A fashion-savvy home decorating magazine for the new generation of design professionals and consumers who know exactly what they want, ELLE DECOR covers fashionable and inspirational products that bring couture chic to every room of your home.
If you are born in Sweden, is it fated that you will own a farmhouse painted a traditional rich red? If you are French, do you have an extra gene that endows you with innate chic? If you are German, did you grow up with a Bauhaus dollhouse, and do you now have a conditioned response that makes you salivate at clean lines and curvy chrome? Nothing is that simple, or that clichéd. But nonetheless, the rooms we live in are shaped by any number of factors beyond our own tastes, and there are numerous reasons that interiors look different in different countries. Obviously, we can’t replicate in the U.S. the conditions that make an intricately carved marble table feel so elegant in a palace in Rajasthan, or the gray…
FROM TUSCANY WITH LOVE With its ancient towns, rolling hills, and bountiful art and architecture, Tuscany is a favorite escape for Milan-based architect Piero Lissoni, above, who designed the minimalist villa on page 84. Here, some of the region’s lesser-known weekend destinations: • Pitigliano: Known as Little Jerusalem, this tranquil hilltop town is recognized for its 16th-century synagogue and Jewish quarter. • Castiglione della Pescaia: Prized for its clear waters and active nightlife, the ancient fishing village is now a popular seaside resort. •Magliano in Toscana: The pride and joy of this beautiful medieval città is the local red wine, Morellino di Scansano, which is best sampled during its annual threeday festival in August. •Montemerano: The austere exterior of the town’s Church of San Giorgio conceals superb frescoes and an…
POWER FLOWERS Dries Van Noten’s spring 2017 presentation in Paris was decidedly chilly—models walked the runway flanked by blocks of ice filled with frozen flowers. The creator of that spectacular installation, Tokyobased Azuma Makoto—known as fashion’s florist— has also worked for Fendi and Hermès. But his ambitions are larger: In 2015, he piled 10,000 delicate heliconia plants on a raft off the Philippine coast, sacrificing them to the hot sun, and he once launched a Japanese bonsai pine via helium balloon into the stratosphere (azuma makoto.com). NEW ROMANTICS In the age of Tinder, it seems quaintly Victorian to keep a reminder of one’s love close to the heart, but jewelry designers have fallen hard for the romance of the locket. Mark Armstrong Peddigrew transforms 19th-century aide-mémoire diaries—many still bearing notes…
GRAND GESTURES William Yeoward’s Leicester mirror for Jonathan Charles recalls the formality and grace of the 18th century, but is of a scale ideal for the contemporary home. The hand-carved oak frame, shown in a distressed Venetian White finish, is also available in a Sunwashed Mahogany. 30″w. x54″h.,$1,785. jonathancharles.com 1 / EMERALD CUT Two squares of richly colored tempered glass are suspended via gleaming brass legs in Wade Allyn Home’s Matthew cocktail table. Shown in Emerald, the glass is also available in Sapphire, Ebony, Ruby, and Smoke. The table also comes in two larger sizes. 36• sq. x 18• h., $3,750. hallockdesigngroup.com 2 / COLOR WHEELS For its new Byzance bone-china dinnerware, Wedgwood delved into its archives and English architectural details, updating geometric designs in four deep jewel tones (blue…
LOVE STRUCK “Its arms are thin, its legs a bit bloated, its feet big.” That’s how one contemporary critic harshly described French sculptor Edme Bouchardon’s 1750 marble statue of Cupid (above), a shockingly lifelike rendition of the adolescent god of love captured just at the moment he decides to craft a bow and fling an arrow at Hercules. Fortunately, many of Bouchardon’s compatriots were entranced by his skill at breathing beauty, charm, and everything but an actual pulse into solid stone: Cupid eventually went on view at the Louvre. That critic did have a point, though: Bouchardon, caught up in the rage for all things Greek and Roman then sweeping Europe, hewed closely to classical conventions. Yet he was also an astute observer of nature and often worked from live…
In the world of furniture and industrial design, fashion can be a dirty word. At least in certain circles, the term connotes fleeting trends and superfluous decoration. But Lee Broom brushes aside such puritanical notions. Dressed in pegged trousers and an Opening Ceremony T-shirt, the 41-year-old British designer makes no effort to hide his love of fashion. “This fanny pack is my favorite,” he says emphatically, pointing to a black leather Versace sack, blinged out with gold hardware, which sits on a chair in his new Manhattan shop. “I love things just on the verge of bad taste.” Since opening his studio in London a decade ago, Broom has leveraged his edgy aesthetic to become one of Britain’s brightest design stars. His signature pieces include a sexy hoop chair that…
