What I'm Reading
It's October and I'm starting to plan for Florida, my haven from the brutal New York winter. Hot off the presses, via Quintessence Blog is the just released interior design book, Palm Beach Chic, written by Jennifer Ash Rudick with photography by Jessica Klewicki Glynn.
Read MoreBefore moving onto today's post, I want to circle back for a moment to my "What I'm Reading Right Now" post on April 13th, where I talked about the recently published book, John Singer Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends. The Metropolitan Museum has opened an exhibition of the same title from June 30th - October 4th that highlights paintings featured in the book and is definitely worth a visit! See "Source" located below today's post for the link to that earlier post.
Read MoreChristian Liaigre, one of my favorite interior and furniture designers has just published his most recent book, Liaigre 12 Projects. I was invited to the reception launching both the book and the new Spring collection of furniture and fabrics, which Liaigre designed in collaboration with his wife, Déborah Comte-Liaigre. Their aesthetic is minimalist luxury, creating beautifully hand crafted furniture in refined woods, such as open grain walnut and Larch wood. All the furniture is crafted in France and the design and production of each piece is of the highest quality.
Read MoreI'm currently reading the fantastic Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends about the celebrated American artist, John Singer Sargent. A beautifully illustrated book written by Richard Ormond with Elaine Kilmurray coincides with an upcoming exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, June 30 - October 4 2015 of the same title. Not only a painter of portraits celebrating American and European high society, Sargent also made numerous portraits, often not commissioned, of his friends, who were writers, actors, artists and musicians.
Read MoreRenowned interior designer, Anouska Hempel is known for creating arguably, the world's first boutique luxury hotel, Blakes, in 1978. Located between South Kensington and Chelsea in London, Blakes was built from a row of converted townhouses. Anouska's incomparable design style is unique, extravagant, sumptuous and occasionally veers into the theatrical. "Anouska Hempel" the just published volume, written with Marcus Binney, architecture correspondent for the London Times is divided into thirteen chapters, each highlighting a particular project and giving an in-depth look at how this London-based talent layers her evocative spaces with historical details, rich textures and saturated tones. I've been following Anouska's extraordinary career for many years and her creativity and ability to reimagine spaces continues to be utterly captivating.
Read MoreThe Turkish decorator, Serdar Gulgun has made his home in a former pasha's hunting lodge in the middle of Istanbul. The lodge is decorated in classic Ottoman-style, with Murano-glass chandeliers, French fauteuils, Chinese porcelain, luxurious Oushaks and colorful suzanis. I met with Serdar in his home a couple of years ago and was dazzled by both the elegance and opulence of his interior design aesthetic. A new book chronicling this beautiful home, Ottoman Chic (Assouline, $75) contains enough decorating ideas to keep the most avid decorating enthusiast and interior design professional alike engrossed.
Read More
