MILIEU

One of my favorite kinds of people is someone you might call a forward thinker. We have a popular column in each issue of MILIEU titled “Forward Thinkers,” which highlights designers, artists, and artisans who are doing exactly that—looking and thinking ahead, creating anew. The more I think about it, though, the more I realize that in every article we publish, the focus, ultimately, is on a forward thinker. Despite the fact that some of the people we feature might have been immersed in their professions for decades, what makes them special is their ability to make all “next projects” feel like a first one. The interior designers in this issue, for instance, are seasoned professionals, yet they respond to the project at hand in wholly original ways. What’s right for…

“This house is very different from others we’ve done, and so it is one of our favorites.”—ISABEL LÓPEZ-QUESADA “An Artful Life” p. 92 “The clients only wanted the best of the best, which was a fun dynamic for Chris and me.”—RANDALL POWERS “Finding Common Ground” p. 108 “This was a practical, respectful treatment of a historic home that reflects the way people live today.”—DAVID FRAZIER “Georgia On His Mind” p. 120 “Restoring and decorating the rooms of this great house remains a lifetime’s project.”—OLIVIA, DUCHESS OF GRAFTON “Ancestral Ties” p. 132 “This is a beautiful, luxurious home, but it’s also a real place to live.”—SUZANNE TUCKER “Rooms With Views” p. 144…

PLANTING IDEAS Virginia Newman Yocum helps not only in decorating the earth but also with determining what actually goes into—and onto—it. As the owner/partner of Pennoyer Newman, which has been making lightweight, weather-resistant stone resin garden pots and planters for 35 years, Yokum wants gardens to flourish while also being respectful of the environment. An active participant for 22 years in the life of the now Santa Monica-based company, which was founded in 1989 on the North Shore of Long Island by the late Cecily Pennoyer, Yocum acknowledges—to underscore the level of creative mastery—that “after this much time, we’re not practicing anymore.” Pennoyer Newman pots typically replicate venerable examples that once graced estates in the United States and abroad. Her company’s planters, pedestals, statuary, window boxes, urns, and fountains appear to…

Shane Robuck speaks Italian so well that he is often mistaken for a native when wandering the booths of the Parma antiques fair. “I learned to speak Italian from the Scuola di Vita, or what translates as the School of Life,” says Robuck, who, along with co-owner Kristen Walls, operates Robuck, an Atlanta emporium for the finest Continental antiques, most dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. Robuck seems to have graduated with other “degrees”, too, from that particular school, for he has become so attuned to the provenance of antiques during his decades in the business, particularly items made in Italy, that he can accurately guess much about their authenticity. “That’s the most fun aspect of what I do. I can look at a piece of furniture at some booth…