If Indiana Jones took an elegant turn and developed an obsession with textiles, he is a French illustrator and craftsman who travels to Africa and the Middle East to work with weavers and artisans skilled in traditional techniques. He might look a little like designer Louis Barthelemy. . Ishkar, a London-based company that works with NGOs and artisans to create employment opportunities for people living in isolated areas of countries frequently affected by war, recently announced that We asked them to create a capsule collection with us. Barthelemy usually works directly with artisans to make tapestries and rugs, but since the Taliban took over in 2021, he has had to connect with weavers remotely. At the beginning of the collaboration, Barthelemy asked the weavers to draw a place that symbolized beauty to them. Many of the women chose her 14th-century barge Babur (Gardens of Babur) in Kabul. These drawings were combined with images by Barthelemy himself to create three different rug patterns. It took about six months for the women to tie the Ghazni wool by hand. According to Barthelemy, these are “collective dreams of an ancient paradise.” The rug can be seen at Sunbury Workshop, Swanfield Street, London, from April 24th to 26th, and in Ishkar's flagship showroom until September. From about $4,000, ishkar.com.
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Newly awarded Michelin star restaurant in France's Dordogne Valley
Nestled in the lush countryside that connects the off-the-radar Corrèze with the Lot region of southwestern France, almost hugging the banks of the Dordogne River, the impressive 19th-century mansion has recently undergone a dramatic reconstruction. This is Cuyette. Here, in a light-filled room where the ceiling blooms in the shape of an almost surreal apple, the publicity-shy Gervason-Chapral family, behind the building's owner, Andros, has opened the Bonne Maman Jam. I set up a company whose brand is cute little pots. Chef Oscar Garcia. At the age of 25, Garcia was France's youngest Michelin-starred chef, but 10 years later he finds himself serving ultra-local haute cuisine in the middle of a beautiful remote location. is somewhat surprising. (In addition to his dining room, there are conveniently his five guest rooms.) The cuisine treads the line between delicacy and substance. For sale are river trout and sturgeon, locally caught game, Limousin beef, and fruits and vegetables from the property's own orchards and gardens. Quiet has a well-deserved Michelin rating, and to its credit, the restaurant received its first star this month. Surprisingly, the lunch was a Kaiseki meal. A recent menu featured a lasagna-like veil of cauliflower jelly over sturgeon tartare. Cuillette bread, filled with the famous Correze walnuts, currently costs 35 euros, or about $38, making it perhaps the most outrageous bargain in France right now. Restaurant-cueillet.fr.
Southern California is dotted with a variety of modernist homes known as case study homes. Intended to demonstrate the possibilities of advanced design at an affordable price, these homes were commissioned by Arts & Architecture magazine between 1945 and 1966 and were designed by artists such as Richard Neutra, Eero Saarinen, and Charles and Ray Eames. Designed by a mid-century modern architect. “When you talk to designers and architects in Los Angeles, everyone is obsessed with these homes,” says Mike LeFlore, co-founder of Los Angeles-based company Zia Tile. The collective influence of these architectural experiments became the inspiration for his Zia case study, a new collection of cement tiles that combines traditional craftsmanship and modern design. The line features a variety of patterns, including solid tiles as well as undulating lines and dynamic geometric forms. Danny Mitchell, who founded his Zia Tile with Leflore in 2016, says, “Each piece is hand poured and pressed one at a time. Depending on the humidity and how the colors are mixed. “You get very subtle variations,” he explains. ” Zia Tile has his 64 color catalogue, and the case study includes his 4 new products. Cool beige sand dunes. Burnt orange rust. and Elemental Blue, a cobalt shade inspired by Yves Klein. Unlike other tiles, which are finished with a layer of impermeable glaze, the appearance of cement tiles develops a patina over time, notes Leflore. “After five years, it's matured to the point where you feel like you've walked into a European cafe or an old hotel lobby,” he says. Starting at $10 per tile; ziatile.com.
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A romantic interpretation of the tarot deck by a Parisian illustrator
French illustrator Marin Montagu has been fascinated by tarot since she was around 5 years old, when her grandmother would draw cards by candlelight. His latest collection, Le Tarot Divinatoire, is an homage to the charm of fortune-telling, illustrated with playful watercolor illustrations. The artist's reinterpretation of his 22 cards of the Major Arcana was designed in his studio in Normandy and in Paris, where he plated the edges of each card with gold using techniques developed in the 18th century to his 19th century. It was created with the help of craftsmen. “Le Tarot Divinatoire'' also includes a variety of silk scarves and cushions, sold online and in his shop in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, a craft whose origins date back to the mid-15th century. It expresses the artist's childhood enthusiasm for objects. Relevance to modern audiences. “Twenty years ago, people were like, 'What do you do with Tarot?' But now so many people are learning,” he says. “I think many of us want a little magic in our lives.” Card decks start at about $70; marinemontagut.com.
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A hotel spa filled with fragrant art in Venice
Just in time for the Venice Biennale, Venice, a 44-room hotel housed in a thousand-year-old palace on the Grand Canal, is opening a spa conceived as an art installation. Owned by Alessandro Gallo and Frances Carinaldo, founders of the fashion brand Golden Goose, Venice is designed to be a unique destination with a museum-quality art collection and a canalside restaurant when it opens in 2022. I did. Contemporary art is displayed throughout the grounds, including the spa with treatment rooms (following the ancient treatises of St. Hildegard of Bingen, a German Benedictine abbot, mystic and mystic) Treatments include deep tissue his massages and facials using selected medicinal plants). Healer), and his second large stone space with his one of the only private indoor pools in the city. Both rooms feature sculptures by Romanian artist Victoria Gidal. In the treatment rooms, linen tubes line the walls, and above the pool, textile works cover the ceiling. From the moment you enter either space, the fragrance surrounds you. The tubes are filled with a mixture of cut and dried grass from Gidar's garden in Romania's Bucovina region, as well as flowers and herbs such as chamomile, melilot, shepherd's purse and nettle. Gidal also fills the tube's outside pocket with fragrant lemon balm, several types of mint, sage, lavender, and fennel. The artist developed teas and treatment oils for the hotel from herbal mixtures. “Even before the treatment, you can get lost in the scent,” says Gallo. Accommodation rates start at around $600 including breakfast. venicevenice.com.