Blog - Page 13 of 14 - SAXON HENRY

Center stage in this image is a Sheffield Plate Beehive Tea Machine; image courtesy The London Silver Vaults.

Films Historical Design Television Series

Jane Austen Era Silver

If you are a fan of movies inspired by the novels of Jane Austen but you haven’t read her books, you may be surprised to know…

The chapter of “Staircases: the Architecture of Ascent” covering 1600-1800 is titled “A Theatre of Power” and illustrated with this sumptuous image of Jean-Léon Gérôme’s “Reception of the Grand Condé at Versailles” [1878], courtesy of The Vendome Press and Musée d’Orsay/Hervé Lewandowski.

Architecture Books Interior Design

Summer Reading with Carmen Natschke

Saxon Henry August 3, 2014 architectural storytelling decorating history design industry leaders France grand residences Italy London painters Paris philosophers summer reading list Versailles

For those of you who think Carmen Natschke, of The Decorating Diva fame, is merely a glamorous gadabout holding court in the design stratosphere, there…

The Aloysius sectional by Barry Dixon through Tomlinson/Erwin-Lambeth.

Books Furniture Design Literature

Allegorical Accents from Barry Dixon

Saxon Henry July 28, 2014 American furniture manufacturers Atlanta authenticity Chinoiserie design industry leaders famous writers High Point Market lighting novelists summer reading list

Certain aspects of being southern seem to seep into the skin through osmosis. It’s as if the summer heat wriggles into our DNA, the perspiration…

Books Interior Design Philanthropy

Kips Bay Show House

Saxon Henry July 14, 2014 classical antiquity design industry leaders design narratives famous writers grand residences literary design encounters New York City nonfiction writers philosophers Washington DC

“The house is one of the greatest powers of integration for the thoughts, memories and dreams of mankind,” wrote Gaston Bachelard in The Poetics of…

Cultural Explorations Historical Design Travel

Rococo Style in Italy

Saxon Henry July 6, 2014 antiques shopping in Europe books of letters decorating history design narratives Empire Style fine antiques fine porcelain France French aristocracy grand residences House of Bourbon Italy Louis XIV Madame de Sevigne Marie Antoinette Marie-Louise of Austria monarchs Napoleon nobility painters Paris Parma Petrarch Rococo Style Royal Courtiers royal palaces The Literary Adventurer

If I told you the most surprising thing I found in Parma, Italy, was France, would you think I’d lost my mind? I’m not speaking…

Architecture DesignLabs Nature Writing

Poem at Streamsong

Saxon Henry June 26, 2014 American poets architectural storytelling authenticity design industry leaders design narratives keeping diaries literary design encounters

I’m visiting Streamsong Resort near Tampa to experience the natural beauty and incredible architecture, the latter created by Alberto Alfonso, who was featured in my…

Conservatory at NY Botanical Garden on a bright summer day

Furniture Design Garden Design Nature Writing

Beatrix Farrand Gardens

Saxon Henry June 8, 2014 American furniture manufacturers authenticity books of letters design narratives Edith Wharton France Groundbreakers High Point Market literary design encounters New York City nonfiction writers novelists The Literary Adventurer Washington DC Yale University

Powerful things happen in a garden. Beyond the miracle of riotous color and the vibrancy of burgeoning life, momentous occurrences have transpired on the garden…

Art Cultural Explorations

Insiders in Outsider Art

Saxon Henry June 1, 2014 authenticity documentaries New York City painters poetry

There’s a backbone of stubbornness running through the south. It skirts along the undulant edges of Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains toward the foothills of the Cumberland…