“What is Collectible Design?” in Elle Decor
A Point-of-View piece on the meaning of this over-used term as it applies to contemporary design. With opinions from curators, academics and gallery owners. Read it all here....
27 February, 2023
A $600,000 media room in Mansion/The Wall Street Journal
An investment banker with a young family wanted to turn a basement-level floor of his four-bedroom, five-bathroom San Francisco home into a media room with home cinema, a venue for his collection of rock ’n’ roll photography and art, and a space that could accommodate his mother and mother-in-law when they visited. Enter Kendall Wilkinson, a San Francisco-based interior designer who had worked with this client for almost two decades on both this 7,500-square-foot Pacific Heights home and another in Honolulu, Hawaii. “This was originally a chopped-up space with a bedroom, kitchen and closet,” Ms. Wilkinson says. “We opened up the...
08 February, 2023
Moniomi’s high design sports inspired furnishings/Gordon Drive
A marble dining table that seats 12 and doubles as a ping pong table; a copper basketball hoop with a backboard made of painstakingly hand-cut andlaid marble and onyx—these are just two designs in the wonderfully over-the-top Altis Ornamentum furniture and accessories collection. The creators, Ronald Alvarez and Monica Santayana, are co-founders of MONIOMI Design, a Miami-based design firm. The business and life partners have always been interested in sports and “collected a few basketball-style art pieces, including a hoop made by a local Miami artist with a net made of hair,” Alvarez explains. This inspired them to explore creating fully...
12 January, 2023
Indira Guest House in T/The New York Times
Lebanon is one of the few places in the world where you can ski in the morning and be on the beach that same afternoon, and a new boutique guesthouse is perfectly positioned to offer visitors prime access to both. Indira (which means “splendid” in Sanskrit) is a nine-suite property in an over 200-year-old home in the mountain town of Kfour, less than an hour from the Mzaar ski resort and only 40 minutes from both the beach resort town of Byblos and Beirut proper. This one-time private residence was the childhood home of Carla Baz, a 37-year-old lighting and...
05 January, 2023
Tiffany High Jewelry/Galerie Magazine
hen Tiffany & Co.’s Magnolia vase made its formal debut, at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, it was hailed as “the greatest exhibit in point of artistic beauty and intrinsic value that any individual firm has ever shown.” It was no small feat, considering this substantial piece— designed by John T. Curran and handcrafted from silver, gold, enamel, and opals—is over 30 inches tall and weighs more than 50 pounds. It’s currently ensconced at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. While other motifs may be more top of mind when it comes to the legendary 185-year-old brand,...
23 December, 2022
Creative and cool Christmas installations around the world/Galerie
Even those not into Christmas as a holiday can get behind the latest round of high-profile collaborations, where (mostly) hotels tap multi-hyphenate creatives to have a go at festive decor. Imaginations run wild, both indoors and out, resulting in wondrous installations that surprise and delight. Some err to the elegant and traditional, others introduce over-the-top concepts that end up as permanent fixtures, drawing curious onlookers year-round. Here, a few inspirational activations that will undoubtedly be all over your feed, to enchant and enliven the holiday season. ...
10 December, 2022
Chopard’s new boutique/Galerie
New York City’s Crown building, located on a prime corner of 57th Street and 5th Avenue, has quite an illustrious history of ownership and residency since its debut in 1921 as the Heckscher Building. The Museum of Modern Art opened in a suite there in 1929, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos secretly bought the building in 1981, and earlier this year the Aman New York hotel and residences made their highly anticipated debut, with the highest room rate in the city. This week, luxury jewelry house Chopard joins their ranks, officially opening its doors at 730 Fifth Avenue after over 15 years...
10 December, 2022
Paola Paronetto for Veuve Clicquot/Galerie
For many, Veuve Clicquot is simply an always welcome Champagne, effervescent and delightfully flavored, delivered in a now iconic yellow box. This year, the heritage brand celebrates its 250th birthday, a remarkable milestone in general but even more so when you consider that the real-life veuve, or “widow,” Clicquot—Barbe Nicole Ponsardin—took over her late husband’s business at the tender age of 27 and turned it into one of the greatest Champagne houses in the world. Her many outstanding achievements include the production of the first vintage Champagne, the invention of the riddling table (still used today to clarify Champagne), and...
19 November, 2022
Van Cleef and Arpels giant diamond collection/Galerie Magazine
Van Cleef & Arpels rarely works with rough stones. “We traditionally start with cut and faceted stones that are already suitable for use in jewelry,” noted Nicolas Bos, President and CEO of the storied brand. But they recently broke with tradition, creating Legend of Diamonds, a spectacular collection of 25 pieces, from the acquisition of a single rough diamond. And its deliciously good story. Read it here....
12 November, 2022
Washington DC city guide/Elle Decor
When was the last time you were in Washington, D.C.? If your answer runs along the lines of “middle-school class trip,” then it’s time you put this destination on your domestic travel bucket list. Our nation’s capital has it all: world-class mostly free museums, fabulous hotels, a thriving culinary scene (24 restaurants with Michelin stars) and a sexy international population, thanks to political, cultural, and educational institutions. Best yet, you can experience quite a lot in a long weekend. Read all about it here....
10 November, 2022