I envy the pencil being held carefully between her fingers, the rasping sound the sharpener makes as a thin layer of wood peels away from the instrument’s body. I am fascinated by her hesitation, the dark point poised above the supple blank pages so pristine the sight sends ripples of resistance through the synapses […]
Category: Cultural Explorations
I have a penchant for cultural explorations that combine history, literature, design, architecture and myriad angles relating to travel. These subjects inspire me as a writer. My sweep of historical cultural references is wide. One week may find me exploring Peggy Guggenheim’s romantic frustrations and my visit to her chosen home town of Venice while another week will find me on a literary adventure in Paris, one of my favorite cities.
I am fascinated with court cultures, such as lifestyles during the Tudor Era, especially relating to Henry VII, and any time-period relating to the Bourbon kings of France. I often combine these cultural explorations with design because I have been a design and architecture journalist for over two decades. Since it’s my beat, I often mine the industry for ways to combine these subjects with literature, which I call my literary design adventures. I hope you enjoy my worldly ramblings and my fascinations here on The Diary of an Improvateur.
Stalking Petrarch in Parma
Human suffering. Unrequited Love. Not likely the first two descriptions you’d think of when identifying the Italian town lauded for the best prosciutto and Parmesan cheese in the world, I bet! Though I enjoyed more than my fair share of these gastronomic marvels during a trip to Parma, one of my greatest pleasures was […]
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 […]
A Summer Reading List à la Vincent van Gogh
Irving Stone curated and edited down the copious letters that Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo, turning the most meaningful ones into a volume titled Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent van Gogh. In these outpourings to his sibling, he speaks of books he is reading and art he is studying, even […]
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 […]
Celebrating Shakespeare
Celebrating Shakespeare The 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death is April 23rd, the date he passed in 1616 at the age of 52 believed to be his birthday. It’s a milestone for which the UK in particular has been prepping for quite some time so celebrating Shakespeare in England has never been easier. But […]
The Built Legacy of Henry VIII
The 2016 Academy Awards are handed out this coming Sunday so I’m celebrating a film that showcases the built legacy of Henry VIII to delve back into the subject I began here on February 2nd. The movie that showcases Henry VIII’s architectural heritage so beautifully is A Man for All Seasons, which swept the Oscars in […]
I Met Virginia Woolf in This Room
Who else is relieved that Lady Edith Crawley, played by Laura Carmichael, is finally finding happiness on Downton Abbey? Having binged on all of the episodes of the sixth and final season as I was flying to and from Paris last month, I was thrilled to see that Julian Fellowes showed her some good […]
Renovating During the Tudor Era
Hindsight is 20/20, as they say. Looking back to the Tudor Era from this great distance, it’s easy to see how barbaric a sport jousting was. But before you feel all modern and lofty, consider America’s devotion to football, even after the discovery of its deadly occurrence of brain trauma. If you can’t imagine our country […]