Would You Buy This Greek Temple for $5 Million?
Once a month, Town & Country puts together an assortment of design news and happenings—from design trends that everyone seems to be doing to real estate listings in case you're looking for your second or third home. No need to get your decorator on the line... yet.
They Did What?
If you wanted to look the part of the jet set in the mid-20th century, you would shop for couture in Paris and commission a budding modern architect to build your home. That era's glamour is seen in Los Angeles's Stahl House, built by Pierre Koenig in 1960, and the site where Jessie Andrews, founder of Tase Gallery, decided to showcase her new collaboration with Nordic Knots.
According to Andrews, the mid-century modern design of the home was the ideal clean slate to present the five-rug collection. "The Stahl House is one of the most iconic homes in Los Angeles, but I’ve never looked at it as a place I’d want to live. I wanted the challenge of making it my own, showing its views and architecture in a different light. Welcoming, homely and coexisting with nature," she tells T&C.
Your Friends Already Have One. Hurry Up.
Minnie Kemp, the Schiaparelli-loving design director at Kit Kemp Design Studio, is a firm believer that more is more and less is a bore. This means that her clients's latest obsession with shell grottos is right up her alley.
For those who aren't aware, a shell grotto is an artificial cave decorated with shells, stones, and other natural materials, and were popular in European garden design during the Renaissance and Baroque period. Some say that they were often commissioned by sea witches and freemasons.
"People are looking for escapism and magic within the home, and the Shell Grotto is having a resurgence," she tells T&C. Kemp often commissions Mel Campion, a British decorative artist to fulfill her client's requests. Kemp and Campion have recently installed a Shell Grotto in a home in the French Riviera and Barbados. " Today’s clients are looking for opulence and elegance, alcoves encrusted entirely with shells, cushy pinks, blushing peaches, oyster and pearl drops."
Don't Just Rent. Buy.
Gordon Getty, the son of oil baron J. Paul Getty, purchased their Temple of Wings home with his wife, Ann Getty, in 1994. It became an oasis for the couple, as seen by the collection of Tiffany Studio glass panels and lamps, Fortuny dresses, and William Morris rugs the two collected over time and kept in the home. (Last year, these were sold at auction by Christie's.) Now, Getty has decided to sell the house itself.
Listed for $5 million, the Greco-Roman villa is perched in the hills of Berkeley, California. The home covers almost 4,000 square feet and features three bedrooms, two full baths, two powder rooms, two entertaining spaces, a library, and eight balconies. Chief among these features, at least from an aesthetic view, are the 16 Corinthian columns that open up to the views of the San Francisco skyline and the bay.
We Saw This. Have You?
We know you love art, and you might love cars, but is there a world where you can geek out on both at the same time? Start here: Hedley Studios. Founded by Ben Hedley and formerly known as the Little Car Company, the studio works with big car brands to remake models that are no longer in production. They'll tour around in a pop-up gallery style across the United States and Europe, with their inaugural show currently sitting at 16 Main Street, in Sag Harbor.
At their Sag Harbor spot, there's currently an Aston Martin DB5 Junior and Bugatti Baby 11 but this editor's favorite? The seductive curves of the Ferrari Testa Rossa J. You might ask, "What're cars doing in a design column?" Well, you have to fill up your garages, don't you?
Add to Cart...
Ask yourself: are you bored with the generic shapes of a dining table? If so, check out Holly Hunt's new Banyan Dining Table. Its design is based on its namesake tree's sculptural trunk that splits when new branches emerge. And that contrast between American black walnut and hand-polished molded fiberglass? A sure conversation starter at the next dinner you host.
Banyan Dining Table
hollyhunt.com
$8.00
Holly HuntCheaper Than a Second Home
The charming settings of Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name have been plastered on the walls of mood boards since the film came out in 2017, and now, a piece of that manifests in the newly reopened Palazzo Talìa in Rome, Italy.
The hotel sits near the Trevi Fountain and was once home to cardinals and nobles. After three years of a complete overhaul, it begins its second life as a hotel. What will surely attract guests are the interiors: they are done by Guadagnino's interior design firm, Studio Luca Guadagnino, and the hotel marks the team's first venture into hospitality. While the historical relics in the Palazzo remain, Guadagnino ushers the space into a modern age by adding touches like contemporary wood paneling, and furniture made in unusual shapes. Some standouts from the project include the restoration of the Magna Hall which is adorned with 18th-century frescoes by painter Gaspare Serenari, and the glorious Talìa Suite. The room is 250 square meters with 11-meter high ceilings.
T&C Stamp of Approval
This month, Kansas City-based ceramicist Maura Wright will have a gallery exhibition at textile company Zak + Fox's New York City location. There, a selection of her highly ornamented and intricately designed earthenwares will be on display from September 6 to September 30.
Wright's work is a getaway from today's digital age. Not only is the end result often an example of the fruits of handmade labor, but she looks to eras of design's past: from French Rococo porcelains to Italian Fresco paintings, and even to American folk art.
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