MILIEU Winter 2020

Home is one of my favorite words. Another favorite is Family. My home reflects the way my husband and I live there, while it is also a comfortable place where we welcome—among others—our grandchildren, other relatives, and friends. Many people—MILIEU readers and colleagues on the magazine’s staff, as well as other friends and family members—have asked me over the years to publish my own home. To be honest, I’m not big on self-promotion; I shy away from it. But I am grateful for and flattered by all of the requests to show the work I’ve done in my own home. So, with this Winter issue, the first of our 2020 editions, I am sharing my home. I welcome all of you to take the tour with me in these pages. The interior designers…

Will Fisher and Charlotte Freemantle Will Fisher, founder of Jamb, runs and owns the London-based company with his wife, Charlotte Freemantle. Together, they have amassed an extraordinary collection of antiques—lighting fixtures, chimneypieces, fire grates, urns, furniture— that they have expertly reproduced by artisans in the United Kingdom. The couple has forged relationships with the Jasper Showroom in West Hollywood and the Ainsworth-Noah Showroom in Atlanta, both of which carry their products. Pamela Pierce Pamela Pierce is MILIEU’s founder and editor-in-chief. For more than thirty years as a visionary interior designer, she has been known for creating timeless homes. Her design approach is simple: always a fine study in light, scale, texture, and color. From furnishings to textiles to architectural elements, she utilizes only the most natural and elegant materials. Clean lines and authenticity…

AMERICAN FAMILY Lee Industries not only makes things, but it also makes things happen. The North Carolina–based, family-owned furniture company celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and continues to produce its iconic “1935-01” chair—a piece of furniture that’s never gone out of style. In 1969, Dottie and Bill Coley began manufacturing furniture that they wanted in their own home but couldn’t find in the market, a decision that led to their opening a factory employing ten people (and there are now 670 employees). As Lee’s success grew, the couple began making leather, slipcovers, designer collections, outdoor furniture. “We’re very proud that a couple established the company fifty years ago, and, ever since, Lee has been making all of its furniture in America, here in North Carolina,” says Bondi Coley, Lee’s vice…

Perhaps it was my mother who first inspired me to visit Egypt. It was later in her life that my mamá grew passionate about the country and loved visiting it. Although she was initially drawn to the nation because of its epic history and the remnants of the culture when Egypt was a powerful empire, it was the gentility of its people and the beauty of the Nile that really captivated her. She often talked about her journeys there. But as it happens when one hears someone speak about a topic we know little about, I did not retain many of her anecdotes. I did, however, want to visit where she had visited. I had never been to the country. Then, late last year, a friend suggested we go together. My…