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SAXON HENRY

Author | Journalist | Content Strategist | The Modern Salonnière
SAXON HENRY
Author | Journalist | Content Strategist | The Modern Salonnière
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Tag: philosophers

When I come across particularly visionary designers and architects, I’m never surprised when the talk turns to their favorite philosophers.

I had a seriously powerful experience along these lines during a conversation with the Italian architect Michele De Lucchi. While we were speaking, I was reminded of how Plato likened thought to “a conversation of the soul with itself—a philosophical communication.” The former design director for Olivetti and leading figure in the Memphis design movement has since created a thriving conglomerate melding architecture and product development.

He has envisioned everything from lighting fixtures inspired by Sufi poets to power plants during his esteemed career so far, and his client list is a who’s who of commercial heavyweights. The impetus for my interview was to learn about the architect’s design for La Passeggiata for iSaloni 2015, an artfully rendered cloverleaf to encourage people to stroll through his perceptions. “There is a philosophy of walking in the most antique writings, like those of Plato,” he added. “Every step you take when you are walking, you have a different perspective of space.” I find it interesting that there are layers here: a philosopher citing a philosopher. This makes me love what I do!

A rendering of Michele De Lucchi's La Passeggiata
Architecture Books DesignLabs

Michele De Lucchi: A Conversation of Soul

Saxon Henry January 27, 2015 architectural storytellingauthenticitydesign industry leadersEmotionality of Architecturekeeping diarieslightingNew York Cityphilosophers

The Greek philosopher Plato likened thought to “a conversation of the soul with itself—a philosophical communication.” It isn’t unusual for me to attend thought-provoking events…

View More Michele De Lucchi: A Conversation of Soul
Interior view of the Jewish Museum in Berlin by Libeskind.
Architecture Books DesignLabs

The Age of Genius

Saxon Henry January 5, 2015 architectural storytellingauthenticitydesign industry leadersdesign narrativesEmotionality of ArchitectureGroundbreakerslibrariesMedieval TimesMichelangeloNew York CityphilosophersShakespeare

“Ordinary facts are arranged within time, strung along its length as on a thread,” writes Bruno Schulz in his short story The Age of Genius.…

View More The Age of Genius
The chapter of “Staircases: the Architecture of Ascent” covering 1600-1800 is titled “A Theatre of Power” and illustrated with this sumptuous image of Jean-Léon Gérôme’s “Reception of the Grand Condé at Versailles” [1878], courtesy of The Vendome Press and Musée d’Orsay/Hervé Lewandowski.
Architecture Books Interior Design

Summer Reading with Carmen Natschke

Saxon Henry August 3, 2014 architectural storytellingdecorating historydesign industry leadersFrancegrand residencesItalyLondonpaintersParisphilosopherssummer reading listVersailles

For those of you who think Carmen Natschke, of The Decorating Diva fame, is merely a glamorous gadabout holding court in the design stratosphere, there…

View More Summer Reading with Carmen Natschke
Darryl Carter's Room 21 at Kips Bay
Books Interior Design Philanthropy

Kips Bay Show House

Saxon Henry July 14, 2014 classical antiquitydesign industry leadersdesign narrativesfamous writersgrand residencesliterary design encountersNew York Citynonfiction writersphilosophersWashington DC

“The house is one of the greatest powers of integration for the thoughts, memories and dreams of mankind,” wrote Gaston Bachelard in The Poetics of…

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