Architectural Digest May 2021

come into bloom

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editor’s letter

“I love all of the African continent; there isn’t one country I love more than another. Each place in Africa has something magical about it.”—Naomi Campbell If you, like me, have sorely missed exploring other parts of the world this year, then this, AD’s international issue, is the ticket to some extremely satisfying armchair travel. Wondering where British megamodel and cover star Naomi Campbell, the ideal definition of a professional jetsetter, prefers to unwind? For 20 years Campbell’s chosen escape has been the quiet seaside town of Malindi, Kenya, overlooking the Indian Ocean. “It’s a very calming place,” says Campbell, who was recently appointed Kenya’s official tourism ambassador but plans to champion all 54 of Africa’s countries in her new role. Campbell’s serene villa, set within a gorgeous resort, is the…

fan club

German lighting designer Ingo Maurer first spotted some uchiwa, traditional Japanese fans made of bamboo and lacquered rice paper, in a Paris shop in 1972. Famous for his no-nonsense, bare-bulb designs of the 1960s, by then, he told The New York Times in 1977, “I was looking for something—anything—that would [produce] a soft light.” Uchiwa turned out to be the solution. So he headed to Japan and met Tatsuo Shigeki, a fisherman in Kagawa Prefecture and member of a family that had produced uchiwa for generations, some even for the local samurai. Most craftspeople had already jettisoned bamboo in favor of plastic, but Shigeki was a master of the old ways. Maurer shipped some samples to Munich, where he attached the beauties to wire frames, fashioning the fans into fixtures that…

page turner

The first time that American set designer and prop stylist Melañio Gomez clapped eyes on the defunct centuries-old bookstore that would eventually become his Brussels apartment, the space was not particularly promising. It had no kitchen, no bath, and no bedrooms. On the plus side, the derelict shop possessed high ceilings—at least on the primary level—and a few original architectural details visible through the grime. The floor below the bookshop, however, had been a wine cave, and it was barely tall enough to stand in. “My initial reaction was ‘Interesting, but no thanks,’” recalls Gomez, who shares the Old–meets–New World abode with his husband, Chris Kangas, an executive at Mastercard. Happily, the building owner wasn’t taking no for an answer. “He wrote me back and asked what would need to happen…

lasting impression

Informed by the past but poised for the present day, Benjamin Moore’s Historical Collection celebrates vivid hues of centuries gone by. Choose from nearly 200 timeless paint colors like Hale Navy HC-154, a classic expression of the stately blue that will accentuate any surface, or Kendall Charcoal HC-166, a versatile gray enriched by deep undertones. Not too dark, with natural warmth, both colors will instantly refresh a room while also appearing as though they’ve been there all along. Shop paint samples now at store.benjaminmoore.com PRODUCED FOR…

the library is open

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