Those of us who make the pilgrimage to North Carolina each spring and fall have just wrapped another High Point Market and survived the tumult of stimuli that washes over us as we see what’s new in the home furnishings arena. As I was thinking about how I wanted to frame the choices I’ve made […]
Tag: American furniture manufacturers
As a design and architecture journalist for over two decades, I’ve covered quite a large number of product launches by American furniture manufacturers and I enjoy the fact that I have figured out how to put such a creative spin on them.
In This Side of Paradise, I used Michael Berman’s Califolio Collection for Theodore Alexander as the backdrop for a young F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. I imagined Zelda draped across the chic daybed and F. Scott seated at the desk working on one of his manuscripts.
In The Soul of Great Leaders, I wrote about a vignette in the Norwalk showroom at High Point, which had as its central visual a large-scale photograph of a wizened Native American chief in a feathered headdress, memories of the years I’d spent on the reservations of South Dakota and Alaska were sparked by it. In What is Art? I use the art criticism of Leo Tolstoy as a jumping off point to talking about design as art, the post presenting new products by Currey & Company and its founder, who was up for an arts award. This is but the tip of the iceberg so I hope you’ll stop by The Diary of an Improvateur to see other American furniture manufacturers I’ve featured.
A Conversation on Trends in Textiles
I’m thrilled to announce that I am producing the first in my Modern Salonière series of events during High Point Market next month. With this and every salon to follow, I will explore subjects relating to graceful living, which French salonières during the 17th and 18th centuries elevated to an art form. I will […]
Badgley Mischka Fashion at Home
Mark Badgley and James Mischka introduced their new furniture collection, Badgley Mischka Home, during April’s High Point Market. I had the pleasure of sitting down with the design duo to talk with them about the new effort, their first foray into the furnishings market after designing fashion as a team since 1988. The furniture […]
For Decadents Beauty Is Difficult
Moving through the London literary scene during the fin de siècle was not a comfortable ride. Oscar Wilde is one of the most explosive examples but others who navigated those restrictive streets and who cloistered themselves in the gentleman’s clubs learned what a dicey trip rebellion can be. The lot of them, known as aesthetes […]
This Side of Paradise
I looked forward to meeting Michael Berman during the Spring 2016 High Point Market when he was there to debut his Califolio collection for Theodore Alexander, and, not at all a surprise, the party was packed. As more and more people filed in, I noticed the serene setting he had created with more than 75 […]
A Midcentury Cougar on the Prowl
The nickname cougar, signifying women who have “a thing” for younger men, hasn’t been around for as long as they’ve been cropping up in popular culture. Before she had an epithet, she was a moody manipulator whose wardrobe was as chic as it was sexy, her story the perfect narrative for a midcentury cougar. Her interiors […]
Peggy Guggenheim Visits Oculus Gallery
In 2009, I trekked to Venice with my dear friend JoAnn Locktov, the founder of Bella Figura Publications whose newest book Dream of Venice Architecture has just debuted to acclaim. We spent several contented days wandering through the city’s museums—first the Punta della Dogana where Tadao Ando, who has written an essay for JoAnn’s […]
Heaven Shall Be Here
In the film A Little Chaos, Alan Rickman, who plays an unlikely Louis XIV, declares, “Heaven shall be here.” He’s speaking of a ballroom he has commissioned for the gardens at Versailles, which will be realized by one of the most visionary landscape architects during the 17th-century, André le Nôtre (played by Matthias Schoenaerts), […]
The Soul of Great Leaders
Whenever I see a photograph of a Native American, I can’t help but think of Crazy Horse, and I’ve seen a fair number of them in my lifetime given the years I spent in the mission field, traveling to and from the Sioux and Athapaskan reservations in South Dakota and Alaska. During one late […]
The Seat of Scottish Power
As the opening credits roll during the film Her Majesty, Mrs Brown, a Markino marble bust, which has been tossed over a castle’s ramparts, tumbles through the air toward the ground. When the work of art lands, it shatters into an eruption of shards, the sound exploding like a gunshot. The bust paid homage […]