the style saloniste

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:18:00 +0000

De Vera in New York: A Spiritual Experience
Part Two: Objects of Desire, The Gallery

Federico de Vera’s glorious enchantment of a store/gallery has attracted friends and clients like Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld, as well a world of art directors, film directors, movie stars, art dealers, fashion designers, obsessive collectors, photographers and interior designers.

They find their way to One Crosby, near Lower Broadway, and linger for hours, delighted and dazzled.

Imagine this: I was in New York a handful of years ago for meeting with my publisher. It’s a hot summer day. I dash around—the Met, the Neue, the Frick, and then West Village and SoHo. Quick cold drink at Dean & Deluca and then I walk over to the corner of Crosby Street, just opposite Ted Muehling’s legendary shop/studio on Howard Street.

Federico de Vera, a dear friend for years in San Francisco, had told me he was almost ready to open his gallery in a handsome brick building, and I was hoping to see him.

And there he was! Sitting on the steel steps outside the store, he was taking a break from installations.

“What address should I choose for the store?” he asked me. ‘It could be 25 Howard, or it could be One Crosby.”

“One Crosby is a powerful address and concept and I am sure it will be good luck,” I responded. So One Crosby it is.

And Federico has made this hidden gem a great good luck story—inspiring designers and artists and drawing everyone who loves beauty, eccentricity, and lovely jewels and inspiring objects.

Come with me for a visit—and meet Federico de Vera, a beloved, elusive, talented and glorious man of the world.

DDS: Your New York gallery, De Vera, is like a magical mystery tour, a dreamscape, a visit to European cabinets of curiosity, out of time, out of mind, wonderful and inspiring. How do you view it and how do you approach each presentation?

FDV: I am always trying to tell a story, attempting to show things and perspectives that most people overlook. I see my job more as a curator than a dealer. Working for myself gives me the freedom to find pieces that I find interesting and displaying them in an unconventional manner. What most people don't realize is that beautiful objects and arrangements are like architecture. A beautiful piece improperly displayed loses some of its luster and an ugly piece displayed in the most flattering manner is still ugly.

DDS: I visited the space at One Crosby before you opened—and it was just a very promising space with high ceilings and vast windows and old wood floors, brick walls. Now it's a mystical place...like going to a mediaeval cathedral in Antwerp or the Loire Valley or Rome, or like finding an old and dark antique shop in Paris, hidden away on the Left Bank. But there is nothing like this in the world. How do you select pieces? What are your criteria?

FDV: Every single object goes through a vetting process according to my standards. I never have objects in the shop for specific clients nor have them so I can just sell them and make money. The objects have to be beautiful first of all. Provenance and price don't really matter much to me. It is always interesting to know what people find beautiful in each one of these objects because very often it's the same reason why I have them. I always think that each one of these objects belongs to a "someone" out there in the universe, and that as long as that "someone" has not found it yet, I remain its guardian.

DDS: You have deliriously beautiful and strange and glorious objects from around the world. I especially love the 'cabinet of curiosities' pieces—with hands of saints, Japanese carvings, coral branches, precious stones, and shells and lovely things from the natural world, a continuing theme for you.

FDV: I guess that everyone imagines his or her own cabinet of curiosity. In my case, it's a little old fashioned, old world, natural and dark. It's been haunting me since I was a kid and has been my friend ever since. I still like to embrace what I find is spiritual, forbidden, mysterious and unfathomable. It gives me an endless source of fascination and I never get tired of it.

DDS: You have a great eye for religious relics—which in your hand take on a power and beauty that is rare today.

FDV: I was brought up in a very Catholic family and we went to church every Sunday. Perhaps out of boredom, I became fascinated with religious statues and paintings. They were always rendered very realistically and I imagined them to have lives of their own. I have always analyzed their expressions and wondered what thoughts they had. The fact that they were sacred made them more intriguing. They were magical and mystical. I wondered what power they possess.

DDS: You adore the natural world. Beetles, coral, shells, stones, gems and jewels are all offered homage in your store.

FDV: Nature is the best designer. I've always been fascinated with nature growing up in the country in the Philippines. We would go to the beach house every weekend and I imagined what beautiful objects lay underneath the ocean. I was always foraging the beach for something new to take home. My mother loves jewelry. I have always been fascinated with the depth of the color of gems and the sparkle of diamonds. I am bewildered about where it all comes from. That nature has created such beautiful materials, which is turned into jewelry, is an art form that always fascinated me. It's like asking the question: how can you make something already beautiful even more beautiful?

DDS: I like the way you collage modern pieces—like the hand-blown glass—with ancient and vintage and merely old.

FDV: A beautiful object is still a beautiful object no matter what age or material. It is always interesting and enlightening to see modern and antique juxtaposed. It's about being open-minded and trying to appreciate things for what they are. And that's what I try to impart to everyone who is willing look.

DDS: Portraits! You have such an eye for compelling and humanistic and emotional portraits.

FDV: I don't think that I'm a good illustrator so I always appreciate a good portrait. The rendering of the distillation of a gesture, a mood and a thought in a painting is one of the most challenging skills an artist encounters. I imagine the time when these portraits were painted - what these people were thinking about just as they sat still for hours or days, and how the painters captured those ever changing moods. Sometimes, I find myself staring at the pictures and imagining what they would be thinking if they knew I was staring at them.

DDS: You create the jewelry for your gallery. Where do you find the stones, the old coral and Tahitian pearls, Indian beads, Venetian glass, Victorian jet, and rare elements? (Without giving away any secrets!)

FDV: The best stone dealers are in the United States, and the best antique jewelry dealers are in London. I try to work with dealers who find interesting materials and who are not stuck in the classic 4C's or GIA certificates. I like beauty that is not necessarily the stone that is clear. Inclusions can be beautiful. Since I am drawn to Greek, Medieval, Renaissance, Georgian and Victorian jewelry, I combine new and old parts to make every single piece. I almost never sell a piece of antique jewelry in its original form.

DDS: How often are you traveling to find objects? Where are you going next?

FDV: I'm in California at least once a month to visit my store in San Francisco and to find interesting objects. I also travel to other places like Venice or London or Paris about three to four months out of the year. I might go to the Maastricht art fair this March but only for research and inspiration. I look for interesting objects everywhere I go. Who knows what you can find at that neighborhood thrift store? The only tools you need are an eye, open-ness, and knowledge.

DDS: What's the oldest piece you have here? Geological pieces and stones?

FDV: Of the manmade objects, it is the Bactrian agate bowl that dates back to 2000 BC. It has a very contemporary form, with a wide mouth tapering down to a precariously slim base. Of the natural objects, the pietra paesinas (landscape stones) which are 23 to 145 million years old. They are naturally occurring stones that come from a certain part of the Tuscany region. When expertly sectioned and polished, they reveal an otherworldly landscape. So rare are these stones that in the 16th century, the Medici family had monopolized its distribution and use.

DDS: I think you love bewitching your friends and clients! I am almost dizzy within seconds when I look at your collages and displays. Hallucinatory!

FDV: Most of the time, I like good sensory overload. It's almost like when you are reading a good book that you cannot put down and at the same time trying to read it slowly so you can savor every word and imagine every detail. As you get close to the last page, you feel a little melancholy because soon this little book will have to be closed. But in the end, it is the pleasure of reading that book that you will always remember. That is what I aspire my work to be.

DDS: Can you namedrop a little? I was in the gallery one day and Giorgio Armani was there. I know Ted Muehling drops in from his jewelry shop and workshop across the street. And I know Marc Jacobs and Leonard Lauder are collectors. You're a favorite for anyone looking for an original gift for a loved one.

FDV: I have something in common with everyone who appreciates the objects in my shop even if it's just one piece. However, we do have some very interesting clients in the creative field: Valentino, Bruce Weber, and Michael S. Smith, Paul Smith, Jonathan Ives, Claire Danes, Steve Jobs, Michael Maharam, Francisco Costa, Mario Sorrenti and Daniel Day Lewis among others, and many talented friends, many ultra-private people with great style. I love them all.

DDS: Federico, thank you so much for this superb visit. I look forward to seeing you and de Vera again soon. It's a spiritual experience to view such rare beauty. Thank you.

De Vera
One Crosby Street
New York, NY
212-625-0838

De Vera
29 Maiden Lane
San Francisco, CA
415-788-0828

www.deveraobjects.com

All De Vera gallery photography here by the wonderful New York photographer Don Freeman, who recently published the glorious monograph on Ted Muehling and his designs (published by Rizzoli).

All photography used with express permission.

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:19:00 +0000

Objects of Desire
An Exclusive First Look: The Extraordinary New York Interiors of Federico de Vera

Come with me for a first look at the new and ultra-private apartment of Federico de Vera, the highly talented founder and owner of de Vera, the ‘insider’ art and jewelry and decorative arts galleries in San Francisco and NoLiTa.

I’ve known Federico de Vera for many years, since he founded his first ‘objects gallery’ in San Francisco.

Originally from the Philippines (his elegant and cosmopolitan parents are antique and art dealers and connoisseurs), Federico has traveled the world with an open mind and open eyes. At hidden French antique shops, Bogotá workshops, Murano foundries, Paris auctions, Brussels flea markets, Prague galleries, Indian jewelry shops, Miami book shops, Cambodian alleys, Filipino treasure troves, Provencal artisan studios, Venetian by-ways and London dealers he seeks and finds the rarest and most exquisite things. (Whenever I am traveling to Venice or London, Rome, or even Jaipur or Antwerp, I ask Federico for hidden and secret places—and his tips are always delicious.)

Federico has the most fastidious, fascinating, and fabulous eye in the design world—and his shops have gathered a very rarified coterie of like-minded collectors, including Giorgio Armani, Karl Lagerfeld, and editors, film directors, gallery owners and curators, stylists, artists, designers, architects and style-followers around the world.

His mysterious shops are cabinets full of antique décor, paintings, and very curious curiosities. His art is to display and illuminate rare and lovely and arcane beauties in vignettes and tableaux and antique cases.

Almost an extension of his galleries, Federico’s apartment offers rooms of delight and originality.

Come with me on a magical mystery tour, as we head to Lower Manhattan, and a newly completed private apartment that has never been published.

I sat down for a chat with Federico de Vera recently. Join us for a few moments to learn more about Federico’s vision—and to be inspired.

DDS: Where is your apartment exactly?
FDD: We are at 20 Pine Street, in the Financial District, a block away from the NY Stock Exchange and Wall Street and behind the Federal Hall, which was the first capitol of the United States.

DDS: What's the history of your building?
FDD: It was built in the 1920's and recently been converted into condos. The building was designed, with Egyptian motifs, by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White as the headquarters of the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, a predecessor firm of J.P Morgan Chase. Graham, Anderson, Probst & White was the successor firm to Daniel Burnham's firm whose famous and very influential buildings include the Rookery, Monadnock, Reliance, Wrigley and Merchandise Mart buildings in Chicago and the Flatiron Building in Manhattan.

DDS: What do you love about it?
FDD: The neighborhood, history, and the simplicity and integrity of the building. We are in the financial capital of New York (or the world), but we have found it is a very pleasant and peaceful place to live. Sometimes it has a the feel of old Europe with it's old buildings next to 21st century structures. At times you even hear church bells coming from nearby Trinity church, which is the oldest parish in Manhattan. It is very close to Tribeca with all its great restaurants. Luxury shops like Hermes, Tiffany, Maison du Chocolat and Pink have opened nearby in the last 2 years.

DDS: Did you have to do a lot of remodeling and restyling?
FDD: The layout and finishes for the entire building were specified by Armani Casa, so that meant quality basic foundation that my partner Randy and I built on. Aside from paint colors, mirrors, glass divisions, built in bookshelves, extra cabinets and closets, curtains and shades, we didn't have to move any walls or take down any tacky fixtures as one would normally do in almost any old or new construction. This was the only place we looked at where we felt like we could move in without doing any major alteration.

Regarding decorating, it's a different story. Since it's our real first residence as a couple, everything from the colors of upholstery to the placement of objects needed to be approved as a committee. It was almost like Randy was the client. It was sometimes difficult especially for me since I don't work for anyone. In the end, it worked out perfectly.

DDS: What are your favorite collections?
FDD: I don't intentionally collect but inevitably end up with a collection of a certain type of objects that tend to serve the same purpose, come from the same period or artist, or made of the same material: chairs, portraits, figurative and religious paintings and sculpture, candlesticks, Roman and Greek glass and ceramics, Venetian glass, books, and enamels by June Schwarcz.

DDS: Which piece do you love the most?
FDD: That's a tough choice. I love every single piece we have at home. They're here for a reason, whether I've rescued them from my shop or obsessed about for months before acquisition. I tend to bring home things that I've had for a long time in the shop and had not found their new owners. And once they're here, they probably won't be leaving for a long time.

DDS: You're a life-long collector.
FDD: I started collecting shells and driftwood as a child, and then dabbled in little antique trinkets as a teenager. When I first moved to San Francisco, I started collecting rocks and rusted objects. Sometimes I feel like I have to exhaust the knowledge and resources before moving onto the next territory. My obsession with objects is like life itself - always changing as one matures.

DDS: Are you constantly editing, or have the rooms been the same from the start?
FFD: The paintings tend to stay in the same place (after all that deliberation involved in the installation!), but the objects tend to shift around especially when new things or furniture are brought home. Mostly, they just get "nudged" into place. When that doesn't work, they get relegated to the storage or the country place.

DDS: Advice to collectors on displaying and presenting their favorite things.
FDD: 1) To avoid looking cluttered, always group objects with the same material, form, historical context or sometimes color in the same space, table or cabinet.

2) Be ruthless in editing objects that don't work with the group. Most probably, those objects need to have their own space. It's much easier to edit an arrangement rather than integrate something that really is not working.

3) Try telling a story by the arrangement of the objects. Let them talk to each other or make up an imaginary scenario.

DDS: I love the collection of portraits—especially the mix of fine old and new.
FFD: I have collected pictures of people, new and old, historic and contemporary, for a long time without necessarily having the space for them, so they were mostly in storage. I just couldn't pass up a good portrait. The long wall provided the perfect showcase and the random (though studied and duly deliberated with Randy) installation allows for easier integration of new paintings. Sometimes I feel like we're having a party and sometimes I feel like these people are all looking out their windows telling me something from a forgotten time.

DDS: Thank you, Federico. It’s always a great pleasure to see you—and to dream of your beautiful and poetic collections. They always set me dreaming.

Next week we'll be visiting your wonderful de Vera gallery in Soho.

Photo credits: All photographs by New York photographer Don Freeman, used with permission.

de Vera
1 Crosby Street
New York NY 10013
phone 212 625 0838
fax 212 625 0208
Tue-Sat 11-7

www.deveraobjects.com

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:46:00 +0000

A Private Visit and Preview:
Meet Designer Madeline Weinrib and View Her Glorious New Hand-woven Rugs and Luscious New Textiles
A First Look at Madeline Weinrib’s Design Process—and Her New Rug and Textile Designs

Madeline Weinrib’s Folkloric and Traditionally-inspired Patterns Seduce with Their Modern, Fresh Style

I’ve always admired the bold, graphic, hand-woven cotton rugs and hand-crafted wool rugs designed by Madeline Weinrib (top designers love her designs).

Just last December, I had the great good fortune to meet Madeline (Madi, to friends) in Jaipur, India. (I detailed this trip in ‘My Passage to India’ series. Please check THE STYLE SALONISTE archive.)

Madeline, who is based in New York at ABC Carpet & Home (she sells her products around the country) was in Jaipur to go to traditional Indian workshops where she is developing new organic block-print textiles, as well as new concepts and colors for her famous rugs.

Follow me to get an insider view of her design process and then to see her newest designs, available this Spring.

Madeline has been producing rugs in Jaipur workshops for ten years. In December she traveled to remote regions of northwestern India, finding inspiration, collecting traditional hand-woven textiles, exploring the culture, and seeing old friends in Bikaner, a desert city in northwest Rajasthan.

Madeline and I were invited by our dear Jaipur friends for late dinners and delicious lunches, and in the afternoons we explored some of the more curious and authentic lanes and markets of Jaipur and beyond.

When I was visiting New York recently, Madeline and I continued our conversations about design and jewelry and India at her SoHo loft. Her downtown pied-a-terre is decorated lavishly with her glorious rugs and delicious textiles, as well as centuries-old maharajah portraits, Indian antiques, mother-of-pearl inset Anglo-Indian chairs, and her extensive collection of vivid contemporary American paintings.

Come and sit down with Madeline and me as we chat about her work:

DDS: Madeline, it was such a great pleasure to meet you in Jaipur. I've admired your carpets for a long time, and thought from your exquisite style you must be a very rarified designer, very inaccessible in your gilded atelier. In fact, you're a very hands-on designer, sitting on the floor at the Jaipur weaving factory, working closely with weavers and block printers. Your rugs and textiles are so fresh and original. Your background is fine art and painting. How did you get involved with carpet design?
MW: Thank you. Ironically, it was something that I never thought that I would be interested in. I grew up surrounded by rugs and carpets because of my father's business, ABC, but initially, I had no interest or connection with the furnishing that were right in front of me. I was, however, always interested in drawing and painting--ever since I can remember—and that became my path. I showed my paintings at a gallery in New York and I taught drawing at SUNY.

I had been approached by colleagues at ABC to design carpets, but it was not the right moment and I was not inspired creatively. My rug designs evolved and came about much later, after I was established and had my own focus, my own voice.

DDS: Your idea of taking folkloric and handcrafted traditional patterns and making them modern, was a great one. And then you turned ideas into reality. How did you first start manufacturing carpets?
MW: I'm so glad that you picked up on that current in my work. My appropriation of traditional patterns and my reframing and modernizing of that visual language has always been central to what I do. Now it seems everywhere, but at the time—12 years ago—that wasn't the case. I discovered that it really resonated for me and that it could serve as my voice in the decorative arts. It became a real departure from my paintings, which at the time were organic abstraction. This departure was possible because I was open to using new materials--the decorative textiles that I had been looking at-- and was responding to the particularities and formal constraints that they presented.

Once I started shifting my ideas, I had to rethink my technique and my perspective. I trained myself to see from the floor as opposed to the wall and realizing that it had to exist in dialogue with the decor in the room, that it would have furniture placed on it. I had to plan for that, to work with that. It couldn't be as hermetic. In painting, it's a world of its own. Not rugs.

DDS: What was your original design motive and inspiration?
MW: I fell in love with an antique Tibetan carpet with a traditional design of a checkerboard. As an artist at that time, I was working on a series of drawings and sketches on craft paper and the designs on the checkerboard corresponded to the color of my paper and charcoal. That's when I realized I could transfer my ideas to a different surface with a different set of values. I designed my first collection.

DDS: Your designs can be read as both very modern and quite traditional!
MW: When I started working in textiles that was something I wanted to achieve. I designed concepts that would be contemporary and speak of its own time, but if it were a really strong design, it would work well in other environments. Great design should have flexibility. Using traditional motifs that have been simplified and pared to their essence has allowed me to achieve this duality.

Photos above: Images of Madeline Weinrib working on new carpets in India in December 2009. At the carpet factory near Jaipur, she is designing new carpets and colorways.

DDS: When did you start designing textiles?
MW: I started making textiles about five years ago. I meet a lot of interesting people through my travels, including a woman working in Uzbekistan helping to resurrect the art of ikat weaving. I wanted to produce ikats using my own palette and designs. It took a long time, but it has really taken off. I do the same thing with suzani textiles, and they are even harder to develop, but they look very beautiful. Two years ago, I started developing a hand-woven brocade. At this time, I can only make 14 yards per month. It’s rare and exquisite.

DDS: Now you're developing a line of organic cotton block print textiles.
MW: I started creating this collection in India a year ago and it has been steadily growing. I am broadening my color palette and have some gorgeous base colors that are all naturally made. In particular, I love the new indigo that I think will take off and have a life of its own. There's also a beautiful a saffron color. Ironically, I wasn't interested in this color five years ago, now I love it.

DDS: What is the most inspiring aspect of your work?
MW: Travel is inspiring and I meet talented and fascinating people throughout the world. For me, and for my staff, the most rewarding moment is when the new designs finally arrive in New York after the long process of development. It is thrilling when the finished product finally comes to fruition and feels beautiful. It takes such a long time that the gratification is very delayed.

The blockprint textiles are the product of highly-skilled local craftsman who meticulously apply each motif to the fabric free-hand using a single, intricately hand-carved teakwood block. They are made from natural cotton and printed with Azo-free dyes.

DDS: You have a great rapport with your Indian carpet weavers! You also work in other countries.
MW: In addition to India, I also make carpets in Pakistan, Nepal, Turkey and Morocco. Each country produces a different weave and a different aesthetic and I'm very fond of all the people that I work with. My designs are very much rooted in a sense of place and possess a truth to origins, which I love.

In December 2009, Madeline Weinrib was photographed working at the blockprinting studio developing samples of all new designs and colorways of her organic blockprint fabric for Spring 2010.

Madeline with the blue fabric—a new true indigo colorway of the blockprint that she is also introducing for Spring.

DDS: You also work closely with designers and private individuals on custom designs.
MW: I recently finished a great collaboration with the Neue Galerie, which is a wonderful museum in New York City for German and Austrian art. The director, Renee Price, invited me to design a carpet that was inspired by the aesthetic of Wiener Werkstatte.

The carpet I created is now available at their design shop and online through their website, www.neuegalerie.org. This was a wonderful project—I traveled to Vienna to visit the Wiener Werkstatte archive for my research. I have a partnership with Flor to design a commercial carpet for BAM (the Brooklyn Academy of Music) in anticipation of the 10th anniversary of BAM Rose Cinemas—another of my favorite cultural institutions. The design had to be durable, yet also resonate with BAM's progressive and avant-garde ethos. The floor tiles I designed specifically for the space translated beautifully and really transformed this old, historic building. Flor will be producing this carpet and it will be available on their website sometime this spring.

"One of my favorite places in Jaipur is Dera Amer. It is a beautiful spot fifteen minutes outside of the city and they will arrange your transportation. While there you can have a delicious meal al fresco, ride elephants, and even play elephant polo (If I can do that, anyone can). Its quiet and truly elegant and special. The website is http://www.deraamer.com/index.htm." — Madeline Weinrib

DDS: What will you be exploring next?
MW: I’m working on a line of wool flat-weave carpets. I am trying to create a flat-weave that feels as fresh and luxurious as the cotton, but with a warmer, richer color palette. I’ll be introducing the line in early fall of 2010.

DDS: Where are you traveling next?
MW: India is the most exciting and inspiring place and I recommend it to anyone who wishes to feel visually inspired. I feel very secure there. It's a place that's changing quickly so people who have an interest in culture, history and authenticity should plan to go soon. All jewelry lovers should visit Gem Palace in Jaipur.

DDS: Thank you so much! It was a great pleasure and adventure to meet you in sunny and shimmering Jaipur—and then just a week or two later, to walk through SoHo in a magical snowstorm to meet you at your loft. Life is wonderful.

Getting to know Madeline Weinrib
Painter and designer Madeline Weinrib lives and works in New York City. The great-granddaughter of ABC Carpet & Home founder Max Weinrib, she carries on the family tradition with her innovative collection of fine handcrafted carpets and textiles.

Translating her painterly sensibilities into woven form, Madeline launched her first carpet collection in 1984. Lush and opulent pattern, her designs draw on a wealth of sources gleaned from her travels. Her carpets and her lovely textiles reflect her interest in reinterpreting and reframing traditional forms.

In addition to her signature collection of carpets and textiles, her chic and superbly appointed atelier on the sixth floor of ABC Carpet & Home showcases a growing repertoire of evening bags, caftans and limited edition vintage furniture.

Madeline’s recent projects include a bespoke flooring installation for the Brooklyn Academy of Music and a signature carpet designed for the Neue Galerie’s Neue Now collection.

In addition Madeline is a trustee of Project Mala, a non-profit organization committed to building schools throughout the carpet-weaving region of India and lends her support to fund a classroom in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, Northern India.

Madeline Weinrib Collections
Madeline Weinrib has several different qualities of carpets in different price ranges.

Cotton carpets are hand-woven in India and are reversible. Prices range from around $325 for a 3.5x5.5 ft to $1,400 for a 9x12.

Tibetan carpets are wool pile, hand knotted in Nepal. They range from around $1,800 for a 4x6 to $8,000 for and 9x12.

All of her carpets are available in bespoke colors and sizes. Her carpets are crafted only by skilled adults, as seen in photographs of weaving workshops on this page.

Textile collections and custom made pillows and upholstered furniture may be viewed and purchased here as well.

To view carpet and textile styles and meet Madeline by appointment:
Madeline's carpets and textiles at her Atelier on the 6th floor of ABC Carpet and Home.

Madeline Weinrib Atelier
ABC Carpet & Home
888 Broadway
6th Floor
NY NY 10003
T 212 473 3000 x3780
www.madelineweinrib.com

Credits: Photography of Madeline Weinrib working on new rugs and textiles in India: private collection, courtesy of Madeline Weinrib. Product images: Madeline Weinrib.

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:44:00 +0000

Join Me for a Magical Private Tour of Leading Antiques Galleries in San Francisco

California College of the Arts presents:
Behind the Scenes in Interior Design

Therien & Co.

Diane Dorrans Saeks has planned another superb ‘insider’ private visit — now in its twelfth year — for a small group (no more than twenty participants) at the top antiques and design galleries. This seminar will take place in the design district of San Francisco. One day only.

Saturday, February 6
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
SAN FRANCISCO

Gabriella Sarlo

In this seminar, visiting all the top trend-setting and inspiring antique and design experts, participants meet the creators, designers and most inspired dealers, and learn the secrets of design, antiques, textiles and art, and what goes on behind the scenes.

This is a one-day insider's tour with a series of private on-location lectures that provide a rare opportunity for participants to visit handpicked antiques galleries and private design studios that are otherwise inaccessible to the public.

"The world of antiques is very dynamic now," said Bob Garcia, a founder of Therien & Co. "Tastes are evolving, styles are in flux. It's essential to be informed and aware of trends and current news."

For this unique day, participants visit locations in the San Francisco design district and Potrero Hill to gain insight into their originality, professionalism, and inspirations.

Lively conversation continues during lunch at a local restaurant (included in course fee). At the end of the day, we are invited to a special tour and celebration of a very ‘insider’ antique dealer.

Six locations are planned. Registrants receive a schedule and map prior to class. All sites are within walking distance.

Therien & Co.

Included in this design seminar are 35-year-old antiques gallery Therien & Co.; then on to the design studio of Candra Scott & Anderson (specialists in historic restoration and interior design). Candra Scott will give us a tour and insight into her design process.

Michael Donaldson Antiques

Then we walk around the corner to the exciting and pioneering new Michael Donaldson Antiques, specializing in rare and beautiful South-East Asian colonial furniture and décor (note: among his clients is Michael S. Smith, the decorator for the White House residence.) Donaldson is the only dealer in Colonial Southeast Asian antiques on the West Coast. This is a new region and style to explore.

"Southeast Asian Colonial antiques have a purity of line and elegance that give them a special resonance in a range of interiors today," said Mike Donaldson, who opened his antiques gallery in San Francisco recently. "I admire the craftsmanship--and the rare woods these artisans used."

After lunch at nearby new café HORATIUS (and lively conversation) we head to more antiques galleries and design showcases, including meeting Gabriella Sarlo, and then on to exciting Epoca and inventive Coup d’Etat.

Epoca

Tod Donobedian at Paris Flea has invited us for a tour and celebration at his magical antiques penthouse overlooking the design district and the city.

To register go to www.cca.edu
Course fee: $130
Download, print, and complete the registration form (PDF) to register for courses:
http://www.cca.edu/academics/extended/registration

Remember to include the following when calculating your registration costs:

* Course tuition, $130 (includes lunch)
* $20 nonrefundable registration fee—all noncredit classes

Phone 510.594.3710 to register by phone. Justin Hunter will assist you.

Photography: Therien & Co., Michael Donaldson Antiques, Epoca and Gabriella Sarlo.

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:49:00 +0000

Paris Left Bank Favorite
New: the Petite, Chic Historic Hôtel Récamier

My favorite Paris-based interior designer, Jean-Louis Deniot, recently completed the brilliant redesign and remodel of the charming, well-priced Hôtel Récamier on the place St.-Sulpice. Bravo, Jean-Louis!

I love the elegant all-new updated neo-classical style, the near-everything-great location, the witty art, and the hotel’s surprising setting in a quiet, hidden corner of Paris. With its church tower views and privacy, it’s become an insiders’ favorite.

Come with me for a visit.

You know I love and admire Jean-Louis Deniot, the dynamic French interior designer/architect who is favored by clients around the world, from Delhi to Kiev and from Chicago to Capri.

I wrote about Jean-Louis when I first launched this blog last summer (check the archives) and his sleek, classical décor has been among the favorite features on THE STYLE SALONISTE.

Last year, when Jean-Louis told me he was working on a complete remodel and redesign of the Hôtel Récamier in Paris, I was impatient to see it.

Well, it’s brilliant. Here’s the very first look.

The Hôtel Récamier is now, thanks to Jean-Louis, the small, discreet, romantic and superbly located hotel all my friends are looking for.

The Récamier is set to one side of my favorite Paris churches, St. Sulpice (I’ve written earlier about its the Delacroix murals). It’s a two-minute walk from Pierre Herme, Odorantes, Gerard Mulot, Muji, Marie-Helene de Taillac, Pierre Marcolini, and all my other beloved go-to places, and it's five minutes from Café de Flore and Café Deux-Magots. The Jardin du Luxembourg is just a block away.

The Hôtel Récamier used to be one of those romantic only-in-Paris hotels you loved—but over time it had become rather faded and a little triste, even though it was still the beloved hotel of Left Bank intellectuals, poets, and writers (a dime a dozen in this arrondissement) who were beguiled by pure charm.

Sylvie de Lattre to the rescue. Sylvie, a French entrepreneur, also owns the Hôtel Verneuil and the Hôtel Therese, located in the heart of Paris. Lots of my California friends love the Therese and the Verneuil, both on quiet streets and with heaps of Paris soul.

Sylvie bought the Hôtel Récamier in 2008. This hotel, an early 20th century building built in limestone, was formerly registered as a two star hotel under the same name. Sylvie had her own vision for the Hôtel Récamier and hired Jean-Louis Deniot to do an intensive renovation and turn this tired two-star hotel into a sophisticated, and fashionable four-star boutique hotel.

The Hôtel Récamier is named for the famous Madame Récamier, one of the original ‘salonistes’, born Jeanne Bernard in 1777. She was the daughter of the rich ‘bourgeois’ Jean Bernard, a native of Lyon, France. Later known as Juliette Récamier, she danced, sang, played the harp and the piano in her salon for numerous guests. Her fame influenced French ‘salon’ entertaining to the point that the name Récamier had become ‘the reference’ for all salon parties.

Subtle luxury is the key to this bijou hotel. Yves Saint Laurent, Catherine Deneuve, Karl Lagerfeld, and more recently Johnny Depp and his family, have all been residents on this historic Left Bank square.

Jean-Louis Deniot’s concept was to create the atmosphere of a private, hidden Parisian town house. His inspirations were varied, from Yves Saint Laurent (who has opened his first store location on Place St. Sulpice), to Tony Duquette and Maison Jansen.

Jean-Louis designed all elements of the new décor and interior architecture, as there were no interesting architectural elements or existing materials in the original décor that were salvageable.

He designed reception rooms in a classical French style, deftly mixing Directoire period signature motifs and style elements from the 1940's. He juxtaposed some eclectic custom-made furniture that he designed, inspired by the French 40's, 50's and 60's.

Staying true to the ‘private home’ concept, Jean-Louis created twenty-four different rooms with one theme on each floor, along with different but cohesive fabrics and color schemes. to offer diversity and personalization. Twelve of these rooms have a full-on view of the Place St. Sulpice, the church, and the dramatic and theatrical fountain.

The hotel reopened fall 2009, and has already been discovered by in-the-know clientele who appreciate the chic décor, the art and refinement. Pop singer /songwriter Katy Perry was recently a guest at the Hôtel Récamier, no doubt a fan of the hotel’s privacy and discreet location.

Interior design and interior architecture
Jean-Louis Deniot
Cabinet Jean-Louis Deniot
Architecture d'interieur - Decoration - Design
39 rue de Verneuil 75007 Paris
Tel: +33 1 45 44 04 65
Fax: +33 142 84 03 63
www.deniot.fr

Photography
Xavier Bejot, Paris

Hôtel Récamier
3 bis, rue St-Sulpice
Paris
www.hotelrecamier.com
From 250 euro

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:22:00 +0000

CALIFORNIA DESIGN PROFILE:
ARCHITECT ANDREW SKURMAN

The Unerring Eye

San Francisco architect Andrew Skurman is admired—and hired—for his refined classical architecture informed by a lifetime of learning and study. I invite you to learn more about Andrew Skurman and his superbly polished and elegant work, and to be inspired by his philosophy of design.

I’ve always admired Andrew Skurman, principal and owner of Andrew Skurman Architects, because he is an architecture purist. He’s a classicist by training and by inclination. He focuses on high-end, superbly designed and crafted custom houses.

His elegant office is in Pacific Heights, in San Francisco.

Andrew Skurman

The surprise: California homeowners love classical styles. They adore tradition. While many would imagine that sophisticated clients in San Francisco or Silicon Valley might wish for the experimental, in reality they love the grand and the classic.

Andrew Skurman Architects designs some of the most striking, sophisticated and architecturally appealing classic custom houses and interiors being built today. The firm specializes in residences inspired by the classical architectural traditions of French châteaux, Mediterranean villas and Georgian country houses.

New Residence in the French Style
Interior Design by Steven Volpe Design

“Whenever we first meet with clients, we draw for inspiration and reference from our extensive architectural library of classic European and American design,” said Skurman. “We identify historical precedents that meet their needs, tastes and lifestyle and spend months and years refining each detail to make the house truly personal—and timeless. Our goal is to create houses of quality and substance that embrace the spirit of homes built generations ago.”

Skurman’s projects inhabit the most desirable locations in San Francisco (Nob Hill, Pacific Heights) and Northern California (Lake Tahoe, Atherton, Hillsborough), along with Paris, Southern California and New York. He holds architectural licenses in California and in New York.

New Country House in the French Style
Interior Design by Diane Chapman Interiors

Skurman received his Bachelor of Architecture in 1976 from Cooper Union in New York and began his design career apprenticing with the New York firm of I.M. Pei & Partners. He then worked in the San Francisco office of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill as a Senior Associate and subsequently served as a Studio Director at Gensler and Associates in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

New Lakeside Villa in the Mediterranean Style
Interior Design by Brian Murphy

Today, Andrew Skurman is also committed to the highest ideals of ecological design, and creates LEED certified houses and incorporate green strategies on all of our projects whenever possible.

He works closely with San Francisco’s top interior design firms, including Diane Chapman Design, Tucker & Marks, and Steven Volpe Design.

I think readers around the world will be quite surprised that these houses and apartments are in California! In fact, most of the residences in Los Angeles and San Francisco are in a traditional, classic style. Yes, Californians are inventive, experimental, forward-thinking and well-traveled, but when they come home they love a classic house. One designed by Andrew Skurman, if they are very fortunate.

New Town House in the Georgian Style
Interior Design by Martha Angus Inc.

In Conversation with Andrew Skurman

Diane Dorrans Saeks sat down recently with Andrew Skurman to learn more about his inspiration, his work, and his lifelong dedication to architecture.

DDS: What was the moment you decided to become an architect?
AS: I grew up in New York and as a teenager, I loved spending hours in the museums. At fourteen, I drafted for my grandfather's elevator company in the Bronx. That summer, I accompanied him on a sales call to Philip Johnson's office in the Seagram Building on Park Avenue in New York, and was transfixed.

DDS: How did you get started?
AS: At eighteen, I attended New York's Cooper Union. All the students from around the world at this privately endowed institution are on a full scholarship. I was most interested in analyzing the cubism of Juan Gris as it relates to modern architecture. At 23, I apprenticed with I. M. Pei who works around the world but has just one office on Madison Avenue. I was involved in the designing of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts addition and of the Pyramide du Louvre in Paris. Pei was both a prince and the most modest of men. When we traveled together to a meeting in Boston, he insisted that I see the recent City Hall, by another architect, and never mentioned his masterpieces in that city. At age 28, I left Pei's office and moved to San Francisco to take a job with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.

New Residence in the Georgian Style

DDS: Who has been a mentor to you?
AS: John Hejduk, dean of the Architecture School of Cooper Union, who taught me to think conceptually; I.M. Pei, for teaching me integrity and designing in a three dimensional grid ; the San Francisco office of Skidmore Owings and Merrill, where they let me be in charge of my own buildings; and Gensler San Francisco, where I learned how to get clients.

DDS: Which architects have inspired you the most?
AS: The 16th century architect Andrea Palladio from the Veneto for his eternal rules on classicism, and the early 20th century Parisian architect Le Corbusier, the greatest of all modernists, for his poetry of the free plan.

DDS: Which is the most admirable architecture you have seen on your travels?
AS: Four houses by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, that have been restored to their original condition in Berlin and in the nearby royal city of Potsdam: Glienicke, Charlottenhof and the Roman Bath are in the royal city of Potsdam. Schloss Tegel is in Berlin. It was built in the 1820's for Wilhelm von Humboldt, a diplomat and philosopher and the founder of the Humboldt University in Berlin.

In those days, Prussia was not a wealthy country, and nevertheless, they were able to convey a sense of supreme elegance. The paneling and crown moldings are painted on rather than applied three dimensionally. Humboldt's collection of large white plaster classical figurative sculptures are displayed inside. It's about more with less. The scale is modern and modest by today's standards, approximately 4000 square feet with a symmetrical floor plan. That's my idea of perfection.

Renovation of a City Apartment in the French Style
Interior Design by Tucker & Marks

DDS: You are very versatile and can create any kind of architecture, custom, for clients. However your passion is for classical architecture.
AS: I am a firm believer in modern architecture for public buildings and monuments—punctuation points in the fabric of the city. When I created my own firm, I did what I enjoy: working on private houses and apartments. In this hectic and violent world, I believe in a different solution for each person within the unique harmony of classicism.

DDS: What architecture directions do you admire today?
AS: Frank Gehry's deconstructivism, exemplified by the Bilbao Museum (Spain) and the L.A. Symphony Hall.

Santiago Calatrava's structural expressionism, of which I particularly like the Milwaukee Art Museum addition for its exceptional use of light reflecting through the structure.

William McDonough's sustainable architecture, which uses solar energy and recycled materials to create buildings that are friendly to the environment..

DDS: You have a superb design book collection. Which architecture books do you treasure the most?
AS: To an architect, books are like children. I have a thousand. Love goes undivided to all, and all of them are precious. At this stage of my career, the most useful ones are A Parallel of the Orders of Architecture, Greek and Roman, by Charles Normand, Pub. John Tiranti & Co, London, 1928, in which I check the proportions of the different orders.

French Period Houses and their Details, by Ronald Lambell, Pub. Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd., Oxford, 1982, and Mouldings & Turned Woodwork of the 16th, 17th and 18th Centuries, by Tunstall Small and Christopher Woodbridge, Linden Publishing Company, Fresno, CA, 1987 : these two books have scale drawings of architectural details in the French and Georgian styles. Invaluable.

DDS: Which architecture book would you love to own?
AS: Jacques-François Blondel's encyclopedia on L'Architecture Française (1752-1756). The court architect to Louis XV, Blondel is the major historical reference of the 18th century. I have an eye on a first edition available in a remote area of Paris.

DDS: Favorite source for design books?
AS: In San Francisco on Montgomery Street, from William Stout, a treasury of architecture books from around the world. Stout is also a wonderful architect and a publisher. This bookstore is a landmark in a city known for its architecture.

New Villa in the Georgian Style
Interior Design by Tucker & Marks
(includes the opening image of the Entry Hall)

DDS: You and your wife Françoise entertain with great flair. Who would be your dream dinner guests?
AS: This is my best opportunity to discuss politics/power, in relation to aesthetics/talent, regardless of period. We'll have Catherine II of Russia and her architect Charles Cameron, Jackson Pollock with Peggy Guggenheim, and in the same spirit, for Françoise's pleasure, Cary Grant and Barbara Hutton.

DDS: Favorite restaurants?
AS: Yacout in Marrakech for its location in the Medina, great authentic decor and the best chicken in the world. Le Train Bleu, in Paris at the Gare de Lyon, for its exuberant Belle Époque décor and fresh churned butter — sit in the gold room, with 30 foot ceilings, it's not so bad.

Margaux in Berlin for it's hot pink and red murals by princess Ingeborg zu Schleswig Holstein. La Veranda, near the Vatican in Rome: dine with cardinals and bishops in a frescoed and vaulted Renaissance setting.

DDS: Favorite architectural period?
AS: NeoClassicism. While the proportions and symmetry of classical architecture are respected, there is something idiosyncratic about them. The personality of the architect shines through. For instance, in St.Petersburg the Cameron Gallery named after Catherine the Great's Scottish architect Charles Cameron was built in 1780-1785. There is a lightness to the structure, like an acropolis in the sky, for viewing the surrounding Catherine Park.

DDS: Favorite piece of furniture?
AS: A dressing table and accessories in steel, silver and gilded bronze, in the Pavlovsk Palace, St. Petersburg. It was made by the Tula Imperial Armory, one of the few examples of "beating swords into plough shares". As a member of the European Decorative Arts Council of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, I am proud of having contributed to the acquisition of a piece of Tula furniture.

DDS: Favorite painting?
AS: The Ideal City, by Piero della Francesca, in the Galleria Nazionale, Urbino, Italy. And I would like to quote his contemporary, the 15th century architect Leon Battista Alberti: "The city should not be only for the convenience and the necessity of homes, but should also be laid out in such a way that there are pleasant and honest places."

DDS: Favorite destination to see architecture, and why?
AS: Paris, walking the streets and window shopping. I love the density, the consistent height and style and palette. When I arrive, I like to go on "my tour". After visiting each gallery of the Carré des Antiquaires, in the 7th, I go "up" as they say, this is away from the river, on the rue du Bac to the Conran Shop. They have the most innovative objects for the home.

DDS: Where are you traveling next?
AS: A swing through Italy for research in hospitality work. Starting at the Villa Feltrinelli in Gargnano on Lake Garda, beautiful interiors by BAMO, in San Francisco. Down to the hotel Lungarno in Florence on the Oltrarno side of the river, on a high floor with a view over the Arno and the city. Then to La Posta Vecchia, J.P. Getty's former home on the sea, which still feels like his personal residence, in Ladispoli, half an hour from the Rome airport.

DDS: What do you enjoy most about being an architect?
AS: Meeting clients with whom it is possible to create beautiful designs. They are often extraordinary people and together we give birth to really great projects.

DDS: What advice would you give to young architects and designers?
AS: Hard and good work follows you all your life. When I was working in a big firm, I was the project architect for an office building client who was happy with my work. Years later, after I had established my own firm, he remembered me and hired me to work on his five star resort.

Do what you are good at, and success will come. There is no such thing as luck. Well, there is, but you create your own good fortune.

Andrew Skurman Architects
3654 Sacramento Street
San Francisco, California 94118

Phone: 415-440-4480
Fax: 415-440-4488

Website: www.skurman.com
Email: andrew@skurman.com

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:27:00 +0000

Fabulous New Exhibit at San Francisco's Superb Neo-Classical Museum
'Cartier and America' exhibit opens at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor
Through April 18, 2010

On December 16, I attended the opening night gala event for 'Cartier and America'. This new exhibit, which celebrates a swathe of twentieth-century design trends, also demonstrates the extravagance and opulence of custom-crafted Cartier design. It's an elegant, vivid, surprising and thoroughly entertaining show. It is exclusive to the Legion of Honor.

'Cartier and America' was magnificently selected, rounded up, and planned by the museum's decorative arts curator Martin Chapman—who also wrote insightful accompanying notes, and produced the excellent book that accompanies this razzle-dazzling entertainment.

The exhibit covers jewels of the Duchess of Windsor, Gloria Swanson and Elizabeth Taylor, along with Marion Davies and Grace Kelly, naturally—but it's the clocks and rich accouterments for clients like Marjorie Meriwether Post that are the surprise hit of this wide-ranging show.

Cartier's 1970s-era Crocodile gold necklace is set with 1,023 brilliant-cut fancy intense yellow diamonds weighing 60.02 carats intotal, two navette-shaped emerald cabochons, 1,060 emeralds weighing 66.86 carats in total, and two ruby cabochons /By Nick Welsh for the Cartier Collection © Cartier

The major glam necklaces and animalistic bracelets and bigger-the-better engagement rings are divine—and they are fetchingly displayed in all their shimmering glory. No gilded leopard, coral owl, articulated crocodile, cabochon cuff link, or social essential for the El Morocco set, has been neglected.

Elizabeth Taylor (in her heyday) is shown wearing the luscious diamond earrings and pendants Richard Burton showered upon her.

Elizabeth Taylor, in 1958, wears a Cartier necklace /© Photofest

Grace Kelly's finest sapphires, diamonds and pearls are on display, along with beautiful photographs of her wearing them. Many pieces are from Cartier's own archives—others are from private collections and have never been on display until this show.

The subtext—well, one of them—is that newly wealthy tycoons and their wives and female companions spent a lot of time at Cartier, dithering over diamonds, sizing up the sapphires, eyeing the emeralds and ruminating over the rubies.

Gloria Swanson's pair of articulated crystal bracelets with diamond insets are beautiful lit in a case that allows a viewer to see all effulgent angles. Much-married grandes dames were attracted to men who were knowledgeable about tiara settings and clocks with invisible machinations.

It's the clocks that are perhaps the most bewitching. Elaborate set-pieces, with crystal clocks set on the backs of jade elephants, along with pendant clocks and fantasy clocks with precious stones and enamelwork ornamenting their framework, are entrancing, sheer delight. I can't wait to see them again.

1947 Cartier Bib necklace crafted from platinum, 18-carat and 20-carat gold, a heart-shaped faceted amethyst, twenty-seven emerald-cut amethysts, an oval faceted amethyst, turquoise cabochons and baguette-cut diamonds /By Nick Welsh for the Cartier Collection © Cartier

Another thrill here is to see the Duchess of Windsor's parures, and to read the notes about her endless 'fittings'. Gazing at her brooches and pins and bracelets, it's easy to imagine lives (and they are all spelled out and illustrated here in the vitrines) spent in this idle but important (to their social scene) pursuit.

Martin Chapman does not hold back from illustrating the twentieth-century panoply of 'rich people's pastime' jewelry, travel cases, watches, gems, minaudieres, cigarette cases, card-holders, dressing table adornments and tiaras (la maharajah's treasure chest of those), as well as crowns, diamond pendants, and thrills for every poitrine.

The courtyard of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco

And if you miss this show, you must plan to be in San Francisco this summer when a thrilling collection of the creme de la creme of paintings from the Musee d'Orsay decamps from Paris and lands in California for six months. The Musee d'Orsay will be under renovation for some time, so the brilliant director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, John Buchanan, negotiated this coup for the city. A second show—equally fabulous—will follow next year. Imagine all your favorite paintings—Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, French classical artists at the Legion of Honor.

I can't wait. See you at the gala opening night.

California Palace of the Legion of Honor
Lincoln Park
34th Avenue and Clement Street
San Francisco, CA 94121
415.750.3600
www.famsf.org

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:35:00 +0000

MY PASSAGE TO INDIA PART THREE: ONWARD TO REMOTE AJABGARH AND THE MOST ROMANTIC RESORT, AMANBAGH

Lost in Luxury in Rajasthan
Destination: Amanbagh near the town of Ajabgarh, in the region of Alwar, Rajasthan

On the first steps of my India journey, described in the previous two features, I arrived in New Delhi and spent a quiet and meditative sojourn at the Aman New Delhi.

A few days later, I am comfortably seated in the back seat of the hotel’s taupe Ambassador, the iconic Indian-made vehicle, maneuvering through camels and cows on the road back to the airport.

On the 35-minute Delhi to Jaipur flight (I’m the only Westerner aboard) we head southeast across the drought-dry hills of northern India.

At four in the afternoon, departing Jaipur, I’m buckled up in the back seat of a four-wheel drive, heading two hours north into the Aravalli Hills to the village of Ajabgarh, and Amanbagh.

This is one of my favorite road trips. Quickly we negotiate away from Jaipur, through dusty market towns and rough-and-tumble farming villages, over new toll bridges, going deeper and deeper into remote valleys and along tractor-tracks and through allees of shady trees. After an hour, we pass young girls in colorful skirts herding goats along the side of the road, around dusty gypsy encampments, over dry riverbeds, and beyond vivid green fields of flowering mustard.

Finally, from a gravel trail, we turn into the Amanbagh driveway. Over a river, and around green carpets of lawn, I see the Mughal rooflines and labyrinthine architecture of its impeccably groomed compound. Design, down to the Anglo-Indian chairs and intricate lanterns, is by the great Paris based architect Ed Tuttle (a former San Franciscan).

Amanbagh resort (the name means peaceful garden) is sited on the verdant grounds of the former tiger hunting retreat of an 18th-century maharajah. With feathery palm trees, gnarled eucalyptus trees, vivid bougainvillea, mango trees, and stands of flowering neem trees, the landscape makes a natural and graceful setting for the architecture.

Within a walled enclosure and, in monsoon season, surrounded by a lake, Amanbagh’s tranquil green setting is in dramatic contrast to the pale taupe terrain of the surrounding hills.

As my driver pulls to a halt, co-managers Robyn Bickford (who spent three decades in the New Zealand diplomatic corps) and her husband Manav Garewal, greet me. Namaste!

A young woman in a red sari gracefully choreographs the lovely ceremony of welcome. Marigolds draped around my neck, I walk in a kind of trance through fretwork archways and up and further up limestone stairways, to my terrace suite. Across the treetops I can see sunlight streaking across the hills.

I’ve stayed at Amanbagh several times, but every time it leaves me breathless. I linger over every detail. The light seems more intense. The air is fragrant with frangipani.

In the silence, I can hear palm trees rustling and parrots chattering. In the evening, a village musician plays haunting melodies on the flute and the harmonium. It’s easy to go into a fugue state.

I vow to lie in the sun, read, write, meditate, do nothing, but find myself planning a visit to the nearby Barakhambi temple for evening prayers, exploring towns in the valley beyond, tracking a 17th-century abandoned city, and inspecting the resort’s organic kitchen garden with the resort’s chef, Guy, originally from Christchurch, New Zealand. He grows heirloom lettuces and fenugreek, as well as red roses and marigolds that scent guest rooms.

I read in the library, take a light lunch. Even dishes like dhal and rice are journeys into the flavors of Rajasthan. (Indians are mystified by vegetarian Westerners. ‘Are you a vegetarian at home?’ they query, in the nicest manner. ‘Yes.’)

I gaze at the pool. I think about swimming.

Slow down, the air seems to whisper.

Days at Amanbagh take on a certain calm rhythm.

Temple bells ring out in the cool morning darkness. I could take a yoga class, but as the sun casts a pale glow across garden, I set out on a trek up-valley.

“The Aravalli Hills are the oldest in creation, more than 6 million years old,” said Balbur, my cheerful trekking guide. We are exploring the maharajah’s hunting grounds. Friendly dogs follow us as we take pathways through wheat fields, and meet local farmers and their families, including a five-year-old rapscallion ('What is your country?' he pipes) dressed in his blue school uniform. Balbur and I stop, perch on a rocky outcrop, and survey the countryside. From his backpack he serves a flourish of chai and the most delicious cardamon-scented cookies, fresh from the hotel’s kitchen. Sweet. I’m slowing down.

It’s apparent that in the few years since my first visit, when Amanbagh opened, the region has become more prosperous. This farmer now has a tractor (an ox used to pull the plow) and mud houses have solar panels on thatched roofs. There are wells, and signs written on walls states officially that the children have been inoculated against smallpox. Scrubby fields, victims of persistent drought, are now bright green. It’s all good.

In the evening, just as darkness falls, I am driven to the remote Barakhambi temple for evening devotions. I kneel alone on the marble floor as orange-turbaned priests sing prayers, cymbals and gongs clang loudly, and a pantheon of giant brightly colored statues of Shiva and Parvati and Ganesh (remover of obstacles) gaze down, smiling. A French couple arrives, but they depart back to the hotel hastily when they discover temple rats skittering across the floor. The rats (who traditionally accompany god Ganesh) are a centuries-old part of this authentic Indian devotional scene. They’re holy rats. They brushed across my feet as I followed the priests around the central Shiva shrine, in a ritual symbolizing circumambulating the universe. I was not alarmed. I love India.

Hotel designer Ed Tuttle styled Amanbagh’s dome-topped pavilions, elegant terraces, outdoor stairways, and languid pools after the fanciful and evocative architecture of the Moghul era.

Amanbagh’s cupolas, pergolas and shaded verandahs pay homage to Rajasthan’s golden age. Tuttle’s poetic interpretation of a grand haveli, or nobleman’s palace, use of local sandstone and honed marble for the walls and floors, with hand-carved period details. The entry hall, elaborate stair-rails and lavish interiors incorporate floors of softly hued pink marble, and inner courtyards of pale smooth sandstone.

"In the evenings, the courtyards are swept and sprinkled with water and colorful carpets are spread on a raised platform. The illumination of candles and lamps begins. Poets start the recitation of sonnets, and dancers entertain the guests. The sounds emanating from the bow on the strings of the satangi are like arrows piercing the heart. The music makes guests listless with ecstacy."— Excerpted from ‘White Moghuls’ by William Dalrymple.

Amanbagh is a very secluded retreat. This region of noble Alwar is the real thing, so I drive four miles in an open Jeep into the hills and climb the stairs of a deserted crenellated fort, explore deserted remnants of Rajasthan’s mythical history, and walk silently through the town of Ajabgarh. The hotel sends me off for these excursions with picnic baskets full of potato samosas, as well as lovely Indian delicacies scented with jasmine, pretty pastries, and copious bottles of water.

Along the main road, women in saffron and crimson saris, slender and elegant as Gaultier models, return from gathering dry branches for their home fires. As a stranger comes into view, they draw their saris closer to conceal their faces. Traditionally, women should not be seen by anyone but family. Stacks of fresh green grass (to feed their cows) and wild outcrops of dry twigs are perched atop their heads, posture perfect. To see these lovely hard-working women, so graceful as they go about their daily labor, is worth the trip to India.

I later return to the peace of Amanbagh, my eyes full of the beautiful present, my brain alive with images of sprightly children and timeless villages, and days of promise ahead for India.

As I leave the following morning, the hotel’s sitar player M.D. Tajkhan and Raghuveer Singh, a tabla master, are seated on the roof terrace performing repetitive, hypnotic ragas, celebrating and praising the day, thanking all the gods of creation. I am grateful for this day and many others.

"Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well." — Mahatma Gandhi

Hotel images courtesy of Amanbagh. Used with permission of Aman Resorts. For further information: www.amanresorts.com

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:01:00 +0000

MY PASSAGE TO INDIA PART TWO

Just Back from New Delhi and Jaipur:
Exploring the chic new Aman New Delhi hotel

I landed in New Delhi at 7.40am.

It’s late November. Morning light has not yet worked its way through the cool gray fog and wood-fire smoke that envelops the airport. Trees and traffic and darting people are mere wisps in tones of pale grey. But still, India looks like India—mysterious, timeless, and to me very welcoming and thrilling. I love India.

My driver from the Aman New Delhi hotel is waiting amid the airport multitudes (with a wooden Aman sign, how chic). I am instantly enveloped in his quiet efficiency as he opens the passenger door and his assistant swings my luggage into the trunk of the hotel’s classic thirties-style pale taupe Ambassador.

We move slowly through the throng, and into the leafy avenues. Women in muted winter saris muffled with grey and brown shawls pass by purposefully.

I’ve been in transit at this point for about 25 hours, from my front door in San Francisco, with a quick stop in Munich, and then onward to India. I slept all the way. (See my ‘Jet Leg Survival’ plan in earlier June posts.)

On the map: I am in Northern India, west of the Gangetic Plain, and on the western banks of the sacred Yamuna River.

‘Ma’am, did you have a pleasant flight?” said the handsome assistant, seated in the front passenger seat, left side, British style, offering me a bottle of water. Yes, thank you, to both.

Delhi city streets pass in a ghostly blur of upright bicycles, holy cows, chugging Tata trucks, ragged children, rusty buses with turbaned passengers hanging out the windows, camels, handsome gardens and fountains, darting monkeys, a glimpse or two of temples and monuments.

Inside the taupe leather-seated Ambassador, all is calm. Finally, the assistant phones the hotel to report we expect to arrive in three minutes.

We turn from Lodhi Road into the monumental stone territory of the Aman New Delhi. The hotel opened earlier this year, and I have seen only one or two photos, so I don’t quite know what to expect, how it will feel.

My first impression of the hotel is that an austere and highly refined architectural sensibility is at work here. Pared down and uncompromising, the walls of honed ivory-colored stone are somehow reminiscent of the pale, perfect, pure exterior walls of the Taj Mahal. And yet this new Aman is from another aesthetic, style sensibility, and century entirely. It’s Meier-modern, and feels logical, harmonious, solid but ethereal, intelligent, understated. It’s perfectly serene on this 41 deg F late autumn morning, as it will be on the scorching 112 deg F days that suffocate Delhi in July's monsoon season.

The hotel architect and designer is Australian Kerry Hill, based in Singapore and Western Australia. He is a master of his craft. It feels India modern, but chic and 21st-century. Delhi without a trace of nostalgia.

At the front entrance a group of handsome men in taupe tunics take the luggage, General Manager Henry Gray welcomes me, and I am swept inside the hotel, past a large carved black stone water basin filled in which float brilliant orange marigolds.

My floor butler silently guides me to my suite, along an enfilade of silent hallways. In the suite, a graceful bedroom has an entirely efficient series of adjacent wardrobes, luggage stands and dressing tables. Everything in the right place. The scent of fresh tuberoses wafts into the air. I sign a document. That’s my check-in. How polished, how thoughtful. Bliss.

I am here. I am in India.

The butler returns with a glass of fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice. This, for me, is the ultimate Indian luxury. There are many others.

On the floor beside the bed are the most comfortable boiled wool booties in taupe. They look Bhutanese.

And over beyond the desk and through a tall shuttered door, is my terrace. There’s a restful view of gardens and trees and Hamuyan’s Tomb in the foggy distance. Wait, there’s a plunge pool, heated. A cantilevered chaise-longue.

Breakfast arrives. English Breakfast tea, of course, and wheat toast. House-made orange marmalade. Bitter/sweet. I read the Times of India Crunch. Linger.

But I have things to do. The hotel has arranged a trip to review the great architecture of Lutyens’s imperial Delhi, then onward to the marigold-wreathed flower market, and to Chandni Chowk, that raucous, mediaeval, shrieking and over-stimulating market with saris and jewels and fabrics, and dhoti-clad characters in twirls of turbans, and rickety bicycles and boot-legged electricity. What century is this? ‘Madam, fine silks’, ‘Madam, we can make you a jacket’, ‘Silver bracelets, Madam’, ‘Come, Madam, fine hand-woven cotton”. I smile. Next time.

“When I first arrived in New Delhi in 1984, I used to slip out and explore. I would take a rickshaw into the innards of the Old City and pass through the narrowing funnel of gullies and lanes, alleys and cul-de-sacs, feeling the houses close in around me. In particular, what remained of the 18th-century palace of the last Mughal, Bahadur Shah II, the Red Fort of the Great Mughals, kept drawing me back. I would often slip in there with a book and spend whole afternoons in the shade of a cool pavilion. Delhi’s relationship with its past continues to intrigue me.” —From 'The Last Mughal’ by William Dalrymple (2006).

Old Delhi. Chandni Chowk. It’s a visual upload this morning, not commerce. Back to the hotel spa for my massage. If I were to dream of my ideal spa, this would be it. Muted light, softest sounds of bells and Indian chanting. A masseuse from Mizoram. Dark rooms, dark woods, out of time and out of mind.

It’s two hours of Thai massage. I’m never leaving.

Privacy is perhaps the most precious travel luxury. I never see another guest on this stay. Aman-style, this feels like a private residence (if only). There are no signs, staff greet me by name, it is all very discreet.

There’s time for a frisky and fresh organic salad and more pomegranate juice before friends send their driver to gather me up and take me out to their Farmhouse (actually a luscious new house an hour from the city center in a tree-lined estate, once surrounded by countryside.) Afternoon fades into evening, and I return to the hotel with friends long after midnight.

Architect, Kerry Hill on the design of Aman New Delhi:

“We approach all of our work with a constant design philosophy. Spending time in another culture makes one aware of both the similarities and the differences.”

“We reference past building traditions through suggestion and association rather than replication, and through the reinterpretation of indigenous building forms as opposed to mimicry.”

“We prefer to build upon what is there and to contemporize our understanding of what it can be. I think of our design for Aman New Delhi as being current, but filtered through a sieve of traditional values.”

Over the time of my stay, I discovered, on request, that the hotel is set on 6 acres, has two wings, nine floors, thirty-nine rooms and twenty-eight suites, and that there’s a panoply of restaurants, a hair salon, a lap pool, plunge pools, jaali screens to modulate light and intense outdoor heat.

The décor by Hill is at first hit reminiscent of Christian Liaigre, with the strong silhouette of dark woods, a counterpoint of moody muddy green hand-woven wool carpets, no pattern, wooden window and door shutters, and hits of brass. But the sensibility is more modern Anglo-Indian, with dark exotic wood wall cabinets, bronze bowls filled with pomegranates, stone bowls with fresh tuberose blossoms, muted tones throughout, everything cohesively modern Indian. All furniture was locally crafted.

It’s Aman’s first city property, as it happens. They have taken the hotel-as-private-retreat concept that they’ve done so well in remote and dreamy places like Bali and Sri Lanka and Bhutan, and brought it to this urban setting. Even with the cavalcade of Indian life rushing outside, the hotel feels hushed, cathedral-like, and ultra-luxe.

I’ve stayed in many wonderful and captivating and highly individual hotels over time. Aman New Delhi was a rare visit: deeply private, modern but with a sense of tradition and formality, and with intelligent service.

I had mentioned to my butler that I liked the Indian flute music playing in my suite when I arrived. He burned a disk and left it ready for my departure. This dreamy weave of flute notes is now on my iPod.

Today it’s onward to Jaipur and then Ajabgarh and the Aravalli hills.

I left the hotel in the same taupe Ambassador, feeling like a maharani with my handsome driver and cheerful assistant.

They had asked me if there was anything I would like for the drive. I said, slightly whimsically, ‘English breakfast tea’.

Halfway to the airport, the assistant turned and asked quietly, “When would you like your tea, Madam?”

“Well, this looks lovely here,” I improvised, and we passed an equestrian school, with perfectly postured young women exercising their thoroughbred horses. The driver pulled into a side street near the equestrian ring. Wordlessly, as if he did this every day (he did not) he took out a wicker hamper from the trunk, and set forth a teacup and saucer, milk, sugar, a Thermos of tea, and a teapot. He poured the hot tea into the pot, and poured me a perfectly fresh brew. I sat there in the shade, time out of time, watching the riders, sipping, writing Indian couplets in my head. Singing, perhaps.

Somersaults in my brain.

Tea completed, he packed up the hamper and we continued on, unhurriedly, sedately, to the airport. I can’t recall a more pleasant ride to any airport.

Aman New Delhi is a dramatic property. And it’s the thoughtful, low-key and cheerful staff that takes it to another level.

I can’t wait to return.

Aman New Delhi
Lodhi Road
New Delhi
phone from US 800-477-9180.
Rates from $550
www.amanresorts.com

Hotel images courtesy of Amanresorts, used with permission.

Next week My Passage to India Part 3:
Amanbagh in Ajabgarh

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:29:00 +0000

MY PASSAGE TO INDIA: PART ONE

Just Back from Glorious Delhi and Jaipur:
Shocks for the Senses, Glittering Jewels and Glamorous Palaces Are All the Raj

Follow me on this series of features to discover a rich heritage of gems, palace hotels, temples, bazaars, silks, gilt-edged books, and modern chic style. And I’ll be introducing The Pencil Project.

“Pink is the navy blue of India”
—Diane Vreeland, Vogue editor-in-chief, after a visit to Jaipur in the sixties

I have just returned from a vivid and fragrant and over-whelming visit to my favorite region of India, Rajasthan, in the northeast. I flew in to Delhi, stayed at the chic, ultra-private new Aman New Delhi hotel, then headed south into historic and romantic Rajasthan and the city of Jaipur. Then on to remote Ajabgarh to head back centuries into village life.

I stayed at the Taj Rambagh Palace hotel (formerly the residence of Gayatri Devi, Maharani of Jaipur), and later at Amanbagh resort, one of the most tranquil and elegant hotels in India. I’ll tell everything about them next week.

I love India. I love the intensity of every waking experience, and the clamor and cavalcade of each moment.

Jeweled elephants, maharajas, monkeys on the roof, camels, clanging temple bells, palaces, holy men, sari’d beauties, gypsies in spangled skirts, wandering sacred cows, silks, and spills of sapphires are just the beginning.

As I step into the excitement and drama of each day, I’m captured by the bright refracted light, the hullabaloo, the jangle of sitars and tabla drumming, and the life and vibrancy that swirl around the streets and bazaars. The air itself seems charged and sensual, thick with history. I’m in another universe, planet India.

I promised my friend Ayoosh in Jaipur that I would not write about ‘heat and dust’. She watched me writing notes in my Moleskine note book one afternoon and said dryly, ‘Oh, Diane, heat and dust?” That’s what everyone writes about India and it’s such a cliché, missing the beauty and glory. And I promised her, no, I was looking further. Heat and dust are the least of it.

I’ve been traveling to India since I was a college student. And still, the variegated vigor, the clamor, the incessant bustle of mediaeval street scenes and clatter and color take me by surprise.

Imagine visiting a jewelry shop—to be shown a maharajah’s treasure trove of diamond-encrusted bracelets, emerald necklaces with stones the size of walnuts, and earrings of dazzling rose-colored spinals that could have been worn by queens and empresses. Or Hot Pink, the atmospheric shop founded by my friends Munnu Kasliwal and Marie-Helene de Taillac (both jewelers), with dozens of cashmere wraps and a kaleidoscope of quilts and sequined dresses and embroidered pillows.

I wander into Tripolia Bazaar, with swirls of silken saris and groups of women shopping for their finery. Girls in Galliano-esque saris flicker past, gold nose rings and bracelets shimmering in the sun.

Black kites and crows fly in the pale sky just out the window. On the street below, men in cotton dhotis (think Ghandi) ride past on rusty upright bicycles (very raj-y), and four-year-old gypsy girls with wild hair and ragged clothes do cartwheels in the mid-day traffic, leaping through the throng to tap at the car window, shrieking ‘madam, madam’, and tapping, hauntingly, at the car window with their little fingers. I can’t think about it or I would start crying.

Imagine driving helter-skelter thought teaming traffic, perched in a rickety cycle rickshaw. And later the same day, I am driving sedately at barely 20 miles an hour in the cocooned comfort of a black 1937 Daimler, formerly the favored ride of the maharani. That’s Jaipur.

Vintage collection at the Rambagh Palace hotel, Maharaja entrance.

One moment, I am sipping a rose-flavored lassi (a cool yoghurt drink served in a terra cotta cup) and the next I’m in another century in a fabric bazaar, with saffron and ruby and indigo and shocking pink sequined silks flung onto the floor as groups of women select textiles for saris and wedding dress.

Peacocks shriek and cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and turmeric scent every waking moment. Horns honk incessantly in the aggressive battle of motorcycles, iconic Ambassador taxis, people, cows, stray dogs, camel carts, bicycles, motor rickshaws, pedal rickshaws, and even the occasional pony carts. Women in pink and blue saris float along dusty sidewalks. A cow or two (or three) wander into the melee. Palaces gleam serenely in perfectly groomed gardens. Rythmic drumming throbs in the air. In the darkness, a spangled and gold-turbaned bridegroom appears on a white horse, followed by an oompah band in Victorian uniforms jangled with gold braid. Here, nothing is mundane.

I once spent months exploring all corners of India—from Delhi and the Thar Desert to the beaches of Goa, north to Calcutta (as it was then named) and far south to Pondicherry (formerly a French colony) and Madras, and up to the Himalaya, and into the center to visit the Ajanta and Ellora caves (third-century Buddhist temples).

Rajasthanis love adornment. Jaipur, with centuries of tradition, making jewels for royalty (Indian and European) is now the world’s center of precious stone cutting and jewelry crafting. It is also the place to find exquisite shocking pink, turquoise and amethyst-colored sari silks with gold-thread borders, as well as traditional tribal silver jewelry, armfuls of sparkling bracelets for the princely sum of $1 each, dresses by India’s top fashion designers, and Gem Palace Indo-Russian-style diamond chandelier earrings.

To luxuriate in the treasures of Jaipur, visitors may spend mornings at the City Palace (home of the current maharaja and his family) or the Amber Fort (which makes Versailles seem like a country cottage). Then it’s on to lunch on the marble terrace at the Rambagh Palace Hotel, and finding armfuls of books on Indian jewels and costumes. A driver confidently enters the fray in the hunt to find sandals and silks in the cacophony of Johari Bazaar. Late afternoon hours are whiled away at the Gem Palace with perhaps a cup of spiced tea for energy.

WHERE TO SHOP
Jaipur is a world-class destination for precious gems, antique silver, cashmere wraps, handblocked textiles, and modern takes on traditional finery

Gem Palace
This historic jewelry establishment was founded in the eighteenth century to custom design for the rarified whims and ceremonial demands of maharajas and their maharanis. The brothers and cousins of the Kasliwal family now continue this illustrious tradition of connoisseurship. The Gem Palace’s ravishing emerald and ruby necklaces and diamond rings have been avidly collected by crowned heads of Europe, Middle-Eastern Sheiks, the Kennedys and the Agnellis, as well as devoted fans like Pierce Brosnan, Goldie Hawn, and Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.

In discreet, antiques-filled rooms are pretty tourmaline rings for $300 and Burmese ruby or sapphire necklaces for stratospheric prices. There are also rose-cut diamond rings, strings of tourmalines, chic aqua rings. You won’t leave empty-handed.
Mirza Ismail Road, 011-91-141-237-4175. www.gempalacejaipur.com

Hot Pink
The brilliant Jaipur jeweler Munnu Kasliwal and French jewelry designer Marie-Helene de Taillac opened Hot Pink boutique recently to sell an exclusive array of modern India-produced fashions and interior accessories. It’s set in an airy garden pavilion. Their approach: chic dresses with Indian flair. Fans include Ashley and Allegra Hicks. Hot Pink has been such in instant success that Kasliwal and de Taillac recently opened a second boutique at Amber Palace. Photo above, Marie-Helene de Taillac photographed at Amber Fort for her current exhibit in Paris, at Le Bon Marche. If you're in Paris, you'll see this poster (below) at the store and on bus shelters. Amazing.
In the garden, Narain Niwas Palace Hotel, Kanota Bagh, Narain Singh Road, 011-91-141-5108-932

Johari Bazaar
Traditional indigo, tangerine, chrome yellow, and vivid acid green saris, so modern, and $10 embroidered sandals, strings of turquoise and aquamarines, and gold-embroidered skirts are on display, in a glorious jumble of sari shops, jewelers, candies, and sugarcoated pastries.. Afterwards, take an auto-rickshaw to the Palace of the Winds, one of the most romantic buildings in the world.

The Book Shop
After lunch or dinner at the Rambagh Palace Hotel, it is a favorite treat to wander into the Gem Palace boutique to buy aquamarine or emerald necklaces. Next door is N.K. Jain’s impressive bookshop with an in-depth library of reference books on Indian culture. The key: for approximately $15, any book can be handbound in brown, green or red leather and its title hand stamped in gold on the spine and cover. Mr. Jain ships.
Rambagh Palace Hotel, 011-91-141-238- 5030. Call ahead for hours which may be somewhat eccentric.

WHERE TO STAY
Royal palaces, over-the-top antiques, a Maharajah Suite, and a chic new hotel in a verdant valley are among top choices.

Amanbagh
One of the most alluring new hotels and gardens anywhere, the new Amanbagh resort by Amanresorts was created in collaboration with the brilliant designer, Ed Tuttle, a former San Franciscan. Set in a remote, verdant valley in the Aravalli Hills, Amanbagh is a tour de force of romantic Mughal-style architecture crafted in Indian limestone. Superbly run by an international staff, the hotel offers secluded suites with private pools, a spa, and a world-class restaurant, presenting dishes crafted from vegetables and fruit grown in the hotel’s own organic garden. Excursions to nearby Mughal forts, historic villages, and remote archaeological sites are highlights of a visit to this magical place. From $550.
Ajabgarh, Alwar, Rajasthan, 011-91-1465-223-333. www.amanresorts.com

Rambagh Palace Hotel
Sleeping in a maharani’s bedroom? Reclining in a maharaja’s sitting room? It’s possible at this historic luxury hotel, which was the former residence of the fabled Maharajah and Maharani of Jaipur. Jackie Kennedy, Queen Elizabeth, lords and ladies of the British Raj all visited in the days when the Maharani was one of the world’s great beauties, and the Maharaja was a champion polo player. Following a recent renovation, the palace shines elegantly. And should the maharani’s suite not be available, a suite overlooking the garden, where peacocks preen and strut in the early morning, revived royal glamour in style. From $350.
Bhawani Singh Road, 011-91-141-221-1919, rambagh.jaipur@tajhotels.com, www.tajhotels.com

WHERE TO DINE
I love dining on the terrace at the Rambagh Palace and watching a performance of Indian folkloric dances. Beautifully presented. And it’s a healthy treat, in the late afternoon, to line up at one of the Lassiwallah stands on M.I. Road to get a lassi, fragrant with roses and honey. I choose to eat only vegetarian cuisine. It feels right in India, spiritually and for peace of mind. Indian vegetarian cuisine is surprisingly varied, beautifully prepared, and light.

Indian cuisine in Jaipur can be exceptional, with complex spices and subtle flavors. Rather than succumb to mediocre European dishes, it’s best to request vegetarian specialties. I love the Rajasthani specialty sugary candies spiked with pistachios, and dozens of festive deserts, many of them topped with a flourish of gold or silver leaf.

Rambagh Palace Hotel
There could be fewer places more serene or beautiful for lunch or dinner than this hotel’s terrace, with its expansive view over the hotel’s lawns, fountains, and colorful floral borders. In the evening, the Jaipur chic set stops for drinks at the hotel’s famous Polo Bar, and to watch Rajasthani dancers and musicians performing. On the menu: Indian vegetarian dishes. If you’re lucky, you can have your fortune told by a gentleman who sets up his table at the entrance to the fabled terrace.

Laxmi Mishtan Bhandar
(LMB) restaurant is in the throng of Johari Bazaar. A uniformed and turbaned doorman will greet. It’s an essential stop for its vegetarian-only dishes, and for the witty retro Indo-modern seventies-style décor. To order: samosas, Biryani rice, and a Rajasthani Thali, a selection of spicy vegetables, roti, and fragrant rice. capers, chutneys and pickles. Assam tea or a fresh lime and soda are the perfect accompaniment. Afterwards, stop at the company’s rainbow-array pasty counters for to-go Paneer Ghewar, a fresh honeycomb pastry treat soaked in unctuous treacle.
Johari Bazaar, 011-91-141-2565-844.

Lassiwallah (there are several claiming to be the original) are the only-in-Jaipur take-out counters for fresh lassi, that traditional cooling yoghurt drink that becomes rather addictive for a pick-me-up on a warm afternoon. The favorite: smooth and creamy lassi flavored with honey and rosewater and served in a terra cotta goblet. (Alto salt-flavored.)
Mirza Ismail Road (no street number or phone).

Samode Palace Hotel
In remote Samode, north of Jaipur. This privately-owned hotel has poetic, exquisite early 19th-century painted interiors and a fortress-like exterior. It’s romantic but far from town (and shopping) so we suggest a Sunday jaunt for lunch. To view the mirrored Sheesh Mahal and romantic frescos of the Durbar Hall, reserve a tablel, enjoy a light lunch, then request a hotel guide to offer a tour of the historic rooms. Of special note: the turquoise and white fresco rooms, intact since 1818.
Samode, 011-91-1423-240-014.

Amer 1135 AD
I attended the opening of this stunningly dramatic and opulent restaurant, which perches in the top roofline and ramparts of the historic Amber Palace. The name of the restaurant commemorates the date when the palace first opened. The decor was inspired by the glittering mirrored romance of the Sheesh Mahal, in the palace. On the first level, guests may enjoy lunch or dinner. On the ornate upper level, open terraces offer glorious evening views. Late into the night, tabla and sitar players create a musical panorama reminiscent of the best of Ravi Shankar. Traditional Indian cuisine.
Jaleb Chowk, Amber Palace,141-2530-148/49.

Join me in Part 2 of my series, Passage to India. Next week we go all the way with Aman, visiting the ultra-luxe new Aman New Delhi and venturing out to Ajabgarh to stay at the alluring Amanbagh.

See you there!

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:42:00 +0000

Great French Architecture, Breath-taking Location
Villa Kerylos: World Heritage Architecture on the Mediterranean

When I’m in the South of France, I always make a pilgrimage to the Villa Kerylos, a glorious white Greek-style residence built in 1908 on a point overlooking the Mediterranean and St-Jean Cap Ferrat.

Villa Kerylos is situated in the heart of one of the most dramatic and alluring locations in the world—with craggy mountains rearing up as backdrop, the chic Beaux-Arts town of Beaulieu nearby, lush frangipani and jasmine scenting the air, palaces on the horizon, all framed by the lambent Mediterranean.

This past summer, I spent several weeks in the South of France on the trail of Picasso, Matisse, historic architecture, seaside hotels, accomplished artists, regional cuisine. I immersed myself in the ramparts of culture and history encircling every town and village

I wrote a blog feature earlier about Aix-en-Provence and my discovery of the Picasso chateau in Vauvenargues, and another on my love affair with the Hotel Belles Rives in Juan-les-Pins.

On my Cote d’Azur agenda was a visit to the mysterious and elegant Villa Kerylos that billows out into the Mediterranean like a ship heading off to sea.

Hallucinatory light-filled interiors of utmost refinement, intricate Istrian marble mosaics, frescoes of Greek gods, and superbly authentic interiors take a visitor back to classic Athenian times.

Klismos chairs, murals of Poseidon and Athena, bronze lanterns, archaeological figures, as well as coffers, tables, and sleek daybeds crafted in palisander, Ceylonese citrus woods, and exotic woods from Australia and the Americas add layer upon layer of fascinating detail. Classical architects adore it. Antique dealers swoon. Designers rave.

Postcards above: I was fortunate to find several rare twenties postcards of Villa Kerylos and its delicious Cote d’Azur setting at a flea market in Nice several years ago. Vividly colored, they capture the intense light and dramatic mis-en-scene of Beaulieu-sur-Mer surrounded by the Mediterranean.

To bring his dream of a harmonious and beautiful Greek villa to life, in 1902 Theodore Reinach (1860-1928) commissioned Emmanuel Pontremoli (1865-1956). It was a fine match. Pontremoli, an architect and archaeologist, shared Reinach’s passion for ancient Greek ideals, was a winner of the Grand Prix de Rome” and he had been elected a member of the Académie des Beaux Arts. Pontremoli spent 6 years, from 1902 to 1908, creating the Villa Kerylos.

Theodore Reinach

The villa is organized around a 12-columned peristyle, with a library, a banquet room, a bathroom (the shower uses rainwater), a room dedicated to Eros, and Mme Reinach’s bedchamber, all with vivid views of the sea.

The elegant original furniture with its pure lines is one of the most compelling aspects of the Villa. Each piece (crafted by the Athenian firm, Saridis) is a line-for-line copy of a Grecian original and was handmade using traditional methods.

Desks, plaited leather stools, cast-bronze tripod tables, and bronze-frame beds, are made from precious exotic woods, such as rosewood, American walnut, and are inlaid with ivory and coral.  

Kerylos in classical Greek means halcyon or kingfisher. In Greek mythology it was an elegant bird that swam on calm seas and was seen as a good omen. Kingfishers and legendary sea creatures and gods are depicted in mosaics and paintings throughout the villa.

Just a few years ago, I stayed at the Royal Riviera hotel, which is located on St-Jean-Cap Ferrat, just across the bay from Villa Kerylos. Every morning I was mesmerized by the sharply delineated lines of the white villa, a piece of Attican history, clearly visible across the water.

I would circle the bay, walk along a narrow palm-fringed lane, and I find myself entering the dream house of Theodore Reinach, a classical scholar. His Greek fantasy was created with perfect symmetry, down to the rain-shower bathroom, the entry peristyle, a wall sundial, cast bronze faucets, superbly executed statuary, and a mis-en-scene that recreates life in early Greece.

The Villa Kerylos cost a fortune (nine million francs) to build at the turn of the century. With price no object, Carrara marble columns, mythological friezes, alabaster and bronze artifacts were found or commissioned. The effect, however, is subtle, understated, and elegant.

In every room there are frescoes and mosaics inspired by ancient documents. Visitors can see a depiction of the death of Talos after winning the Golden Fleece, the return of Hephaestus to Olympia, and the muscular dramas of the legend of Pelops and the life of Apollo.

The Mind Behind the Villa

Villa Kerylos was built for Théodore Reinach, who became obsessed with ancient Greece and classical Greek ideals. He was the youngest son born into a family of bankers, originally from Frankfurt.

Reinach gained a double doctoral degree (in law and arts) before following his passion and concentrating on ancient Greek history. He was an archaeologist, epigramist, papyrologist, numismatist and musicologist, a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et des Belles Lettres, as well as being deputy for the Savoie department in Eastern France.   

Reinach’s life-long love of Greek literature, architecture, and philosophiy inspired him to build his Grecian villa on Pointe Fourmie near Beaulieu-sur-Mer and between Nice and Monte Carlo.

An Aesthete’s Lament earlier wrote about the floor mosaics and the Greek myths and legends they illustrated.

Xaipe (Greek for rejoice or celebrate) is emblazoned over the entrance. But amidst the beauty, there is also a tragic aspect to this story. You won’t find this in the official Villa website, most likely.

Léon Reinach, the son of Theodore, was married to Béatrice de Camondo with whom he had two children. Those who have visited Beatrice’s family residence, the Musée Nissim de Camondo in Paris (one of the great historic houses), will see a wall plaque that spells out this tragedy. “Mme. Leon Reinach, born Béatrice de Camondo, her children, Fanny and Bertrand, the last descendants of the Nissim de Camondo family, and her husband M. Léon Reinach, were deported from Paris by the Germans in 1943-44, and died at Auschwitz.”

While these horrors were happening in Paris, the Villa was seized by the Nazis. Fortunately it was not destroyed. After the war, Theodore Reinach’s nieces and nephews and the Reinach family grandchildren continued to spend summers there until 1967 when the villa was officially handed over to the Institut de France. It is currently classified as a French historical monument.

For more information:

Villa Kerylos
Impasse Gustave Eiffel
Beaulieu-Sur-Mer
France
Tel: 33.4.93.01.01.44

www.villa-kerylos.com
www.franceguide.com

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:26:00 +0000

Meeting a Maharajah

India is a jewel: I’m off to see old friends

I will be in India this week, taking in the delights of Delhi,
dabbling in diamonds, breathing in the beauty of palaces, hiking in
tiger country, tripping through temples, and taking in the peace and
serenity of the remote Rajasthan countryside.

I’l be back with stories of gems, palaces, reflecting pools, schools,
and discoveries on the road. I’ll be out in the wilds to find gypsy
encampments, and reposing in perfect splendor in Delhi and Jaipur.

See you next week.

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:57:00 +0000

PAINTERS I LOVE:
Jacqueline Probert

The Finest Dog Portrait Painter
San Francisco painter Jacqueline Probert has created a passionate following for her classic, elegant portraits—of beloved dogs. Capturing the divinity of dogs is her higher calling. Meet these canines and be inspired by Jackie’s spirit.

Coco

Jacqueline Probert has painted the adored dogs of several of my friends. I first met her through Nelson Bloncourt, the former owner of the late great Alabaster style store in San Francisco. Jacqueline is now displaying her work at Gump’s in San Francisco.

Jacqueline, a chic and stylish friend, is also a favorite among California interior designers as the official portraitist for their pampered and divine dogs.

What I admire most: her elegant portraits are not sentimental. They’re elegant, classical, and they portray these handsome dogs with such artistry. Think Stubbs and his 18th-century portraits of thoroughbred horses. Think Velasquez or Matisse—classic art. These dogs, as captured by Jackie’s brush, are noble, frisky, serious, high-minded, regal, gloriously handsome, loving, and knowing. Come and meet a very special and talented artist.

Fanny

“I had rather see the portrait of a dog that I know than all the allegorical paintings they can show me in the world.” – Samuel Johnson, 1787

Come and meet Jackie—you will be uplifted.
I sat down with Jackie recently in her San Francisco, and, surrounded by her fine dog portraits, we chatted of dogs, their people companions, and capturing the beauty and mystery of beloved canines.

Jacqueline Probert, of Probert Art based in San Francisco, has been creating murals, trompe l´oeil works, faux finishes, and glorious custom wall glazes since 1985. Partners Jacqueline Probert and her husband Ted Somogyi combine their artistry and experience with a genuine love and in-depth knowledge of art, artists, and the history of painting. Jackie and Ted believe that “beauty is our highest calling. Jacqueline is also an avid animal welfare advocate and a Pets Unlimited trustee and supporter of other altruistic pet groups.

Dusty

DDS: Your approach is that of the finest French and English portraitists.

JPS: There are many animal portraitists who have influenced me in different ways. Jean-Baptiste Oudry was a French painter who in 1749 painted a life-size portrait of the famous traveling rhino, Clara. I made the trip down to LA’s Getty museum to see it and others of his works. He used a white ground for his paintings, and I started doing this also, noticing increased brightness in my colors. Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899) did wonderful, delicate and seductive work. She has influenced me to paint from nature, in my case at the San Francisco Zoo, where I love the kangaroos. We have for influence everyone from Titian in the Renaissance, Frans Snyders in the Baroque period, nineteenth-century emotive dog portraits from Rosa Bonheur and Maud Earl, and the great Lucien Freud and Andrew Wyeth in the 21st century. It is possible to see how major social and cultural concerns in Western culture were illustrated by these and other artists.

DDS: You are always experimenting and refining your work. What are you working on now?

JPS. Currently on my easel is a portrait of an elderly German Shepherd/Chow mix. It is the second painting I have done of this particular dog. The first one was done when the pet was a young pup of a year in age. The client had brought the dog over to my studio to be photographed.

My client left the studio to make some phone calls, and it was just me and the pooch. I thought the dog had a kind of wizened, far-reaching gaze, and, fooling around a bit, I waved one of my brushes around rhythmically in front of his eyes. As I murmured hypnotic phrases to him about getting tired and falling asleep, much to my surprise, his eyelids fluttered gracefully, he stretched out on the floor, and went to sleep.

I was touched by this large dogs’ gentle trust in me, and his willingness to let his guard down with someone he didn’t know too well.

You don’t have that experience with human subjects of portraiture! Now that I’ve been commissioned to paint this dog again at the age of thirteen, I am reflecting on this dog’s life, what kind of dog he has been, how well he was loved and loved in return. It’s in the way the eyes have become full of experience, and world-weariness, too.

Hughy and Parker

DDS: You paint people, too.

JPS: I strive to capture the same emotions in the eyes of humans, too. I see the same expressions in all eyes of sentient creatures. I have painted shark ‘portraits’ too, and while they may be lacking in empathy, they make up for it in the kind of predatory glance that can only come from 100,000 years of evolutionary perfection of form. I strive to capture the gaze that emanates from the creature in its earthly form, and the experiences registered there.

DDS: You love painting dogs.

JPS: It is fascinating as a portrait painter to reflect on the experiential difference between painting human subjects and animals. While I still very much enjoy drawing people, particularly in charcoal, I have lost interest in taking commissions. As I set out to produce a portrait, I am never sure what the final expression of mood on the face of the sitter will be. I have found as a portrait painter that I function as a conduit. Once a painter becomes fluid with the tools of the métier, she can lose herself to the process of observing and recording. I have done representations of people that radiated sadness. For one commission, no matter what I tried, I could not eradicate the anger in the face. That client, who had been a sort of friend, did not return my calls after that. Good lesson. Animals do not even know they have ‘faces’, and that fact is a great comfort and relief, even an inspiration, to me. Imagine if we as humans were not so overly identified with our visages and how they appear to others. The world would be a vastly different place. A much more peaceful one, probably. After all, an aging face is not the source of such anxiety for an animal as it is for us. Human portraiture after all is a function of recording ego. Not so with animals.

Kingsley

DDS: You’ve been painting and thinking about portraiture for years.

JPS: I continue to be fascinated with portraiture as a record of sentience, in all its nonhuman forms, on planet earth. With animals, there is no barrier between what I see in the eyes and what I am being ‘allowed’ to see. No emotional/psychological fallout when the painting is done. Except for positive emotional reactions. This Christmas past, four of my clients gave their beloveds portraits of their dogs. I got three phone calls on Christmas Day telling me that their significant others had tears in their eyes when they saw their dogs likeness on canvas.)

DDS: You have a Buddhist way of looking at our ephemeral life.

JPS: What remains in a portrait is a bridge between the viewer and the recorded image of one of life’s fleeting lifeforms. Like a reading from the I Ching (the Chinese Book of Changes), these simple portraits are a slice through time revealing the shimmery, transient nature of all animate matter. Our companion animals are especially fleeting, having life-spans that are one-fifth of ours. This is what makes them especially poignant and compelling to me. They have such an impact on our psyches.

Romeo

DDS: I so admire your awareness of the history of animal portraiture and its importance in each century.

JPS: The earliest recorded images from the hands of artists were created 30,000 years ago in the caves of Lascaux, in France. It is significant that these images were of animals; great noble creatures leaping and running across cave walls. In our modern culture, we are distracted, disconnected, with short attention spans. The rise in animal awareness comes as an antidote to these feelings. Animals are grounded, and offer us the opportunity to recognize what we are missing in our own modern psyches.

DDS: I hear you are painting a thoroughbred horse.

JPS: Also on another easel is a painting in progress of a gorgeous thoroughbred called Tucker. His owner, Ann Jamieson, who is a well-known horse trainer, judge and author of two volumes of stories about horses, contacted me at my studio at Branford Point, CT. This is a beautiful creature with a fine and mellow disposition. I have always drawn animals, having grown up with cats and dogs, but horses were my favorites to draw when I was very young.

I took riding lessons as a child, and drawings of horses were always a way to understand them better and to prolong the experience of having ridden them. As anyone who loves horses knows, their combination of massive strength and delicacy, the soft softness of their chins, and that deep and soulful gaze from their eyes makes them irresistible. The fact that they’ve not only put up with humans, but have helped us in building our civilizations, makes them supremely moral creatures from whom we could learn many a lesson. Certainly we owe them a debt of gratitude.

I adore the process of painting their sensuous forms, and looking into their eyes. It is so interesting to photograph them. One must be very respectful, never intimidating them by thrusting a camera into their faces. I love to just be around them first, drawing them and letting them get used to me.

Sam

DDS: What camera do you start with?

JPS: My old Canon FTb camera equipped with a 135 mm lens allows me to get a very close shot without being in the face of the animal. The photograph I take is of critical importance, because for me the painting must stand on its own outside the genre of ‘animal painting’. I look for strong contrast of light and dark (chiaroscuro), which exaggerates contrast between excitement/tranquility, form/emotional content, otherness/sameness.

Bleu

DDS: How do you get started?

JPS: Meeting the animals is a big factor in getting to know their personalities. It is a joy to paint two or more animals together who share the same humans and households. One of the interesting side benefits from being in this line of work is meeting all the different types of dogs there are in this world. Considering that all the breeds evolved from the wolf in the last several centuries, and all the many mutts in their configurations, it is quite an ongoing study in biology.

Blanche, the cat

DDS: Cats?

JPS: An ongoing project for me in a series of oil paintings of Siamese cats, my favorite cat breed. We had seal-point Siamese cats in succession while I was growing up (invariably named Sam), and until two years a go, I had a pair of sisters named Blanche and Baby Jane. They lived to be 16 years old, and died within 1 month of each other. I drew and painted them constantly.

DDS: Do you have favorites?

JPS: What I recall from the past 15 years of animal portraiture are all the different personalities, as different and distinct as humans. As I look through my portfolio of images, I get a distinct feeling for each of my ‘models’. The look of the wet feet and underside of ‘Bubba’, who is no longer with us. Bubba was just out of the house when I came to photograph him, and was very intent about doing the rounds scouting for that knows what in the wet undergrowth of the garden. He looked like something that had been following Mastodons for crumbs, back in prehistory.

I loved the wild look of the glamorously coiffed poodle Romeo, who also looked prehistoric, and yet contemporary.

On several occasions I’ve been told that dogs have barked at their own images in the paintings. I consider that the highest compliment!

There is the calm and dignified look on the French Bulldog, Fanny. By the 1900’s, this breed was a popular butchers and coachmen’s companion in Paris. Fortuna, the Scottish terrier, bears the reserved and slightly aloof quality of the excellent guardian. I also love the twin expressions on the double portrait of young and alert long-legged Beagle Hughey, juxtaposed with the more serious and contemplative expression on the elderly Labrador Parker.

Bubba

DDS: You get caught up in the lives of your dogs.

JPS: There have been a few times when we didn’t get to finish the job due to the deaths of the subjects. The few spontaneous photos I did get of one subject bore unmistakable intimations of sadness and imminent departure. In fact, what has developed is a sort of sixth sense about animals regarding their longevity. I don’t mention this to their human companions, though.

DDS: Jackie, you have such a great perspective on your work.

JPS: What continues to make dogs enticing subject matter is their close proximity to us, and because of that unrivaled proximity they are uniquely suited to mirror our story of sentience in a body on a planet. Our two species, Homo Sapiens and Canis Familiaris, are deeply intertwined. The abiding mystery is that they offer unquestioned acceptance of their bond with us combined with their own possession of preternatural qualities that we could scarcely fathom, yet sense directly. It has been said, “Make me the kind of person my dog thinks I am”. That we should aspire to be as unconditionally accepting as dogs are, and as non-judgmental, are worthy goals indeed.

Commissions by appointment only: Fees from $1,500 for a black and white portrait. Where to find Jacqueline Probert paintings and stores that represent her work:

Gump’s in San Francisco: 135 Post Street, San Francisco, phone 415-982-1616, or 800-284-8677, www.gumps.com

Marcus Robbins and Wayne Armstrong are representing Jackie’s paintings at Pennyweight: 1337 Main Street, St. Helena, CA, and phone 707-963-3198.

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:58:00 +0000

Chic Antiques at the San Francisco Fall Antiques Show

A Chat with Therien’s Bob Garcia

The San Francisco Fall Antiques Show last week was a great success. Boris Vervoordt from Antwerp showed glorious photography, Egyptian sculptures, and sublime twenties French chairs.

Bernard Steinitz, based in Paris, displayed a dazzling array of Chinese antiques (theatrical chandelier with tassels), and gilded French girandoles, as well as his highly desirable boiseries.

Cheers and applause must go to Therien & Co., a founding member of this much-loved antique show thirty-five years ago. Therien’s stand has been for many years the most elegant, the most superbly stylish, and the most compelling.

Therien partner Bob Garcia keeps a pied-a-terre in Lisbon. He travels to Europe often to seek and find and acquire in Italy, Russia, Stockholm, France, Germany, and hidden hunting grounds on the Continent.

During the show, I sat down with Bob to catch up with him on new directions in antiques, styles and taste in twentieth-century pieces. All photos below are of the handsome treasures on the Therien stand, which had a sleek background of grey sheetrock with aluminum framing and criss-crossed nailheads. With dramatic tall plants, a spiffy painted wood floor, and a large-scale shagreen desk by R&Y Augousti, the stand was a lesson in style from top to toe.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE ANTIQUES:

DDS: Bob, I love the mix of the streamlined, custom-made ivory shagreen desk from Augousti, circa 1995, with the elaborate gilding and carving and bella figura of the Sicilian gilded table. This new/old and elaborate/rococo is the modern way to use antiques.

BG: Yes. This contrast and juxtaposition and vivid mix of furniture and styles and periods are critical to our aesthetic today. We seem to have freed ourselves from the old paradigm “Does this go with that”. It used to be sort of like matching gloves and shoes. That idea is out—for antiques as well as for fashion.

We definitely see style in a much more individualized manner and today it is not about perfect period rooms but what suits us and our personal esthetic. It does seem that all design has more “tooth” or counterpoint when given an unexpected selection to contrast with. It’s rather like restaurants today, where the most successful dishes are the unexpected and creative mix of tastes or sensations, bitter and sweet, salty and tart.

DDS: Therien originally sold only period furniture, pre 1830. Now you’ve refreshed your antiques collections with rare and beautiful custom and one-off 20th century pieces, like the handsome Mario Ceroli sculptural round table you are showing.

BG: We’ve developed the appreciation of “design” in furniture as if it were sculpture. And especially now when serious artists are focused on furniture as a medium for their expression. The Ciroli table we feature in the show was perhaps the most widely admired piece we’ve ever shown. It was both furniture and sculpture.

DDS: One virtuoso piece, like the secretaire, can make a room.

BG: That’s all it takes. One wonderful statement rather than a clutter will make an environment have resonance. Think of this bold lacquered piece in a minimalist interior with comfortable understated upholstered furniture and good art. Nothing more is needed.

DDS: For Therien, what is the key to buying contemporary pieces?

BG: Difficult to answer this question, Diane. One uses all the academic benchmarks in making a selection such as reputation of the designer, provenance, condition, and is it the best example, along with suitability, integrity, quality of workmanship, originality. But what it comes down to is basically does the piece “speak” to us. Is it beautiful? Are the proportions in harmony? I’ve been buying antiques for many decades now, and the finest things do tend to jump into the foreground and grab me. If they won’t let go, I’m very interested.

DDS: Bob, you also keep the background of the booth very quiet and restrained when setting out these beautiful objects. The paneled walls in the book at the antiques show are sheetrock with aluminum framing. With the nail-head detail, it looks rather glam but completely recessive for antiques.

BG: The background does set the mood. The necessity for precious materials does not exist if the quality of the pieces is of super high caliber or the sensitivity to design is honed. As you noticed in the stand, quite humble materials like plain old grey sheetrock are once again a “counterpoint” which gives emphasis to the abstraction of fine design.

MARIO CEROLI, "ROSA DEI VENTI" TABLE Russian pine and inlaid table with a top of circular radiating solid timbers enriched with stained compass rose pattern and inlaid with metal N, S, E, W over inverted ribbed dome pedestal. Raised on a geometric compound base. Circa 1973. Mario Ceroli (1938 - ). Overall Dimensions: 64 ½” diameter x 28 ½” high.

PAIR OF SICILIAN NEOCLASSIC GILTWOOD AND VERRE EGLOMISE CONSOLES Consoles with rectangular inset white marble top within carved and pierced egg and dart molded frame with applied carved and molded meandering foliate reserves. Framed by blocks of floral quatrefoil medallions, raised on similar blocks surmounted by outward scrolling fully realized acanthus leaf sprays over square section tapering legs with similar applied floral and foliate enrichment; the whole mounted with applied glass panel reserves painted to simulate agate and marble. Circa 1770 – 1785. Overall dimensions: 45½” wide x 23” deep x 38” high.

DANISH ROCOCO ROSEWOOD AND PARCEL GILT CHATOL Comprised of three sections; the upper with molded arched swan neck pediment centering carved wood floral cartouche over two mercury plate fielded panel hinged doors. Two fixed shelves and two drawers; the center section with fall-front writing surface enclosing fitted interior, the bombe base cabinet of three long drawers flanked by canted corners on pierced foliate and rocaille carved apron centering fruit cartouche. Raised on outward scrolling foliate carved feet; retaining original hardware with later flame finials and pendant mounts. Third quarter 18th century Overall dimensions: 57” wide x 29” deep x 109” high.

(also in photo above) FRENCH GLASS AND PATINATED STEEL CENTER TABLE The circular glass top on four contiguous loop concave shape supports joined by circular platform stretcher; the base given patinated finish. Circa 1970. Designer unknown. Overall dimensions: 50” diameter x 29” high.

ETRUSCAN EARTHENWARE FRAGMENT In the form of a fully realized nude male youth. First century B.C.E. (restorations). Overall dimensions: 10” deep x 13” wide x 30” high.

PAIR OF ITALIAN LATE NEOCLASSIC WROUGHT IRON, GILTWOOD AND GESSO TORCHERES The hand forged circular section stem surmounted by flaring turned joint fitted with two spiraling upward scrolling candle arms in the form of ribbon twisted swan necks, flanked by wings, the heads rising to support flaring circular bobeche fitted with later palm frond trumpets; the whole raised on rectangular section tapering downward scrolling tripartite feet and surmounted by acorn finial, previously electrified. Circa 1810 Overall dimensions: 19” deep x 32” wide x 80” high.

ITALIAN ROCOCO GILTWOOD ETAGERE The carved and molded frame with inset cartouche shaped mirrored reserves composed of foliate and rocaille ‘C’ scrolls with floral enrichments, supporting carved brackets and suspending shell form pendant. 18th century. Overall dimensions: 26” wide x 71” high.

R & Y AUGOUSTI SHAGREEN AND PARCHMENT “OSCAR” DESK The rectangular top has an inset parchment blotter with bone stringing over straight conforming apron, and single drawer with applied paneled handle, over double pedestal “rusticated” base. Two stacked hinged drawers with similar applied paneled handles, the upper enclosing shallow box drawer, the lower with multiple file drawer, contiguous with plinth base. CA 1990s – Paris – Branded Mark. The R & Y Agousti label by Ria & Yiouri Augousti was launched in Paris in 1990. Overall dimensions: 30” deep x 84” long x 31 ½” high.

FRENCH BAROQUE TERRA COTTA MAQUETTE Depicting two high relief sculpted intertwined dolphins amongst reeds on half classical urn; now mounted on iron stand. Circa 1780. Overall dimensions (sculpture): 9” deep x 26” wide x 14 ½” high.

GUSTAVIANSK CRYSTAL CHANDELIER The circular brass cage fitted with attached lion masks and six downswept arms terminating in circular bobeches and gadrooned urn shaped nozzles. Surmounted by domed, shaped canopy, suspending various twist-turned links with concentric cages and Murano glass bell shaped pendant; the whole strung with interlocking crystal strings, graduated pendants, rosettes and festoons. Fourth quarter 18th century. After Haga Palace model. Overall dimensions: 30” diameter x 62” high.

PAIR ROMAN EMPIRE PAINTED AND PARCEL GILT FAUTEUILS Each with arched shaped upholstered boxed back within foliate carved and molded frame. Joined to boxed seat by circular section downward scrolling foliate carved tapering arms ending in rectangular reserve. Greek key carved apron, raised on circular section tapering fluted legs headed by foliate carved collars and ending in toupee feet. Early 19th century. Overall dimensions: 24” deep x 25 ½” wide x 39 ½” high.

PAIR ITALIAN NEOCLASSIC GILTWOOD TABORETS The rectangular upholstered box seat over molded apron with relief carved foliate reserve, on tapering round section, partially fluted legs with foliate carved collars, raised on ball feet. . Late 18th century. Overall dimensions: 18” square x 20 ½” high.

ITALIAN MARBLE TAZZA Deep ovoid bulbous form rising to rolled edge and ending in conforming circular straight foot. Circa 1700 – possibly earlier. Overall dimensions: 18 ½” diameter x 12” high.

PAIR ROMAN EMPIRE PAINTED AND PARCEL GILT FAUTEUILS Arched shaped upholstered boxed back within foliate carved and molded frame, joined to boxed seat by circular section downward scrolling foliate carved tapering arms ending in rectangular reserve, over Greek key carved apron, raised on circular section tapering fluted legs headed by foliate carved collars and ending in toupee feet Early 19th century Overall dimensions: 24” deep x 25 ½” wide x 39 ½” high *Settee also available

PAIR KARL XII GILT LEAD APPLIQUES Oval plate secured by foliate molded lead frame issuing downswept scrolling brass arm ending in circular bobeche with vasiform nozzle. Surmounted by blue grass reserve with paired bird finial, flanked by female figures in classically draped cloaks; the pendant base with applied rosettes centering floral basket. Circa 1710. Attributed to Christian Precht after a design by Daniel Marot. Overall Dimensions: 21” wide x 30” high

WHERE TO FIND THERIEN & CO, ONLINE AND IN CALIFORNIA:
SAN FRANCISCO
411 Vermont St, San Francisco, CA 94107
415-956-8850

LOS ANGELES
716 North La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90069
310-657-4615

philips@therien.com

www.therien.com

Photos: Philip Stites

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:23:00 +0000

PHOTOGRAPHER I LOVE:
FRED LYON

California design's legendary photographer for six decades
Since the forties, San Francisco photographer Fred Lyon has shot (and made famous) California’s greatest designers, from Michael Taylor and John Dickinson to Anthony Hail, Frances Elkins and Suzanne Tucker. He is California’s Horst, recording top designers, their stylish clients, and all the houses that matter. Come with me to meet the Great Fred and see the images he crafted for John Dickinson and Michael Taylor.

Fred Lyon by Steve Frisch.

Fred Lyon is talented, charming and ineffably elegant. He defines dapper. When he walks into a party, the whole room lights up. Think strobe lights!

He is also the most talented classic photographer—with a lifetime of magazine covers, books, and designer portfolios in his San Francisco studio. He’s California’s Horst and Irving Penn with a touch of Bruce Weber.

A San Francisco native, he left in his teen years for war and a stint in New York, and returned home in 1947 armed with a single camera. Vogue and House & Garden quickly found him.

Fred, now in his eighties, creates black and white and color photographs of quiet, classic beauty. His design images for the last sixty years have been naturally lit with no artificial or over-lit effects.

“The architects and designs have put all their talent and style and taste into the rooms I’m shooting, so I never want to impose a “look”, Fred said. “That’s too gimmicky for me. I want a harmonious composition. Working with designers like Michael Taylor or John Dickinson, I did not have to go into a trance or torture it. My job was and is to show the design and tell the story—not to make a design statement of my own.”

Fred Lyon: “On the face of it, photography is a rude process, freezing motion, sometimes straining out color, squashing the subject flat, and imprisoning it in a rectangle, so it’s already at a disadvantage. Architectural/interior photography then is unique in that, while it benefits from a warm, sympathetic eye, its chief requirements are painstaking craftsmanship, patience, a strong back, and comfortable shoes.”

Michael Taylor photographed by Fred Lyon

Above, Fred Lyon’s images of Michael Taylor’s designs, spanning three decades, include Michael Taylor in his studio; master mix of textures and materials at a house on the Peninsula include gilded girandoles, zebra-skin covered occasional chairs, and a Greek flokati run (combed sheepskin) that was fashionable at the time; a sunroom on the Peninsula (just south of San Francisco) has all the Michael Taylor elements including white slipcovers, dramatic plants in pots, versatile occasional chairs and lots of fresh air; Michael Taylor studio/shop setting in downtown San Francisco shows the white paint he threw around with abandon; perhaps his most famous bedroom, from the fifties, included the mix of baroque and simple that he carried through his design career.

Fred Lyon shot Michael Taylor’s interiors from the beginning of Taylor’s long career.

“We shot everything Michael did, for House & Garden and Vogue, and in the sixties and seventies and into the eighties he had an enormous amount of work,” said Lyon. “Those were the days of the decorator-as-despot. Michael was bold and terribly outspoken and his clients were completely in awe of everything he said and did. But his rooms for each client were elegant, sometimes eccentric, and always highly individual.”

The rooms Michael designed for his clients were full of possibility, waiting for the flourish he would add for the camera, said the photographer.

“We were once faced with a “nothing” corner at a beach house in Pebble Beach that we were shooting for House & Garden,” recalled Lyon. “I told Michael it was lacking pizzazz and had no focal point. He immediately got on the phone to John Berggruen’s gallery in San Francisco, a two-hour drive away. Michael had been to an opening at his gallery the night before. He asked John to send down the centrepiece of the entire show right away. Three hours later, a truck arrived and the large abstract canvas was hung on the wall. The photo made the cover of the magazine, and the client bought the painting.”

Taylor worked on the fly, improvising as the photo shoot went from room to room, said Lyon.

“In the middle of a long day of shooting, the early sixties, we were debating photographing a small room in the attic of a Pacific Heights mansion,” said the photographer. “Michael draped it in white linen, arranged a pair of French painted chairs and an antique desk, and brought in masses of terra cotta pots of white hydrangeas. It was great decor for the camera.”

To the chagrin of the grande dame that lived in the mansion, her maid’s room soon appeared in full glory on the cover of House & Garden.

Fred Lyon on Michael Taylor:
“Michael was obstreperous, gossipy, opinionated, moody and a lot of trouble to work with—and a pure genius. His decor was worldly, bold, trend-setting, and still looks great today.” “It was always a battle to get him to complete houses, but when he was involved and engaged in photography, he was a totally passionate designer. He’s do anything to make a great picture—include practically redecorate a house on the spot, borrow antiques and art from his own house, bring in truckloads of flowers and trees, and borrow paintings and accessories from other clients.”

“I started shooting Michael Taylor’s work in 1954 when he was in partnership with Frances Mihailoff, and the first thing he ever had published was the Christmas tree in their studio,” Lyon said. Michael Taylor started his own firm in 1956, and opened his famous studio on Sutter Street in 1960.

“He was the hottest thing in California, and enormously influential in decorating then and now,” said Lyon. “I always knew he was one of the first superstar decorators, restless, imposing, always exploring new design ideas.

Lyon is certain that Taylor was dyslexic. One reason was that Taylor could not pronounce ‘hydrangea’.

“He called them hydraneas,” recalled Lyon. “He used white hydrangeas a lot, so the word came up often.”

A typical day photographing Michael Taylor's décor...

Fred Lyon recalls: “A typical day with Michael started with the challenge of getting him to the location at a reasonable hour. That was tough. He’d sit in bed with his breakfast tray and gossip by phone with his favorite clients and editors. But he’d have a truck deliver a dozen fan palms or pots of white azaleas or the season’s first white hyacinths or lilies of the valley. His assistants would move the huge sofas this way and that, hang heroic-scale paintings, iron linen slipcovers, bring in charming $10 tin trays from Cost Plus, and generally spare no expense to create a fresh, lively, and dramatic picture. Homeowners were delighted. They saw their rooms finished, finally, and everything looked its best. The day ended in triumph.”

Frances Elkins photographed by Fred Lyon

Above, a Frances Elkins portrait; Frances Elkins (spit curls in place) with a client in the fifties; the flower-filled historic Monterey adobe house where Frances Elkins lived (note the fireplace surround faked with fretwork and painted wood); the lovely dining room in the adobe with the table set with her collection of Venetian glass; a game room in a Pacific Heights mansion in San Francisco with Elkins’ Georgian-inspired chairs, which are all still at the house now owned by art collectors.

Taylor was not the only dictatorial decorator Lyon photographed.

“Frances Elkins made charts for the maids of her clients, showing where to place ashtrays and which flowers were to be arranged on tables,’ Lyon commented. “She had keys to every house, and would sweep in unannounced, spit curls aquiver, saying, “Those cushions look tired. They must be replaced” or “That wall needs repainting” and it would be done without a whimper. People were so pleased and impressed to be working with her that they would turn over their lives to her.”

Fred Lyon on Frances Elkins:
“Frances was a dictator and rather scary. She had her couture wardrobe crafted by Mainbocher, was pals with Coco Chanel, and had a serious collection of fine jewelry, which I photographed for Vogue. She waltzed around Europe with her brother David, with spots of rouge on her cheeks and black spit curls marching in rows across her forehead.”

Frances Elkins, like most women at the time, did not drive. She had a car and driver and would head from Monterey to San Francisco for client meetings.

“Frances bought a black Packard convertible,” recalled Lyon. “Her maid in Monterey would pack her a hamper for the three-hour trip—a bottle of chilled Champagne, nothing else.”

Fred had a specific approach to photography, absolutely in contrast to most other photographers of the time who blasted rooms with lights. “I liked to work fast and take lots of pictures in natural light,” said Lyon. “You take a great opener and a lot of great shots that tell the story, no fluff, no weak shots with nothing in them. That’s what professionals do.”

Fred Lyon and his elegant blonde wife, Anne Murray Lyon were fixtures on the social scene and regulars on Herb Caen’s column for decades. Anne, who died thirteen years ago, had been one of Richard Avedon’s favorite models.

Fred Lyon today is in demand to shoot interiors for top designers, and wineries around the world for leading magazines.

“My friends still call me a Young Turk,” he said. “I spent all those years learning how to be a photographer. Now I have to put my experience into practice for many more years.”

The Style Saloniste Chats with Fred Lyon:

DDS: Favorite room?
FL: Whitney Warren’s Telegraph Hill house was my first assignment for House & Garden, in 1948. Whitney was heir to a large fortune and a noted bon vivant. Impressive for its sheer opulence and the Gardner Dailey designed space, the house had a very dramatic library. House & Garden ran my picture of the classical French-inspired library as a full color page. Footnote to this shoot: The magazine had advised me that a woman would be on hand to be sure that everything looked right. We didn’t talk much and only later did I learn of the legendary stature of Frances Elkins.

DDS: What was the craziest thing a House & Garden in the golden era Editor ever did to get great pictures?
FL: They would badger and boss their targets. But in1967, House & Garden’s San Francisco editor, Dorothea Walker, approached Dorothy Fay, a social figure, for a third time about scheduling photography of her Aptos beach house. Mrs. Fay protested, “The house isn’t ready. I’ve been begging Michael Taylor for over two years to finish it, but you know how Michael is.” Dorothea thought for a moment, then, “Do you really want it done?” Dorothy: “Of course!” Dorothea: “Then you just tell Michael that Fred Lyon is coming to photograph—and he will finish it.” In total disbelief Dorothy Fay tried it. Michael put the final touches on it, right in front of my camera. Another homeowner astounded at the power of photography.

DDS: What camera did you use to capture these wonderful images before digital?
FL: Sometimes I worked with the small Rolleiflex and Hasselblads, but primarily the 4 x 5 Linhof and Sinar. Sometimes I shot 5 x 7, but now I can’t remember why.

Let me say this about photography: I’ve always been a photojournalist, a storyteller. So shooting interiors has been about explaining how the room works with its key components, well composed, but without any photo artifice. The architect, the owner, the interior designer have all visited their creative efforts on the space. Unlike any of my other work, this seemed to be the last place to impress my personality. On the face of it, photography is a rude process, freezing motion, sometimes straining out color, squashing the subject flat, and imprisoning it in a rectangle, so it’s already at a disadvantage. Architectural/interior photography then is unique in that, while it benefits from a warm, sympathetic eye, its chief requirements are painstaking craftsmanship, patience, a strong back, and comfortable shoes.

DDS: Michael Taylor was great.
FL: In 1970, we labored for three days in the Diana and Gorham Knowles house in San Francisco.

It had everything, no holds barred. Great spaces, endless marble and crystal chandeliers, paintings of fine provenance. Michael and his colleague Mimi London were at the time orgasmic over their giant geodes and orchids.

Finally, having exhausted all the obvious rooms, my camera was set up on the twisty attic stairs, looking into a tiny maid’s room with little to recommend it. Michael, in one of his unstoppable bursts of inspiration, wrestled planks and supports up the stairs and behind the sofa. He positioned a dozen large white potted hydrangeas to emerge over the back of the sofa. A few months later it appeared on the cover of House & Garden, the only image they ever used from that shoot.

DDS: John Dickinson was so discreet and private. But for the famous House & Garden shoot of the Firehouse, he allowed H&G editors to turn his work table into a dining table. How many days were you shooting at the Firehouse and how was it to shoot with John Dickinson?
FL: We were there probably three or four days over a period of time and it was all fun. My camera loved John’s work, and his wry wit was a continuing delight. He complained that none of the many magazine pages we’d crafted had ever brought him a single client. When I joked that he should add printed chintz and swagged draperies to his rooms, he greeted the idea with a snort. But he created such ingenious--and irreverent—designs that all the efforts we shared seemed a joy.

DDS: Frances Elkins was the first to import Jean-Michel Frank furniture. She palled around with Christian Berard. She was the first to bring Jean-Michel Frank to California. What was her mystique with clients?
FL: She was simply brilliant, confident, with ballast from her brother David Adler. She anchored the unbeatable triumvirate of that era—architect Gardner Dailey, landscape designer Thomas Church, and Frances. Certainly she was authoritative, ready to do battle with wealthy clients over points of taste. But if they were eager to learn, she told me the famous rows with clients resulted in some of her best solutions. Her rooms were so good that I could point my camera in any direction with no need for tweaking furniture or accessories. Her rooms that exist today are fresh and timeless, a lesson in great design.

DDS: Your career has been a fabulous one. Today you travel around the world shooting wineries and wine country landscapes, you are one of the great social figures, and beloved by all. What is the secret of your success?
FL: Well, thank you, but I’m not that good.

My life thus far has been a series of glorious mistakes where I innocently backed into opportunities with delicious results. And then, hard work helps. But my greatest good fortune has been working with a nonstop parade of extraordinary people. They are constant inspiration, making me try harder.

And now I have come full circle: A collection of my black-and-white pictures from the 1940s and 50s is being beautifully reproduced in a new book. SAN FRANCISCO THEN, available in January, boasts an introduction by ex-mayor Willie Brown. A show of the prints is planned for next year at Modernbook Gallery in Palo Alto, home of the publisher, Modernbook Editions.

Fred Lyon on Charles Pfister:
“He worked with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill for years, then started his own very successful design firm, the Pfister Partnership. He was an ebullient young man from Santa Rosa who became very successful in the design world, designing for Baker, Knoll, and I. Magnin. One day I was out working in my vineyard in the Napa Valley when the phone rang. I dropped my shovel and raced up the hill to the house, with my heart leaping out of my ribcage. It was Charlie calling to tell me that he had just purchased his first whole, fresh truffle. I said, “I suppose you are calling to invite me to share it”. There was silence. He was simply calling to gloat.”

John Dickinson photographed by Fred Lyon

Fred Lyon on John Dickinson:
”He was the best, and he was heaven to work with. I first met him when he was working as a designer for the E. Coleman Dick studio on Sutter Street in the fifties. E. Coleman Dick was a horrible man and John left to set up his own studio in the sixties. I photographed his Firehouse in 1972 for House & Garden when the publication was large-format. John always said I put him on the map. He put himself on the map with extraordinarily elegant and refined work. He was such a gentleman, with a marvelously swift sense of humor.”

Above, John Dickinson’s legendary Firehouse in San Francisco, photographed by Fred Lyon. The bathroom, with horsehair walls, had a series of ornate gilded antique pub mirrors which were torn out by a subsequent owner because he said they were ‘too gay’; the high-ceilinged bedroom, formerly the firemen’s dorm, had a custom faux bamboo bed and new/antiqued wainscot; white wardrobe doors were custom crafted to look like Victorian house facades; the studio/living room with the John Dickinson-designed African-inspired tables, industrial grey carpet and leather-upholstered Victorian chairs; the carved faux narwhal tusk was a John Dickinson design; the Viennese art nouveau table with the House & Garden improvised dining setting.

How to Be Chic, Effortlessly
At gala openings, museum gatherings, and vernissages, Fred Lyon is the man with the sparkling eyes and superbly draped jacket who looks like Gregory Peck in “Roman Holiday”.

“The truth is that I have just one navy cashmere jacket, one gray flannel suit, and a small assortment of slacks and sport coats, and white or blue Oxford shirts from places like Brooks Brothers or Bloomingdale’s,” he said. “I wear Sperry Topsider “boat” shoes or black laceups.”

Fred Lyon’s first rule of fashion is not to offend the eye or be gaudy. Second rule: Keep it simple.

“I wear dark colors, and when I want to add a splash of color, I do it with a paisley or knit silk tie,” he said. “The secret of looking chic is to have a very good-looking woman on my arm. That’s called Accessorizing, with a capital A.”

PHOTO CREDITS
All photographs here are copyright Fred Lyon. No images may be used without express written permission of the photographer.

CONTACT
Fred Lyon Pictures
3609 Buchanan Street
San Francisco CA 94123

415-922-5100

fred@fredlyon.com
www.fredlyon.com
www.winetravelandfood.com
www.fredlyonsanfrancisco.com

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:47:00 +0000

Antiques Dealers I Admire:
AXEL VERVOORDT and BORIS VERVOORDT

Fields of Vision

Boris Vervoordt brings rare Egyptian treasure and bold Sugimoto photography to California for this year’s San Francisco Fall Antiques Show, opening next week, with a preview party on October 28.

DATELINE: ANTWERP, BELGIUM — It’s a freezing cold winter evening, already midnight dark and damp at 6pm. I’m standing at the stone gatehouse of Axel Vervoordt’s twelfth-century castle in the silent ‘s-Grevenwezel countryside, on the fog-swathed outskirts of Antwerp. I’m meeting Axel and May Vervoordt and their sons Boris and Dick for the first time at the castle, invited for a family dinner.

Around me in many layers is enough cashmere to choke a mountain goat, and still I am shivering as I ring the doorbell, my hands protected with cashmere-lined leather gloves. Lights are flickering in the castle, visible in the mist across the moat. Someone unseen buzzes the door; I push it open and make a dash across the dark cobblestones and over the moat bridge. Breathless, I make it up the wide, stone stairs of the castle, and to the front door. Axel and Boris are waiting there, back-lit and beaming, welcoming me into some of the most beautiful rooms in Europe.

I’d flown from San Francisco to London, and then straight on to Antwerp. I set down my bags at the exquisite all-white De Witte Lelie hotel, and almost immediately headed to Axel’s.

Axel offered me a well-chilled flute of Krug Champagne, and invited me upstairs to see new acquisitions, sculptures and paintings.

Perhaps my favorite, in the rather bare Oriental room, is the twelve-foot tall Antoni Tapies oil painting from 1972. In a signature Vervoordt juxtaposition, it hangs near a sixties Lucio Fontana abstract bronze sculpture that looks like an asteroid.

Displayed throughout the formal downstairs living rooms and the family’s upstairs quarters are exquisite 13th-century Thai vases, Khmer statues of Buddha, and second-millennium BC stone sculptures from Ecuador, Egyptian porphyry bowls, and a collection of Lucio Fontana Spatialist paintings as well as the more-expected Old Master paintings and venerable European antiques. May’s lovely flowers, including amaryllis grown in the Orangerie, are placed elegantly on tables and in window niches.

Highlights from the Vervoordt photo album include the dramatic 12th-century castle residence northeast of Antwerp.

The interior of the castle, where Axel and May live and work, is rich in detail. Best of all, there are densely detailed rooms like Axel’s study with walls of antique embossed and gilded leather (a Belgian tradition). My favorite is an Oriental sitting room with scrubbed pine floors, and a music room, the white dining room. The castle windows, which overlook the moat and gardens, all have deep reveals. Axel arranges collections of porcelains there, and May sets flowers from the garden on the windowsills. Images courtesy of axelvervoordt.com.

This was perhaps twelve or thirteen years ago, maybe more, and Axel Vervoordt was not yet widely known except to European cognoscenti, certain designers, antique dealers in the inner circle, and European royalty, naturally. Now, of course he has published two marvelous volumes and has been ‘copied’ by designers left and right. There is ought to be a ‘Vervoordt style’, though his work ranges from palatial period rooms and humble country cottages to stark art-filled galleries, as well as Venetian palazzi. Never published are decades of handsome country houses dotted around Antwerp, all of them surrounded with Jacques Wirtz gardens.

Axel’s books make it apparent that his collections and designs are worldly, highly individual, and always authoritative. They paint a portrait of the owners and their lives and aspirations—but there is always a sign of Axel, in a Fontana painting, an Anish Kapoor sculpture, the floor (often bare), the fabrics (never printed patterns and usually no motif at all), spare rather than over-blown backgrounds, and a reverence for aged and old and worn and time-altered surfaces.

I’ve since had the great pleasure to return to the castle several times. In summer that meant dining with the family in the cutting garden beneath a flowering apple tree. One evening, young Antwerp student musicians were invited to play for dinner guests. Vervoordt family members have always been generous patrons of both accomplished musicians and music students.

Some years later, on a warm day in July, we sipped an aperitif in the Orangerie, and later Boris took me to meet the great landscaper Jacques Wirtz, before heading to the dramatic new Kanaal headquarters.
And last year, Axel presented the acclaimed Artempo exhibition at the Fortuny palazzo in Venice. I was fortunate to be there at the right moment, and both Axel and Boris conducted me through the rooms, stopping to announce a favorite video, an unknown sculptor, a fetish object, and an antiquity. Heaven.

This year in Venice Vervoordt is presenting In-finitum, conceived by the Vervoordt Foundation and the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia and set in the mysterious and exquisite Palazzo Fortuny.

The concept of this new show, Axel told me, is a discourse on art and life and death and creativity. Rather more abstract that last year’s debut show, it expressed, said Axel, the infinite in the finite, the indefinite, and unfinished art of all kinds. Art without words, I would say.

In-finitum exhibits 300 works of art, including large and small-scale pieces, video and photographic works, conceptual works, old and modern masters as well as archaeological artifacts. Artists include Picasso, Rothko, Viola, Miró, Twombly, Fontana and Kapoor. The exhibition will remain open until 15 November. As with everything Vervoordt, the collection is one-of-a-kind and provocative and it combines today’s cutting edge conceptual art with archaeological digs and rare masterpieces.

Axel Vervoordt, courtsey of Architectural Digest

Axel Vervoordt’s interiors are always heart-breakingly beautiful and poetic—without being in any way dramatic or emphatic. Vervoordt can do simple interiors—and he can happily accrete the antiques and books and objects that make his study one of the most compelling rooms in the world (outside a museum).

There, too, are his famous sofas—long, simple, spare, and dramatic (larger than they look in these photos). I sat on one recently, sipping Champagne, and enjoying lively conversation with the Vervoordt family. Dinner later in the blue and white dining room. I look forward to more meetings with the Vervoordts—in San Francisco, at the new palace in Venice, and in Antwerp or Paris. Always a great pleasure.

Axel Vervoordt, over the last three decades, has established himself as a favorite antiques dealer of both the European Old Guard and American tech moguls (he never drops names, but Bill Gates has been a client). He was, not long ago, a secret source whispered among friends. Appointments at his castle headquarters just outside Antwerp required a discreet call made through a decorator or architect.

Clients as diverse as Sting, the piano-playing duo Katia and Marielle Labeque, San Francisco interior designer Steven Volpe, as well as fashion designer Bill Blass, San Francisco interior designers Douglas Durkin and Paul Wiseman, and Antwerp fashion designer Dries van Noten have all acquired antiques and art from Axel Vervoordt. Not that the discreet Vervoordt drops these names or would offer any hint as to their acquisitions.

Axel Vervoordt's office, courtesy of axelvervoordt.com

The scholarly Vervoordt, 64, an engaging, warm and articulate man who moves without fanfare in the rarified realms of Europe’s royalty and dedicated antiques collectors, was one of the founders of the prestigious annual European Fine Arts Fair in Maastricht, and has been a vivid presence at both the New York International Fine Art and Antique Dealers show, the San Francisco Fall Antiques Show, and the Paris Biennale des Antiquaires for many years.

The dazzling Labeque sisters, however, do speak of Vervoordt as a mentor, and have filled their Tuscan palazzo with Vervoordt treasures placed with Vervoordt style: gilded Venetian mirrors, a polychrome Piedmontese cabinet, antique Cambodian pots, and a Thai bust of a warrior prince. The chic sisters and the Vervoordts have become close friends.

In California, too, Vervoordt has been an inspiration.

“Axel is one of the few truly cross-cultural antiquaires, who draws his collections of antiques and garden ornament from the far corners of the earth and several millennia,” commented Ed Hardy, a leading antiques dealer in California

Today, Boris Vervoordt, Axel and May’s elder son, has taken over management of the company and he is now the director. Axel spends more time with his foundation, his Venetian projects, and handpicked clients.

In this new capacity, Boris oversees core activities of the Axel Vervoordt company-- art and antiques, home collection and interior design. He continues the company’s values of quality, durability, harmony. The concept is that Axel and his wife May Vervoordt will act as mentors and éminences grises within the company. Axel channels the majority of his time and energy into the Vervoordt Foundation, which he and May established, and of which Axel is the President.

Boris Vervoordt

“From day one, the core and drive of our company has been an uncompromising search for quality, beauty and harmony,” said Boris.

“The realities of the new economy all point in one direction: a revaluation of basic values,” said Boris. Our continued strength has been that we have never lost sight of these ideals. They run through all our activities, they are our raison d’être and the key to our success. The current zeitgeist fits our strategy and mission like a glove.”

May Vervoordt

The Axel Vervoordt approach continues to be a search for absolute harmony, serenity, purity, authenticity and genuine soul, said Boris, an engaging dinner partner.

This week, October 28, will see the next stage and statement of the Vervoordts.

Rare Egyptian treasures and modern art collections are among the selections Boris is bringing to the San Francisco Fall Antiques Show. He’s accompanied by his colleague, Cecile Terwan.

And perhaps in the winter I will fly off to Antwerp to take another winter visit to the castle. Treasures await inside.

ABOVE: Axel Vervoordt at the San Francisco Fall Antiques Show 2008.

BELOW: An exciting preview of what Boris Vervoordt will be bringing to at the San Francisco Fall Antiques Show this year, beginning this week at Fort Mason.

The San Francisco Fall Antiques Show:
A Benefit for Enterprise for High School Students

The presenting sponsor is 1stdibs
Wine sponsor is Michael Polenske, Blackbird Vineyards

Designer Vignettes:
Four vignettes include a chic classic modern style by Grant K. Gibson (with antiques from Therien & Co and Epoca), along with style statements by architect Stephen Sutro, a living room setting by Cheryl DuCote, and a garden scene by Elizabeth Everdell.

Lectures:
Among speakers on Egyptian style are: John Saladino, Suzanne Tucker, and one of my favorite design bloggers, Emily Evans Eerdmans.

Exhibit:
Egyptomania—Nile Style in the Decorative Arts—Planned and directed by Lisa Podos. Curated by Maria Santangelo. Creative director is Andrew Skurman. Presents paintings, jewelry, decorative accessories, cabinets, etchings and influential styles through the centuries. Displays in glass cabinets surround the café.

The San Francisco Fall Antiques Show
Fort Mason Center, Festival Pavilion
Marina Boulevard at Buchanan Street
San Francisco, CA 94123
2009 Preview Party Benefit Gala
Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 7 to 9 p.m.

2009 Show
October 29 to November 1, 2009
Thursday - Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sunday, Noon to 6 p.m.
For more information: www.sffas.org, email: sffas@ehss.org or phone 415-989-9019.

See you there!

Some years ago, I wrote a feature on Axel Vervoordt for Departures. This involved many days of directing photography of the garden, the many rooms of the castle, the orangerie, the park, the rhododendrons, the statuary, with photographer Deidi von Schaewen, who I adore. Deidi and I had also worked together on the huge best seller, the Icon book 'Paris Style' published to great success by Taschen. Toward the end of this magical week chez Vervoordt, Axel and I were talking of his horses. I suddenly had the idea to take a portrait of him, formal, very Gainsborough, on one of his fine Andalusian horses. I selected his (English, of course) riding gear and styled him for this shoot. As Deidi was getting her light readings and we were getting horse and rider in position, with the castle in the background, I pulled out my own camera and snapped Axel. The picture is one of my favorites, and a lovely reminder of a wonderful moment and a great and generous person (and the most beautiful horse, ever.)

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:52:00 +0000

Artist I Love: FELIX BAUDENBACHER

Art as Poetry of the Everyday
Felix Baudenbacher’s delicate paintings capture quiet interior scenes

I discovered the young Swiss artist Felix Baudenbacher through my great friend, the New York photographer Don Freeman.

Come with me to meet Felix whose life would make the basis for a lovely novel.

DDS: You have had a peripatetic, international life.

FB: Bio: I was born in Switzerland on April 24. 1977, sharing my birthday with Willem de Kooning, a fact I try to find mythical meaning in during times of low self-confidence. After a year and a half in Gabon, equatorial Africa, where our father worked at the Albert Schweitzer hospital, we settled in the canton of Appenzell in Northeastern Switzerland. I spent an exchange year in Bel Air, MD.

DDS: Where did you study art?

FB: I emigrated to London in 1998 to study at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, graduating with a BA Fine Art (Painting) in 2002. I won some prizes and thought that now my career as a fine artist had started. Nothing at all happened. I sold tickets at the National Gallery before moving on to an administrative assistant position there (neither of them life-altering experiences but walking through the empty galleries of the National Gallery in London every weekday morning on the way to the office is a pretty special thing for a painter). I had a tiny studio in East London and was painting in the evenings and on weekends, participating in a few group shows here and there.

DDS: You had the good fortune to leave London for Los Angeles.

FB: In 2004, I moved to Los Angeles, where I worked as a runner on films and commercials for a few months before meeting Scott Flax, a well-respected decorative painter and architectural colorist, who was just then looking for a new assistant. I worked on some interesting projects with him, learned a lot about color and found out that the decorative painting world wasn’t for me. I had my first solo show in October 2007 at the Found Gallery in Silverlake, Los Angeles.

DDS: Switzerland and family called?

FB: At the end of 2007, I moved back to Switzerland. I had come to love L.A. but after a divorce in 2005 (I had gotten married to an American in England), there wasn’t any real reason for me to stay in the US. Besides, I missed my family. I moved to Basel, where I quickly found work as an English and German teacher at a private language school. I also fell very deeply in love. I was soon able to limit my teaching to 3 days a week, finally giving me ‘real’ time to paint. These elements of time, space, financial and emotional stability allow me to pursue a career as an artist in earnest now. I’m looking for high-quality galleries anywhere to represent me.

DDS: How did you start experimenting with paintings of tabletop still lifes?

FB: Back in art school I was assigned a new painting tutor for my final year. In our very first tutorial he said: “I’ve looked at what you did last year and I can tell you’re very sincere in your work.

Unfortunately, you don’t understand the first thing about painting so let’s start again at the beginning”. It wasn’t what I would call a classical education, but I learned from him about a painting’s interior life and laws, about the strange fact that you kill a painting when you just copy nature as faithfully as you possibly can, that you have to make it work as a painting first and foremost, even if it’s worked from life — I think Cezanne called a painting a reality parallel to nature, or something like that. I was learning about all that by drawing and painting objects set up on a flat surface in my studio. My degree show consisted exclusively of still lives in various degrees of recognizability and formats. I was very much inspired by Giacometti’s paintings back then so many of my still lives had a similar feel to his.

DDS: The life of an artist is not always a dream.

FB: What followed were a couple of frustrating years of hitting my head against the same few walls, artistically speaking, until I decided to stop doing that and avoid the whole problem of figuration by fleeing into abstraction.

DDS: Exit Los Angeles.

FB: Fast forward six years to the summer of 2008. I had just moved back to my native Switzerland from Los Angeles, where I’d had my first solo show, consisting mostly of grid-based abstract paintings all about California light. I settled in Basel, had a small studio but paint what? Abstraction had never fully satisfied me and I had long suspected that I couldn’t avoid the problems of figuration forever, and that I would have to go back to dealing with them sometime.

I had come full circle and was as lost as I was at the end of my second year at art school. And I did the same I had done back then — I set up a few objects on a flat surface and started painting them. Except, this time, it wasn’t about learning about painting but about trying to forget all about it. Whatever was going to happen would happen between the objects, the canvas and me. I was determined not to let art historical thinking discourage me like it had so often in the past. So what if painting was dead, if what I was doing was anachronistic and obsolete in the 21st century and if every artist of my generation I knew was into ‘street’ and post-modern conceptualism or painting fantastical narratives and interior landscapes? My only guiding criterion would be whether it worked and felt ‘true’ to me. Of course, it wasn’t anywhere as dramatic as I’m making it sound — no-one can work in a vacuum and I was going back to Cezanne and looking at a lot of Morandi; but I was trying to give myself as much freedom as possible. The first attempts were discouraging but I soon found the beginnings of something, a new honesty and simplicity. I’ve been following that since then.

DDS: I love the classic muted colors and subtlety of your interiors.

FB: I’d love to say that’s all intentional and quote my sources of inspiration, but, honestly, it’s much more the result of my limited abilities than anything else - working with muted colors is a lot more forgiving than working with bright colors. Not coincidentally, my work is getting more colorful as I’m getting more comfortable with this way of working. Don’t get me wrong, I love the subtle work, it’s just not totally intentional.

DDS: You capture a wonderful mood of natural light. Is your inspiration a particular place and time?

FB: Quite the contrary, actually. Because I have irregular painting hours due to my teaching activity, I work with closed shutters in artificial light to keep the lighting conditions consistent. I love it, of course, if the paintings evoke natural light. Now that I think about it, I do take the paintings down into our apartment (my studio is on the floor above) in the final stages to judge them in daylight and make decisions away from the actual objects depicted — in that sense, the simple but beautiful apartment my partner and I share — our home — is my place of inspiration.

DDS: You work brilliantly in various media—oil, watercolors. And you maintain the same delicate palette and exquisite emotion in all of them.

FB: I think that this is the area where my abstract work turned out to be a lot more than just avoidance of problems in figuration. It taught me a lot about color and about restricting my palette. As for the emotion in them, that undoubtedly comes from a stable and happy personal life, grounded in a great love. That shows in the work.

DDS: You work in oil and watercolor.

FB: Struggling with oils, I avoided watercolors for all these years, considering it too difficult a medium, mostly because my way of working in oils depends on being able to endlessly add and subtract until I get just the right balance, whereas with watercolors, you have to get things ‘right’ from the beginning. Also, the medium is very unforgiving — heavenly when gotten right but so bad when gotten wrong — and it’s so easy to get wrong! With growing confidence due to the oil paintings going quite well, I found the courage to do my first watercolor about 10 months ago - and found to my surprise that it suited me. I found a way of working with it that also allows me to ‘take away’ paint — at least to some degree. At the same time, the limitations imposed by the medium give my watercolors a spontaneity and freshness my oil paintings sometimes lack (I tend to overwork pieces).

DDS: I was so happy to know that you work with Sennelier pigments. I buy them in Paris at the Sennelier shop at 3, quai Voltaire. Their natural colors and textures, and the delicate blues and greens are especially complex, subtle, and elegant.

FB: I use Sennelier oil paints. Being a beginner, I bought myself just a basic watercolor set. I do love the Sennelier oil paints, though - their color is exquisite in its depth and richness and I prefer the way they handle to the other top-of-the-range oil paints I have experience with, Rembrandt (by Royal Talens) and Old Holland paints.

DDS: Your portraits are very tender — but somehow the subjects are confronting the viewer rather directly. They are a little disconcerting in their directness.

FB: Working from life is central to what I’m trying to do. I want to show things, not explain them or tell a story about them. Any ‘pose’ of the sitter (which, so far, have only been myself and my partner) invites interpretation and narrative — that gets in the way of just showing. There is simply no reason to paint them in any other way than fully head-on. I understand that that can be a little disconcerting. After all, we don’t enjoy people intensely staring at us in real life, either.

"So what if painting was dead, if what I was doing was anachronistic and obsolete in the 21st century and if every artist of my generation I knew was into ‘street’ and post-modern conceptualism or painting fantastical narratives and interior landscapes? My only guiding criterion would be whether it worked and felt ‘true’ to me." – Artist Felix Baudenbacher

DDS: What new topics and subjects are you exploring?

FB: I’m still doing still lives but have recently gotten into the idea of painting ‘non-paintings’ — what I mean by that are still-lives without the objects of the still life, i.e. the empty table I usually set up still-lives on, the piece of builders’ foam I found on the street and used to raise the level of the still-life table, the various baskets and boxes I use to keep materials and still life-objects in but without the objects or materials in them.

I’m also hesitantly experimenting with somewhat larger formats. That’s tricky because I can’t just paint the objects larger (that just makes no sense to me), which means more objects have to be painted on a larger canvas and then it becomes more of a ‘composition’ again, more ‘artsy’ and complicated — all things I want to avoid.

I want to try larger watercolors, though — so far, they’ve all been just of one or two objects, with not much more than a suggestion of a surface they sit on and of a wall behind them. I’d like to try to bring them up to the size of the small oil paintings and paint more fully articulated environments.

I want to paint more portraits but I’m sick of my own face and my partner is very busy these days so that’ll have to wait — I don’t have the courage, yet, to ask anyone else.

Felix Baudenbacher can be reached at felixbaudenbacher@hotmail.com.

All paintings above are by Swiss artist, Felix Baudenbacher.

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:25:00 +0000

Designer I Love: TIMOTHY CORRIGAN

The Cosmopolitan
California designer Timothy Corrigan travels the world to find inspiration—and creates superbly detailed, elegant and highly individual residences for his clients in every latitude

I recently had the great pleasure to visit the apartment of my friend Timothy Corrigan in Paris. I’d seen photographs of the apartment in Architectural Digest and was prepared for a certain glamour and elegance, even hauteur.

What made a profound impression, in the end, was the superb comfort and ease of his pied-a-terre, situated in a grand eighteenth-century Haussman building.

Light spilled into every room through tall windows. Somehow, with opulent (but simple) golden silk curtains and artful lighting, Timothy conjured up a glowing, optimistic interior mood that was uplifting even on a cloudy Paris day. Ample roll-arm sofas, down-filled, were the perfect pitch for reading or chatting. Mirrors amplified the sense of space. And Timothy filled the apartment with books to thrill a maniac bibliophile (‘On Chesil Beach’, the latest Ishiguro, French poetry, McEwan, Mitford).

Timothy Corrigan is one of today’s dream designers. A man of charm and grace, he moves effortlessly from the palatial mansions of Santa Barbara to chic arrondissements in Paris, and from the sleekest architecture in Beverly Hills to the wilds of Normandy. The interiors are luxurious, but at the same time understated and soothing, and he’s never tempted with theme design, even in his elegant chateau. There, in a seriously French setting, his décor was completed with a light hand, with paled-down colors and rigorously edited furniture with no period French clichés.

Timothy is versatile—one moment restoring an historic French chateau with just the right amount of modernity—then taking off for a meeting with an enlightened leader in the Middle East. He’s a knowledgeable antiques collector, and knows when to splurge in an interior, and when plain natural linen is ideal. Timothy is focused and devoted to his clients, and a thoroughly nice guy. Just ask Vicente Wolf, a Corrigan fan.

Luck—and lots of it—is a good thing in the design world. Timothy Corrigan would be the first to say that his interior design firm was launched with good fortune. An advertising executive, Timothy (who grew up in Mexico and California) lived in Paris in cosmopolitan style for several years. A friend asked Corrigan to design his apartment. Timothy discovered a new passion and in just a few years has made first the real estate business, and now decoration and restoration his highly successful career.
Timothy Corrigan Inc. has nine staff in the Los Angeles office, three versatile staff in the office on Place d’Estine d’Orves in Paris, and clients in Europe, the United States and the Middle East.

His company’s services include restoration of historic residences, art and antique acquisition, landscape design, and architecture services. The passionate Corrigan recently introduced Timothy Corrigan Home, a collection of hand-embroidered table linens, signature candles, lead garden containers, a home care line, and decorative accessories.

I recently captured Timothy Corrigan between flights—to discuss design, style, practical decorating tips on how to travel well, and to find out what makes the gregarious Corrigan tick.

DDS: You must have been interested in houses from an early age.

TC: As a boy I was fascinated by architecture. I designed houses out of balsa wood and even created the landscaping around them. When I was ten or eleven I saw a photo of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and I was awestruck. I was so impressed with the way Wright integrated the exterior elements into the house itself. I was lucky enough to have great exposure to the arts as a child. My mother took us to museums and that early exposure established my connection with art and culture.

DDS: When did you first decide to make interiors, architecture, and restoration your life’s work?

TC: I always loved architecture, but I majored in English Literature. Working at a large advertising agency, I was able to develop strong business skills within a very creative environment. By the time I was 27 had become the youngest senior vice president in the history of big Madison Avenue ad agencies. At the age of 30, I moved to Paris to run the international operations of our European network.

In Paris, I found a wonderful large 19th century apartment that needed a lot of furniture. I started exploring Paris’s famed flea markets and Drouot auction house. When it was completed, a friend asked if I would consider having the apartment published in House & Garden magazine.

Friends and advertising clients started asking me if I would help them with their residences and before I knew it, I was doing that. After seven years in Paris I was promoted to president of my company’s international operations. But I found that the world of architecture and design really was the passion that I was meant to pursue.

I moved back to California and became a full-time designer, with the establishment of Timothy Corrigan, Inc. in Los Angeles in 1998. We opened our office in Paris in 2000.

DDS: Did you study design or architecture formally?

TC: Museums, travel and books have been my primary teachers. I am a maniac about continuing to learn and grow; my reading is history or architecture and design books and auction catalogues. My seven years living full-time in Europe opened my eyes to the way history has always impacted the world of design.

DDS: What was your first major break?

TC: One of my early projects was working for Madonna on a wonderful 1920’s Wallace Neff house in Beverly Hills. The project proved to be somewhat of a baptism by fire and if nothing else, I proved to myself that I could make it as a professional in my new chosen field.

DDS: Which design movement has inspired you most?

TC: I have been most directly influenced by mid-18th century French architecture and design. It was an era in which everything was changing very quickly. The age of enlightenment brought about the transition from the rigid, yet at the same time, very exuberant style of Louis XIV and led the way to a more free social structure that ironically enough was more restrained and strict from a stylistic perspective.

The world is in a similar state today, as we re-assess the excesses of the past 50 years and begin to realize that we must start to think more responsibly – whether in the way we live or the things that we buy. I believe in the importance of living responsibly with the environment. My line of eco-friendly home care products was introduced in 2006. I have always used antiques on my projects because they are such a solid investment and if you think about it, they are also the ultimate ‘green” product—no new resources are used in creating them!

DDS: Who has been your inspiration?

TC: Two designers have been helpful in my development and their design styles couldn’t be much more different.

California designer Frank Pennino guided me in the nuts and bolts aspect of the business. His advice stuck with me throughout my career

Frank said that a designer is closely involved with clients and their lives, so “you had better like your client a whole lot at the beginning of a project or you are going to hate them a whole lot by the time the project is done!” Frank is the consummate gentleman and has served a great role model as to how to deal with others in business.

New York design icon Vicente Wolf has been a great inspiration. While at first glance we may appear not to have much in common from a design perspective, we both approach design on the premise that by mixing pieces of different styles, periods, textures and quality you appreciate each one more. Contrast creates spaces that are intrinsically exciting and alive. I hate spaces that look too perfect or “decorated.” Vicente has also been such a great inspiration in the way he manages it all: he runs a successful design business, is a brilliant photographer, designs lines of his own furniture and fabrics and is a great collector of art!

DDS: Which designer from the past inspired you?

TC: Jean-Charles Moreux who lived in Paris from 1889 to 1956 did it all. He was an architect, he designed interiors, he created furniture and he did landscape design. In short, he was a true renaissance man. He believed, as I do, in the importance of creating a fully integrated environment. Moreux’s furniture took classical forms as their basis and then shifted it to make it feel more contemporary, provocative, fresh and alive. He mixed wood finishes and materials in unexpected ways. He played with perspective and color. When you see his rooms you are reminded of the past and yet they seem very suited for the day. Useful reference: ‘Jean-Charles Moreux-Architecte-Decorateur-Paysagiste’, by Susan Day (Norma Editions, Paris, 2001).

DDS: What is your favorite interior you’ve seen on your travels?

TC: Charles de Bestegui’s famed Chateau de Groussay in Montfort-l’Amaury on the periphery of Paris was so creative. In the 1940’s de Bestigui worked with Cecil Beaton and Emilio Terry to re-do a 19th century chateau he purchased just before the Second World War.

I was lucky enough to visit the chateau before it was taken apart and sold off in a mammoth four-day auction held by Sotheby’s in 1999.It was the chic-est place I have ever seen. It was done with such great style and elegance but it didn’t take itself too seriously.

The two rooms that I most loved about the chateau were the Salon and Dining Room Hollandaise (Dutch). The floors had been inset with a really bold geometric pattern of circles within squares in black, tan and white marble and the walls were upholstered in an olive green fabric. All the trim was painted white and black. The overall décor was spectacular but when the Dutch and French old masters paintings were mixed in the entire place became absolutely magical. The chairs were all loosely slip covered in casual big blue and white checked fabric. Throw in a couple of spectacular chandeliers hanging from a white painted coffered ceiling and wow.

DDS: Which design books do you read again and again?

TC: ‘David Adler, The Architect and his Work’, by Richard Pratt ( J.B.Lippincott, New York, 1970). Adler was one of the finest residential architects of the 20th century, working predominately in Chicago. In all of his houses you see that he intrinsically understands how people want to live in spaces. The book, which has long been out of print, has both photos and floor plans that allow you to really appreciate the art of his work.

‘Les Pavilions, French Pavilions of the Eighteenth Century’, by Cyril Connolly and Jerome Zerbe, (The Macmillan Company, New York, 1962.) This book focuses on the small French pavilions or follies that were built in the mid 18th century. A quote from the book summarizes the uses of these buildings: “they were intended for relaxation, of which there were four: conversation, making love, eating and cards. Reading and music were occasionally indulged in.” Doesn’t that say it all?

‘Mastering Tradition, The Residential Architecture of John Russell Pope’, by James B. Garrison,(Acanthus Press, New York, 2004). Pope designed huge mansions all around the eastern US throughout the first quarter of the 20th century. Most of his projects were really pretty grand (a number of the wonderful Newport “cottages” were by Pope) he always understood the importance that scale plays in the way that one interacts with a room.

‘Les Decorateurs des Annees 40, by Bruno Foucart and Jean-Louis Gaillemin, (Norma Editions, Paris, 1998). The furniture and design that came out of France in the 1940’s in its own way equals the zenith of French furniture of the 18th century. This book has lovely photos highlighting the work of the greats of the period including: Adnet, Arbus, Leleu, Poillerat, Royere and Subes.

DDS: Do you entertain?

TC: I love to entertain at home: whether it is a small weekend lunch for a couple of friends or hosting large charity events. In California a dinner might be focused on my business. At my apartment in Paris I am a little more formal and elegant. At my place in the French countryside entertaining is about hanging out with close friends. No one wears a watch and the conversations tend to ramble from one subject to another.

For a dream dinner I would invite Louis XIV of France, because he really is the inventor of style as we know it today. He is directly responsible for France being the center of fashion, fragrances, fine furniture and decorative arts for three hundred years!

Edith Wharton, is known as one of America’s first women novelists, but she also wrote the first book on interior design and a couple of great books about Italian landscape. She lived much of her adult life in France and had a wonderful pavilion next to the Chateau de Versailles, outside of Paris.

Gore Vidal is the most erudite man alive today. He knows a lot about almost everything: history, politics, and literature. He has known so many of the most well known people of the 20th century, not to mention being the cousin of both Jackie Kennedy and Al Gore.

Elsie de Wolfe—(Lady Mendl)—was such a wonderful, wacky character who started out as a Broadway actress, and along the way became a nurse for the Red Cross, one of America’s first interior designers, and found the time to be an international socialite running around between Hollywood, New York, London and Paris, and was even included in several of Cole Porter’s hit songs.

DDS: What are your latest projects and where are you working on new projects?

TC: A Paris apartment for the ruler of a Middle Eastern country, a 35,000 square foot new construction house in Greenwich, and the restoration of a 1920’s Mediterranean in LA’s first gated community, Fremont Place.

What's new: A 5-star hotel in Seattle, a 1930’s house in Montecito, a super yacht in Europe, an 18th century chateau in Normandy, a house on Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, and the restoration of a great old Beverly Hills estate.

DDS: The most versatile paint color?

TC: “Verte de Terre” by Farrow & Ball: Green is my favorite color because it reminds me of life and renewal. This green is particularly good because it has a touch of gray to it so that it is really easy to live with. I have used this in the entry to my Paris apartment and as the trim color in much of my chateau in France.

“Cream” by Farrow & Ball is warm and rich. It’s a strong, gutsy cream color that reflects really well on people’s skin.

“Parma Gray” by Farrow & Ball is the perfect blue for bedroom walls, especially when paired with white trim. It is fresh but very sophisticated.

“Riviera Terrace” by Polo Ralph Lauren: This is my favorite color for ceilings. A lovely warm white wit has just enough yellow and pink added to it that it works with almost every color wall; I usually use it in an eggshell finish to help make rooms look a little brighter and the ceilings a bit higher.

DDS: Favorite fabric?

TC: Pindler and Pindler “Singapore” 100% Linen. I lined all of the walls of my bedroom in Los Angeles with it and covered two sofas in the living room in a different color. It’s really chic but has a low-key vibe about it. It comes in a huge range of colors and is really well-priced.

Christopher Hyland: “Patricia”, linen/silk blend is a bold contemporary take on a traditional design. We have used it to cover living room chairs in a fancy townhouse in Paris and to upholster a little jewel box of a powder room. It is offered in a number of jewel-like colors that can add a special punch wherever you use it.

Fortuny: I adore Fortuny, but who doesn’t? Basically, you could hand me any of their designs in any color and I would love it. Recently, I used Fortuny for the curtains in the formal dining room at my chateau in France. The magical blend of corals, reds and pinks work together so well that I took some of the same colors to paint the 18th century paneling on the walls.

DDS: Secret of traveling well?

TC: First, I never eat meals served on the plane, no matter which cabin. I bring a small sandwich that usually elicits a few envious glances from the other passengers that are struggling with the airline meals. I bring my laptop computer with all my music, I make lists, sleep, and write emails that I send as soon as I land.

DDS: What do you love most about being a designer?

TC: Interior design is a very fleeting, transitory thing so it’s important not to take yourself too seriously. On the other hand the architectural part of our job is much more likely to have a longer impact.

I try to create an environment where people feel really at home and welcomed. Comfort is the key ingredient. Comfort is more than just being soft and cozy though—comfort is also a mental thing—do you feel comfortable enough to be able to put your feet up on something? Can you put down a glass on a table without worrying about leaving a mark? Can you let the kids play in the room without being afraid that they are going to ruin something? That is essential.

DDS: What advice would you give to young designers, beginning designers?

TC: Design is all about trust between you and your clients and you and your suppliers. You must establish that sense of mutual trust and continue to reinforce it all along the way. Designers must listen to the client. It’s not about you or your ego.

It is important to study the history of architecture and design. Even the most contemporary design has its roots in the past. Designers must always continue to learn and grow in your knowledge. Designers should try new things and venture out of their safety zone sometimes. This is a business so designers should handle a client’s money as prudently as if it were your own!

TIMOTHY CORRIGAN, INC.
8225 Fountain Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90046 
Telephone: 1.323.525.1802 
Fax: 1.323.525.1803 
Email: info@Timothy-Corrigan.com
www.timothy-corrigan.com

Photo credits:
Timothy Corrigan apartment in Paris: Photographs by Marina Faust

Timothy Corrigan Chateau de Grand-Luce: Photography by Marina Faust

Timothy Corrigan new projects: Photography by Lee Manning, Michael McCreary and Nick Springett

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:27:00 +0000

Designer I Love:
Rose Tarlow

ROSE TARLOW: ON THE MOVE I’ve always admired Los Angeles designer Rose Tarlow—as a taste-setter, as an author, as a refined and obsessive antiques dealer, as a designer, and as a curious collector of objets and knowledge around the world. And I’ve had the privilege to interview her here and there, to write about her, publish her famous house (in my Rizzoli book, Hollywood Style), and to meet her by chance.

I was having lunch a few years ago with Axel and Boris Vervoordt at their ‘s-Graveweezel castle, just outside Antwerp…and who should arrive and join us but Rose Tarlow. She was full of tales of her house in Menerbes in Provence and her travels in Paris.

Rose Tarlow, always slightly mysterious, heads to Europe several times a year, always looking for the rare and the recherche.

It was midwinter when she turned up at the historic Kasteel von ‘s-Gravenwezel, northeast of Antwerp. A pale ivory sun hovers and barely glimmers, low in the sky. The air is still, giving the frozen moat and ice-etched rhododendrons and noble old oaks in the subdued landscape the look of a faded sixteenth-century oil painting or a delicate watercolor.

Axel Vervoordt walked briskly from his study to greet his longtime friend.

Tarlow has dropped in at the 12th-century castle to view and admire and perhaps acquire pieces from Vervoordt’s art and antiques collection.

“I am a person who loves beautiful things, and I try to be around beautiful objects and exciting art at all times,” said Tarlow, glancing at a dramatic Antonio Tapies painting in an upstairs salon in the castle (which is also Axel’s residence). She continues on toward a collection of rare Chinese porcelains, smiling, in a reverie. Her eye flicks across a Dutch armoire, a Japanese wooden bowl, a stack of old books.

“Beauty nourishes me, it fulfills me spiritually,” Tarlow told me in conversation. “That’s why I design beautiful furniture. I am always looking for objects that move me.”

Over the last thirty years, Rose Tarlow has turned her antiques and decorating company, Rose Tarlow Melrose House, into a multi-million dollar empire of handcrafted furniture, mirrors, lighting, luxurious leathers, fabrics, and her own textiles collection, all much admired (and specified) by top designers.

Tarlow introduced a line of wondrous-stenciled wallpapers with the look of faded antique textiles. The Melrose House furniture and lighting portfolio consists of more than 300 of her designs, and her lines are represented in 13 showrooms around the country.

“Rose Tarlow balances emotion and intellect as well as any designer now living … her rooms [combine] sensual pleasures with geometric rigor, and every one of them is simultaneously a lesson in design and a lesson in living.” — New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger

Tarlow has a particularly fine-tuned sensibility for chairs—the hardest furniture to design—and bestows even a modest dining chair with presence, originality, character, and a distinctive silhouette.

There’s the “Puccini” sidechair upholstered in Italian silk, a best-seller. Its carved front legs and boldly arched back give it an air of animation, as if it is about to spring forward. The “Verona” chair, with rich silk velvet upholstery , has gilded legs and arms as finely tapered and turned out as a prima ballerina’s.

“My designs tend to be bold,” noted Tarlow. “I don’t like timid, fussy things.”

Rose Tarlow, who was born in Shanghai, has never pigeonholed herself into one period or style. Her “Etoile” rush-seated sidechair suggests a French provincial inspiration. The “Cloverleaf” pedestal table, with rich lacquered ebony veneer, connotes her taste for Chinoiserie.

“Antiques I buy always have a quirky, sensuous quality,” she said. “I’m looking for the hand of the artist, signs of life and use. If an antique is provocative or intriguing, I fall in love with it. I have to have it.”

Now Rose Tarlow Melrose House has opened a new flagship showroom in a renovated landmark building on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood to showcase the collection’s elegantly designed furniture, textiles, lighting and accessories under one handsome roof.

The 9,000 square-foot space, designed to resemble a residential environment reflect Tarlow’s private-client installations. On display are the modern furniture collection, sumptuous rugs and fabrics, and a lighting and accessory gallery.

“I love change and always have. The new location—just blocks away from my old shop—is larger, more accessible, but thankfully still retains the old Melrose House magic” said Tarlow.

Architect Marc Appleton retained the charm of the original shop in the new setting. Each room contains special accessories from Tarlow’s original designs or items found from her global travels.

Rose Tarlow (who has always insisted she is not an interior designer (although she has designed noteworth residences) founded her company more than 30 years ago in what was then the out-of-the-way Melrose Place.

Now an internationally renowned furniture and fabric designer, interior designer, antiquarian and author, her creations have enchanted the design community.

Many of them, including her own Bel Air house, are detailed in her book, The Private House (Clarkson Potter).

“I wanted my house to look like early California architecture with European influences,” she says. To create that style, she imported antique architectural elements from Europe, such as hand-forged iron railings. She found rustic wood planks for the floors and hand-plastered the walls to create an unusual texture.

Potential clients are constantly clamoring for her to design their interiors, but she is skittish.

“I think of myself as an antiques dealer,” she commented. “I am not really a decorator. I don’t really like working with individual clients. I lose control of my creative time.”

Tarlow is at her most content when she is searching for and acquiring antiques, or working on her furniture collections--with only her own high standards to please.

“It’s too intense with private clients because I take each design decision so personally,” she said. “I am a solitary person. I like working alone and making my own design decisions. I have an obsession for buying lovely things, so I occasionally consult on building a collection of antiques and art. I buy and build houses so that I can gather up more antiques.”

Tarlow, considered by some a cult figure in the world of design, designed and built her own European-influenced house in Bel-Air.

In Tarlow’s more formal London flat in Belgrave Square, sunny, cozily luxurious rooms are filled with singular antiques from around the world: handsome Régence chairs upholstered in Gobelins tapestries, American Indian baskets artfully arranged on a Chinese lacquer table, a Kang Hsi Coromandel screen.

“Everything in a house, down to the linens and fabrics, must be right,” she says. “My eye always goes straight to pieces that have personality, fine craftsmanship, and patina. I look for the hand of the artist—for signs of life and use. Even a basket or old poker chip can have quality.”

Her inspirations, she said, include rare and beautiful old woods, old textiles, oil paintings of interiors, watercolors of interiors, the great American poets, as well as the English romantics like Keats, Shelley, Coleridge, Byron.

“I admire beautiful, well-proportioned rooms,” said Tarlow. “And I can swoon over empty spaces.”

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:11:00 +0000

Parfums DelRae:
The Art of Seduction
With her divine fragrances, vision, hard work, and pure talent…San Francisco perfumer DelRae Roth has become an international sensation in the world of alluring top-quality scents

I love perfume—and wear it every day, all day and night. I wear it to bed. To sleep.

A beautiful fragrance enriches every moment. I keep it in my pocket on a plane to give myself spritz and a lift, and I whoosh on a drift of scent when I need inspiration or a mood-enhancer. It’s instant uplift, and always the fourth dimension of sense memory of a time and a place and a person, a moment.

I adore all the Frederic Malle Editions de Parfum fragrances (Une Fleur de Cassie, Dans tes Bras, En Passant, Lys Mediterranee) and the Hermés scents (the new Gentiane Blanche, Kelly Caleche, Un Jardin sur le Nil, and Un Jardin Apres la Mousson, all designed by the great Jean-Claude Ellena) plus Guerlains’s rich Vol de Nuit and the luscious Mitsouko, which have all accompanied me on many global adventures.

But my perfume wardrobe has been intensified and scintillated recently by a dazzling new fragrance—Mythique by Parfums DelRae. And the perfumer lives in San Francisco not far from my home base.

Botticelli blonde DelRae Roth is in the business of dreaming up moments of quiet rapture. Her sweet occupation, secretive and seductive, is creating perfumes for her seven-year-old fragrance label, Parfums DelRae.

Roth’s glorious perfumes, like the sensual Amoureuse, as well as her richly redolent Bois de Paradis, sparkling Eau Illuminee, and Début, a light-hearted lily-of-the-valley composition, have been quietly selling at chic stores like de Vera in New York and San Francisco, Barneys, Tail of the Yak in Berkeley, and hot superstores like Maxfield in Los Angeles, Takashimaya in New York, Verso in Antwerp, and at Space NK and Harvey Nichols in London.

By whispered word-of-mouth they have become cult fragrances for those with very discerning noses and a love of classic scents designed with a modern, fresh style. Now she’s introducing Mythique, a surprising and elegantly modern new scent.

Roth’s distinctive fragrances exude loveliness and grace. They are not showy scents but rather classic and luxurious.

“I’ve been in love with perfumes my whole life, and now I have the luxury of creating new compositions and selecting only the finest ingredients,” said Roth, who grew up in South Dakota, dreaming of perfume.

“I am passionate to make fragrances of true authenticity for people who gravitate towards the exceptional,” she said. “ From the start, I envisioned perfumes without compromise, and scents of great independence and inspiration.”

Roth, who lives in a poetically modern apartment in Pacific Heights, was an art director for Esprit in its glory days, before engaging renowned French parfumeur Michel Roudnitska, to realize and perfect her first perfume compositions.

Roudnitska, whose late father Edmond was one of the great classic parfumeurs, is admired in the industry for Eau d’Hermes, and the rich and spicy Noir Epices, by Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle.

“I developed the olfactory profiles for each perfume, from many different inspirations,” said Roth. “ My style of perfume is bright and modern, not heavy or overly sweet. They’re all complex compositions. I looked to a diverse range of concepts and ideas and experiences. I was inspired, for example, by walks in the forests and gardens in the Presidio preserve in San Francisco where it’s cool, herbal and fresh early in the day. As the morning progresses the fragrances develop and subtle undertones of lavender or sweeter aromatic notes come forward. I’m always looking for complexity, subtlety, surprise, delight, harmony in a fragrance.”

Working with Michel Roudnitska in his Provence perfume laboratory, she was introduced to the arcane world of fragrance making.

“I had admired other fragrances Roudnitska designed, loved his pedigree, and went to Grasse in the South of France to meet him,” recalled Roth. “He’s a wonderfully engaging man, open to ideas, and totally immersed in the secretive world of fragrance. We’ve worked together on four fragrances.”

Roth dreamed up modern perfumes with classical references, which are original, and very well balanced. Each one tells a distinct story and has its own operatic myth.

Amoureuse is floral and green, intensely feminine. Its top notes are cardamon and mandarine, which later develop rich tones of tuberose and jasmine, with captivating notes of Tahitian ginger lily.

“I wanted a fragrance that was the smell of happiness and sunshine,” recalled Roth. “It has been very popular because the floral notes are quite haunting and lovely.”

Bois de Paradis has hints of roses and wood, with suggestions of incense and woody notes of pine, cedar, and cypress with softening tones of amber.

“I designed it to be sexy and sensual, but very refined,” Roth noted.

Eau Illuminee has green notes of bergamot and basil, with fresh tones of lavender, wild aromatic herbs and oakmoss and a soft, slightly sweeter suggestion of vanilla and tonka bean.

“This perfume always give me a lift, and brightens the day,” said Roth. “It’s very harmonious. I like the deeper notes of oakmoss that give it depth and character.”

With Début, Roth dreamed of lily of the valley with a dash of sharp contrast from vetiver, bergamot, lime and linden blossom. Emotionelle is fruity, redolent of melon and memories of summer and orchards and sensual delight.

As a former art director and designer, Roth created the elegant packaging, designing and presentation of her fragrances.

Each perfume is captured in a flint glass bottle with a classic square shape and glass top. Her labels and boxes are engraved in black, gold, platinum, and bronze, on handmade European papers.

“I’m thrilled with the way things have developed these first years,” said Roth, who is looking to sell in Munich, Berlin and Frankfurt. “I plan to continue for many years to design perfumes that make women feel beautiful.”

Creams: New to the collection are rich matching body creams for Eau Illuminée, Amoureuse, Bois de Paradis, and Début. The creams were one of the first on the market made without parabens, phtalates, or artificial colorings. Roth never tests any of the products on animals (only on DR, family and friends) The perfumes are 17—20 % concentration, which is very high, the raw materials used for all are the very best, there are no artificial colorings or preservatives.

Mythique: For Mythique, Roth worked with Yann Vasnier, a French perfumer living in NYC/Paris.

“He was great to work with,” said Roth. There was great ease to our discussions because he immediately understood the concepts and we share enthusiasm for many of the same things; travel, history, art, Pierre Herme’s rose macaroons! Part of the fun is meeting people like Yann, who are generous with their knowledge and from whom I can learn,”

What’s Next: Roth is now actively working on three new perfumes; one is done (for Fall 2010), one is nearly finished (for Spring 2011) and one is still in the conceptual phase.

“The perfume creation is the part of the business that I really love. It’s not work for me because I enjoy it so much. It is so dazzling to have an idea for a perfume and then to start putting together the different facets to tell the story you have in mind. I think of the perfumes as mini-operas, they each tell a wonderful story.”

The Perfume Insider: “I think one can really see in the world today the great desire for authenticity and quality, and that is certainly true for the universe of perfume,” said DelRae Roth. “That may be why the niche brands are so very much appreciated and are influencing the bigger brands. You see all bigger brands repositioning to appear “niche”, because the niche brands are really driven by passion and commitment. And it’s definitely not an easy thing to pull off. Lili Barbery at French Vogue calls Parfums DelRae a ‘micro-niche’ brand that “respire l ‘élégance.” Which reminds me of a favorite line by Socrates, “Be as you wish to seem”.”

DelRae Says:

“Mythique took a year to develop—more! I have a couple of friends who have been wearing Mythique and they are delighted that strangers stop them to ask and comment on the perfume! The cost of this perfume was crazy, the orris is the most expensive in the world, and the perfume has more in it than any iris based perfume on the market (Chanel, Malle, or other new launches coming this fall), but I could not refuse, it makes the perfume so exceptional.”

“Emotionnelle is so different and, the melon speaks so brightly in the beginning, the fruity aspect is very unexpected and I think charming. It is all so very personal and depends how open someone is and all the associations people have to things. Michel Roudnitska feels that Emotionnelle is the best perfume he has ever worked on, and we did work hard on it —I wanted it to a unique personality. You make a perfume, work so hard, and then you hold your breath and hope they take on a life, that people ‘get them’, but you never know!! The competition is so fierce it can be overwhelming.”

DDS says:

“I love Mythique. It is addictive, it is uplifting, it is modern and fresh and elegant. It is bursting out—and I am confident it is going to be a blockbuster."

"Each elegant bottle of eau de parfum has a concentration of 20%, so they are very concentrated and have a beautiful sillage (after-glow, wafting and lilting drift of fragrance."

Where to find: PARFUMS DELRAE are available at 100 chic perfumeries, beauty stores and specialty stores around the world, including Barney’s New York across the US and Parfums DelRae will soon be in Australia and the Middle East. They are sold in Russia, Romania, and The Netherlands and many more countries in Europe.

Prices are US$135 for EDP and US$85 body cream (prices different in other parts of the world).

For more information: www.parfumsdelrae.com

DELRAE’S WILDERNESS RETREAT
For the October issue of C magazine—I am one of the founding editors, and the Northern California editor at large of C—I included DelRae Roth’s favorite travel hideaways to detail where she goes to get away. Please check the October issue of C magazine to see more ‘travel insiders tips’, including from Suzanne Rheinstein, Christina Rottman, and blogger Katie Denham (Katie-did).

DelRae travels often to Europe and New York, and London, and around the US, for her company. But to truly get away—she heads to the Point Reyes National Seashore, about an hour north of San Francisco.

Point Reyes National Seashore, with its beaches, cliffs, forests, hiking trails and remote hidden meadows, is so dramatic so beautiful.

For years I drove up early every Sunday morning, stopped for breakfast at Manka’s for their unbelievable breakfast of eggs scrambled with onions and spaetzle, and served with rye toast, raspberry jam and a bottle of Pilsner beer. Manka’s burned down several years ago—and I’m waiting for a Phoenix-like return.

After that, I drove to McClures Beach and was content to read and walk on the beach all day. (You only needed water for the day after that breakfast). Now, I stay at the reborn Manka’s in Inverness and although very different, simpler, smaller, it is heavenly.

I go all times of the year, whenever I can, especially after working with my perfumers in Paris. I go to one of the many solitary beaches like Drake’s Bay or Limantour, and read, and often I walk the trails. There are miles of trails, steep uphill climbs, a stroll in the shade, a Hansel and Gretel amble, a picnic in a meadow with the moon coming up. The area has something to match every mood.

I first started going there in the mid-70’s. Point Reyes embodies the best of what we have in northern California. When I lived in Paris years ago, I felt homesick for this place.

It is wild, wooded, and you are near the ocean. The air is very fragrant; I especially love the smell of the Bay Laurel trees. There is one tree in particular that is very spectacular. It is huge and elegant. It takes about an hour’s walk from the trailhead to find it. Arriving at the tree feels like I’ve made a pilgrimage. I try to imagine what its like to be there at all hours of the day or night, hear the wind in the trees and the smell of the bay, pine and ocean nearby.

The area is vast and there is something for everyone. The area is well known for the natural beauty, solitude, moody winter mists and cool summer afternoons. The nearby town of Point Reyes Station has good restaurants, a good book store and great food to buy to take on your hike. And I love the delicious barbequed oysters in Marshall across Tomales Lagoon.

After a full day (feels like a whole weekend) I head back to the City. The Golden Gate Bridge is less than an hour away. My apartment in Pacific Heights is just minutes past the bridge. What a blessing to have such a beautiful place—so close to home.

CREDITS:
Photo credits: Home: Mark Seelen. Product: Shawn Sullivan, Karen Steffens
My dog’s name: Marcel (after Proust, Duchamp, Marceau)
Photos in my flat by: Turberville, Penn, Avedon, Mapplethorpe, Cartier-Bresson, Blossfeldt
Car: 1959 Alfa Romeo ‘Giulietta Spider Veloce’
Other artwork: Vintage Paris poster, and other stuff by me.

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Dorrans Saeks) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:04:00 +0000

PHOTOGRAPHER I LOVE: VINCENT THIBERT

A French Photographer’s Dream World:
The Normandy of writer Jules Amedee Barbey d’Aurevilly

Paris-based Vincent Thibert is a superbly talented and original photographer who creates dreamy, memorable photographs of interiors, people and places.

I’ve known Vincent since we worked together on my best-selling Taschen book, ‘Seaside Interiors’, published about eight years ago.

Vincent photographed a poetic house on the island of Goree, off the coast of Senegal for the book. His beautiful images and his artul compositions added to the international success of the book.

Now I’m bringing you a dramatic new photographic essay by Vincent, one of his very best.

It’s an evocation of the wild and rocky country around Cotentin in Normandy, land of the 19th-century French author, Jules-Amedee Barbey d’Aurevilly. The photographs are Vincent’s movie, in effect, a dreamscape of Barbey’s life, his characters, his surreal fiction, and his still-in-print novels.

Jules-Amédée Barbey d’Aurevilly

Jules-Amédée Barbey d’Aurevilly (November 2, 1808 – April 23, 1889), was a French fantaisist, novelist and short story writer. He specialized in gothic stories, and ghostly and mysterious tales that reveal hidden motivation and hinted evil bordering (but never crossing into) the supernatural. He had a decisive influence on writers such as Auguste Villiers de l’Isle-Adam, Henry James and Proust.

Barbey d’Aurevilly was born in Normandy. From 1852 he became an influential literary critic at the Bonapartist paper Le Pays, effectively promoting Stendhal and Flaubert.

Barbey was a dreamer with an exquisite sense of refinement. Barbey d’Aurevilly was also known as the creator of his own image, adopting a gilded aristocratic aura and hinting at a mysterious noble past, though his parentage was provincial bourgeois nobility.

Barbey d’Aurevilly’s best-known collection is The She-Devils, which includes the cult classic Happiness in Crime and is still in print from Dedalus Books. Most recently his Une vieille maîtresse (An Elderly Mistress, 1851) was adapted to cinema by French director Catherine Breillat: its English title is The Last Mistress.

While a resident of Paris, he spent his autumns in Normandy, where Vincent Thibert’s evocative photographs were shot. It’s a moody green land with ancient castles, rugged coastlines, ghosts, and lots of rain.

‘Rain is the cosmetic of my peninsula,” said the dandy-ish Barbey.

He remained throughout his life proudly Norman in spirit and style. Jules-Amédée Barbey d’Aurevilly died in Paris and was buried in the Montparnasse cemetery. In 1926 his remains were transferred to the churchyard in Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte.

Photographs above: It is on the wild windswept peninsula of Cotentin that Thibert created his homage to Barbey. Among his Normandy locations were the fortress Chateau d’Olondes, the Chateau des Ravalet- Tourlaville near Cherbourg, and the Chateau d l’Isle-Marie. He also photographed the landscapes of Le Cap de Cartaret, and the 18th-century Hotel de Beaumont in Valognes on the Cotentin peninsula.

Vincent Thibert was born in Paris on July 9, 1959. He studied painting and drawing at l’Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs. For the last 24 years he has been shooting editorial photography, mostly for interiors and design publications including Architectural Digest and Elle Décor.

All photographs by French photographer, Vincent Thibert, vincent.thibert@free.fr. They were first published in Cote Ouest in November 2008.