Monday, March 28, 2016

The Magic and Mystery of L’Objet: Designer Elad Yifrach’s New Collection of Decorative Objects Is a Grand Allusion with a Dash of Dali-esque Dada

Come with me to see L’Objet’s glamorous new surreal and tongue-in-chic designs.  And stop in for a quick chat with my dear friend Elad. The new L’Objet collection includes gold-framed lapis clocks, porcelain white rabbits with gold ears, Venetian jeweled cocktail forks, tabletop games galore, and domino pieces and dice you’ll want to dabble with every day.



A simple game of cards (Solitaire, anyone) is elevated to a luxurious gesture. The chic black croc box has croc-embossed playing cards. The Joker? A smiling crocodile outwitted by a little bird.

There’s a surreal numbered Jasmin d’Inde candle, an amphora incense holder, and a swooning swan in ceramic with delicate gilding.



I love this new collection. The pyramid boxes, the Art Deco trays, the scented candles, all somewhat surrealist. They look like pieces that Babe Paley or Jean Cocteau and Marie-Laure de Noailles would have collected or given as gifts, and surely the Duchess of Windsor would have given pieces to her Duke for their amusement.

Diana Vreeland would have loved the playing cards, the rabbits, no doubt, and the ‘croc’ vide-poche. I love the croc boxes. Oh, and if you like the rabbits—buy a three-some or a five-some. Odd numbers are lucky.





DDS: Elad, it is such a great pleasure to chat with you. What was your inspiration with this new collection?
EY:
Smoke & Mirrors is inspired by the timeless allure of games, magic and mystery. This collection expresses the playful side of L’Objet and really encapsulates the mischief of the after-dinner moment. I love mischief after dinner.


DDS: You always create glamour. Here there’s humor.
EY:
I wanted to try something a little different and Smoke & Mirrors combines textures and finishes, including natural shell inlays, antiqued brass, ebonized mahogany and signature satin/matt Limoges porcelain, but with sly wit.


DDS: These new designs are clever—and they are beautiful and timeless.

EY: Smoke & Mirrors is an homage to rare and fine craftsmanship, pushing the boundaries of what is possible with these materials. 

The collection also has a number of new product categories, including trays, games, and timepieces. I’m using wood for the first time, so the focus was on the materials, ceramics and gold and exotic wood.


All About Elad Yifrach: Founder and Creative Director, L’Objet

Elad is passionate about creating luxury tabletop pieces and accessories for home decor. All of the company’s products are his original designs.

Elad began his career as a young interior designer in Beverly Hills. He recognized a void in the marketplace for luxury tabletop products that embraced beauty, meticulous craftsmanship and functionality. After many months of inspired research, L’Objet was born in 2004.

Born and raised in Israel, Elad was exposed to the region’s rich culture. A passionate traveler and devotee of the Mediterranean, he draws inspiration from the region’s traditions and crafts.

Elad works with a diverse group of manufacturers around the world. Candles in Portugal. Porcelain in France. A dinner plate is layered with 24 kt gold and fired three times to achieve the optimal rich glow.

Elad currently resides in New York City. When he is not traveling and designing, he enjoys yoga and entertaining.







WHERE TO BUY:
Selections of L’Objet are at Bergdorf Goodman and at Harrod’s, and at Neiman Marcus, along with Tanagra, and at Lane Crawford in Hong Kong. Check also L’Objet a la Plage in the Hamptons.

Prices for this collection range from $26 for a bread and butter plate to $295 for the gold-eared white Limoges rabbit.

The website: www.l-objet.com

CREDITS: 
All photography here courtesy of L’Objet.


Monday, March 21, 2016

Sublime Flowers: Glorious floral creations by New York’s highly talented Lewis Miller of Lewis Miller Design are presented in an inspiring new book, ‘Styling Nature’, published this spring by Rizzoli. I love his floral style—abundant, seasonal, and a little bit wild.

Growing up in the countryside in New Zealand, I loved plunging into the garden early on Saturday mornings to pick armfuls of white lilacs, or palest green hydrangea blooms or ivory peonies to arrange simply and profusely for a dinner party that evening. My mother loved flowers in every room to look fresh from the garden, generous, lavish.

I was inspired by my grandmother’s collections of books on floral décor by English designers like Constance Spry, and I followed Miss Spry’s natural and abundant approach, keeping flowers and leaves mostly monochromatic or softly tonal.

My eye was immediately captured by New York floral designer Lewis Miller’s new book. His elegant flowers have the same soft tonality and lavish simplicity.

Lewis expresses his style with generosity, spirit and a sense of freedom. He is guided by painterly color, somewhat formal composition, plus a sense of movement, shape, and texture, his basic principles for creating a floral still life.

In the new book, in the heritage of Constance Spry and Dutch still-life painters—Lewis Miller’s flowers look natural and fresh from the garden, a look I love.


Lewis Miller’s ‘Styling Nature’ offers ideas and inspiration with a naturalistic style. His lovely and artistic creations are presented so that professionals and enthusiasts (and Saturday morning flower designers) can emulate his confident approach.

Miller’s collaboration with New York photographer Don Freeman in this in-depth new book is a brilliant one. 









“My approach to floral design has always been a bit unorthodox. I see flowers in an unusual way and I am happiest when I am combining opposing elements in my work. My aesthetic can go from monastic chic to the court of Versailles in the blink of an eye, and if sometimes I describe a flower as if it is an unruly teenager it is because all flowers have their own unique charms.” – Lewis Miller from ‘Styling Nature’

Lewis Miller


Behind the Scenes: An exclusive look at Lewis Miller and Don Freeman at work creating ‘Styling Nature’








About the Author

Lewis Miller is an acclaimed New York–based floral designer. Since 2002 he has been the proprietor of LMD New York, making flower arrangements and creating party settings for his private and corporate clientele, including Givenchy, Chanel, Bergdorf Goodman, Bulgari, and the Whitney Museum. He memorably designed the romantic Florentine décor for a recent gala at the Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco, sponsored by Ferragamo.






Lewis Miller, who has a background in horticulture and landscape design, describes his work as "sumptuous nature".

In his new book, in chapters organized by color, composition, movement, shape, and texture, he explains the thoughts that guide his artistic process.

Vivid images of brightly hued poppies, full-blown roses and peonies, hydrangeas, and graceful tulips explode on each page, inspiring the reader to style them in a joyful and confident way.

He offers fresh ideas on containers high and low, old and new, and the endless textures of unexpected foliage.







Practical information is generously offered and the book ends with an invaluable thumbnail index of all images, listing the types of flowers in each arrangement, so the reader will know what to look, or ask for.

“In addition to special occasions, I want to encourage everyone to incorporate flowers into every day, and to embolden connoisseurs of natural beauty to take this soulful domestic art into their own hands,” said Lewis Miller.






CREDITS:

‘Styling Nature 
A Masterful Approach to Flower Arrangements’ By Lewis Miller with Irini Arakas, with all photography by Don Freeman (Rizzoli New York, 2016).

All photography, including behind the scenes images, and outtakes, by Don Freeman.

Introduction by Nina Garcia. Nina Garcia is a fashion journalist, television personality, author, and the creative director of Marie Claire.

Don Freeman

Don Freeman is an accomplished fashion, still life, and interiors photographer based in New York. His work is often published in design and style magazines such as The World of Interiors, Elle Décor, and Architectural Digest. His photography illustrated the dramatic and beautiful volume, ‘Ted Muehling A Portrait’,’ also published by Rizzoli. 

“The images in this book and my photography of Lewis Miller’s work for the past ten years are an exploration of an inner dimension of the mind that also expresses itself with music and poetry. By using simple sets and all-natural lighting these images paint a rich dreamscape that recalls a faded remembrance of beauty and simple, rhythmic gestures.” — Don Freeman