Jules Leleu is the direct heir to the great French craftsmen, the Boulles, the Rieseners, who conceived furniture as if it were a living being; adapting the design of their furniture both to its function and the atmosphere of the place it would occupy
Cy Twombly occupies a unique and bizarre place in the story of modern art; his sculptures are mythological poems, playful, witty and at times even very very strange
Perhaps of all great twentieth century artists, Jackson Pollock, known for his multi-coloured “action paintings”, those extraordinary, explosive pictures that transformed the idea of modern art, has been most mistreated by critics and misunderstood by the public.
Philip Johnson was not a great modernist like Mies van der Rohe, and not even a particularly good architect; yet through a combination of deep pockets, independence of mind, a flair for publicity and political skills he went on to became one of the most influential designers of the twentieth century.
Leonor Fini rejected those who called her a surrealist, or even a “woman artist”, instead using the surrealist framework to celebrate women in a variety of personas and expressions, rather than reducing them to a basic binary
Peggy Guggenheim was a patron in the truest sense of the word, credited with launching the careers of so many modern masters; without her the contemporary art world, as we now know it, would look very different
Earlier this year the California estate that Kim Kardashian shares with Kanye West was featured in Architectural Digest. With the help of Axel Vervoodt, amongst others, what had formerly been a relatively nondescript suburban McMansion was transformed into something approximating a “minimal monastery”
Best known for her striking furniture designs of the 1960s and 70s, the Italian artist and designer Gabriella Crespi created interiors for the wealthiest, most au courant people in the world, including Princess Grace of Monaco and the Shah of Persia
Perhaps no one embodies the freedom, freshness and elegance of the 1950s better than Mathieu Matégot, a versatile, independent and self-taught designer and material artist
Between 1946 and 1973 in his workshop at Madoura, Picasso created an extraordinary and prolific collection of original ceramic works. As imaginative as they are beguiling, in each of these creations, one can see multiple facets of the artist’s personality
With an immense oeuvre of woven works, the largest left by any tapestry designer, Jean Lurçat (1892-1966) has been credited with reviving the lost art of tapestry-making in France in the mid-20th century
Working between Paris, New York and Argentina, Jean-Michel Frank designed perfectly proportioned furniture and lighting, free from superfluous ornamentation and decoration, for an elite roster of clients who appreciated his spartan design aesthetic
Somewhere between Jean-Michel Frank and Jean Royère, there is Marc du Plantier (1901-1975); considered during his lifetime as one of the most gifted and brilliant decorators of his time
A second-generation surrealist, Louise Bourgeois is considered to be one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, producing an intensely personal body of work that is as complex as it is diverse
Alexandre Noll did not just work with wood, it was his sole passion, with his approach and techniques intimately bound up with nature in a way that was simultaneously poetic, intuitive and philosophical, producing an individuality in each work rather like that of a person
Jacques Adnet is towering figure in twentieth-century avant-garde French design, remembered for the clean lines and simple forms of an unadorned Art Deco style
In recent years a new wave of New York designers, decorators and dealers have been rethinking mid-century style for contemporary lifestyles and environments, mixing it with the work of emerging artists and young talents to create what future generations might look back on as twenty-first century style
The worlds of art, interiors and fashion have always been inextricably intertwined; but over the past few years, that analogous link has felt ever stronger as the lines between each discipline have become increasingly blurred
For much of the twentieth century, interiors trends were measured in decades and now, they change with the seasons. Designing for Instagram has ergo become somewhat cyclical, akin to a snake consuming itself: people like the things they see on Instagram, and they’re on Instagram because people like them
