Indholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2024 i Veranda

SCAN THE CODE at left or visit veranda.com/color-of-the-year for decorating ideas, designer tips, shopping guides, and more.…

Theatrical Bar Cabinets New cellarettes blend the main character energy of their midcentury predecessors with flawless showmanship. To mahogany fluting, Louis XVI styling, and Fornasetti realism, we raise a glass. Serpentine Sofas For settling in and sharing a season’s worth of scandal: Sociable, Deco-curvy seats by makers from Odette to Highland House gently angle the conversation, bringing everyone into the fold. Decadent Drinks Tables Groovy forms and refined materials—polished bronze, vellum leather, faux gesso—make rising starlets of these petite parlor essentials. Lively Party Perches Personality-rich, one-off seating allows guests to pop smoothly in and out of conversations: Think mohair stopped stools, colorful slipper chairs, backless benches—all making for epic after-dinner drama.…

A Nostalgic Greeting High Country Hospitality STANDING AT ATTENTION with golden trumpets raised, a brigade of six-foot-tall toy soldiers lines High Hampton’s winding drive, shepherding guests into a holiday scene of yesteryear. Across the estate, flurries of gargantuan snowflakes twinkle against a backdrop of evergreens and rock face, while giant wooden “gifts” set beneath historic champion trees tease the surprise of Christmas morning. The bark-sided Inn resembles a life-size gingerbread house. Of the wintry display, “the owners imagine a quintessential North Carolina mountain Christmas,” says Jason Lowe, who spearheads the historic inn’s seasonal decoration. Members of the Beall family, who also own Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee, acquired the Cashiers property in 2020 and, along with Blackberry Farm Design, determined that preserving the Inn’s nostalgic spirit was as essential as…

EVEN STORIES CARVED IN STONE can disappear if we’re not careful,” John LaVerne, founder of Bulldog Tours, observes while pointing out the barely readable markings in slate and marble tombstones in the Circular Congregational Church graveyard, one of Charleston, South Carolina’s oldest. He shares the subtle yet significant admonition as he leads me on an architectural scavenger hunt of sorts, looking for the best examples of the city’s design traditions. For exclusive access to bring guests here, LaVerne splits proceeds with the church to support its preservation. His sustainable tourism model, through which he has raised $6 million for historic landmarks in Charleston since founding the company in 2001, limits the number of people who can visit this prerevolutionary graveyard while supporting restoration of its 19th-, 18th-, and even 17th-century tombstones.…

“Privacy, please.” My suite ambassador aboard Ilma, The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection’s latest superyacht to launch, explains how to signal through lighting if I don’t want my 650-squarefoot stateroom serviced. His words might just as well be a tagline for my journey from Barcelona to Monte Carlo. At 790 feet and designed to accommodate up to only 448 passengers, Ilma boasts one of the highest guest-to-staff and space per guest ratios in the industry. Its 224 light-filled suites, all with private terraces, are brilliantly crafted to ensure every need, from stowing shoes to solitary sunbathing, is luxuriously met. The ship’s supreme comfort reflects its innovative design (an optimized hull shape and propulsion system minimize noise, vibrations, and emissions for smooth sailing in almost any conditions) and extends to its public spaces:…

TRISTAN PITRE HAD TWO DAYS’ notice to get from Montecito to a warehouse in Bordeaux. Last November, the 34-year-old wine director of the legendary San Ysidro Ranch resort flew overnight to Paris, then rendezvoused in Bordeaux with the broker who’d brought news of the private collector looking to offoad a once-in-a-lifetime 138-bottle cache of Château d’Yquem. It was a sale that, according to Pitre, “is hands down the best dessert wine made in the world every year.” And the best, San Ysidro must have. Founded as a mission and citrus farm, the ranch evolved into an exclusive getaway, hosting the likes of Winston Churchill, Audrey Hepburn, and John F. and Jackie Kennedy, who honeymooned here in 1953. Privacy remains the appeal under owner Ty Warner, the Beanie Babies billionaire and…

STATIONER MARCIE PANTZER might radiate innovative, next-gen energy and entrepreneurial gusto, but the Manhattan mother of four nurses a serious yen for old-fashioned things. Handwritten traditions are one and the conversational value of a sit-down dinner is another. Her company, Dear Annabelle, designs and produces fine stationery and home goods, from note cards and invitations to chic cocktail napkins and playing cards. “I’ve entertained since college,” she says. “I have had so much fun combining that with my love of stationery.” To herald the New Year, Pantzer forgoes the loose cocktail drop-in in favor of a seated dinner. “There’s an intimacy to having a longer meal together,” she says. “If you’re standing, you have lots of short conversations with one or two people.” At a dinner, by contrast, the pacing…

I USED TO THINK TRAVEL WAS ALL about escapism: a chance to jettison the same-oldness of my day-to-day and inhabit a more beguiling life—at least for a week or so. Then travel became all about the discovery, opportunities for enrichment, and maybe a little shopping. But lately travel has opened my eyes more and more to the art of hospitality and, with it, glimpses of home from afar. As the editor in chief of VERANDA, I spend a fair amount of time in hotels—and, boy, have they upped their game in recent years. Gone are the cookie-cutter rooms blanketed in beige where you could be anywhere, swapped out instead for distinctive design that evokes an intoxicating mood. Such was what I discovered at two of our World’s Most Beautiful Hotels…

The MISCHIEF-MAKER “What would happen if…” is this pal’s motto, and he can turn a party on its head in an instant—with a wink that makes coconspirators of us all. A playful gift that bucks convention piques his senses, and if it fuels more high jinks, we'll never tell. The PEACOCK The see-and-be-seen scene is her invention, and she delights at the bright, shiny things that make grander her entrances. An oversize beaded gold choker? She’ll take two. The WALLFLOWER You won’t find her working the room, but admiring the hostess’s faux-bois tea set? Now we’re talking. Her own table is alive with flowers and other pretty garden tributes. The PARTY CRASHER RSVPs are optional; time is fluid for this X factor friend who arrives at just the right hour with a burst…

SAVOR THE SUNRISE IN RIO DE JANEIRO LINGERING IS THE NEW LUXURY. Come sunset, it’s never easy to wave goodbye to a most-loved port of call as the ship pulls anchor, and some cruise lines are slowing the pace for as many as three port overnights on a single journey. Favorites for 2025–2026: Paul Gauguin Cruises’ dreamy trifecta of Bora-Bora, Moorea, and Tahiti on some of its itineraries and a constellation of must-sleepover cities including Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Mumbai, and Kyoto on Oceania Cruises’ 2025–2026 Tropics & Exotics voyage season. Everyone’s charting a cooler course. The stickers on your steamer trunk next year will be electrifying: Japan, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, India, Australia. Ships are stirring renewed wanderlust with added destinations ideal for exploring by water. Azamara Cruises’ Japan…

Catamarans must be the Caribbean’s version of glamping, I imagine as I step aboard Nomada at Sea for a five-day sail through the British Virgin Islands. It’s a restored Lagoon 620 catamaran, the maiden cruising experience from California-based Nomada hotel group, and the sea’s chicest boutique hotel, expertly appointed with swanky superyacht-quality fixtures and finishes within an intimate 62 foot vessel. Rivaling the thrill of the charter’s customized itineraries is its design: In one of the handwoven Janus et Cie chairs around the lower deck’s alfresco dining table, I indulge in gourmet meals prepared by our private chef; on the main cabin’s geometric Pierre Frey–covered banquette, my fellow travelers and I sip coffee and play cards; in my private cabin, I watch the sunrise through the wall-spanning windows from the…

A FAMILY TRIP TO Munich sounds like fun, right? Schnitzel, schlosses, and Oktoberfest would be the typical lures. But my sister, Kitty, and I have never been known to follow the crowd—unless that crowd is heading toward Old Master paintings. We like 500-year-old artworks that speak to us from out of the past, and that is what brought us to the Bavarian capital earlier this year. As an art writer who talks to curators frequently, I had heard that the city’s Alte Pinakothek museum had a particularly choice collection of more than 700 masterpieces by the likes of Botticelli, Rubens, Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Hals—a murderer’s row of all-time greats. Kitty and I both have an easily activated sense of FOMO, and so the idea that there was…

It’s Thanksgiving morning and some 8,700 people huddle by the front steps of The Dewberry. Since opening the luxury hotel overlooking Charleston, South Carolina’s Marion Square in 2016, John Dewberry has always envisioned the midcentury landmark as a sophisticated community hub, dubbing its tony brass-and-leather lobby the “living room.” But with the annual turkey trot starting line at your front door, welcoming throngs of drumstickhatted runners is another level of hospitality—one that’s festive, energized, perhaps slightly sweaty. Yet it’s an openhearted greeting John and his wife, Jaimie, love. They also love that as trotters trot, race, and wobble down the Meeting Street route, they pass the young family’s 1770 Georgian-style residence, where they and their houseguests cheer them on, coffee in hand. Actually Jaimie and John adore everything about Thanksgiving…

COME ON IN… THE BAR IS OPEN Page 28 Glass cigarettes, Design Supply. Page 32 Glass cigarettes, Design Supply. Caspari Tortoiseshell playing cards, Nina Campbell. TRIMMED IN TRADITION Interior design: Jason Lowe, design business manager, and Blackberry Farm Design; blackberryfarmdesign.com. Page 58 (middle) Chair fabric: Pierre Frey; pierrefrey.com. Sofa fabric: Lee Jofa; kravet.com. Drapery trim: Brunschwig & Fils. Page 61 (bottom left) Pillow fabric: Schumacher; schumacher.com. INTO THE SNOWY WOOD Pages 62–63 Swedish demilune tables and sphere, Architectural Heritage. French faux-bois concrete garden bench, Lolo French Antiques. Papier-mâché pomegranate branches, Casa Gusto. Vintage architectural panels, Elegant Earth. IN THE PINK Architecture: Kyle Bartholemew Fant; bartholemewpartners.com. Landscape architecture: Jorge Sanchez; smilandscapearchitecture.com. Page 64 Umbrella: One Kings Lane; onekingslane.com. Dining chairs: Serena & Lily; serenaandlily.com. Page 65 Drapery fabric: Clarence House; clarencehouse.com.…

Star Power A constellation of free-form aquamarines, electric blue zircons, and diamonds set in platinum and yellow gold from Tiffany & Co.’s Céleste collection is the latest reimagining of archival Jean Schlumberger sketches and designs, shining new light on his galactic fascination. Technicolor Glory For its newest high jewelry collection, The Dualism of Milan, Pomellato takes cues from Milanese architect Gio Ponti, whose colorful landmarks are the foundation for the house’s plastron necklace featuring a fiery display of red, pink, purple, violet, gray, orange, amber, and scarlet spinels meticulously arranged around a diamond-laced rose gold chain. The kaleidoscopic spinels reappear in complementary earrings. Tropical Wave David Morris’s just-out high jewelry collection, Mystic Cove, invokes the brilliant color and texture of a tranquil lagoon, nodding to flora and fauna like the…

If only Marjorie Merriweather Post were here to see this, I think as our crew takes to the riggings more than a hundred feet off the deck to unfurl the sails of this storied ship. The Post cereal heiress, businesswoman, philanthropist, and collector of French and Russian imperial decorative arts built Sea Cloud in 1931, then the largest private yacht in the world. Having survived service in World War II and post-Post ownership by a notorious Caribbean dictator, it has since come into thoughtful, preservation-minded German ownership and cruises the globe under sail and motor with 28 staterooms (10 are historic, including Post’s fabulous spread). I’m on such a cruise—this one exploring the Greek islands, Baroque Italian cities, and Croatia’s medieval walled towns—but more excitingly so is Thomas Wu, a…

WHEN I WAS YOUNGER, I loved Vienna because my parents loved Vienna. We lived there in 1986 and 1987 while my father served as ambassador to Austria under President Reagan, and it was a rush of fascinating people, an entirely new culture. I was 16 and absorbing the warm, sugary scent of Kaiserschmarrn with plum jam, the thrill of the Lipizzaner horses, the magic of the Hotel Sacher’s iconic Red Bar, with its ruby red walls and pillows. Even then, Vienna’s arts scene felt distinct. This was the city of Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms, the place where Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann pushed against cultural hierarchies of fine art. And notably it was where works of art had vanished in a wink. It was in Vienna that my understanding of…

In the Noël Coward play Blithe Spirit, novelist Charles Condomine and his wife invite an eccentric medium to their dinner party so he can discreetly study her as fodder for his new book. But the host’s plan backfires when an after-dinner séance conjures the feisty spirit of his deceased first wife, who refuses to leave. As is often the case in Coward’s plays, comedic chaos ensues. Although illustrator Tug Rice’s Manhattan apartment is—thankfully—not haunted by any mischievous ghosts, one does feel a different kind of spirit in the air at his holiday cocktail party. It’s a spirit of creativity rooted in history—and perhaps the spirit of Coward himself, whose framed portrait watches over the revelry from a candlelit chest in the foyer. Rice first discovered the British playwright and composer when…