I am returning to Frankfurt am Main next week to attend Heimtextil for the second time, an experience I truly enjoyed last year for the…
View More Exploring Frankfurt with GoetheTag: literary design encounters
My literary design encounters are joys to imagine and to craft, the array of historical figures available to me virtually endless.
“‘I’d like that sunny table near the windows under the beautiful mirror,’ he says to the hostess at Le Vrai, pointing to the niche set with two café tables, perfect for reading Dante all afternoon. Only a few decades earlier, the waistcoat and watch fob dangling from its pocket would have been out of place, but this is 21st-century Milan and eccentricity in fashion is a hallmark of the creative spirit these days.” So begins the literary design encounter Reading Dante in Milan.
The protagonist of this story is none other than Percy Bysshe Shelley. It was the honeycombed wall treatments in a luxuriant red that had caught his eye, and it’s no wonder. He’s carrying a leather-bound book of Dante Alighieri’s La Vita Nuova (The New Life), its cover scratched; it’s spine broken from constant openings. The narrative continues, “‘I see you’ve brought a book to read,’ the hostess remarks as she seats him on the roomy leather settee. ‘I’ll put you here so you’ll be comfortable for as long as you like.’
“‘That’s so kind of you,’ Shelley responds. ‘I’m fond of this place already, though it’s a bit of a surprise to find a French brasserie and boulangerie in the heart of Milan!’” This is but one of my literary design encounters on the blog so if you think you might enjoy the fictive realities I’ve created, simply click on the tag and they are all filed there.
Madame Récamier and the Art of Reclining
Jeanne-Françoise Julie Adélaïde Bernard, known after her marriage as Juliette Récamier, was born on December 4, 1777—240 years ago yesterday. Had she lived during modern…
View More Madame Récamier and the Art of RecliningA Conversation on Trends in Textiles
I’m thrilled to announce that I am producing the first in my Modern Salonnière series of events during High Point Market next month. With this…
View More A Conversation on Trends in TextilesThe Sensuous Delight of Place
Like Katherine Mansfield’s enigmatic stories, the book Place by Tara Bernerd feels like “a thread with a subtly woven texture embracing ecstatic feeling, sensuous delight.” The…
View More The Sensuous Delight of PlaceA Backward Glance on rue de Varenne
The narrow sidewalks push their black iron batons up out of the ground to protect the buildings hemming them; the rain turns the cobblestones to…
View More A Backward Glance on rue de VarenneArchitecture with Heart in Bordeaux
In the preface to the book Grand Bordeaux Châteaux: Inside the Fine Wine Estates of France, Philippe Chaix describes discovering Bordeaux as a bewitching act: on…
View More Architecture with Heart in BordeauxThis 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…
View More This Side of ParadiseTransitory Spaces
The beginning of one of Napoléon Bonaparte’s earliest letters to Joséphine de Beauharnais simply oozes sensuality: “Seven in the morning. I awaken full of you…the…
View More Transitory SpacesRewriting the Myth of Pandora
I’ve always been fascinated by the myth of Pandora because the most widely accepted explanation of this parable—that feminine curiosity “is responsible for all the…
View More Rewriting the Myth of PandoraA 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…
View More A Midcentury Cougar on the Prowl