In 1641, the 26-year old parliamentarian Nicolas Fouquet, who was then the Master of Requests at the Parlement of Paris, acquired the viscounty of Vaux…
View More An Invitation to Vaux-le-VicomteCategory: Garden Design
Exploring garden design, the views of garden designers, garden design plans and the products that make gardens special are some of my favorite subjects to write about. It gets even more fun when I take a peek into the creative genius of movie directors focusing on gardens or avid gardeners of the past.
One of my favorite movies about garden design, or in this case landscape architecture, is Heaven Shall Be Here, a fun piece directed by the late Alan Rickman, who I loved as an actor. Another landscape architect I’ve enjoyed researching and writing about was Beatrix Farrand, the niece of Edith Wharton. The passion she shared for garden design with her aunt was remarkable. She was so devoted to it that she dared to become the first certified female landscape architect in the US, not an easy feat given it was truly a man’s world then.
I also have a habit of taking ideas and running with them, one such escapade finding me taking beautiful antique items for the garden that I saw at the Decorative Fair in London and building an entire design narrative around them for a real-life Cinderella, Catherine Deneuve. I chose objects I thought she would adore for outfitting her garden in the South of France!
Far from Oblivious in Bologna
If you find yourself strolling along the streets of Bologna near the city’s center, don’t be surprised if you turn a corner and come upon…
View More Far from Oblivious in BolognaHeaven 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…
View More Heaven Shall Be HereNarratives That Illuminate Design
Narratives That Illuminate Design If you believe that design-centric coffee table books contain nothing more than visual surveys of portfolios, I am out to change…
View More Narratives That Illuminate DesignDecorating Hampton Court Palace
The premise of this article and the next one I’ll post here on The Diary of an Improvateur (next week) began with a rather capricious question:…
View More Decorating Hampton Court PalaceCinderella in the South of France
Cinderella in the South of France “From morning until night, Cinderella worked very hard. She carried water, got the fire going, cooked, cleaned, and washed.…
View More Cinderella in the South of FranceBeatrix Farrand Gardens
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…
View More Beatrix Farrand GardensOscar de la Renta
My impressionable years where fashion is concerned were the early to late 70s. I can imagine many of you saying, “Oh, that explains how she…
View More Oscar de la Renta