Innehållsförteckning för December 2018 från ELLE DECOR

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH…

If you only knew playwright Lynn Nottage for the works that earned her Pulitzer Prizes in 2009 and 2017, you might assume her focus is political theater. Ruined looks at women in the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sweat, which follows factory workers in Reading, Pennsylvania, has just finished a Public Theater tour of the Rust Belt. “It is definitely art as activism,” says Nottage of Sweat’s swing-state productions. “But there are plays I write because I want to entertain the audience.” Case in point: Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine, her 2004 tale of a New York publicist’s fall from grace, which will be restaged starting November 19 at New York’s Signature Theatre. Nottage has also penned musical books for a Michael Jackson project and an adaptation…

WHAT COMPANY BUILDS a barn outfitted with a kitchen to rival that of a Michelin-starred restaurant, accompanied by an organic garden (including, during my recent visit, a 760-pound pumpkin), just to showcase how great its appliances are? Why, Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove, of course. This American-born firm, based in Madison, Wisconsin, where the Harvest Haven farm is located, prides itself on turning even the novice chef into a culinary superstar by creating foolproof appliances. Its M Series ovens take the guesswork out of cooking with a touchscreen preset mode that asks everything from what you’re making to how well you want it done. Once the oven is programmed, simply insert the temperature probe and wait for the alert to tell you your Thanksgiving turkey is—for the first time ever—perfectly cooked…

IN A UNIVERSE WHERE EVERYTHING IS AN ILLUSION, where the imaginative individual finds himself confronting dreams that shift between horrific inferno and blissful paradise, there are those who admit defeat when faced with a crisis. Others, however, choose to seek out the most beautiful illusions. And nowhere is illusion more poignantly crystallized than in one’s personal spaces: In a home, we create a finite universe, one whose structure and decoration reflect that reverent paradise of our dreams. That is what Alan Faena—a man who has created neighborhoods and art districts—has done in his gilded and rouged Miami Beach home. Alan knew deep in his heart that getting close to a beautiful illusion was not the same as arriving. He bounded forward, surpassing the limits of some industries in his freehearted…

WE NEVER HAD SNOW where we lived in the north of England, or if we did, it was a feathered dusting and soon melted. This is an observation to be noted as it is crucial to this holiday saga. I’ve never been a big Christmas fan. I dislike being bombarded by the carols and relentless “spirit” and the generally awful gifts (more on that aspect to come). In theory, Christmas is great, but in practice, it rarely delivers—especially after, as children, you discover the great Santa Con. As a boy, the size and complicity of this worldwide fraud came as a shock. The Christmas in question was in 1964; I was 15. As I had several younger siblings, we still adhered to the Santa rules. I had, by this time,…

SHOWCASE PAGES 56–61: Fashion: Louis Vuitton, louisvuitton.com. TRUTH IN DECORATING PAGES 70–71: Peter Marino, petermarinoarchitect.com. Chanel, chanel.com. ED INTERNATIONAL Interior design: Alessandro Agrati, alessandroagratistile.com. PAGES 72–75: Sofas fabric: Loro Piana, loropiana.com. Bed: Culti, culti.com. Embroidered cushions: Gruppo di Installazione, gruppodinstallazione.it. Bathtub: Agape, agapedesign.it. DANIEL’S KITCHENS PAGES 76–78: Daniel Boulud of Restaurant Daniel, danielnyc.com. AT HOME WITH Interior design: Malcolm Carfrae, carfraeconsulting.com. PAGE 86: Sofa: ABC Carpet & Home, abchome.com. Sofa fabric: Ralph Lauren Home, ralphlaurenhome.com. Cocktail tables: The Apartment by the Line, theline.com. Wallpaper: Kelly Wearstler, kellywearstler.com. PAGE 88, FROM TOP: Stools: Gabriel Scott, gabriel-scott.com. Pendant: Flos, flos.com. Wall and trim paint: Benjamin Moore, benjaminmoore.com. Artwork: Chuck Close, chuckclose.com. Sinks: Kohler, us.kohler.com. Mirrored cabinets: RH, Restoration Hardware, rh.com. Sconce: Ralph Lauren Home. Floor tile: Kelly Wearstler. Suiting: Brunello Cucinelli, brunellocucinelli.com. Headboard,…

PETER MARINO Designer, “Chanel Change,” p. 70 HQ: New York City Day job: Leather-clad architect, among other things. Currently redesigning three Chanel stores. On Coco Chanel: “Madame Chanel was the most modern of them all. She was 100 years ahead of her time, because what she put up architecturally at rue Cambon, in Paris, stands up today.” PAUL FORTUNE Writer, “Merrie Olde Souls,” p. 110 ON THE SHELVES: Notes on Decor, Etc. (Rizzoli), published in October CRAZY GLAZE: “I adore my husband Chris Brock’s amazing ceramic pots.” JENNIFER RUBELL Artist, Not for Sale, p. 124 EXHIBITION ROUTINE: “I try to make myself invisible and just watch people interacting.” ARTFUL DODGER: “In my performance piece Consent, I allowed people to throw one pie in my face at a time. All in all,…

Swarovski has long had a foothold in twinkly Las Vegas ball droppings and the oversize-Christmas-tree-decor market. This year the crystal maker worked with Deconstructivist architect Daniel Libeskind, known for his jagged edges, to create a statement star for the tree at Rockefeller Center—one that is redolent of the ship in which Kal-El escaped from Krypton.…

All too often, watch-makers get stuck in the past. It becomes all about “heritage this” and “tradition that.” Don’t get us wrong—we love a watch with history—but a little innovation never hurts. Breguet manages to create a timeless blend with this new version of the Classique Tourbillon Extra-Plat Automatique 5367, which, for the first time, has a grand feu enamel dial with black numerals and markers, set just off-center; a contemporary tourbillon cuts through the glossy dial. Upping the ante, there’s a peripheral rotor that winds the movement without obscuring the ornately decorated plates and bridges. All of this is housed within an incredibly thin profile, meaning you get an extremely precise watch that also wears elegantly on the wrist. If you want a thoroughly new-school watch with a bit…

FASHION DESIGNERS GET their inspiration from a myriad of sources. Some get it from travel, some from architecture, art, and design. Louis Vuitton’s artistic director, Nicolas Ghesquière, looked to all four for his Cruise 2019 collection. The presentation was held at the Fondation Maeght, an art museum in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France—designed by architect Josep Lluís Sert and opened in 1964—where the grounds are strewn with early examples of Calder, Miró, and Giacometti (the sculptural fontaines are not to be missed). “I’ve known this place for 25 years, and I love coming here regularly,” said Ghesquière as models mingled with sculptures on the runway. The clothes—a mix of masculine lines, feminine details, and his signature hot pants—evoked the artistic dialogue of the space. After the show, guests convened at the Hotel du…

CHARLES CURKIN: Why are you overhauling the Chanel boutique on 57th Street? PETER MARINO: This is more than an overhaul. They removed the concrete slabs and the front of the building. Literally, we changed the levels of the floors. CC: It seems to have taken forever. PM: Yes, this project has been going on a long time. The customers are so over the temporary shop down the block. This will have a new, very classic black-and-white “Miesian” facade, an homage to the Seagram Building. There will be a 60-foot statue by Jean-Michel Othoniel—the man who created the new fountains at Versailles—at the front door, which will be a wonder of the world. CC: More, more! PM: There will be lacquered walls and purply brown colors. I even got art into the elevator—a sculpture by…

BY NEW YORK real estate standards, Malcolm Carfrae—an Australian transplant and the founder of PR and marketing firms with a fashionable roster of clients, including DVF and Zimmermann—was fortunate. His Greenwich Village apartment wasn’t huge, but it had charm to spare, and a corner view of Washington Square Park. Then he met John Wattiker, an advertising executive for Esquire and ot her Hearst brands. By 2014, they were married and sharing the space with their Hungarian vizsla, Grace. “For two grown men and a dog, it was a little squishy,” Carfrae admits. “It had just one small bathroom. We also wanted a place that was ours together.” They hunted for a new apartment but quickly realized there was nothing nearby that was remotely as quaint. Rather than moving, they invited…

STEFAN STEIL AND ERIC PIKE bought the top-floor apartment in an 1840s townhouse on King Street in Lower Manhattan just after September 11. “It was a challenging time for all of us,” says Pike. “But it also inspired us to make a permanent and peaceful home for ourselves.” The city may have been going through its darkest moment back then, but the apartment that drew them was full of light. It had windows facing south and north and big skylights to bring in the sunshine. What it didn’t have was style—it was just a bland white box. But it turned out to be a blank slate that inspired a gut renovation and innovative thinking. Steil, German-born, is an interior designer. Pike, a creative director—formerly for Martha Stewart, now at Nest…

BEFORE I MOVED to the United Kingdom, Christmas was something that happened on TV and in films. When I was growing up in Israel, December 25 was just another working day. The thought of having a tree in my living room—lights flashing, pine cones spilling onto the carpet—was just strange. Instead, my family celebrated Hanukkah, an eight-day celebration that consisted of devouring such fried foods as doughnuts and potato pancakes, among other things. But it wasn’t the same. Jewish holidays always seem to be marked with a touch of kummer (“sorrow” in Yiddish). Christmas, when I first encountered it in my late 20s, just seemed to be much more fun. I moved to London more than 20 years ago and slowly grew accustomed to the whole holiday buildup. To do…

In December, as the solstice approaches, the days are at their absolute shortest. Whether you are stuffing a goose, gambling for gelt, lighting the kinara, or worshipping the moon goddess, this candle installation by artist Jennifer Rubell ensures that everything will be illuminated—and better yet, by remote control. Standing erect like a bunch of white asparagus and wrapped in a festive red ribbon, these wax-dipped LED tapers flicker like the real thing, but without the burns. Rubell gathered 30 candles for this incendiary artwork, in a nod to both the holiday season and an exciting milestone coming in 2019 for ELLE DECOR: the magazine’s 30th anniversary. Stay tuned, as we’ll be tripping the light fantastic all year long. jenniferrubell.com…

You’re an artist-in-residence at 92Y in Manhattan. Yes. Congratulations. What’s on your agenda there? A gallery show, a series of youth programs, and a talk with Ilana Glazer from Broad City on November 30. Yas queen! What’s your connection to her? She’s a fan of mine and has some of my art in her home. What would you change about the art world with the snap of a finger? I’d take down the facade built around it and call out all the BS and make it transparent. Which BS is that? We have an art world that doesn’t want to open up to everyone, because it might no longer have an air of importance. Wealthy people would still spend money on art but, at the same time, we’d empower artists…

WHEN IT CAME to decorating, 40 years of wandering in the Sinai desert didn’t mean that Moses was off the hook. The mobile sanctuary and the furnishings he was commanded to create to house the Word of God, while awaiting entrance to the promised land, were divinely ordained and crafted by the most skilled artisans. Generations of Jewish worshippers followed suit. Some of the world’s most spectacular synagogues were built by lesser-known Sephardi Jewish communities in Greece, North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. (Sephardi Jews trace their roots back to pre-Inquisition Spain, Portugal, and the eastern Mediterranean, in contrast to Ashkenazi Jews, who came from Eastern Europe.) But even the humblest synagogues were designed to reflect a heavenly reality. A centuries-old palm tree presides over the hidden courtyard at…

My family always set aside some time around the holidays to make chocolate truffles—dark, glossy nuggets of creamy ganache, traditionally covered in cocoa powder and named for their resemblance to the prized fungus. On the first bite, you get that brute dry, bitter taste of cocoa, then the creamy, not-quite-oozy, rich chocolate inside. We worked in big batches and made enough to last the two weeks leading up to Christmas. The advantage of making truffles at home is that they’re very forgiving. Even if it’s your first time, you can easily create something elegant without having to worry about it being shiny and perfect. It’s OK if they’re a little misshapen: That’s the beauty. The key is tempering—a fancy word for properly melting—your chocolate. Truffles also remind me of a…

As the force behind several top London restaurants, including Nopi and Rovi, Yotam Ottolenghi likes no-fuss recipes for holiday entertaining at home. This easy stuffed chicken from his latest cookbook, Ottolenghi Simple, incorporates cranberries, chestnuts, and caraway into the stuffing. Prep the chicken and make the stuffing up to a day ahead, then refrigerate; bring to room temperature before roasting. Serves 4 5 T unsalted butter5 tsp. caraway seeds, toasted and lightly crushed7 garlic cloves, crushed1 T dark brown sugar Salt1 whole chicken (about 3 lb.)5 to 6 large celery stalks, cut into ½-inch dice (3 cups)1 onion, cut into ½-inch dice (scant 1 cup)3½ oz. dried cranberries3½ oz. peeled and ready-cooked chestnuts, roughly chopped4 to 5 slices mixed rye and wheat sourdough breads, crusts removed, lightly toasted, and roughly…