Resurrecting pivotal eras in design is irresistible to vanguards who understand that sometimes the best place to begin looking into the future is to take…
View More An Unsung Hero of Modern DesignTag: High Point Market
High Point Market takes place twice yearly—in the spring and fall. It’s where the American furnishings industry gathers to launch new products.
As a design journalist and blogger, I attend High Point Market most times, eager to see what new releases my favorite manufacturers will unveil. I’m always interested to see what new furniture and lighting Currey & Company debuts, and I enjoy visiting showrooms like Bernhardt. There are always excellent opportunities with both to use their products to craft literary design adventures afterwards, like the diary entry in which I had Rudolf Valentino taking over a portion of the Bernhardt showroom.
Within this generously proportioned string of rooms, I happened upon what I believe would be the quintessential Valentino lair. Though the silent film star has been dead for over 88 years, were he still causing women to swoon today, I had found the furnishings he’d tap to create a modern-day interpretation of his home in the Beverly Hills, which he had dubbed “Falcon Lair.” I am convinced the sumptuous setting created by the Bernhardt Interiors Collection nestled into a corner of the showroom in High Point would have fit him to a tee.
The literary angle to this post is a surprising one: Valentino was a scribe—admittedly, not a very seasoned one but his love poems outlive him! This literary legacy is tucked between the covers of a book titled Day Dreams, which he penned when boredom during an actor’s strike got the best of him.
“Happy indeed I shall be if my Day Dreams will bring you as much enjoyment in the reading as they brought to me in the writing,” he wrote in the introduction of the book, setting the locale and date of the finalization of his rhymes in New York City on May 29, 1923. This is a terrific example of how greater depth can be brought to the subject of design with just a bit of imagination.
The Tides In Our Veins
The Tides in Our Veins One of the most evocative trips I can remember taking as a young woman was a four-day escapade to Carmel,…
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Now I am quietly waiting for the catastrophe of my personality to seem beautiful again, and interesting, and modern. A voiceover of Don Draper reciting…
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Everyone has a different definition of beauty but I’m betting it’s the rare soul who wouldn’t be enamored with this sexy chair by Alden Parkes, which…
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A private place in which to write… As someone whose life is spent working with words for at least a part of every day, I find…
View More Rooms of Their OwnBarrymore Avignon Chair: A Love Story
Barrymore Avignon Chair: A Love Story Oh, fateful town in France! While communing in your Sainte-Claire d’Avignon, I saw her. Laura. The name that would…
View More Barrymore Avignon Chair: A Love StoryThe Valentino Lair
Before The Beatles turned teenaged girls into a screaming, weeping throng and George Clooney made even the most reserved woman a bit toasty under the…
View More The Valentino LairHarmony and Proportion
Love of beauty is taste…the creation of beauty is art. -Emerson I’ve been a fan of Alexandra Stoddard since I came across the designer’s book Living…
View More Harmony and ProportionAllegorical Accents from Barry Dixon
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…
View More Allegorical Accents from Barry DixonBeatrix 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…
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