The Baroness

From the same lady who created this, from the cover of Elle Decor April 2008 (photographed by Roger Davies)...

...remember? We now also have this to drool over...

from the latest Australian Vogue Living (photographed by Richard Powers).

The Baroness de Pampelonne has created a spectacular apartment in Paris for a wealthy Russian client, who received the apartment as a present. As you do.

Its absolutely stunning, and easily one of few spaces I've ever seen I feel I could move right into without changing a single thing. The colours, the furniture, the art...the mix is perfection. I spy pieces by Hervé Van der Straeten, Gio Ponti, Eric Schmitt, Angelo Mangiarotti, Les Lalannes, Baguès, Ico Parisi, Jean Royere, Otto Wagner and Philippe Hiquily...its like a roll call of my favorite designers! I won't spoil it for you by posting all the images, even though I'm tempted. So make sure you go buy a copy, because the entire apartment is to die for.

London here I come!

I booked tickets for the hubby and I for a week-long trip to London in September. I haven't been in 6 years, so needless to say I'm quite excited! The reason for the trip is for what will most likely be the most fabulous wedding of the century, and happens to coincide with the 100% Design fair. Lucky me. There are lots of things I already have on my list of things to do and see - including the V&A and Tate Modern, but if anyone out there has any recommendations - for restaurants, bars, bookshops, or anything really, I'd love to hear from you!

Sharing the pain...

I wanted to share a little something with you all...this article was published in the South China Morning Post last week - and I finally got around to scanning and posting. Voila!

* Thanks to those of you who let me know that the image will not enlarge...don't know how to fix it, but I do have a link to the article online if you're interested - click here.

Viva Italia!

Just between you and me, I was actually an Italophile long before my obsession with France, so its not ironic that I ended up marrying an Italian-Australian. Italy's contribution to the world of design is certainly not small, and this apartment is testament to that. It's filled to the brim with masterpieces by some of my favorite artists and designers including: Ico Parisi, Gio Ponti, Maurizio Tempestini, Seguso and Lucio Fontana. Plus, I'm loving the cool calm colour palette...its soo soothing. I'm honestly not sure how long a place this minimal would look that way with me living in it, but its nice to daydream. It certainly would be a nice respite from the craziness outside in this city!

Photographed by Giorgio Baroni for AD Italia March 2010.

Speaking of Italian design, that reminds me - there is a new book on another of my favorite Italian designers, Angelo Mangiarotti, now available online from Stout Books. This one is definitely going on my wish list!

And for football fans around the world, especially supporters of the Azzurri, I'm looking forward to watching Italy's first game in the World Cup later tonight (if I can wake myself in the early hours of the morning). Either way...Viva Italia!

La Villa

While searching for inspiration during the week for a new project I'm working on I found these images of the fairly new Gilles & Boissier designed "La Villa" restaurant and bar in Paris. It was about this time 4 years ago I was last in Paris, celebrating my birthday. While I may not have immediate plans to get back there, I think I'll be quite happy doing some armchair travel while checking out the rest of the images on the website. The interior is simply breathtaking, and I'm completely in love with the colour palette! Hope you enjoy...