MILIEU Fall 2021

It has been eight years and I can still feel the excitement and anticipation as the box of first bound copies of MILIEU arrived at our office from the printer. Our team was elated to physically hold the finished magazine, to turn the thick glossy pages, and to see the stunning photography of interiors and work of artisans around the world come together. We had collaborated for months on this one edition, as well as preparing for the launch of a brand new magazine. And, it was finally here. Then, almost immediately, we realized—now we need to do it again, and, in only ten weeks! MILIEU premiered in Fall 2013 with the mission to inspire and enlighten readers, to serve as a resource to the design community, and to honor the…

Pablo Paniagua When speaking of his career, the Spanish designer Pablo Paniagua says, “Nothing would be possible without Malaga or the people I have around me.” The light, colors, shapes, music, and people of Malaga continue to influence, indeed, determine, his interior design projects. Paniagua graduated from Malaga University’s history of art program, earned a diploma in interior architecture from the Polytechnic Institute of Madrid, and a master’s degree in decorative arts from Rome’s La Sapienza. Boris Vervoordt Boris Vervoordt is Director of the Axel Vervoordt Company, for which he oversees client relationships and the interior design team. A member of the Belgian Chamber of Antique Dealers since 2005, he is affiliated with the Foundation of the Antwerp Conservatory and the Hermes Ensemble. In 2011, he opened Axel Vervoordt Gallery, creating a platform…

ITALO-CENTRIC Tony Buccola was walking in Newport Beach recently when he saw a young girl wearing an earring shaped like a lightning bolt. “I wore exactly one of those on a chain when I was eighteen,” he recalls, “which is just one example of how we go full circle with design. Antiques once again remain very popular accessories for the home.” In 2000, Buccola founded Antonio’s Bella Casa, which is actually two showrooms—one in the heart of Los Angeles’s La Cienega design district, the other in Newport Beach. While each showroom has its own feel—L.A.’s is grander in scale with fifteenfoot barrel arches, and Newport Beach’s is more intimate—Buccola has kept Italian antiques the sole focus in both. “When I first opened my showroom, everyone was doing French and English. However,…