Cabana Curated

If for nothing else than the singular covers each CABANA issue wears, the magazine itself is a design voyeur's dream.
Am I a voyeur?
Yes—a design voyeur and my dream would be to curate an issue of CABANA—or even a few pages.

The latest covers of CABANA are fabrics from my favorite fashion designer Dries Van Noten. Past covers are from the Dedar, Kravet, Pierre Frey & the F. Schumacher fabric libraries, and Gucci and Ralph Lauren's fashion house fabric collections.

INSIDE? Classic interiors, Classicism,  Chintz, French Lampas, Baroque, Americana,  Nomadic tents, Monticello. It's the way editor Martina Mondadori Sartogo lays them out—the pages of Cabana blur all the lines of design. The sacred becomes profane and then turns back on itself.

images above in no particular order, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema -Townshend House 1885, Louis Comfort Tiffany-Near Eastern Interior, Portrait of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu detail, paper cutting of flower urn from the American Folk Art Museum, Mantua from the Victoria & Albert Museum, Portrait of Dorothy Quincy by John Singleton Copley,18th c. Traditional Dress of Holland, Anthony Van Dyck self-portrait, Leonard Campbell Taylor-The Sampler, Dinka Mans beaded Corset- Southern Sudan, Ladies Album-signatures of textile cut-outs, Eileen Agar-Woman reading,cut-out 1936, Quilted Petticoat 18th c., Patchwork Caraco 17th c., Ellsworth Kelly, Ghirlandaio detail from the Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints, French Textile Sample book 1825, Armenian bride, 19th c. Marble Paper, Portrait of Polish nobleman Kazimierz Ossoliński1720s, Gheeraerts Detail from a Portrait of Anne of Denmark,1614.

the State of Design -Fall Design Books

from American Originals by William Abranowicz

Fall and Spring bring a spate of design books to my attention, and this season there are some well worthy of your attention!

CABANA ANTHOLOGY

If you missed the first inaugural issues of this stylish biannual—Cabana Anthology will get you caught up. Founder Martina Mondadori Sartogo has compiled the best and most beautiful from the magazine's first five years. Evocative— every Cabana issue is an orgasmic design journey. Pick up the 488-page book that celebrates a monumental achievement in bespoke publishing, and you'll see what I mean.

INSPIRED DESIGN

A compendium of interior designers of the past 100 years, Inspired Design includes designers that were happy to be known as "decorators" for decades. Everyone is here under one big roof for the first time. I couldn't for the life of me think who was missing save one or two.
It's a keeper thanks to the editing skills of Jennifer Boles and Stephen Drucker!

AMERICAN ORIGINALS

One of the freshest, most original book out this season is—American Originals. The photographs of William Abranowicz takes a look at many never before seen (leastwise by me) interiors. John Derian writes the foreword, and it's beautifully written. At the end of the foreword, he reminds us of To Kill a Mockingbird's Scout compassion for the recluse Boo Radley—and finds Abranowicz's photographic eye to be "honest—offering "intimate portraits of the human soul."
Largely true, rooms like Darien's, Valerie von Sobel's, Sean Scherer's or Daniel & Thanos Kamiliotis are a breath of fresh air—life-giving & joyous. Peering into their rooms, thanks to Abranowicz, I find myself to stay for a weekend.


all books are published by Vendome, available now.
all photographs are courtesy of Vendome.