Amanda Brooks lives an enviable life. The former New York fashion executive settled happily in the English countryside and found a new avenue in Cutter Brooks (cutterbrooks.com), her small village shop that developed worldwide fans thanks to her knowing eye for chic country style, her relentless pursuit of the unusual, and her relationship with venerable artisanal firms. Join us as we unpack how she got her start, and what she plans to gift this holiday. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Whether designing a private apartment or public hotel, or turning his expertise to furniture, AD100 superstar Pierre Yovanovitch has a confident hand, and his talent for manipulating hard materials like wood, stone, and bronze makes them seem soft and sensual. But while aesthetic is important to the French star, he believes function is key, focusing on creating designs that comfort the body while delighting the eye. Join me as we talk about his career inspirations, and dreams for the future. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Cult British designer Matlida Goad is full of ideas, creating "pieces to elevate the home with the most minimal upheaval," as she calls them. Hers are the sort of items—happy, colorful, charming, and unusual—that one wants to keep as much as one wants to give. While Goad's mum was her very first customer, you may find yourself her next as she discusses her latest products, among them whimsical takes on everyday items like pitchers, planters, placemats, or eggcups (matildagoad.com). I hope you enjoy the program. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Roman Alonso and Steven Johanknecht, the founders of the AD100 design firm Commune, chose a name that says it all: many talents across multiple disciplines, creating artful and soulful collaborations. Join me as they talk candidly about their new book, Design Commune (Abrams), their formative days at Barneys New York, and how they approach fearless design in harnessing the talent around them. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
On August 4, 2020, an explosion shook Beirut. Days later, French-Lebanese sisters Laura and Sophie Tabet came up with an idea for an online marketplace, Beirut Re-Store (beirutrestore.com/), which ultimately came to feature 173 talents selling artworks and all proceeds going to independent NGOs to help with reconstruction. Laura, a creative director, and Sophie, a production designer, join me to recount their personal stories and the international community that's joined them. Note: Graphic descriptions may disturb some listeners. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Monty Don, the celebrated British broadcaster and horticulturalist, and Derry Moore, the legendary photographer, know how to capture the soul of a garden, having published several delightful books on the subject. The latest from these longtime friends is American Gardens (Prestel Publishing), a sweeping tour of landscapes both famous and obscure, classic and eccentric—and ultimately, singularly, defining what makes a garden indeed American. Join us. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Considered the plastic of its day, rattan has never had a celebratory volume until now, with tastemaker Lulu Lytle's recently published book, Rattan: A World of Elegance and Charm (Rizzoli, with a foreword by yours truly). Lytle, of Soane Britain, spent years researching the material and its airy sense of style. Her sweeping survey of its inclusion in design, from solariums to cafes to the most fashionable interiors of all time, is one we explore together. I hope you enjoy the program. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Federico Forquet, the top-flight Italian couturier who, at the height of his genius, pivoted to design exquisite interiors and gardens, is indefatigable well into his 80s as he continues creating rooms, landscapes, and a forthcoming museum exhibition. Join Hamish Bowles, the International Editor at Large of Vogue, and Guido Taroni, fashion and interiors photographer, as they share an exclusive look at their new book, The World of Federico Forquet: Italian Fashion, Interiors, and Gardens (Rizzoli), a dazzling polychrome extravaganza with a rich, detailed eye on Forquet's work. I hope you enjoy the program. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Historian Despina Stratigakos startled the academic world with her book Hitler at Home (Yale University Press), a powerful and unsettling examination of the ruler's homes. Beyond showcasing Germany's finest design, the dark premise also suggests the interiors served as propaganda intended to normalize the dictator to a global stage, as a man of culture and refinement. In her latest book, Hitler's Northern Utopia (Princeton University Press), Stratigakos turns her critical eye to the little-known story of the Third Reich's intent to reconstruct Norway as a means to bind the country closer to Germany. Join us. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
When AD100 interior designer Michael S. Smith was tapped to decorate the private quarters of the Obama White House, he found himself pondering heady questions such as, How do you get the leader of the free world to agree to red curtains? In his new book, Designing History: The Extraordinary Art & Style of the Obama White House (Rizzoli), Smith offers design enthusiasts and historians alike a close look at his masterful transformation. Today, he joins me to talk about the Obamas' personal style and what it was like to work with the thoughtful couple on the project of a lifetime. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Celebrating his new book Twelve Gardens Around the World (Editions Gourcuff Gradenig), AD100 landscape designer Louis Benech takes readers on a global journey of paradises, where each acreage has "juste." As many a design writer has noted, the magic of Benech is that he conjures gardens that look as is they have never been created at all. Join us for a transporting talk through the paths of his imagination. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Edo Mapelli Mozzi—the same who recently married Queen Elizabeth's granddaughter, Princess Beatrice—has for a dozen years been known in the UK as the founder and CEO of Banda. Created with the idea to identify unconventional buildings in neighborhoods off the slightly beaten path and to inventively transform them into impeccable luxury modern residences, he has a talent for developing top-notch urban homes at a lower price point. Long passionate about historic architecture, Mapelli Mozzi joins me today to chat about new projects, future trends, and how the pandemic has already changed what people want a home to be. I hope you enjoy the program. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Nicole Hollis, a leading American interior designer in San Francisco with a new monograph out from Rizzoli (NICOLEHOLLIS: Curated Interiors), describes her approach as less about pattern and color and more about shaping spaces with intention. Here, she speaks frankly about how her dyslexia acts as a creative springboard—a challenge and a gift, underscoring the importance of visual memory—and how she designs by reduction, focusing on forms and materials and how they interact and activate each other. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Nobody understands Moroccan style better than international tastemaker, designer, and businesswoman Meryanne Loum-Martin, owner of the celebrated boutique hotel Jnane Tamsna and author of the new book, Inside Marrakesh: Enchanting Homes and Gardens (Rizzoli), which opens the doors to multiple private houses across the style spectrum—including a most-modern home constructed via 25,000 donkey cartfuls of materials. Join us as we travel to the heart of Marrakech design today, exploring the city's best and most inspiring rooms as described through the aesthetic language of both its insiders and expats. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Bunny Mellon may have been well known as an art collector, a philanthropist, and a self-taught landscape artist—yet it is the latter that is the focus of two new books debuting this fall: Bunny Mellon Garden Journal and Garden Secrets of Bunny Mellon (Vendome), in collaboration with garden historian Linda Jane Holden; interior designer Bryan Huffman, Mrs. Mellon's close friend; and Thomas Lloyd, Mrs. Mellon's grandson and president of the family's Gerald B. Lambert Foundation. All three join me to discuss the Mrs. Mellon, her life, and her gardens; I hope you enjoy the program. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Architectural criticism has been a constant for centuries, with buildings under scrutiny throughout the ages. Interior design, however, has always received the white-glove treatment. Why? Join me for a lively discussion between Wendy Goodman, of New York magazine, and Suzanne Stephens, of Architectural Record, as we discuss the critiques of interiors and the history of aesthetic judgments. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jayne Wrightsman rocketed to international prominence from Midwestern obscurity, transforming herself into one of the most distinguished collectors of both French and English decorative arts along with her husband Charles B. Wrightsman. With the upcoming auction of her estate later this month, Christie’s experts William Strafford and Alan Wintermute join me as we discuss not just her many treasures but the woman who has rightly earned her place in the pantheon of American connoisseurship. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Historian Clive Aslet and photographer Dylan Thomas have captured a dozen romantic British country homes in their forthcoming book, Old Homes, New Life (Triglyph, July 2020), exploring in great detail the stories behind each property. Join me as they share how the younger generations are making their mark on these estates, from structural improvements to clever onsite businesses that are designed to keep these family homes preserved and productive for generations to come. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Though we live in the age of machines, we find ourselves drawn time and again to natural materials tooled by hand. With its focus on traditional craftsmanship, The American College of the Building Arts (ACBA) in South Carolina understands this instinct, offering instruction in areas like blacksmithing, stone-carving, and timber-framing. Talking about the importance of these centuries-old arts are William Bates, ACBA's chair of Architecture and Allied Arts, and Joe Whisonant, a recent graduate who has contributed to the restoration of Versailles and Notre Dame. I hope you enjoy the program. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Wallpaper, once scorned as fussy, has come into its own lately, with powerful patterns and brilliant palettes. But the genre's history is deep and even surprising. Join Carolle Thibaut-Pomerantz, the world's leading dealer in antique wallpapers, and Chris Ohrstrom, co-founder of the handmade wallpaper firm Adelphi Paper Hangings, as we look at the papers that decorate one's private rooms, the provocative designs that persist today, and the mode of creation, which remains as laborious and precise as it was more than 200 years ago. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices