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…
View More The Seat of Scottish PowerTag: 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.
Reading Dante in Milan
“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…
View More Reading Dante in MilanI 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…
View More I Met Virginia Woolf in This RoomThrough the Looking Glass into Devon
Through the Looking Glass Into Devon “‘What is the use of a book,’ thought Alice, ‘without pictures or conversations?’” “What is the use of a…
View More Through the Looking Glass into DevonThe Red Carpet Treatment
There is a momentum to writing that, once interrupted, is challenging to reboot. I’ve experienced this first-hand during the past two months as I have…
View More The Red Carpet TreatmentAn Unsung Hero of Modern Design
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 DesignTimothy Oulton Design Adventurer
“As the momentous words ‘England is now, therefore, in a state of war with Germany’ came somberly over the radio, Major James Bigglesworth, D.S.O., better…
View More Timothy Oulton Design AdventurerThe Peacock Room à la Whistler
The most recognizable painting by artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler might lead you to believe he was as Puritan as his upbringing. The fact he…
View More The Peacock Room à la WhistlerThe 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,…
View More The Tides In Our VeinsHorace Walpole Shops The Decorative Fair
The books I’ve been reading about Horace Walpole since I returned from my trip to London to attend The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in…
View More Horace Walpole Shops The Decorative Fair