Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2021 i ELLE DECOR

WHILE PUTTING TOGETHER this issue, it struck us that when this edition of ELLE DECOR arrives in your mailbox and on newsstands, it will have been just over one (very long) year since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over a year of seeing our homes in brand-new ways, and over a year of complaining about Zoom’s pitfalls even as we embraced its voyeuristic pleasures. Among those pleasures was catching glimpses of interiors we wouldn’t otherwise have had a chance to see at all, a pastime that has been central to the mission (and mischief) of ELLE DECOR since the beginning. This month we’re being nosy neighbors yet again as we visit the homes of some of the most interesting decorators and designers working today. Our cover star—and star is…

TABLE TALK Marine Base Nature and technology are often seen as opposing forces. But in a new dining table by Antoine Fritsch and Vivien Durisotti for Roche Bobois, they find symbiosis. Dubbed Corail (“coral” in French), the piece features a customizable base made of 3D-printed-concrete layers that resemble underwater reefs, or clusters of mushrooms on a tree trunk. Beyond the aesthetic benefits, going the 3D printer route means that each table can soon be produced closer to its final destination, cutting the carbon emissions usually associated with shipping. 110" w. X 47" d. X 28.5" h., price upon request. roche-bobois.com SHELF LIFE Spring Back Four upcoming books offer bounty, renewal, and perspective. By Bebe Howorth From treehouses to mountaintops, let the elements be your guide as Living in Nature (Phaidon)…

FOR ALL THE FINERY THAT NOW BEARS THE Louis Vuitton label—ready-to-wear and fragrances, monogrammed handbags and intricate watches—the quintessentially French maison started out in 1854 as a purveyor of trunks and travel goods. Reverence for those origins pervades every aspect of the brand. Its latest high-jewelry designs are inspired by journeys of an unconventional nature: through time and space. For the Riders of the Knights collection, artistic director for jewelry and watches Francesca Amfitheatrof traversed centuries to celebrate rule-defying medieval heroines and other feminine archetypes of power and prowess, such as queens, female cavalry, and oracles. The jewels allude to the strength and audacity of those women with details like weighty links embedded with diamonds, resembling exquisite chain mail. Meanwhile, the Stellar Times collection explores the distant reaches of the…

Items pictured but not listed are from private collections. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE 16: Ottoman: Jean Philippe Demeyer, jpdemeyer.com. PAGE 20: Table: B&B Italia, bebitalia.com. Flooring: Max Lamb, maxlamb.org. POV Interior design: Studio Schicketanz, studioschicketanz.com. Landscaping: Ground Studio Landscape Architecture, groundstudio.com. PAGES 32–33: Cushion fabric: Kerry Joyce, kerryjoyce.com. Sofa: Flexform, flexform.it. Cocktail tables: B & B Italia, bebitalia.com. Aluminum sliders: Fleetwood, fleetwoodusa.com. Wallcovering: Phillip Jeffries, phillipjeffries.com. Chairs: Poltrona Frau, poltronafrau.com. Cabinetry: Sozo Studio, sozostudio.com. Backsplash: Bisazza, bisazza.com. Bathtub: Concreteworks, concreteworks.com. Faucet: Brizo, brizo.com. Skylight: Royalite Manufacturing, royalitemfg.com. Bed and chairs: Flexform. Lamp: Burke Decor, burkedecor.com. Rug: Tai Ping, houseoftaiping.com. Wall paint: Farrow & Ball, farrow-ball.com. WHAT’S HOT PAGE 35: Blue vases: Normann Copenhagen, normann-copenhagen.com. Rugs: Heymat, heymat.com. White vase: Lyngby Porcelaen, wshome.com. Table and candlesticks: Hay, us.hay.com. Chair: Fritz Hansen,…

UNTIL MAY OF LAST YEAR, I’D LIVED ON THE East Coast my entire life, mostly in a series of apartments dotted across Manhattan and Brooklyn. None had outdoor space. Two months into the pandemic, my family and I moved to the Bay Area. With that shift, I became newly attuned to the natural world—and acutely aware of just how little I understood it. City life meant that I’d never had to ask how forests grow back after a wildfire, or how water tables dictate where you can and can’t build a house, or how a native plant will persevere where a non-native species will not. The paradox of California is that pretty much anything will theoretically grow here, but persistent drought conditions, which then exacerbate the fire season, make the…

FEW WALLPAPERS ARE more recognizable than Martinique, a riot of fronds created in 1942 by a Los Angeles wallpaper company, CW Stockwell, in collaboration with illustrator Albert Stockdale and canonized a few years later by its installation at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Adapting such a storied motif would be intimidating for anyone, but when CW Stockwell CEO Katy Polsby suggested as much to George Venson, founder of the New York textiles studio Voutsa, he was game. Launching this month, Martinique Celebration skillfully mines that history while making the most of a turbulent year. Polsby provided Venson with rolls of Martinique Encore, a 2019 reimagining of the original banana-leaf pattern in fresh new bicolor hues. The papers acted as a substrate onto which Venson, who is trained as a fine artist,…

When it comes to sustainability in fashion, brands often stress a few well-trodden talking points: earth-friendly fabrics, mindful water usage, minimal packaging. Designer Maria Cornejo’s eco-mindedness, however, extends beyond her use of organic and upcycled textiles, permeating every facet of her label, Zero + Maria Cornejo. “It’s not just about materials. It’s about the human cost, whether something is local, the well-being of your workers, and the idea of a holistic company,” she explains. “It’s asking, What is the least harmful? And getting creative with less.” Since starting her line in 1998, Cornejo, who was born in Chile and moved to England as a refugee when she was 11, has eschewed trends in favor of a less-is-more aesthetic that emphasizes continuity and longevity. For her fall 2021 collection, she offered…

WHEN ARCHITECT STEPHANIE GOTO WAS tasked with creating an outdoor dining experience for the vaunted New York restaurant Daniel, she did so with an eye to the natural world. “As architects and designers, we’ve always talked about ‘bringing the outside in,’” says Goto. “And I think that in this moment when we’ve been retreating indoors, it’s really about how you bring the indoors out.” The ubiquitous dining parklet—or “streetery”—is perhaps the most visible symbol of a current fascination with alfresco architectural interventions born out of necessity, but with potentially lasting effects on the built environment. The space Goto created—dubbed Boulud Sur Mer—is a cluster of bungalows that evoke the French seaside. Their spiky roofs look like ocean waves but also mimic the city skyline just beyond; partitions outfitted with porthole…

IN A 19TH-CENTURY NEIGHBORHOOD IN MEXICO City, a jewel of 20th-century Mexican modernism sits quietly tucked away among the trees. Across town, the design cognoscenti book months in advance for a timed peek at Casa Luis Barragán, the home and studio of the famed Mexican architect. But here in the city’s Colonia San Rafael enclave, furniture designer Mark Grattan has only to roll out of bed to find himself immersed in the world of Barragán, having scored a coveted apartment in a rare building designed by the late icon. Grattan is the founder of a red-hot furniture design studio, VIDIVIXI, and a star on the rise. Solange Knowles recently nabbed him as a product development consultant for her design studio and creative agency, Saint Heron. And this spring, the charismatic…

THE BELGIAN DESIGN WIZARD JEAN-PHILIPPE DEMEYER HAS LONG BEEN ATTRACTED TO HISTORY—AND TO AN artful reimagining of the past. He describes his style as a kind of “new romance,” with each room conjured through a visual alchemy he calls “a mix of controlled chaos and coincidence.” For the past 15 years, his home has been nothing if not romantic. With its earliest section dating from medieval times, the former hunting lodge—complete with moat—outside of Bruges in East Flanders has served as his home and the base for JPDemeyer&Co, his interior and garden design studio that he operates with his two business partners, Frank ver Elst and Jean-Paul Dewever. Since the trio took over this Gothic countryside estate, they have turned it into an exuberant color- and pattern-filled extravaganza that is…

Designer Bunny Williams is known for, among many things, the exquisite decor and gardens at her home in Connecticut, and for her books on both topics. Who better, then, to imagine the perfect garden table? Inspired by the elegance of utilitarian greenhouse furniture, this piece is made from hot-dipped galvanized steel and white oak. And while its scroll legs and ball feet hark back to classical design, functionality was also a priority for Williams: The slatted-wood top ensures that water can properly drain when one is potting plants or arranging flowers. “You want durable materials and a finish that not only withstands frequent use but will weather beautifully and develop a patina over time,” Williams explains. Though her creation need not be limited to horticulture—it could also work as a…

GREEN IS ALL GROWN up. Since 1970, when April 22 was celebrated as the first Earth Day, conversations about eco-conscious design have been reaching broader audiences than they ever have before. Now, ELLE DECOR is proud to launch EARTH, an editorial initiative highlighting game changers in sustainable design across five categories: furniture, interiors, architecture, landscape design, and urban planning. With the help of a committee of experts, we’ll be surveying each of these fields for the best of the best in sensitive, holistic design at every scale. The standouts will be celebrated in our October issue, as well as featured in a series of both virtual and live events. But we won’t just be talking about recycled materials or renewable energy (though both are still critically important). EARTH is an…

SHORTLY AFTER GRADUATING FROM COLLEGE, Tatyana Miron Ahlers moved from Boston to Brooklyn and took up residence with four guys in their early 20s. “We could barely be bothered to kick the junk mail out of the doorway,” says one of those roommates, Kelefa Sanneh, now a staff writer for the New Yorker. But Ahlers “embarked upon brave projects to try and upgrade the place,” says Sanneh, recalling the arrival of “a beautiful pair of 1940s slipper chairs, which lived unhappily amid our postcollegiate crap like exotic animals in a shabby zoo.” At her next apartment, a miraculous space in Manhattan where a hidden deck was accessible via a kitchen window, she taught all her peers how to entertain effortlessly. Freshly arrived in the city, I remember climbing through that…

WHEN BRAZILIAN DESIGNER JULIANA Lima Vasconcellos was a child, she dreamed of being a painter. Then, for a time, it was a fashion designer. At age 11, she decided to pursue architecture. No one in her family was an artist, she says, but “I’ve always liked strange pieces of furniture, strange clothes—things that are different and potentially difficult to understand.” These days, Vasconcellos’s design practice straddles architecture, furniture, and interiors, and that desire to include something almost unknowable in her work often translates to a focus on contemporary art, which she passionately collects. But back in 2009, when she first stumbled upon the Rio de Janeiro apartment that is now one of her homes, Vasconcellos was initially drawn to something that wasn’t mysterious at all. Through a bank of windows…

SYLVIE BECQUET “It’s simple, but not so simple,” says Becquet of her light-filled Paris home, which she shares with her husband and the couple’s terrier, Easy Lady. The photographer has lived in the fifth-floor duplex apartment in the city’s 16th arrondissement for the past decade. There’s nothing fussy to be found among its treasures, but there are plenty of treasures to fuss over: a view of the Eiffel Tower, for one, and a plaster mirror rescued from the set of Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et La Bête. ALANNA HALE For Hale, the centerpiece of her San Francisco apartment is a bookshelf of her own making, built from repurposed wood scaffolding and topped with beloved books and personal mementos, like a ceramic elephant that was originally part of her baby mobile.…