Design Recent Picks
October 2009
The underlined titles will take you directly to our catalogue.
Some featured items are linked via a book cover to enable you to read more reviews.
Gypset Style: Jet Set + Gypsy = Gypset by by Julia Chaplin
"Yuppies, Yippies, Jet Setters, Bright Young Things, Generation X, Generation Y . . . and now the Gypset. Fusing the ease and carefree lifestyle of a gypsy with the sophistication of the jet set, the Gypsetters are artists, surfers, designers, and bon vivants who live and work around the globe, from Jose Ignacio, Uruguay and Ibiza, Spain, to Montauk, New York. Gypset Style explores the unconventional, wanderlust lives of these high-low cultural nomads and the bohemian enclaves they inhabit, as well as their counterculture forbears, such as the Victorian explorers, the Lost Generation, the Beatniks, and the hippies. And along the way, author Julia Chaplin looks back at quintessential gypsy boho moments in social history." (Amazon)
Minimalism and Color DesignSource by Aitana Lleonart
"Minimalism in interior design goes beyond plain white surfaces to incorporate aspects like textural subtlety and color accents. Minimalism and Color DesignSource reminds us that the introduction of color accents within a world of whiteness recalls the fact that white light is the origin of the whole spectrum of colors. Origins of minimalism in the Modern Movement, and other styles are covered along with decorative criteria on color combinations to present harmonious spaces." (Amazon)
Rooms to Inspire in the Country: The Infinite Possibilities of American House Design by Annie Kelly
"Country living evokes bucolic landscapes and picturesque villages—rolling Connecticut countryside, verdant farmland, the sun-drenched hills of Malibu—and the architecture that echoes these idyllic settings. These houses, ranging from family estates to weekend retreats, are the personal homes of decorators and tastemakers, including Jonathan Adler, Martyn Lawrence-Bullard, and Steven Gambrel. The properties exemplify varied design perspectives and provide fresh ideas about how country living is ideal for creative expression. This inspiring medley ranges from Tony Duquette’s exotic pavilion-style California home to a charming New York Victorian, a modernist Palm Springs desert getaway by Neutra, a nineteenth-century Gothic cottage on Shelter Island, and an eighteenth-century Connecticut house. (Amazon)
The Poetic Home: Designing the Nineteenth-Century Domestic Interior by Stefan Muthesius
"This beautifully illustrated and meticulously researched book reveals the emergence of a new sensibility in the design of the home in Europe and America during the nineteenth century. There was a new emphasis on the texture and color of fabrics, wood, and wallpaper, as well as on the more abstract ideas of line and form, light and dark. A different concept of the interior arose, stressing the "mood" of each room, alongside a fervent concern for national identity and a country's bygone age: interiors were now to express an "Old English," "ancien régime," or "Old Colonial" character.The way a room was visualized and discussed then continues to mark our sense of the "good interior."
(Amazon)
Orlando Diaz-Azcuy by Diane Dorrans Saeks
"San Francisco-based Orlando Diaz-Azcuy’s mastery of the home interior has made him one of America’s most renowned designers. One of the West Coast’s most well-respected and prolific designers, his elegantly composed rooms speak volumes for his spare, intelligent, and disciplined touch. His interiors—located in Miami and New York as well as San Francisco—combine a modernist approach of architecturally clean lines and urbane sensibility with smart flashes of bold color or a pedigreed period statement piece to balance a curated look. Regarded by professionals as a "dean of interior design" and a pioneer of minimalist design since the early 1980s, Diaz-Azcuy has been an epic if under-recognized influence to all those interested in interior architecture and design. With insightful texts on his design methodologies and sensibility, Orlando Diaz-Azcuy stands to be one of the most important interior design monographs of the season."(Amazon)
Furniture Design and Construction for the Interior Designer by Christopher Natale
"Furniture Design and Construction for the Interior Designer satisfies the need in the interior design field for a source that teaches the aesthetic as well as the construction of residential furniture. Beginning chapters cover the design process as it relates to furniture design, basic materials, hardware, joinery, and finishes. Because interior designers organize and create livable spaces, later chapters are organized room by room, showing how pieces are constructed for a particular space. Understanding the basic construction of furniture greatly increases the success of the design."(Amazon)
The Visual Dictionary of Interior Architecture and Design by Michael Coates, Graeme Brooker, Sally Stone
"How do designers and architects think? In words? No! They think in pictures, in colors, in spatial relations. Packed with more than 250 full-color images and definitions, The Visual Dictionary of Interior Architecture and Design is the ideal resource for design and architecture students, professionals, and visual thinkers everywhere. Beautifully presented and illustrated, this guide to the many terms used in interior design and architecture defines hundreds of terms, both modern and traditional, with clear explanations and full-color pictures. Small enough for a backpack yet full of practical information, this is the definitive take-along book for job site or classroom." (Amazon)
The Southern Cosmopolitan: Sophisticated Southern Style by Susan Sully
"The Southern Cosmopolitan looks at the tradition of style shaping the South’s architecture and interior design. A selection of luxurious houses from Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, Atlanta, Natchez, Georgetown, and Alexandria celebrates the sophisticated side of southern style with a mix of modern art, antiques, and exotic textiles. A perfect summary of southern taste for those charmed by both the grandeur and intimate details that make these homes so hospitable." (Amazon)
Big Book of Interiors, The: Design Ideas for Every Room by Agata Losantos
"The Big Book of Interiors features more than 600 different design ideas covering every room in the house...and then some.Each section opens with text describing the decorating challenges unique to that part of the house, followed by full-color design ideas showcasing hundreds of different solutions to outfit every size room with a range of current interior style methods.The styles featured focus on the most popular used by today's best interior designers, including New rococo, Minimalism, New Rustic, Retro and Contemporary. Photographs are accompanied by captions explaining the different approaches from each designer and architect. Whether it's one room or an entire house, Big Book of Interiors is the ultimate reference for every homeowner ready to redecorate." (Amazon)
Villa by John Saladino
"John Saladino's powerful new book is nothing less than a master class in interior and garden design. Villa focuses on the stone ruin in Southern California that Saladino painstakingly refashioned into his dream house, and it shows how his principles and passions guided him through the five-year process of reconstruction, restoration, and decoration. With the aid of plans and drawings, as well as numerous photographs of the house — how it looked in the 1920s, shots of when he bought it, and snaps taken during reconstruction — Saladino traces the architectural work involved. Then, in a superbly illustrated tour of the house and grounds, he proves that he practices what he’s preached for more than 30 years. Juxtaposing light and dark, old and new, classical and modern, monumental and miniscule, hard and soft, Saladino creates the serenely timeless interiors and gardens that are his hallmark." (Amazon)
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