Before I moved to New York, a friend gave me some good advice: don’t waste too much time traveling up and down or east and west; plan your day according to neighborhood. So, in the spirit of good time management, I always look forward to my bi-monthly hair appointment. It’s not because I love the pampering, but because it takes me to Midtown and that means a little escape next door to Rizzoli
Bookstore. Now, Manhattan has a lot of fabulous bookstores (I’m a sucker for every one!), but Rizzoli’s is really something special. I could spend hours browsing through their three floors of pure heaven.
On my most recent trip, I picked up two new re-releases from the London publisher Thames & Hudson: English Style and Decoration and French Style and Decoration, both by the well-known design expert Stafford Cliff. Originally published about a decade ago, these small gems are a design junkie’s dream. Tagged A Sourcebook of Original Designs, each volume contains over 600 designs and patterns from company archives and pattern books. You’ll flip page after page of gorgeous textile designs, sketches of glassware and ceramics, furniture renderings, room schematics, pattern book recordings of everything from toast racks to iron fence designs, and so much more. You really will want to study each and every page. These books are good resources for a brief history overview of English and French design, but, mostly they are visual treats of beautifully designed everyday decorative arts.
So, set aside a Sunday afternoon, make a pot of tea, crack open one of these beauties, and toast the designers that make even everyday items pieces of art. Enjoy!
Visit Rizzoli Bookstore at 31 West 57th Street or at www.rizzoliusa.com.
Both books are available at www.barnesandnoble.com or www.amazon.com.
–Jennifer Kopf
Technorati Tags: books, new releases, French design, English design, decorative arts, antiques, Rizzoli Bookstore, Stafford Cliff, French style, English style
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