Inhaltsverzeichnis für Jan/Feb 2021 in ELLE DECOR

SETTLING INTO A NEW YEAR, WE ARE ASKING LOTS OF questions at ELLE DECOR. (After an experience like 2020, who isn’t?) Some are straightforward: What’s the best way to bring light into our rooms, now forced to play double and triple duty? Some are quite literally the stuff of dreams: How can we sleep a little more soundly in 2021 (for ideas, turn to page 33), and can the stars help guide us—or, at least, offer a diversion (page 20)? Many more questions loom larger: After months of isolation and unrest, where do we go from here? And what’s the role of design in all of this? In search of answers, and inspiration, we turn to the world of architecture. For one story this month, we asked architects and designers…

NEWS FROM The World of Design From Italy, lifestyle brand Sferra announced its acquisition of Pratesi, the legendary luxury bedding producer, marking a return to the U.S. after a 2018 exit. Plus, Molteni&C has debuted its first e-commerce platform, catering to U.S. clients. Key global markets will follow later this year. On February 20, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City will present “Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America,” an exploration of systemic racism and how it has affected contemporary architecture. Fashion meets home with a new collaboration from Diane von Furstenberg and H&M Home. The collection includes vases, candles, and blankets.…

1 Grecian Bust Pot Tropical leaves in a classical planter will add warmth—and a good amount of whimsy—to your inner sanctum. $42. anthropologie.com 2 Chirp Lamp and Alarm Clock This bird-shaped marble and porcelain lamp and alarm will rouse you to the sounds of nature. $200. momastore.org 3 Electric Wall Diffuser This plug-in packs a design punch while filling the room with one of nine iconic Diptyque scents. $120. diptyqueparis.com 4 Clare Paints When it comes to bedroom walls, the new neutrals are muted pastels such as (from top) Wink, OMGreen, and Good Jeans. $54 per gallon. clare.com 5 Daisy Iris Duvet Swedish designer Lars Nilsson’s playful take on Hästens’s heritage check print will perk up a bed in no time flat. From $100. hastens.com…

THE NEW HOME Spending more time at home with family, working and learning remotely, being more mindful of the relationship between indoors and outdoors—all of these experiences have implications for how we will design houses going forward. We should focus on use, asking more often, “What three things can happen in this room…?” People need places where they can be together with family, but also places where they can be alone to reflect, to learn, to recharge. —DEBORAH BERKE, DEAN OF THE YALE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE In a post-COVID world, consider how life might become more multigenerational, with extended family moving in. For us that aligns with the form of collective housing known as cohousing. —JENNY & ANDA FRENCH, ARCHITECTS There will be a return to cork walls for reduction…

WHILE I WAS IN COLLEGE STUDYING COMPUTER science, before I decided to become an architect, I picked up a book by Patrick Nuttgens that confounds me to this day. It was called The Story of Architecture. Naturally, I expected it to be filled with awe-inspiring structures from all around the world, but most of it was focused on works from Western Europe and the United States. The rest of the world’s output became little more than a bonus track on a pop album. I was enraged. For a non-Westerner like me, it was profoundly humiliating. How could architecture from other continents, dating back thousands of years, be reduced to so few buildings, while Baroque churches got an entire chapter? I have kept that book all these years, since becoming an…

WHEN THE SCOT TISH PHYSICIST SIR DAVID Brewster invented the kaleidoscope in 1816, he could hardly have imagined the endless delight his design would give generations of children and adults—and even venerable jewelry brands. From the simple combination of inclined mirrors and a handful of loose objects encased in a tube, a person can create a mesmerizing array of evanescent patterns. With its latest collection of watches and jewelry inspired by the kaleidoscope, Harry Winston transforms the illusions within this everyday toy into a tangible and highly luxurious reality. The jewelry house first explored the aesthetic connection between a stone’s beveled facets and the ref lections in Brewster’s creation in the 1990s, when it released a gold and precious stone kaleidoscope object. In its new line, the brand offers 32…

LAUNCHING IN JANUARY, THE OBSIDIAN VIRTUAL CONCEPT House will transport online visitors to the future of decor and design, with curated rooms, architecture anchored in the African diaspora, and a special focus on Black families. Conceived by the members of the Black Artists + Designers Guild pictured here, in cooperation with the magazines of Hearst’s Luxury & Design Collection (ELLE DECOR, House Beautiful, Veranda, and Town & Country), the 3D visualization will explore the ways artistry and ancestry dovetail with design. Everything about the virtual experience, including its imagined Oakland, California, location, is deliberate. The birthplace of the Black Panther Party—for whom access to quality housing was a central tenet—serves as the stage for a futuristic home set in 2025 that marries cultural touchstones with sustainability and technology. “The house…

SOME PEOPLE CONSIDER RENOVATIONS to be a trial; decisions and discomfort are borne for the end result. Others consider renovations a creative act, a process that is just as much of a reward as a home tailored to your exact taste. The clients for this luxurious yet laid-back 4,000-square-foot, four-bedroom apartment in Manhattan’s Carnegie Hill neighborhood were firmly in the second camp. “Together, we’ve renovated two apartments, and we built a house from the ground up on the Jersey Shore,” says the wife, a lawyer. “Our last apartment definitely leaned traditional. Our beach house was midcentury modern. Over time, we’ve become more interested in taking some design risks.” She and her husband, who works in finance, were looking for a younger designer, one who thrives on collaboration with craftspeople. “We…

Your research focuses on spaces like Johannesburg’s mine dumps. What draws you to parallel worlds that aren’t at the forefront of design conversations? SV: I’m interested in finding form in overlooked things. In Joburg, where I live, the dumps were used to segregate the races during apartheid—non-white people lived to the south of them, in the direction that the wind blew toxic dust. I think it is something our city has inherited that we have to work through. Social issues are at the heart of both your designs and your research. How does architecture confront injustice? SV: Architecture is complicit in segregation, othering, and displacement, and Joburg is such a profound example of this. But it can also be a force for the opposite—for bringing people together, highlighting and amplifying…

SINKING INTO BED AND PULLING UP A PILLOWY duvet has long been a satisfying way to decompress at the end of a high-pressure day. But when the pandemic upended regular life and sent anxiety levels soaring, having a bedroom that could serve as a calming retreat suddenly seemed more important than ever. With continued challenges—and new opportunities—on the horizon, doubling down on designing a bedroom that feels like a sanctuary is a sound investment. “I promised myself I would focus on bedrooms with that exact goal in mind,” says Pamela Shamshiri of the Los Angeles–based firm Studio Shamshiri. “We’ve made a change in the way we design them to pay more attention to color, because it can really affect your mood and emotions.” While the absence of color in a…

Like all of the patterns for the heritage linens brand D. Porthault, this floral motif began with a story. Launched in the 1960s, Les Petites Marguerites, which translates to “the little daisies,” was made to draw on the symbolism of the daisy and its playful form. “Imagining innocence and new beginnings, Porthault’s designers infused the gentle lines of the daisy with joyful colors,” explains Beth Rigler, the director of e-commerce for the brand. This specific print, shown here in a one-of-a-kind vibrant green-and-cherry colorway, was reintroduced in 2020 in celebration of the company’s centennial. The sheet set is made of 100 percent cotton voile, a close replication of the fine batiste linen on which cofounder Madeleine Porthault first painted her designs. It is finished with a scalloped edge, a couture…