make it a practice not to question positive hyperbole. When Rogers called to say that the Obamas were considering you for the position, you were sunbathing on a beach somewhere. How did the call go? MSS: In a movie, you always think those kinds of calls are fake. But she was very definitive and factual, so I knew it was for real. The call came during Thanksgiving break, so I was on vacation. It was an extraordinarily nerve-racking time. What did you first take into account when starting to design rooms at the White House? LE F T: The White
House family sitting room. BE LOW: The cover of Designing History.
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MSS: Mrs. Obama was very
clear: The number one issue was that they would be transplanting their young children from a place where they were super comfortable. I needed to create within this very large national landmark a space that was homey and tucked-in. So creating the girls’ rooms was the big agenda item. During your first meeting, Mrs. Obama mentioned that her daughters, Malia and Sasha—10 and 7 years old at the time— wanted “pops of color.” Do you have to change modes when designing for children? MSS: These obviously weren’t the typical kids’ rooms, but the big thing was to be as thoughtful and investigative as possible, knowing that their interests will change quickly. What they want at 5 years old, for example, will be different by the time they’re 8. Anything permanent and age-specific in a child’s room is a bad idea. What were some other challenges you faced? MSS: Designing in the White House is like building a model ship in a bottle. The process, the scheduling, the security: It’s a lot of labor required to
make very small movements. As a decorator, you were also tasked with designing the presidential china. What other unexpected jobs were you given? MSS: I was asked to suggest state gifts for the Obamas to give to visiting dignitaries. You chose works by great American artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Ed Ruscha for the private quarters. What did they bring to those spaces? MSS: What’s surprising about the White House interiors is that the rooms are super tall. A big contemporary painting is really wonderful, and the walls can accommodate one. Art made the spaces feel more 21st-century. Upon meeting you, then president-elect Barack Obama commented on your demeanor, saying, “I suspect you must be really good at this.” Is that line a contender for your epitaph? Something like, “Here lies Michael S. Smith. He was really good at this”? MSS: It’s pretty nice for him to say. It would be great if one aspect of my character was that I was good at my job, though I hope people have other things to add. —Charles Curkin
OBAMA FAMILY AT HOME: OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTO BY PETE SOUZ A; INTERIORS: DESIGNING HISTORY BY MICHAEL S. SMITH, RIZ ZOLI NEW YORK, 2020: MICHAEL MUNDY
White House solarium, which was designed by Michael S. Smith. A gallery wall in the treaty room. President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and their daughters Malia (far left) and Sasha watch a World Cup soccer game in the treaty room in July 2011.
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Inspired by the botanical imagery of 19th-century artists such as Anna Atkins and Kazuma Ogawa, Loewe is launching a collection of home fragrances, soaps, and candles whose scents draw from 11 plant essences such as ivy and coriander. Candles, 14.5″ h., available in other colors, $80 each. perfumesloewe.com
28.5″ w. x 25″ d. x 27.5″ h., from $6,560. luxurylivinggroup.com
Topped with colorfully patterned porcelain, these side tables, designed by Gianpaolo Pagni for Hermès, have foldable oak-and–bridle leather bases that allow you to easily move them. Largest table: 15.5″ dia. x 15.5″ h., $6,750 for set of three. hermes.com
Part of the third Christian Lacroix Maison collection for Roche Bobois, this six-panel wooden Bois Paradis screen features an Eden-like plant-and-animal panorama on one side and the botanical Cuillette print on the other. 108″ w. x 1″ d. x 75″ h., $10,115. roche-bobois.com
This two-tiered Marni fruit basket, handmade from metal and PVC yarn by Colombian artisans, can do double duty as a receptacle for culinary tchotchkes when your produce supply starts to run low. 15″ dia. x 15″ h., available in other colors, $280. marni.com
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ABOVE , FROM TOP:
Le Gracieux by Jeffrey Bilhuber fabrics in Bromley and Bishop, both in Artichoke Hearts, $168 per yard.
ABOVE , FROM TOP:
Designer Jeffrey Bilhuber in front of a wall covered in Burton in Artichoke Hearts. Beekman fabric in Ivy League. Bancroft fabric in Hummingbird. RIGHT: A chair by O. Henry House covered in Barrow fabric in Ivy League/Rose. Produced by Parker Bowie Larson 32
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Jeffrey Bilhuber began envisioning the prints in his fabric collaboration with Le Gracieux, it was important that his final designs strike that elusive balance between newness and recognition. “From the small-scale geometrics to the large-scale botanicals, I wanted them to look familiar but feel fresh again and vibrant,” Bilhuber says. “I’m not nostalgic by nature.” However, he is appreciative of the past. Scattered throughout the collection are historical design nuances that add texture to his 2020 ideas. For ex a mple, Ba ldw i n , a ti ny abstract pattern, nods at decorator Billy Baldwin, and Bancroft, with its charming oak-leaf motif, was inspired by Colefax and Fowler owner Nancy Lancaster. Bromley references batiks, such as those covering the sofas in socialite Pat Buckley’s Connecticut home. The eight designs come in five colorways and are hand-screened onto linen by Le Gracieux’s craftspeople. “Each order will be slightly different from the last,” says Bilhuber. “And that’s incredibly compelling.” legracieux.com ◾
PORTR AIT: KELLY TAUB; CHAIR, PILLOWS: ALLIE HOLLOWAY
W
H E N D ES I G N ER
HIBERNATE EXPERIENCE NO BARS. NO SPRINGS. PURE COMFORT.
TRUTH IN DECOR ATING
2 1
FUN HOUSE IN A TIME THAT CALLS FOR SELF-REFLECTION, DESIGNERS SIG BERGAMIN AND JOY MOYLER HAVE SOME ADVICE ABOUT MIRRORS: GO WILD OR GO HOME. BY K ATE M C GREGOR
This is a really “ lively and versatile piece. There’s a nice charm to it.
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SIG BERGAMIN INTERIOR DESIGNER
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SOLITARIO BY FORNASETTI
MIROIR INTRALUCIDE BY ERWAN BOULLOUD
GRIFO CABINET BY ALTREFORME
CHEVIOT BY VAUGHAN
FLINTSTONE BY ASHLEY HICKS
SB: This is so much more than a mirror! It’s a compelling work of art.
JM: It looks like a piece of
SB: I like everything about this. The size, the shape, the proportions, the colors—it all works beautifully together.
JOY MOYLE R: To provide
a strong visual impact, I’d cluster a bunch of these on a gallery wall. SIG BE RGAMIN: I think
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JM: I love the dimension-
ality of this one. It has all the makings of becoming a classic piece.
JM: If this were the last
the drawings, which seem done by hand, add a playful charm to the piece.
composition is really intriguing. It needs to be the center of attention.
thing you saw in an entry when walking out the door, you’d definitely begin your day with a smile.
11″ dia.; $850. fornasetti.com
37.5″ w. x 71″ h.; price upon request. glustin.net
52″ w. x 16.5″ d. x 78.5″ h.; $36,600. artemest.com
ELLE DECOR
SB: The geometric
jewelry. I imagine Marilyn Monroe singing to herself in this mirror. SB: It has such spectac-
ular form and design that I’d position it above almost any fireplace. 35.5″ dia.; $1,876. Also available in a smaller size. vaughandesigns.com
JM: With its watercolor
tones, I’d use this piece to decorate a powder room or boudoir. 51″ dia.; $16,000. r-and-company.com
BERGAMIN: KIKITO AMAR AL; MOYLER: DAVID A . L AND
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Kaskad Pendant by Schneid
TRUTH IN DECOR ATING
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pink neon would “This be a real hit when
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paired with a heavily patterned wallpaper. JOY MOYLER
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INTERIOR DESIGNER
10 9 7.
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UNIQUE WALL MIRROR BY WENDELL CASTLE
LA CEJA BY CHRIS WOLSTON
REFLET SCREEN BY ROCHE BOBOIS
ULTRAFRAGOLA BY ETTORE SOTTSASS
SB: This belongs in a
JM: You can’t ever go
JM: I could see this in a
wrong with double-sided mirror panels. I want to anchor this and use it as a room divider.
girl’s bedroom. All her friends would be making TikToks in front of it.
SB: This is really different.
The 3D, organic shape is very unexpected. JM: The finish and form
would go perfectly in a gentleman’s dressing room or a glamping yurt. 16.5″ w. x 10.5″ d. x 24″ h.; $75,000. r-and-company.com
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ELLE DECOR
cheerful beach house! It makes any space brighter. JM: So much fun! The colors are great. Depending on lighting placement, it could create really fanciful shadows. 44″ dia.; price upon request. thefutureperfect.com
than just a beauty—it’s a versatile and functional piece.
SB: I really enjoy the playfulness of this piece and the Memphis style. It’s extremely witty and very unusual.
80.5″ w. x 1″ d. x 76″ h.; $8,055. rochebobois.com
39.5″ w. x 5″ d. x 77″ h.; $9,852. 1stdibs.com
SB: Incredible! It’s more
10. DOGON BY JEAN-BAPTISTE FASTREZ JM: If this were smaller, I’d want a pair as earrings! They’d be fun in groups as an art installation. SB: I agree with Joy: Mul-
tiples of these together would be interesting. 19.5″ w. x 31.5″ h.; price upon request. jeanbaptistefastrez.com
FOR DETAILS, SEE RESOURCES
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SHOWCASE
B
EGINNING IN THE
The Breguet Marine Haute Joaillerie 9509 Poseidonia watch in (from left) the emerald, sapphire, and ruby versions, prices upon request. Produced by Parker Bowie Larson
All the Pretty
FACES
of Posidonia oceanica, a vari1 5th centur y in ety of seagrass, artisans created painstaking dials that France, marquetry, combi ne i n l a id Ta h it i a n or the art of inlaying thin pieces of mother-of-pearl backdrops A DAZZLING NEW wood or metal into with invisibly set baguetteCOLLECTION OF WATCHES an intricate design, became a cut precious stones (85 to be FOCUSES ON THE BEAUTY winning decorative approach exact) that evoke the plant’s in furniture. In the 17th and flowing strands. The Marine OF UNDERWATER LIFE. Haute Joaillerie watches are 18th centuries, it was popuBY VANESSA L AWRENCE larized by A ndré- Charles available in a diamond version as well as three colorful Boulle to such an extent that the term boulle work was often used to describe its elegant variations with sapphires, emeralds, and rubies. In each effect. However, marquetry isn’t the exclusive purview of instance, the lines of the stones on the dial are continued in beautiful decor, as evidenced by Breguet’s use of the tech- baguette diamonds across the white-gold strap buckle, as nique in its new collection of Marine Haute Joaillerie 9509 though the plant’s wavering form, like time itself, can Poseidonia watches. Inspired by the undulating silhouette hardly be contained by the watch’s case. breguet.com ◾ 38
ELLE DECOR
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Dexter Wimberly.
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I’ve been making cocktails at home. I’m a father of four—I think I deserve a great Negroni or gin and tonic from time to time. monkey47.com
Billie Zangewa
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Her work is very painterly. She uses silk and other materials to make these beautiful tapestries.
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Odysseus by A. Lange & Söhne Watches are my guiltiest pleasure. This is an example of a venerable German brand taking some design risks. alange-soehne.com
lelabofragrances.com
7
BY VANESSA L AWRENCE
Stillness Is the Key
Holiday draws on timeless Stoic and Buddhist philosophy to show why slowing down is the secret weapon for those charging ahead. ryanholiday.net
4
Wave Hill
This public garden in the Bronx, overlooking the Palisades and the Hudson River, is so well maintained. It’s perfect. wavehill.org
ELLE DECOR
I’ve been wearing this scent since it launched in 2006. It’s not for everyone, but I love it!
THE CURATOR BEHIND A NEW ARTIST RESIDENCY IN JAPAN SHARES THE EIGHT THINGS HE CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT.
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Dexter Wimberly
Le Labo Labdanum 18
This past March, art curator Dexter Wimberly traveled to Hayama, Japan, with his family to visit his in-laws, an annual pilgrimage they have made since 2012. Little did Wimberly know, his 30-day vacation would turn into a three-month sojourn because of COVID-19. But his extended stay proved opportune: In the summer of 2021, Wimberly is starting an artist residency in Hayama, wherein recipients can learn about Japanese culture and experience its effects on their artistic practices. “One of the good things that came out of my trip was the clarity for me about what that place can be,” Wimberly says. “The town has such a calming and refocusing effect on me.” After a career in marketing, working with companies such as Coca-Cola and HBO, Wimberly turned his focus to the visual arts in 2009, curating a show for the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts in Brooklyn. He is a senior critic with the New York Academy of Art and the founder of Art World Conference, a platform for connecting creatives with experts in finance and strategy. “There is a whole world of artists who are not able to pursue their dreams because of the financial implications of being an artist,” says Wimberly, who will host an online Art World Conference in October. “I have always wanted to be a catalyst and source of empowerment for others.” dexterwimberly.com
Cafetero Hayama
This serene café in Japan is in what was once a traditional Japanese home. They source their beans from Costa Rica, and every cup is made to order. shop.cafetero-hayama.jp
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Drake’s Scarf You only live once: If wearing a fancy scarf makes you happy, then don’t hesitate. I do it as often as possible. drakes.com
PORTR AIT: HERMAN L. JEAN-NOËL (NEGL AK AY PRODUCTIONS LLC); NEGRONI: SHUT TERSTOCK /SALONFOTO; WAVE HILL: AL AMY; Z ANGEWA: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND LEHMANN MAUPIN, NEW YORK, HONG KONG, AND SEOUL
lehmannmaupin.com
Living room painted in Benjamin Moore Strawberry-n-Cream
PRESENTED BY
FOREVER COLORS:
Introducing the New Neutrals Brigette Romanek cemented her status as one of L.A.’s most soughtafter designers by creating inspired spaces that bring her clients’ dreams to life. A Romanek room is sophisticated but supremely livable, fresh but never trendy, and always alive with color. Here, Brigette shares the Benjamin Moore shades currently ruling her inspiration board.
Brigette Romanek Designer
2
5 1. Brown Teepee - 2102-40 “With hints of pink, this is a warm color that doesn’t feel too heavy. Elegant paired with rust or mustard tones.” 2. Daiquiri Ice - 2034-70 “This hue is full of vibrant energy, yet still soft and pretty. Layer it with lush velvets, rusts, and blues.” 3. Pale Berry - 2103-60 “Notes of gray, brown, and pink converge in this dreamy shade. It’s a sexy, versatile neutral
that goes wherever you want to take it!” 4. Bird’s Egg - 2051-60 “Use this happy shade to brighten the entire environment. Make it pop with creams, whites, and patterned pieces.” 5. Salamander - 2050-10 “This color makes me swoon— it’s so rich and sophisticated. Add leather pieces and vintage rugs to manifest the ultimate escape.”
*Living room photography by Douglas Friedman
Discover more than 3,500 standout shades at benjaminmoore.com.
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UNMATCHABLE When you find the perfect color, nothing else will do.
Perfection comes from our paint and our proprietary Gennex® colorants, together, creating results that are breathtaking. Rely on Benjamin Moore® for premium quality and Gennex Color Technology, which makes our long-lasting colors, all 3,500 of them, one-of-a-kind. Unmatchable.
WALL: Shadow 2117-30, Aura® Matte
©2020 Benjamin Moore & Co. Aura, Benjamin Moore, Gennex, and the triangle “M” symbol are registered trademarks licensed to Benjamin Moore & Co. Color accuracy is ensured only when tinted in quality Benjamin Moore® paints. Color representations may differ slightly from actual paint. 6/20
TALENT
Technicolor Dreams UKRAINIAN DESIGNER DARIA ZINOVATNAYA IMAGINES A WORLD OF EXCITEMENT FILLED WITH JOYFUL HUES AND GEOMETRIC SHAPES. BY CHARLES CURKIN
With its allusions to the Bauhaus, Suprematist, and Memphis design movements, the work of St. Petersburg–based designer Daria Zinovatnaya (inset) is inspired by basic geometry and color. “I like to look at simple shapes and give them new details that completely change them visually,” she says. Since she began her career four years ago, Zinovatnaya has launched 10 product lines, including the 2017 Itten furniture collection shown here. zinovatnaya.com
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ELLE DECOR
PASSIONATE ABOUT you-time & EQUALLY OBSESSED with technology Saying yes to Home Connect™ means saying yes to all the techy-perks. Plus—more time for the things you love most.
"Alexa, tell my coffee machine to brew a latte please."
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WIFI-ENABLED MEANS HANDS-FREE COFFEE
am
Home Connect™ and Alexa are on a first-name basis so the next time you're deepening your stretch, we're brewing—your coffee, just the way you like it.
ā
STAY CONNECTED IN & OUT OF THE KITCHEN
pm
Heading home to get cooking? We’re here to help. When you enable Home Connect™ you
can remote start your oven directly from your EVE Connect Telsa dashboard.
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WINE-DOWN WITH THE HOME CONNECT APP
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We’ve got an entire collection of perfect wine pairings, just for you. Go ahead, start scrolling.
Get the download on all things Home Connect™ at THERMADOR.COM/HOMECONNECT Download the app today
© 2 02 0 BS H HOM E AP P LI AN CES C ORP ORAT I O N. ALL RI G HT S RES ER VED .
TALENT
Zinovatnaya describes her approach to design as making a collage. “By combining different shapes and colors into one composition,” she says, “I try to find a new and interesting combination.” This year, she introduced the three aesthetically dissimilar but equally imaginative collections shown here. CLOCK WISE FROM ABOVE: A green-and-red leather sofa from the Leo collection for Adrenalina; adrenalina.it. A rug from the Zoe collection for Gan; gan-rugs.com. Tiles from the Soda collection for Ceramica Bardelli; ceramicabardelli.com.
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ELLE DECOR
Life in the
KITCHEN
AN IMMERSION COURSE IN WHAT THE RIGHT BLUE PAINT CAN DO. BY JO RODGERS
PHOTOGR APHS BY JA MES HARVEY-KELLY
In Luke Edward Hall and Duncan Campbell’s London apartment, the British Standard by Plain English kitchen cabinetry was painted in Laughton’s Blue by Papers and Paints.
O
N A WEEKNIGHT IN
north London ea rlier this year, friends of the designers Luke Edward Hall and Duncan Campbell swirled up the stairs to the couple’s Victorian flat, moving toward the unmistakable howl of a party. Inside, past a mountain of coats on a vintage sleigh bed, Stevie Parle—the chef behind such London hot spots as Pastaio and Palatino—was passing around bruschetta. ED A-List designer Martin Brudnizki stretched out on a 48
ELLE DECOR
velvet sofa, drinking from a pink-andyellow coupe. Under a FontanaArte mirror, gallery owner Victoria Williams chatted with illustrator Fee Greening, dressed head to toe in green, while Plain English founder Katie Fontana ducked into the fray. Hall and Campbell’s home in Camden is only three tidy rooms and a passageway the color of Colman’s mustard, but still something of a marvel—the brightly painted walls hung with Jean Cocteau prints, ceramic curios from Venice, and a collection of mounted
butterflies have been minutely chronicled in the British press. It’s a constantly evolving space, and tonight a sheet was thrown off to reveal a new cobalt-blue kitchen by British Standard by Plain English, topped with an eye-catching pediment and wooden finials. Meanwhile, nearby, the bathtub was overflowing with Champagne. British Standard is the affordable limb of Plain English, the Suffolk, England–based company known for exquisite, austere Georgian cabinetry. Both brands are manufactured in the same rural workshop, but British Standard units are ready-made, which lowers the price. Already a success in the United Kingdom, Plain English will soon launch British Standard Stateside, with a dedicated New York showroom opening in October. Aided by Merlin Wright, the design director at Plain English, Hall and Campbell played with scale in their galley kitchen. “We experimented with size by having milk bottles stand in for the finials and a cardboard cutout for the pediment,” Wright says. “Then we would retreat to the furthest corner to see how it looked.” Design references ranged from Palladian architecture to Emilio Terry. The result is playful and unexpected, with invisible practicalities like integrated appliances and pan drawers. The inauguration of the new kitchen had to be a supper party. Guests squeezed around a marble-topped table for artichokes, anchovies, and shell-pink radicchio that matched the sitting room walls. “From the ceramic fish plates to the pediment kitchen, the whole experience delights,” Brudnizki says. The talk was about the new Tory government and Hall’s sketches for the Hôtel Les Deux Gares, a Parisian property poised to open soon. In front of a Paolo Buffa rosewood drinks cabinet holding a pineapple ice bucket, A-List designer Beata Heuman and I shared a slice of blood-orange crostata and wondered if our toddlers were asleep. Someone started singing on the speck of a balcony. The tub was still half full, and it was too cold outside to leave now anyway. ◾
THIS PAGE, TOP LEFT: BRITISH STANDARD BY PL AIN ENGLISH. FOR DETAILS, SEE RESOURCES
RSVP
CLOC K WISE FROM TOP LE F T: Hallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sketch of the kitchen. Hall at the
vintage marble dining table; behind him is a 1940s Paolo Buffa bar cabinet. Fashion designer Haeni Kim relaxes in the pale pink living room. A Luke Edward Hall tray for the Lacquer Company holds curios. The hosts (top row) are joined by (from left) Kim, actress Alice Felgate, gallery owner Victoria Williams, and artist Fee Greening. Campbell on the velvet sofa.
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INSPIR ATION FOR YOUR RENOVATION
BUILDER A steel desk cocooned in warm shades of blue in a home office on New York City’s Upper East Side designed by Alex Papachristidis. Produced by Laurel J. Benedum
TOOLBOX
Work-Life Balance THE HOME OFFICE IS NO LONGER JUST AN UNREMARKABLE CUBBYHOLE OR KITCHEN NOOK, BUT A GLAMOROUS REFLECTION OF WHO YOU ARE. BY TIM M C KEOUGH
MIKKEL VANG
C
ATC H I N G U P O N W O R K F R O M T H E L I V I N G
room sofa always seemed like a pleasure—up until it became a full-time affair. When the coronavirus pandemic struck earlier this year and sent office workers home, many of us discovered that such improvised setups can also become wormholes of household clutter, nagging family members, and ergonomic strife. With companies like Facebook and Twitter leading the charge to make working from home the new normal, the
home office is finally top of mind once again. Whether used every day of the week or for an occasional evening brainstorm, a well-designed space can help shut out distractions, center the mind, and inspire creativity. “It’s never been clearer how much our home environment impacts how we feel and how productive we are,” says Jessica Geller of the New Jersey design firm Toledo Geller. “Normally, being in an office keeps us focused. But at home, you have to do it alone, which can be difficult.” To help, your home office should be a direct reflection ELLE DECOR
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TOOLBOX
of your personal style, passions, and aspirations. One of its biggest advantages compared to a corporate office—where workers are often limited to customizing a cubicle with quirky calendars and potted plants—is that you can do anything you want. Ernest de la Torre has designed everything from a red leather–paneled retreat anchored by a weighty, universe-mastering chrome desk in Manhattan to a sunny outpost in Malibu bathed in mint green. “That’s the owner’s favorite color,” de la Torre says of the latter. “She should get to live with her favorite color every day.” Compared to the upper-crust home work spaces of the 18th and 19th centuries, much has changed. Technology has largely done away with the need for floor-to-ceiling stacks of books, but it has also introduced an armada of plasticky components like monitors, printers, and scanners bursting with messy cables—none of which are as appealing to look at as antique globes, sextants, or Roman statuary. As a result, many designers aim to eliminate or hide as much of an office’s technological wizardry as possible. (There’s a reason people gravitate toward Apple’s streamlined products.) “Fortunately, the Wi-Fi universe we now live in allows for a much less tethered feel than the old desktop computer,” says designer Beth Martin of San Francisco’s Martin Group SF. “Many of those peripherals don’t even live In this moody home office in Manhattan by Toledo Geller, the desk is positioned in front of an elegant, lightfilled bay window.
Art, pattern, and bold hues bring cheer and dynamism to this home office in Oakland, California, designed by Kiyonda Powell.
in the office anymore—we now mostly put them in closets.” She notes that people aren’t printing as often as they used to, so the need for filing cabinets has disappeared, which frees up space for a secondary seating area. “You absolutely need a comfortable desk chair, but we also like to include a lounge chair with an ottoman or a chaise for those moments of concentrated reading and thinking,” Martin says. The breakout fashion star Samuel Ross of A-Cold-Wall* says eliminating superf luous accessories is key to his work-from-home setup, which he shares with his partner, Jennifer Onojeide, and their daughter. “We use paper to carve through quick ideas, though critical work and concepts are taken into digital formats,” he says, referring to his iPad Pro and MacBook Pro. “Avoiding clutter is an ongoing battle when creating an environment that works. The idea of owning key items and fewer possessions runs throughout our home.” Both de la Torre and Martin say the sit-stand desk is the most requested furniture piece, which presents an aesthetic challenge, as most of these resemble something straight out of a loading dock. As a solution, de la Torre has designed muscular custom desks that conceal motorized guts and have a switch to raise and lower the tabletop within a drawer. Martin has designed custom desks with two heights and has sought out attractive smart desks by furniture makers such as Sean Woolsey. At the end of the day, a home office isn’t just a place to get things done—it’s a reflection of who you are. “It should be designed to your style and your taste,” says Washington, D.C.–based designer Kiyonda Powell. “It should allow you to be your best, most productive self.”
HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE A DESKTOP? Five ELLE DECOR A-List designers weigh in on whether technology should be proudly presented in the home office or hidden from sight. Timothy Corrigan “You have to know where to draw the line: A computer has become like an extension of your arm, so I am fine to let them sit out. A printer, however, is just plain ugly. We try to hide these in a cabinet or behind a door.” 52
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Danielle Colding “Apple monitors are very pretty, and the cords are well managed. It all depends on the orientation. There’s nothing worse than looking at the back side of a monitor. It can be an enhancement if positioned the right way.”
Rayman Boozer “We use computers too much. When people come over, I put away iPads and laptops to make it look more like a home. When entertaining, you must hide them. Someone should really invent tea cozies for desktops.”
J. Randall Powers “Living in the 21st century, exposed technology is just reality. We all bit the Apple here, and frankly I think the equipment is beautiful. It’s not the mid1980s, when your desk looked as if it had the lunar lander on it.”
Corey Damen Jenkins “I believe that form follows function, but if the end result is unattractive, it’s a fail. Lately, I’ve been mounting TV screens in gilded picture frames, because we can make them look like mirrors when they’re not in use.”
TOLEDO GELLER INTERIOR: JACOB SNAVELY; POWELL INTERIOR: SEN CREATIVE
BUILDER
Shop this room from paint to pillows at homedepot.com/shopthisroom
COLOR MATCH Similar
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BUILDER
TOOLBOX
Business Class THE FURNITURE KEYS TO YOUR WORK-FROM-HOME SUCCESS. BY L AUREL J. BENEDUM
ABOVE: Technology is front and center in a Houston
home office designed by Paloma Contreras.
Computer Game
Make sure your technology is looking good with the latest (and sleekest) devices and accessories.
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CHIC GEEKS FAUX-CROCODILE MACBOOK CASE $95. neimanmarcus.com
IPAD PRO, $799. MAGIC KEYBOARD, $299. apple.com
APPLE PENCIL $129. apple.com
3 4
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Martha Stewart Jaxon Bookcase Everyday System This sleek walnut-and-
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Carson Desk
Cavour CM Desk
Crosby Desk
Form meets function in this modular steel-andwood office system with customizable storage.
iron shelving unit has filing drawers and elevates basic storage with leather detailing.
With its clean lines and striking lacquered finish, this classic desk blends seamlessly into any office nook.
Originally a custom commission by Carlo Mollino from 1949, this reintroduced design feels every bit as fresh today.
This vintage-inspired burlwood desk gets a dose of cool with bright brass stripes on each leg.
73″ w. x 20″ d. x 87″ h., $2,258. californiaclosets.com
47″ w. x 14.5″ d. x 85″ h., $1,399. cb2.com
Available in two sizes, from $17,045. minotti.com
96.5″ w. x 35.5″ d. x 29.5″ h., $14,710. zanotta.it
60″ w. x 26″ d. x 32″ h., $4,595. jaysonhome.com
ELLE DECOR
CONTRER AS INTERIOR: MA X BURKHALTER
5
Happy D.2 Plus. Design and technology perfectly combined. The perfect combination of iconic design and innovative technology: the bathroom classic Happy D.2 Plus with harmoniously rounded corners in new variants. The unique Duravit technologies like the innovative c-bonded open up new, individual solutions. Design by sieger design. For more bathroom design visit www.duravit.us Available nationwide at Ferguson locations: Atlanta 770-442-1800, Boston 781-592-1200, Chicago 630-916-8560, Dallas 214-761-9333, Ft. Lauderdale 954-567-3110, Houston 713-626-3300, King of Prussia 610-337-8856, Los Angeles 310-829-1062, Nashville 615-385-3054, New York 212-688-5990, San Diego 858-974-5100, San Francisco 415-551-3580, Seattle 206-505-0980, Washington DC 202-567-5656.
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STYLE. DESIGN. CULTURE.
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ELLE DECOR LAUNCHES DESIGN UNITES COVID-19 RELIEF INITIATIVE In immediate response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ELLE DECOR joined forces with House Beautiful, Town & Country and VERANDA to create a first-ever charitable platform: Design Unites. The charity auction brought together over 75 brand partners and friends in the design and luxury lifestyle communities to give back in a big way. Powered by Charitybuzz, the Design Unites initiative raised over $100,000 in support of Habitat for Humanity New York City’s COVID-19 Emergency Housing Response Fund—providing low-to middle-income New Yorkers support with urgent housing needs and ensuring they have a place to call home. Check out the social buzz via #DesignUnites. habitatnyc.org 4.
Featured lots: 1. Skybox Experience at Restaurant Daniel in NYC 2. Welcome to Summer: Outdoor Oasis with Arhaus Furniture 3. Coastal Calm: A Serena & Lily Bedroom Makeover 4. Christofle’s Signature MOOD Collection Flatware
Corduroy
Tropicalia
Stellar
B&B ITALIA
ARTE
THE COUCH—Conversations on Design is the new B&B Italia podcast on the design culture and the art of staying at home, curated by David Plaisant. Available on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, and the B&B Italia official website. bebitalia.com
Lush by Arte features coordinating textures of warm corduroy-like velvet and cool metallics. The rich combination of rib velvet, lush botanical prints and sophisticated weaving techniques make Lush a very detailed and luxurious collection. The cool metal accents combine perfectly with the soft, velvet fabrics and complete the look. arte-international.com
P R E S E NTE D BY S TE A R N S & FOS TE R
Build a Better Bedroom With so many daily distractions, downshifting into sleep mode seems tougher than ever. If your bedroom isn’t set up to soothe, it’s hard to get the quality rest you crave. But, thanks to a few design-driven choices, you can get more shut-eye. “An ideal bedroom provides an environment for rest, positivity, and relaxation,” says interior designer Natalie Kraiem. From going all-in on a Stearns & Foster mattress to ditching the screens, here are four easy ways to make your space more serene. SLEEP STAR The ultimate in luxurious comfort and support, the Stearns & Foster Reserve Hepburn Mattress suits any sleeping style.
THE REST IS EASY
Follow these simple principles to prep your room for maximum zzz’s. 1. INVEST IN A QUALITY MATTRESS
2. LAYER
3. PICK A
PEACEFUL PALETTE
4. GO SCREEN-FREE
When it comes to getting a good night’s sleep, “the mattress is the most important element,” says Kraiem. “My key recommendation is to source one from a company with a good, long-lasting reputation, like Stearns & Foster.”
Kraiem favors a mix, from table lamps and reading sconces to recessed lights and chandeliers. Try bulbs with lower wattages and dimmers to control the mood. To block outside light, Kraiem suggests lightweight curtains or Roman shades with blackout lining.
A bedroom’s color scheme can affect your mood and routine. Kraiem tends toward soothing hues, like shades of blue, ivory, mauve, and gray, with light bedding to anchor the room. “White and ivory sheets are classics and make the bed feel clean and crisp,” she says.
Most of us are guilty of screens in the bedroom (no shame, just reality!). But blue light from electronics can interfere with your circadian rhythms, so try to check them at the door.
YOUR LIGHTING
D E S I G N YO U R S PAC E FO R YO U R B E S T R E S T. LE A R N M O R E AT S TE A R N SA N D FOS TE R .CO M
SPLENDID
The entry hall of the 19th-century country home of Jean-Louis Deniot and William Holloway near Chantilly, France. The Portuguese settee and French console are both from the 18th century, the sculpture (right) is by Roger Desserprit, and the portrait depicts a 17th-century noblewoman.
AFTER A 20-YEAR RESTORATION, A HISTORIC FRENCH MANOR BECOMES A CREATIVE REFUGE FOR ITS OWNERS, ED A-LIST DESIGNER JEAN-LOUIS DENIOT AND WILLIAM HOLLOWAY. BY JA MES M C AULEY
PRODUCED BY CYNTHIA FR ANK
PHOTOGR APHS BY PASCAL CHEVALLIER ELLE DECOR
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E FO U N D THE H O USE THE TIME WORN
way: through a newspaper ad. “It was as simple as that,” says Jean-Louis Deniot, the Paris-based E L L E DE C O R A-List architect and interior designer. A fter decorati ng mu ltiple spaces around the world, he and his partner, the 1stdibs.com cofounder William Holloway, had been looking for a place of their own—out of town, but not too far out of town. In 2000, Deniot came across an ad for a decadently dilapidated country house near the Château de Chantilly, the historic home of the princes of Condé and more recently a world-renowned art museum. Twenty years later, this once-crumbling house—now entirely renovated—became a literal escape: It was here that the two retreated to weather the French government’s strict coronavirus lockdown. The couple stayed about 12 weeks in total, watching the surrounding gardens evolve through the soaring windows of the living room as winter gave way to spring and spring turned to summer. “You could see every day the landscape changing slowly but surely,” Deniot says. For the creative mind, the prospect of a monthslong confinement is either a blessing or a curse. Some artists need the electric stimulus of social life, the lure of conversation, the constant chaos of the urban charade. But others thrive in the sprawling void of peace and quiet, and for them the pandemic has been a guiltily productive experience. Fortunately, Deniot fits into that latter category. He says that he has never plowed through as many projects as quickly as he did in the spring and summer of 2020. “Isolation is the best thing you can do for yourself, because when you get bored, that’s when you get creative,” he explains. Installed in the living room of the house, he managed a team also working from home, and the group quickly went through design projects in 20 different locations worldwide and met their deadlines early. He attributes that success to the ease of his surroundings. “The space was very adaptable,” he says. “There’s a comfort level in being here.” That feeling of comfort comes after years of painstaking renovation. Only about 30 miles north of Paris, the house is easy enough to reach from the city for the day, but also a quick trip from Charles de Gaulle airport, which is nearby. But it took a long time for the house to be ready to receive guests. When Deniot and Holloway bought it, the home—its oldest section dates to 1800—was in complete disrepair, having been owned by the same family for generations, who lived only in one small part of the home and never updated the plumbing or electricity. “You never had any 20th-century amenities in that house—you still had traces of the 19th century everywhere,” Deniot says, noting that when he and Holloway signed the 60
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ABOVE: In the grand salon, the sofas are in a Lelièvre velvet, and a pair of 19th-century ebonized stools in a Le Manach leopard print face a Maison Jansen cocktail table. A Louis XVI Carrara marble mantel is flanked by stools in a Pierre Frey velvet and topped with 19thcentury marble lamps with Japanese paper shades by Anne Sokolsky. The barometer above the mantel is Directoire, and the walls are painted in Raintree Green, with columns in Bear Creek, both by Benjamin Moore. OPPOSITE: Jean-Louis Deniot in his garden last spring.
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deed, there were nine guest bedrooms with only one functioning bathroom for all of them. But he was up for the challenge of renovation, and what he created is the classic French country house, and even an homage to the form. “I decided to go through every single cliché of a French country house,” Deniot says. “Sometimes expected is nice.” To that end, there are all the staples of the quintessential maison de campagne: china cabinets full of mismatched teacups and soup tureens, sofas that have actually been sat on, an enamel bathtub with claw-feet, and austere portraits of those long since deceased. But the decor also features a vibrant mix of modern touches—contemporary art, leopard prints, and a giant midcentury Sputnik-style chandelier hovering over the table in the salon. Those contrasts were the point. “What makes the French country house is the law of opposites,” Deniot 62
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says. “It’s what makes it decadent, not to be taken seriously, and user-friendly.” In a sense, the congeniality of the house and its whimsical embrace of tradition enabled his creativity during the pandemic, when it was all too easy to be distracted by the dismal news of the day. The lockdown even brought with it some inspiration of its own, particularly tied to the richness of the landscape outside the door. Holloway and Deniot are now planning to develop a line of products, called Le Domaine Val Profond, after the house, based on the natural watercress that bountifully grows on their nearly 25-acre property—a possibility they had never considered before. Again, Deniot gives credit to the tranquility of his country manor, which serves as both a refuge and a muse. “You can’t be creative,” he says, “if you’re not in full peace or full freedom.” ◾
ABOVE: In the kitchen, the custom counter-height
table has a limestone top and is surrounded by stools from Pottery Barn; the chandeliers are antique, the curtains are of a fabric by Deniot, and the walls are painted in Cooking Apple Green by Farrow & Ball. RIGHT, FROM TOP: Deniot and Holloway’s dog, Peyton, outside the manor, which is clad in local Saint Maximin limestone. In the salon, a bronze table by Ado Chale is topped with 19th-century Etruscan pieces and a Wedgwood urn, and a pair of Louis XVI chairs are covered in a Zimmer & Rohde velvet; the 17th-century giltwood mirror is flanked by bronze Empire sconces, the Sputnik-style chandelier is from the 1950s, the rug is Moroccan, and the wall panels are painted in Stonington Gray by Benjamin Moore. OPPOSITE: The dining room’s 1940s table and chairs are by Maison Jansen, and the rock crystal–and-bronze chandelier is by Hervé Van der Straeten. A 19th-century mirror hangs above the marble mantel, which is topped with a neoclassical bust, and the wallcovering is by Pasaya.
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Stacks of Hermès boxes create a vibrant orange sculpture in the sitting room off the main bedroom suite. The wire sheep artwork is by Marie Christophe, and the wallpaper is Farrow & Ball’s Broad Stripe. OPPOSITE , FROM TOP: A guest room’s antique bed and canopy are in a Métaphores fabric, the nightstands are faux-marble Empire pedestals, and the 19th-century mirror is by Maison Jansen; the room is painted in Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore. A chaise longue in a Métaphores fabric faces a window with curtains of a Holland & Sherry fabric. In the main bath, the tub is by Jacob Delafon, and the mirror, sink, and fittings are by Waterworks; the pair of antique silver chairs is Indian, and the sterling pendant is from the 18th century. For details, see Resources.
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REMEMBER
THIS HOUSE
Designer Sheila Bridges in the living area of her country home in New York’s Hudson Valley. The vintage chair is by Ernst Schwadron, the stool is by Grosfeld House, and the artwork (right) is by Kyle Meyer. OPPOSITE: The Louis XV and Biedermeier chairs in the dining area are antique, and the Fornasetti chairs are vintage; the lamps are from Stair Galleries, the window shades are of a Gastón y Daniela fabric, and the photograph (center) is by Fabiola Jean-Louis.
FOR HER NEW HOME IN UPSTATE NEW YORK, ED A-LIST DESIGNER SHEILA BRIDGES HAS CREATED A LIGHT-FILLED SANCTUARY OF MEANING AND MEMORIES. BY VERONICA CHA MBERS
PRODUCED BY CHARLES CURKIN PHOTOGR APHS BY FR ANK FR ANCES
ST YLED BY OLGA NAIM AN
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In the living area, the antique Swedish table is topped with a collection of hand-carved birds. The sofa is from Hammertown Barn, the ďŹ replace is by Ortal, and the Italian sconces and side table are vintage. Bridges collaborated with the artist Elizabeth Parker to design the mobile. OPPOSITE , FROM LE F T: In front of the poolhouse, the lounge chairs are by Barlow Tyrie. The ďŹ&#x201A;ag outside the main house is a replica of one by artist David Hammons, and the facade is painted in Black Tar by Benjamin Moore.
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N 2 0 0 2, S H E I L A B R I D G E S W R OT E H E R F I R S T B O O K ,
Furnishing Forward: A Practical Guide to Furnishing for a Lifetime, with a simple dictum: If you buy only what you truly love, then the things you buy will last forever. Her new home in New York’s Hudson Valley is full of old favorites: an ode to all the things that, for her, spark joy. Take, for example, the Fornasetti chairs, which feature two African men in traditional Moroccan dress. “I think I first saw them in the early ’90s,” Bridges says. “They’re classic, and they just come with me wherever I go.” The residence, a tar-black beauty with 30-foot ceilings, is hard to miss, located as it is on a road of traditional farmhouses. It is the first home that Bridges has ever lived in that was built from scratch. She spent her childhood in an old stone house in Philadelphia, and her other current dwellings, in Harlem and Iceland, both come with historic pedigrees. “I just always wanted to have a full-on design build,” she says. “One where I could really sort of control the entire vernacular.” Bridges started construction on the property in 2018 and moved in last year. A perennial member of the ELLE DECOR A-List, Bridges grew up in the era of modern R & B and hip-hop, when samples of old soul tunes were constantly resurrected and reimagined. Similarly, the house in the Hudson Valley samples from her time spent in Iceland: The dark color of the exterior is reminiscent of Búðakirkja, a favorite church of hers on a remote peninsula there. Bridges has long admired the way the church’s black-painted facade stands out against its snow-white environs. Although her home sits on more than an acre of land, Bridges was disciplined in designing a footprint for it. Rather than go oversize, she opted for just what she needed—which included a poolhouse. “The house is only 1,600 square feet, and I decided I would not go over that,” she says. “I wanted to, but I just decided that I really don’t need more than that to live.” There are two bedrooms in the house, a guest bedroom
with an en suite bathroom, and then, on the second floor, beyond her study, Bridges has set up a kind of atelier: a main bedroom where the walls are covered with classic paintings from the Hudson River School, an expansive main bath, and a sitting room that is a playful mirror image to one depicted in a Mickalene Thomas print hanging on the wall. She painted that room in a serene lavender by Farrow & Ball. Art is everywhere, and the abundance of paintings and prints on the double-height walls keeps the home consistently compelling. There’s a Jean-Michel Basquiat print on one wall and a Renaissance-style image by the Haitian artist Fabiola Jean-Louis on another. A mural covers one side of the main bathroom, with parts of it lining the inside of the medicine cabinet. Like a library of first editions, Bridges’s walls vibrate with works that tell the story of her heritage, her travels, and the friends she’s made along the way. Flapping in the wind on the front of the house is a red, green, ELLE DECOR
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LE F T: In the kitchen, the range is by
Smeg, the custom cabinetry is by Dcor Design Works, and the sink fittings are by Waterworks. The window shade is of a Claremont fabric, the pendant is by Circa Lighting, the rug is by Mad Mats, and the painting (right) is by Nanette Hahn. BE LOW: A desk by Donald Deskey and a vintage chair that used to belong to Bridges’s father overlook the living and dining area from the study. The vintage sofa by Albert Hadley is topped with a throw from Iceland. An artwork by Peter Hildebrand hangs above a tufted chair from George Smith; the rug is Moroccan. OPPOSITE: The gallery walls on the staircase feature Bridges’s collection of African American art, which includes works by Clementine Hunter, Dox Thrash, Calvin Burnett, and Henry Tanner.
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ABOVE LE F T: In the main bedroom, the Swedish desk in the Gustavian style is from Finch Hudson, the walls are painted in a custom color by Benjamin Moore, and the artwork is a collection of Hudson River School paintings. ABOVE RIGHT: In the guest bathroom, the Kohler
sink has Waterworks fittings, and the stool is from Ghana; the walls are painted in a custom design by Bridges, and the cat artwork is from the Chelsea Flea Market in New York City. OPPOSITE: The guest bed is upholstered in a fabric by Gastón y Daniela and dressed with a vintage kantha quilt. The antique nightstand is from BK Antiques, the wallcovering is by Adelphi Paper Hangings, and a pair of vintage sconces flank a still-life artwork from Sutter Antiques. For details, see Resources.
and black American flag—a replica of one created by artist David Hammons in 1990 to celebrate the election of David Dinkins, New York City’s first Black mayor. “I proudly fly my flag as a reminder of America’s deeply troubled history and the need for real and meaningful change,” Bridges says. Throughout the house, there are pops of her signature Harlem Toile de Jouy pattern. Bridges’s iconic design remixes the traditional toile motif of the French countryside with vibrant scenes of African American life. It is most often seen in the form of wallpaper (and frequently has been featured as a backdrop to Gayle King’s Zoom telecasts on CBS), but it also adorns such products as umbrellas, glasses, and clothing. In September, Bridges will launch Harlem Toile on classic Converse sneakers. But perhaps the home’s most alluring features are two 72
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enormous mobiles that hang in the living and dining area, where Bridges likes to gather with friends around the table and spend long nights in front of the fireplace. “I had mobiles in my childhood bedrooms, then in my college dorms,” she says. “I’ve just always loved them.” The real magic happens when the sun begins to set and the mobiles cast shadows that fall in arcs all around the house. It’s hard not to notice the smile Bridges wears as she shows visitors around her home; perhaps it can be explained by the joy of being both the hired designer and the satisfied client. “I work on big houses all the time for my clients,” she says. “Elaborate 10,000-square-foot homes all over the country.” But it’s very different to design something for herself. “This is small and simple and open,” she says. “It’s music, it’s art, it’s culture. I just filled it with things I love.” ◾
CHAOTIC GOOD
THE 1960S HAND CHAIR WAS ADMIRED BY ANDRÉ BRETON, THE FATHER OF SURREALISM. NOW ITS SLY INVENTOR, ARTIST AND DESIGNER PEDRO FRIEDEBERG, LIVES IN HIGH-SPIRITED BLISS IN HIS JAM-PACKED MEXICO CITY TOWNHOUSE. BY ELISABETH M ALKIN
I
PHOTOGR APHS BY MICHEL FIGUET
LOVE O BJ EC TS,” D ECL A RES TH E M E XI C A N A RTIS T A N D
designer Pedro Friedeberg. “Especially rare objects, strange objects, kitsch objects.” That fascination has filled every inch of his townhouse in Mexico City’s central Roma district, which is the stage for his exuberant and eccentric presence. In a warren of rooms elongated by mirrors, he displays his unsettling geometric Pedro Friededrawings, architectural models of berg at home impossible towers, and the subverin Mexico City’s Roma sive furniture for which he is neighborhood. known alongside the collections that feed those visions. These objects may be sublime, like the first-edition books that line the shelves of his enormous upstairs studio, or the works of such a rtists as Ma n R ay a nd Leonora Carrington. They might be flea-market curiosities, like old toys, or the “pseudo-colonial sculptures” of angels that he remakes into bizarre multi-limbed statues. Or they may be irreverent appeals to his sense of the absurd, like the jar of false teeth balanced on the side of a display table. Friedeberg describes his vision as a reaction to the stark modernism that reigned in his youth. When he studied architecture in the 1950s, Le Corbusier’s functionalist maxim that a house is a “machine for living” held sway. By contrast, Friedeberg believes that the purpose of a home “is to make you laugh.” In the early 1960s, he was part of a Mexico City movement of artists and architects called the Fed-Up Ones, which discarded the period’s functional logic in favor of parody and irony, explains Friedeberg’s curator, Alejandro Sordo, in La Casa Irracional (The Irrational House), a recently published retrospective of the artist’s work. Friedeberg’s most famous piece, the Hand chair, emerged from that time. It began as a joke, but the Surrealist André Breton elevated it to mythic status. In a 1963 letter to Friedeberg, he described
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the chair as “one of the most significant manifestations of Surrealist intent.” The item’s success—more than 2,000 variations have been sold—engenders mixed feelings. “It’s a bit unfortunate to be identified with this,” he says. “Many artists produce something that they don’t like too much and they become known for.” Still, it doesn’t hurt to show it off: There is a 12-foot white fiberglass version on the roof of his house. Friedeberg moved to the 1930sera home in Roma in 1999, then combined it in 2006 with the house next door. He displays his collections in the public rooms downstairs and works upstairs in the large library, which holds thousands of books in Spanish, German, English, and French. He sees his home as his “refuge, a hideaway of calm.” He recently ret u r ned here a f ter a forced 16-week sojourn in a Pacific Coast beach v i l lage where he wa s stranded during Mexico’s pandemic lockdown. When he finally ventured back to Mexico City by road, he bought traditional black pottery—a horse, a pig, and a turtle—on his way home, finding one of the only shops that was still open as he passed th rough a nearly deserted Oaxaca. Friedeberg lives alone with his cats—he says he has eight, but t hat nu mber is probably exaggerated—with bedrooms for his two children to visit. He eschews distractions like a cell phone or a television, preferring a sort of “belle epoque comfort.” The CD player is broken, so he listens to classical piano and violin music played on his collection of 300 vinyl records. “Nobody knows who Debussy or Ravel or Tchaikovsky are anymore,” he laments. Amid all the jumble, there is a certain order. “Objects live better in contrast,” he says. But he delights in observing the patterns that repeat. “It is fascinating,” he notes, “what is similar and what is opposite.” ◾
Friedeberg believes the purpose of a home
“is to make you laugh.”
The studio’s spiral staircase was modeled on Gustave Moreau’s in his 19th-century Paris atelier. The acrylic chandelier is from Galerías El Triunfo, the bookshelves have glass fronts to protect rare volumes, and the custom rug was inspired by one in the lobby of the Teatro Metropolitan in Mexico City. ELLE DECOR
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“André Breton used to say that art should be ‘convulsive.’ ”
In the sunroom, Friedeberg’s 1962 Hand chair in wood and silver leaf nestles with a fiberglass chair from Galerías El Triunfo. Atop a six-handed mahogany-and-glass table, designed by Friedeberg in 1972, are a 19th-century Yucatecan bust and 18th-century Portuguese cherub heads. 76
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“I have a fraction of Surrealism. I am also like a frustrated architect.” The downstairs gallery is filled with Friedeberg’s sculptures and fanciful architectural models. The mirrored octagonal table is from the 1930s, and the antique rug is Persian. For details, see Resources.
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CONCRETE
ECO-DESIGN TASTEMAKERS—AND IDENTICAL TWINS— BYRON AND DEXTER PEART LIVE IN THE ULTIMATE EXAMPLE OF ARCHITECTURE BRUT: MONTREAL’S HABITAT 67.
BY STEPHEN HEYM AN ST YLED BY MICHAEL GODMER PHOTOGR APHS BY M A XIME BROUILLET
Byron (left) and Dexter Peart, cofounders of the eco-design site Goodee, in front of Habitat 67, the Montreal housing complex designed by architect Moshe Safdie. Each brother has an apartment in the landmark building. LE F T: The living room in Byron’s two-“cube” apartment. OPPOSITE: The dining room of Dexter’s apartment.
POETRY
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LE F T: Dexter and his wife, Maria Varvarikos, in their
solarium, which overlooks Montreal’s main port. The vintage chairs have cushions in a Svenskt Tenn fabric. ABOVE: The walnut bookshelves are by Kastella.
LE F T: A vintage Scandinavian
cabinet displays traditional carved Swedish horses and a South African beaded animal from MonkeyBiz. RIGHT: Dexter and Maria’s daughters, Kaya and Sierra, in their bedroom. The ecoBirdy table and chairs, made from upcycled plastic children’s toys, and the Brita Sweden recycled-fiber rug are from Goodee. The magnetic wallcovering is by Sian Zeng. OPPOSITE: Maria, in a Cecilie Bahnsen dress, Dexter, and the girls in the family’s living room. The sofa and cocktail table are by David Design, and the pendant is by Moooi. 80
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I
T HAS BEEN MORE THAN A DECADE SINCE BYRON AND
Dexter Peart—identical twins and dapper darlings of the Canadian design world—bought apartments in the Montreal housing complex Habitat 67. In that time, they have watched the Brutalist building they call home morph from a point of reference for architecture aficionados into something like a national treasure. In 2017, the Canadian post office honored the building with a stamp. Shortly after, Moshe Safdie, who designed Habitat 67 when he was just a 24-year-old architecture student at McGill University, gut renovated the top-floor apartment he owns and opened it up to tour groups. Hardly a day goes by without the brothers noticing a curious visitor admiring the facade, which is composed of 354 interlocking concrete blocks and has been compared to everything from a Cubist painting to the adobe pueblos of the American Southwest. “When something is a half century old and people are taking pictures of it every morning while you’re having your coffee, it reminds you about the enduring potential of design done well,” Dexter says. “That challenges us so that everything we create has to meet that crazy standard.”
Habitat was built as a pavilion at the Expo 1967 World’s Fair, which attracted more than 50 million people to a city of around 2 million. A residential prototype for the megalopolis of the future, it broke the monolithic apartment building into floating cubes interspersed with shafts of open space or elevated patios filled with herb gardens and fruit trees. The idea was to preserve the economy of apartment living while giving city dwellers some of the airiness and greenery of a detached house. “For everyone a garden,” as Safdie put it. While popular among students of architecture, the building failed to usher in a new style of urban dwelling. And although it has roots as a template for affordable housing, Habitat—which is now a condominium—has actually become one of the more exclusive addresses in Montreal. This is despite its relatively isolated location on a man-made peninsula in the St. Lawrence River across from the city’s main port. Many of Habitat’s residents have retrofitted Safdie’s original single-unit apartments by buying two or three “cubes” and linking them to create spacious, multilevel condos, which are flooded with natural light and boast sweeping views of downtown Montreal. ELLE DECOR
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ABOVE: In Dexter and Maria’s bedroom, the bed by Atelier Moderno
is dressed in Ralph Lauren bedding and topped with a Viso pillow and blanket from Goodee. The vintage George Nelson nightstands are from Herman Miller, the parquet flooring is original, and the large artwork is by Alejandro Pasquale. BE LOW: The exterior of Habitat 67, which consists of 354 identical prefabricated-concrete forms. OPPOSITE: Dexter and Maria’s dining room features a De La Espada table and Ton chairs with custom cushions in a Svenskt Tenn fabric; the armchair is by Carl Hansen & Søn, the pendant is by Roll & Hill, and the terra-cotta Skagerak plant pots on the table and floor are from Goodee.
The Pearts grew up in a Jamaican immigrant family in suburban Ottawa. They popped up on the fashion world’s radar in 2000, when they opened a tiny shop in Old Montreal, Want Stil, that became the first place in Canada to import many recherché Swedish and Japanese designers. Next came their own line of luxury bags and accessories, Want Les Essentiels de La Vie, which grew into a global force, sprouting shoe and apparel collections and boutiques in Tokyo, Vancouver, and New York. Fairly priced and built to last, Want’s chic totes targeted a new kind of jet-setter with more minimalist taste. Yet even as Want achieved new heights, the Pearts felt a strong desire to give back. “We wanted to create ladders of opportunity,” Dexter says. “Maybe it’s where we are in our lives, getting older. Maybe because we’re twins and we’ve always been super collaborative. But we felt that in the future, the big trend was not competition but cooperation.” And as Black entrepreneurs, they knew from experience that too few openings exist for people of color to get financing and exposure. “Our parents enshrined in us from a very early age that we were going to have to work harder as Black Canadians. Byron and I were lucky enough to find these little cracks and crevices of opportunity early on, but it’s never been lost on us that those chances are either not seen or made available to so many others.” In 2017 they sold Want, and two years later, they launched Goodee, a tightly curated online marketplace for housewares handpicked by the brothers as much for their beauty as for their social and environmental value. The inventory runs the gamut from a straw bicycle basket handwoven at a cooperative in Ghana to stylish children’s furniture upcycled from discarded plastic toys by the Antwerp-based company ecoBirdy. The Peart brothers’ own apartments at Habitat have in some ways become laboratories for thoughtELLE DECOR
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ful, sustainable design. Inside Byron’s two-cube apartment, which he shares with his fashion-executive husband, Stefan Weisgerber (and a Beaglier puppy named Hugo), Goodee pillows—a collaboration between the brand and the Ethical Fashion Initiative—and terra-cotta planters made by the eco-friendly Danish line Skagerak share space with museum-quality furniture. Many of the Bauhaus-style pieces in the apartment were sourced from dealers in Stefan’s native Germany. Perfectionists and students of design history, Byron and Stefan have gone out of their way to restore the original elements of Safdie’s interiors—from the kitchen cabinetry to the glass shelving and mirrored walls. The apartment also showcases a serious art collection in the making, with an Andy Warhol silk-screen, a Richard Serra etching, and a landscape by the Québecois painter Marc Séguin. While Byron’s place feels more like a gallery, Dexter’s home—which he shares with his wife, Maria Varvarikos, the founder of the publicity firm Zoï Agency—is casual by comparison. Composed of three cubes, the large space is warmed up by souvenirs from vacations to India or Zakynthos, the Greek island where Maria’s family is from. 84
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It is also enlivened by the presence of the couple’s two daughters, Kaya, 10, and Sierra, 7, who love everything about life at Habitat. When they’re not playing in the apartment’s plant-filled solarium, which Dexter says doubles as an “arts and crafts–slash-slime playroom,” Kaya enjoys strolling around the complex’s pyramid-shaped fountains. Meanwhile, her sister, Sierra, likes riding her scooter across the second-floor plaza or stargazing on temperate nights on the building’s rooftop. The Pearts have always found Habitat exceedingly livable, but the community—with its open-air corridors, decentralized lobbies, and isolated outdoor spaces—has seemed even more like a safe haven since the coronavirus outbreak. As Dexter and Byron gathered their families each week for a socially distanced glass of wine or quiet meal, they counted their blessings. “In this new reality, people are understanding what we’ve always known as twins: how important it is to be close to loved ones,” Byron says. In this respect, the mission of their new company—“good people doing good things”—feels of a piece with this moment. “I think Want was really about being out in the world. And Goodee is about coming home.” ◾
LE F T: In Byron Peart and Stefan Weis-
gerber’s dining area, a vintage table is surrounded by Charles and Ray Eames chairs for Herman Miller, the Poul Henningsen pendant is from Louis Poulsen, and the gold Skagerak tray is from Goodee. The artworks are by David Uzochukwu (left) and Richard Serra. OPPOSITE: Byron and Stefan in their living room. The Antonio Citterio sectional is by B&B Italia, and the Maarten Baas armchair for Moooi is topped with an Hermès throw. The Jean Prouvé sconce is from Vitra, the rug is by Gunta Stölzl, and the gallery wall includes artworks by André Monet and Guillaume Klootier.
LE F T: In Byron and Stefan’s bedroom,
an Ikea bed is topped with Tekla organic bedding and a throw by Teixidors. The dresser and nightstands are by USM, the Yabu Pushelberg chair is from Linteloo, and the lamp is by Flos; the artwork is a framed African Kuba cloth. ABOVE: Their office features Hans Wegner chairs from Carl Hansen & Søn, a vintage side table, and pillows in 1950s fabrics by Sven Markelius. For details, see Resources.
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THE HOUSE OF GOOD SPIRITS
Cloclo Echavarría, wearing Casa Chiqui earrings, in the garden of her mother Chiqui de Echavarría’s Cartagena, Colombia, vacation home. The swimming pool’s mosaic tiles are Italian, the carved Indonesian pots are by Chris Ball, and the custom stone fountains are Colombian.
IN CARTAGENA’S OLD TOWN, CHIQUI DE ECHAVARRÍA— JEWELRY DESIGNER AND HOSTESS EXTRAORDINAIRE—HAS CREATED A VACATION HOME AS EXPANSIVE AND RELAXED AS HER FESTIVE GATHERINGS OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS. BY VANESSA L AWRENCE PRODUCED BY CYNTHIA FR ANK PHOTOGR APHS BY RICARDO L ABOUGLE ELLE DECOR
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whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” bantered about by corporate team leaders and Little League coaches alike, takes on a singular resonance when applied to the labyrinthine Cartagena home of Chiqui de Echava rría. T he Colombia n style maven, known for her generous party hosting and her exquisite lifestyle retail store Casa Chiqui, originally purchased a 2,100-square-foot house near the wall of Cartagena’s Old Town 35 years ago with her husband. They intended it as a pied-àterre for visits with their son and daughter. A couple of years later, the house next door was for sale, and de Echavarría bought it, too. By this point, she and her family had fled their Bogotá hometown due to escalating violence and were living abroad in Miami and Switzerland. The comparably safer Cartagena was the locus where the extended family would meet during the summer and winter holidays. Over the next decade, de Echavarría expanded the immediate family’s footprint there, acquiring another adjacent building, four apartments, and a freestanding patio. A resident of one of the apartments proved particularly intransigent in selling her place. “She had a lot of little dogs. I bought a toucan. And every time the toucan was singing, the dogs would go crazy,” recalls de Echavarría, who is now based full-time in London and normally travels to Cartagena every six weeks. “Finally, the lady was persuaded. She decided to sell.” Connecting the disparate properties into a contiguous home proved nearly as difficult as the real estate negotiations. The buildings, some from the 16th century and others with interiors from the 1950s, are all by the sea, and the combination of tropical humidity and poor maintenance meant that they required a complete overhaul down to electrical wiring, roofing, and plumbing. Fortunately, de Echavarría enjoys a work in progress. “My mother always says the house was in construction for 30 years,” says de Echavarría’s daughter, Cloclo, cofounder of the Latin American design and creative consultancy Sí Collective. “She says a house is never finished. You can always make it better.” Chiqui has a penchant for moving and rearranging the pieces in her eclectic decor to suit her needs and moods. An ABOVE: An Indonesian rattan sofa bed anchors a sitting room, which
also features a Moroccan bench, a Turkish pouf, and sconces by Juan Montoya. OPPOSITE: In the zaguán, or entry, a 17th-century Italian church altar is topped with Moroccan candlesticks and an antique vase from Indonesia. The mirror is Indian, the ceramic planter is from Indonesia, and the carved wooden door and pendant are from Morocco. The flooring is antique Colombian mosaic tiles, and the wooden sculpture is a 17th-century church pedestal.
intrepid global shopper—in addition to selling her own jewelry and mochila bag designs, her Casa Chiqui store and e-commerce site boast rattan chairs from Indonesia and Burmese betel boxes, among other finds—she has created a residence that is warmly inviting. You enter through the original house she purchased (the entire home is now in an L-shaped layout, encapsulating the various buildings and three floors in total); in the zaguán, or entry, a traditional receiving area in colonial homes, the mosaic tiles are from Bogotá, and the Uzbek suzani tapestry was bought in a souk in Jerusalem. Here, the living room features exposed brick walls and antiques including an altar from a Catholic church in Italy and a South American religious painting, both from the 17th century. Nearby, there is a small pool fashioned from an old cistern that Spanish colonists allegedly used to hide alcohol from invading pirates. The next adjoining building has another, larger living room and a main bedroom with views of the sea and an outdoor shower. There ELLE DECOR
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ABOVE: Chiqui on a wooden bench from East Timor at her Casa Chiqui shop; the Werregue baskets are Colombian. BE LOW, FROM LE F T: A Moroccan necklace of amber beads. Spools of thread used to make mochila bags. RIGHT: In a living room, the Spanish colonial sofa is in a Palma de Mallorca fabric, and the antique bench is Indian. A pair of antique Italian plaster-andwood angels and a 17th-century South American painting hang on the original brick walls.
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In a second-floor sitting room, an Indonesian sofa bed is topped with batik pillows and an ikat, the teak bench and cocktail table are Indonesian, the Art Deco armchair is Colombian, and the fiberand-leather rugs are by Mamayana. CLOCK WISE FROM LE F T: In Chiqui’s son’s bedroom, the teak bed is Indonesian, and the doors are from a house in Marrakech. In the stairwell, the banister was hand-carved by a local artisan, the pendant is Moroccan, and the tapestry is a Central Asian suzani. The bronze showerhead for the outdoor shower was handmade by Casa Chiqui, and the wall lamp is Moroccan. For details, see Resources. 92
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are 11 bedrooms in total throughout the home, though Chiqui is quick to note that they are not particularly large. “The idea was for family to come here and be together, not in the bedrooms,” she says. “The house is very fluid. I didn’t want walls. I wanted it to be mostly open air.” A devoted gardener, she has filled the home’s many ventilated spaces—there are three patios, a rooftop garden, and a gorgeously immersive pool—with palm trees, orchids, bougainvillea, and galán de noche, night-blooming flowers that fill the property with a heady fragrance. It all serves as an irresistible backdrop for the joyful parties she likes to throw, particularly in advance of New Year’s, for the many international friends (fashion designers and European aristocrats among them) who flock to Cartagena, a newly hot
travel destination in the past decade. “If you go into her kitchen, there are always enough cups and plates for a party of 600,” says Cloclo, who has inherited her mother’s social predilections. “Sometimes, I’ll do a party there for New Year’s, but it’s a lot smaller, more like 150 people.” Naturally, such bountiful joviality is on a break (temporary, one hopes) during our current times. But according to both Chiqui and Cloclo, the home’s rhythms were already morphing toward more daytime activities to accommodate the needs of Chiqui’s budding clan of grandchildren. “The house grows with the family,” Chiqui says. “Now my nephews are the big focus,” Cloclo explains. “Until they hit 16, and then my mom will start doing parties again to please them. We’ve got 10 years.” ◾
A Napoleon III slipper chair in Nathalie Farman-Farma’s studio, adjacent to her home in London, is upholstered in one of her Décors Barbares prints. OPPOSITE , CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LE F T: In the studio, the 19th-century desk is Danish, and the stool is Napoleon III. Fabrics from Russia, Eastern Europe, and Iran line work shelves. In Farman-Farma’s daughter’s bedroom, the sofa and chair are in Décors Barbares prints. Framed embroideries hang on a dining room wall covered in a Braquenié floral.
THERE’S A PATTERN HERE
HOW TO CELEBRATE THE PAST WHILE KEEPING THE COOL? SURROUND YOURSELF WITH A RIOT OF PRINTS. TEXTILE DESIGNER NATHALIE FARMAN-FARMA’S LONDON HOME AND STUDIO ARE A STUDY IN THE ART. BY DAVID NET TO PHOTOGR APHS BY MIGUEL FLORES-VIANNA
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all the talking for you, even when you’re dead. Of all the big-gun design books coming out this season, none has been more hotly anticipated than that of the textile designer and alchemist of 19th-century style, Nathalie Farman-Farma. The pages of Décors Barbares: The Enchanting Interiors of Nathalie Farman-Farma (Vendome Press) depict a world of pattern upon pattern, of nostalgia for a past that Mongiardino made grand, Zeffirelli made fantastical, but only Nathalie has made sweet, cool, and relatable to a girl right now wearing a pussycat bow and reading Cabana. Speaking of dead, you know how they used to say, “No one was deader than Gucci?” Not accurate. Chekhov was deader. Until today. Nathalie has developed one of the most passionate and sophisticated eyes through which to celebrate the past in the world. How did this happen? We can trace her virtuosity using point-to-point navigation from a “lightbulb” moment at Madeleine Castaing’s legendary shop on the rue Jacob (still extant when Nathalie lived in Paris in the early 1990s) to the extraordinary vision she brought to her apartment in New York City’s Greenwich Village a decade later to the sure-handed style of the house in London where she lives now. The newly acquired studio building adjacent to this house is the engine room for Nathalie’s 96
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HE BE AUT Y OF A BO OK IS THAT IT CAN DO
In a sitting area of the studio, a sofa is topped with a Persian kilim and pillows in Swedish, Romanian, and Persian textiles from Farman-Farma’s collection. The chair is from the late designer Madeleine Castaing’s shop in Paris. The window curtains are trimmed with antique Russian Vologda lace, and the draperies around the doorway are of an Italian brocade by Antico Setificio Fiorentino. OPPOSITE , FROM TOP: Nathalie Farman-Farma in her studio in a vintage Valentino dress. In a corner of the space, a French chair is upholstered in a Décors Barbares linen.
iconoclastic point of view, a taste that might be described as having enough romantic power to turn a boathouse in Lake Tahoe into a dacha and a stolid Greenwich Colonial into a Proustian dream—taste that has become a business. ELLE DECOR caught up with the creator of the Décors Barbares fabric collection at her London atelier full of caftans, samovars, and fragments of embroidery framed and unframed. These are her ingredients. And books—books that anybody else would look at and think were about the past, but to Nathalie they are prologue containing the recipes. All of this occurs in a large skylighted studio that is one of the most enchanting and personal spaces in London. E L L E D E C O R : It all looks very relaxing and comfortable, but clearly a lot gets done in here. Tell us how you use this space. N AT H A L I E FA R M A N - FA R M A : My house is tiny, with small spaces, very cozy and old Russia. In the studio, I wanted to do something more Arts and Crafts, combining cultures on a white backdrop to make it easier to see patterns. E D: But how can something that’s still so personal—and a little messy—be an office? NFF: I work alone here in two ways. There’s the running of the business, which gives me structure and routine. Then ABOVE: A dining table in the studio is topped with a Persian kilim and surrounded by chairs from the Russian Abramtsevo estate. LE F T: A
Napoleon III slipper chair in a Décors Barbares linen sits to the right of the studio’s fireplace. The wall behind it features embroidery by Namay Samay, and the artwork above the mantel is by Léon Bakst. OPPOSITE: Victorian-style chairs are topped with books, fabrics, and a vintage cake stand. A Décors Barbares fabric skirt hides a radiator, and the wall cabinet is from Abramtsevo. ELLE DECOR
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there’s the creative part, which is more like pondering. I can pin up fabrics or drape a sample on a chair and leave it for a day to think about it and examine the scale. E D : The patterns in your collection are dense, dazzling, and relentless. The effect can be kaleidoscopic. Is there a method behind how you organize things visually? N F F: There are about 25 different patterns right now. They are divided into roughly four parts: the Chekhovian or Tolstoyan side, the Ballets Russes side, what I would call the folkloric, and the more ethnic Central Asian side. E D: Your gift is for making something that has been around for hundreds of years look fresh and original again. What were the inspirations of the past for this space? NFF: I was influenced by Yves Saint Laurent’s dacha in Normandy, put together for him by Jacques Grange. I’m partly from California, which has a legacy of Arts and Crafts—the architecture of Greene and Greene, Maybeck, and so forth. E D : Do you remember the creative mess at Madeleine Castaing’s shop on the rue Jacob? She did what she wanted in there, very different and experimental from the finished rooms in her apartment above. Is there a subconscious connection? NFF: Oh, yes! I never thought of that. E D: Is this private space ever public? N F F: Yes, I like to receive friends, editors, and decorators here. And my teenage son certainly likes to receive here! Especially on the roof terrace. I always love seeing how people use the fabrics. When I see them in a showroom, it can be a little scary—it makes me feel like a model in a casting. So I want to return the favor, especially to anyone who’s interested enough to come to London. E D : Most collections have a few things that are quieter and easy to use, like a paisley or beige stripe. Something mousy for the faint of heart that’s easy to sell. Why doesn’t yours? N F F: There’s plenty of that in the world, if people just need to fill holes. I try to do things that don’t exist. ◾ ABOVE: The terrace at Farman-Farma’s home overlooks her Chelsea neighborhood and features wisteria and other plantings. RIGHT: In
the main bedroom, the headboard is upholstered in a floral by Décors Barbares, and the bed is dressed in linens by D. Porthault. The Edwardian side tables are topped with antique Argand oil lamps, and the walls are sheathed in a fabric by Madeleine Castaing. The 18th- and 19th-century artworks depict Russian icons. For details, see Resources.
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RESOURCES Items pictured but not listed are from private collections.
andremonet.com; Guillaume Klootier, gklootier.com. Bed: Ikea, ikea.com. Bed linens: Tekla, teklafabrics.com. Dresser and nightstand: USM, usm.com. Chair: Linteloo, linteloo.com. Lamp: Flos, flos.com. Chairs: Carl Hansen & Søn.
CONTENTS PAGE 12: Sofa: B&B Italia, bebitalia
.com. Vase: Svenskt Tenn, svenskt tenn.se. TRUTH IN DECORATING PAGES 34–36: Sig Bergamin, sigbergamin.com.br. Joy Moyler, joymoylerinteriors.com.
RSVP
Interior design: Luke Edward Hall, lukeedwardhall.com. PAGES 48–49: Cabinets: British Standard by Plain English, british standardcupboards.co.uk. Cabinet paint: Papers and Paints, papersandpaints.co.uk. Tray: The Lacquer Company, thelacquer company.com.
SPLENDID ISOLATION
Interior design: Jean-Louis Deniot, deniot.com. PAGES 60–61: Sofas fabric: Lelièvre, lelievreparis.com. Stools fabrics: Le Manach, pierrefrey.com; Pierre Frey, pierrefrey.com. Lampshades: Anne Sokolsky, lampshadeparis .com. Paint: Benjamin Moore, benjaminmoore.com. PAGES 62–63: Stools: Pottery Barn, potterybarn.com. Curtains fabric: Jean-Louis Deniot, deniot .com. Paint: Farrow & Ball, farrow-ball.com. Table: Ado Chale, adochale.com. Urn: Wedgwood, wedgwood.com. Chair fabric: Zimmer & Rohde, zimmer-rohde.com. Panel paint: Benjamin Moore. Chandelier: Hervé Van der Straeten, ralphpucci.com. Wallcovering: Pasaya, pasaya.com. PAGES 64–65: Wire sheep: Marie Christophe, mariechristophe .com. Wallpaper: Farrow & Ball. Bed and canopy fabric: Métaphores, metaphores.com. Paint: Benjamin Moore. Chaise fabric: Métaphores. Curtains fabric: Holland & Sherry, holland andsherry.com. Bathtub: Jacob Delafon, jacobdelafon.fr. Mirror, sink, and fittings: Waterworks, waterworks.com.
REMEMBER THIS HOUSE
CONCRETE POETRY
Interior design: Sheila Bridges, sheilabridges.com. PAGES 66–67: Artwork: Kyle Meyer, thekylemeyer.com. Chairs: Fornasetti, fornasetti .com. Lamps: Stair Galleries, stair galleries.com. Window shades fabric: Gastón y Daniela, kravet .com. Photograph: Fabiola JeanLouis, fabiolajeanlouis.com. PAGES 68–69: Sofa: Hammertown Barn, hammertown.com. Fireplace: Ortal, ortalheat.com. Lounge chairs: Barlow Tyrie, teak .com. Exterior paint: Benjamin Moore, benjaminmoore.com. PAGES 70–71: Range: Smeg, smeg usa.com. Cabinetry: Dcor Design Works, dcordesignworks.com. Sink fittings: Waterworks, waterworks.com. Window shade fabric: Claremont, claremontfurnishing.com. Pendant: Circa Lighting, circalighting.com. Rug: Mad Mats, madmats.com. Artwork: Peter Hildebrand, peterhildebrand.net. Chair: George Smith, georgesmith.com. PAGES 72–73: Desk: Finch Hudson, finchhudson.com. Bedroom paint: Benjamin Moore. Sink: Kohler, kohler.com. Sink fittings and floor tiles: Waterworks. Bed fabric: Gastón y Daniela. Nightstand: BK Antiques, bkantiques.com. Wallcovering: Adelphi Paper Hangings, adelphipaperhangings.com. Artwork: Sutter Antiques, sutterantiques.com.
Interior design: Byron and Dexter Peart, goodeeworld.com. Architecture: Safdie Architects, safdiearchitects.com. Habitat 67, habitat67.com. PAGES 80–81: Chair cushions fabric: Svenskt Tenn, svenskttenn .se. Bookshelves: Kastella, en.kastella.ca. Beaded animal: MonkeyBiz, monkeybiz.co.za. Table, chairs, and rug: Goodee, goodeeworld.com. Wallcovering: Sian Zeng, sianzeng.com. Dress: Cecilie Bahnsen, ceciliebahnsen.com. Sofa and cocktail table: David Design, daviddesign.se. Pendant: Moooi, moooi.com. PAGES 82–83: Bed: Atelier Moderno, moderno.ca. Bedding: Ralph Lauren, ralphlauren.com. Throw pillow: Viso, visoproject .com. Blanket: Goodee. Nightstands: Herman Miller, hermanmiller.com. Table: De La Espada, delaespada.com. Chairs: Ton, ton.eu. Chair cushions fabric: Svenskt Tenn. Armchair: Carl Hansen & Søn, carlhansen .com. Pendant: Roll & Hill, rollandhill.com. Plant pots: Goodee. PAGES 84–85: Chairs: Herman Miller. Pendant: Louis Poulsen, louispoulsen.com. Gold tray: Goodee. Artwork: David Uzochukwu, david uzochukwu.com. Sofa: B&B Italia, bebitalia.com. Armchair: Moooi. Throw: Hermès, hermes .com. Sconce: Vitra, vitra.com. Rug: Gunta Stölzl, guntastolzl .com. Artworks: André Monet,
CHAOTIC GOOD
Interior design: Pedro Friedeberg, pedrofriedeberg.com. PAGES 74–75: Chandelier: Galerías El Triunfo, galeriaseltriunfo.com. PAGES 76–77: Chair: Galerías El Triunfo.
CORRECTIONS
In our Summer 2020 article on the A-List (page 21), we misidentified the mother of McMillen’s owner, Ann Pyne. Her late mother is Betty Sherrill. In addition, the entry on designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard should have listed Elton John as his client. 102 E L L E D E C O R
THE HOUSE OF GOOD SPIRITS
Interior design: Chiqui de Echavarría, casachiqui.com. PAGES 88–89: Sconces: Juan Montoya, juanmontoyadesign .com. PAGES 92–93: Showerhead: Casa Chiqui, casachiqui.com.
THERE’S A PATTERN HERE
Interior design: Nathalie FarmanFarma, decorsbarbares.com. PAGES 94–95: Slipper chair fabric: Décors Barbares, decorsbarbares .com. Sofa and chair fabrics: Décors Barbares. Wall fabric: Braquenié, pierrefrey.com. PAGES 96–97: Doorway curtain fabric: Antico Setificio Fiorentino, anticosetificio fiorentino.com. PAGES 98–99: Slipper chair and table skirt fabrics: Décors Barbares. Embroidery: Namay Samay, namaysamay.com. PAGES 100–101: Headboard fabric: Décors Barbares. Bed linens: D. Porthault, dporthaultparis.com.
ELLE DECOR (ISSN 1046-1957) Volume 31, Number 6, September 2020, is published monthly except for combined issues in January/February and Summer, by Hearst, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019 U.S.A. Steven R. Swartz, President & Chief Executive Officer; William R. Hearst III, Chairman; Frank A. Bennack, Jr., Executive Vice Chairman; Mark E. Aldam, Chief Operating Officer. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc.: Troy Young, President; Kate Lewis, Chief Content Officer; Debi Chirichella, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer; Kristen M. O’Hara, Chief Business Officer; Catherine A. Bostron, Secretary. © 2020 by Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All rights reserved. ELLE and ELLE DECOR are used under license from the trademark owner, Hachette Filipacchi Presse. Periodicals postage paid at N.Y., N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Canada Post International Publications mail product (Canadian distribution) sales agreement No. 40012499. Editorial and Advertising Offices: 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019. Subscription prices: United States and possessions: $15 for one year. Canada: $41 for one year. All other countries: $60 for one year. Subscription Services: ELLE DECOR will, upon receipt of a complete subscription order, undertake fulfillment of that order so as to provide the first copy for delivery by the Postal Service or alternate carrier within 4–6 weeks. For customer service, changes of address, and subscription orders, log on to service.elledecor.com or write to Customer Service Department, ELLE DECOR, P.O. Box 37870, Boone, IA 50037. From time to time, we make our subscriber list available to companies who sell goods and services by mail that we believe would interest our readers. If you would rather not receive such offers via postal mail, please send your current mailing label or exact copy to Mail Preference Service, P.O. Box 37870, Boone, IA 50037. You can also visit preferences.hearstmags.com to manage your preferences and opt out of receiving marketing offers by e-mail. ELLE DECOR is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or art. None will be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. Canadian registration number 126018209RT0001. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to ELLE DECOR, P.O. Box 37870, Boone, IA 50037. Printed in the U.S.A.
We may be keeping our distance, but we are in this together.
Stay Calm. Stay Connected. Stay Active.
Go to AloneTogether.com for ways to take care of yourself and others.
NOT FOR SALE
Picking Up the Pieces AN ARTFULLY TEXTURED MOSAIC WORK DRAWS INSPIRATION FROM MODERN GLOBAL CONNECTIVITY. Few art forms are better suited, figuratively speaking, to capturing today’s global mindset than mosaic, whose basis is the meticulous application of tiny glass tesserae into a larger cohesive design. Still, Cean Irminger, the creative director of the Virginia-based company New Ravenna, admits that it requires ingenuity to reimagine an ancient technique for 21st-century concerns, as she has done here with her For All creation. “It can be tricky to innovate with a craft that has been practiced for thousands of years,” she says. “I believe our stamp on it can be seen in our work with textures.” In this piece, an ode to universal togetherness, Irminger used New Ravenna’s proprietary matte Seaglass accented with brass and 24-karat gold for the background of a historical map and glossy glass for the For All lettering, so the message stands out only in a certain light. “The world feels so fragmented now,” Irminger says. “But we have a chance to unite all the disparate pieces and create something hopeful.” —Vanessa Lawrence newravenna.com
Each month, ELLE DECOR asks an artisan to create a unique item for us. At the end of the year, these pieces will be auctioned off to benefit the charity of ED’s choice.
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Produced by Parker Bowie Larson
Crafted with hue in mind. That’s
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