Architectural Digest

“The house is a touchstone to remind me to inspire people to feel the magic…. It’s meant to be whimsical and fun. None of it is to be taken too seriously—except for love and kindness.”—RuPaul The nesting instinct is strong in this issue, which is devoted to the concept of family, whether chosen or biological, child-centered or adult-focused. Creating a safe haven for those nearest and dearest is a profound act of love and hope, and each home we feature is joyful and touching in that regard. When RuPaul and his husband, Georges LeBar, decided to take up residence in a grand Beverly Hills mansion, the couple called upon longtime friend and AD100 designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard to dramatically glam it up. “This is the house of Ru, a mansion of style……

In 1951 the Swiss company Eternit sent a letter about its proprietary material—fiber cement—to the Zurich University of the Arts administration, hoping that someone might find a new application for the weatherproof surface, used to make roof tiles and façade panels. Willy Guhl, the Swiss furniture pioneer, who was working there as a teacher, was the only one who took the prompt. “The material could take any form,” explains Renate Menzi, who edited the book Willy Guhl: Thinking With Your Hands (Lars Müller), a collaboration with Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, which outlines the designer’s oeuvre. Initially, Guhl and his students used it to make free-form planters and flower boxes. But it was an elegant garden chair, realized in 1954, that got the world’s attention. Guhl envisioned an endless loop that cradled…

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin know a thing or two about cultivating drama. The husband-and-wife filmmakers, who split their time between Wyoming and New York City, took home an Academy Award for their 2018 documentary, Free Solo, an edge-of-your-seat thriller that chronicled rock climber Alex Honnold’s epic quest to scale El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. The couple also directed and produced 2021’s The Rescue, which recounted the struggle to liberate a group of young soccer players trapped in an underwater cave in Thailand. For their Manhattan abode nestled among the peaks of the Upper East Side, the intrepid auteurs, working in concert with architect Damian Zunino and designer Britt Zunino of Studio DB, have crafted an entirely different kind of story—a three-dimensional tale of family and personal passion…

FLOWER POWER Romantic patterns, retro throwbacks, and delicate details pack new punch; shown is an LA bunkroom by AD100 designer Jamie Bush. OUT OF THE BLUE Ocean hues and groovy silhouettes capture today’s mod mood; shown is a children’s room in Los Cabos by AD100 designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard. SUNNY DELIGHTS Mellow yellows, natural textures, and animal motifs for the haute bohemian tot; shown is the Portuguese home of Patrick Perrin. INTERIOR: STEPHEN KENT JOHNSON. ALL PRODUCTS COURTESY OF THE COMPANIES. INTERIOR: DOUGLAS FRIEDMAN. CUSHION: EUGENIA SIERKO. ALL OTHER PRODUCTS COURTESY OF THE COMPANIES. INTERIOR: MATTHIEU SALVAING. TEDDY BEAR: PHILIPPE LACOMBE. ALL OTHER PRODUCTS COURTESY OF THE COMPANIES.…

Amirror is an invitation to go inside another world,” says the Brazilian design star Humberto Campana, whose fantastical work (most of it made in collaboration with his late brother, Fernando) has long transported imaginations. At the time of our conversation, he was referring specifically to the silvery finish he’s chosen for two new additions to Louis Vuitton’s Objets Nomades series. Debuted during Milan Design Week in April, the special editions reinterpret past hits as art objects in honor of the collection’s 10-year anniversary. Adds Campana of their reflective surfaces, “It feels celebratory, like a party.” When the Campana Brothers first created their now iconic Cocoon chair in 2015, the hanging seat (inspired by Brazil’s liana vines) was made of vacuum-molded fiberglass sheathed in fine leather. The new version reimagines that “homage…

Barbie’s Dreamhouse is no place for the bashful. “There are no walls and no doors,” says Greta Gerwig via email. “Dreamhouses assume that you never have anything you wish was private—there is no place to hide.” That layered domestic metaphor has proved rich fodder for the filmmaker, whose liveaction homage to the iconic Mattel doll hits theaters July 21. To translate this panopticon play world to the screen, Gerwig enlisted production designer Sarah Greenwood and set decorator Katie Spencer, the London-based team behind such period realms as Pride & Prejudice and Anna Karenina. The two took inspiration from Palm Springs midcentury modernism, including Richard Neutra’s 1946 Kaufmann House and other icons photographed by Slim Aarons. “Everything about that era was spot-on,” says Greenwood, who strove “to make Barbie real through this…