Lecoanet Hemant is a fashion house founded in 1981 by Didier Lecoanet (Chaumont, 1955) and Hemant Sagar (New Delhi, 1957). Didier Lecoanet, in charge of creation, took courses at the Boederer Academy of Arts, the Ecole Camondo and perfected his training thanks to an internship at Lanvin. Hemant Sagar, who manages the house, took courses in a German school of patronage and fashion design, before working in a major ready-to-wear company, from design to sales.

They opened a boutique on rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré in 1981. Lecoanet Hemant was admitted to the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture in 1984. They created 33 haute couture collections between 1984 and 2000. The Lecoanet Hemant style, inspired by the structure of the Indian sari and multiple variants intended for active and elegant women, was crowned with the Dé d’Or in 1994. Reconnecting with the origins of Hemant Sagar, the Lecoanet Hemant house moved to India in 2002, further developing its loan -à-porter and reserving the creation of haute couture models for a private clientele. Didier Lecoanet and Hemant Sagar are the owners of the creations of the house “Lecoanet Hemant”. They also own the art direction rights of their models.

Text in English and French.

Interiors designed by Michael Del Piero are full of delightful contradictions. She designs minimalist rooms rich with historical character, meticulously edited gallery-like spaces that still have the comforting warmth of home, and breezy abodes with crisp architectural details that feel tailored rather than severe. But the fact that her projects, sprinkled across the United States, come off as reassuringly familiar yet entirely fresh, as they blend elements of American and European style, is a direct result of her background.

The designer was born and raised in Chicago. She worked for decades as a business coach, advising executives at Fortune 500 companies on how to further their goals, inspire their people and energise their operations. At the same time, she dove head-first into design, almost without realising it. Thrilled by the hunt for distinctive antiques, unusual objects and compelling art, she loved few things more than combing auction houses and flea markets for unexpected finds.

Enjoying herself too much to go back to corporate consulting, Del Piero took on the mantle of antiques dealer, and began making regular buying trips to Europe and hosting biannual sales, composing a different interior design scheme in a different house each time. Every sale was more successful than the last, but it didn’t take long for some of her customers to see the larger picture: the objects Del Piero brought back were beautiful, but it was the way she used them to create cohesive, compelling interiors that was the real attraction.

One of those customers eventually asked Del Piero to design her home. She spent the next year designing every aspect of the client’s Chicago house while learning how to manage a construction site. When it was finished, the home was published and widely lauded, and Del Piero’s interior design firm was off and running.

She formally established her studio in 2007. Since then, the designer’s work has been rooted in her early travels and experiences, and reflects her natural curiosity and embrace of decorative arts from different cultures and periods.

As her studio has grown, the scale of her projects has grown as well, creating more opportunities to expand her creative vision. Today, she embraces an increasingly holistic approach to design as her projects move beyond interior design to architecture. She is conceiving new-construction houses built from the ground up, including an oceanfront house in Florida and a multibuilding compound on the site of an old hunting lodge in Westchester, New York, as well as interiors for a sleek new modernist house in Amagansett, a stately Upper East Side apartment in Manhattan and the overhaul of a historic greystone on Chicago’s Gold Coast. Some projects appear more polished than others, but all feature overlapping elements that might seem incongruous in less skilled hands: refinement mixed with rusticity, artful composition without pretension and exacting details that nevertheless contribute to an inviting sense of calm.

Proximities: The Architecture of Jon Lott is an erudite exploration into the practice of PARA Project, a design firm based in Amenia, NY, and the philosophies of its founder Jon Lott. Lott’s work, characterised by its openness to reconfiguration and its dialogue with context, is presented through five key projects: Haffenden House, Pioneertown House, Stump House, Brugge, and Lean-tos.

The book probes the significance of proximity and approximation in Lott’s work and emphasises how these elements facilitate a deeper engagement with the surroundings. Structured around thematic prompts such as “Readings/Reflections,” “Proximities/Approximations,” and “Diptychs/Doubles,” it offers a multifaceted examination of Lott’s design approach, and also highlights the playful and improvisational aspects of Lott’s methodology.

Featuring theoretical discourse and practical insights, Proximities is both an architectural monograph and a philosophical inquiry into the nature of creating and experiencing space. It is essential reading for those interested in the intersections of architecture, philosophy, and environmental interaction.

With contributions by Mark Lee, Jon Lott, Charles Shafaieh and Julie Cirelli.

A charming photographic study of the quintessential American house style.

Originally developed in the 1600s to withstand harsh Massachusetts winters, the Cape Cod cottage—with its central door and chimney, flanking windows, and steeply pitched roof—is an instantly recognisable architectural form. Thanks to its simple and versatile layout, it has been adapted in countless ways by modern builders, and remains one of the most popular styles of American house.

In this photo essay—printed in beautiful black and white and accompanied by an insightful introduction—William Morgan traces the entire history of the Cape Cod cottage, from its Colonial origins, to the suburban starter homes of mid-century America, to the creative interpretations of contemporary architects. The images—most of them Morgan’s own—explore both the pleasingly understated exteriors and the cosy interiors of representative Cape Cod cottages.

Newly reissued in a handsome hardcover edition, The Cape Cod Cottage will be the perfect gift for anyone who lives in one of these classic American homes.

Written by Antony Penrose, son of American feminist icon Lee Miller and British artist Roland Penrose this delightful narrative introduces the fascinating lives of Lee Miller; War Correspondent and Surrealist photographer and her husband Roland Penrose; Surrealist artist and co-founder of the ICA, whilst taking a tour of their extraordinary home in the Sussex countryside. Farleys’s exterior has no hint of visual excitements to be discovered. Bright walls & corridors filled with remarkable & eclectic art. The book gives a glimpse into amazing lives of Lee Miller & Roland Penrose. This special anniversary edition, 75 years at Farleys, has new photography and never seen before insights to the house.

The townhouse has become an ideal of city living, evoking elegance, proportion, and the sense of a private world in the heart of the metropolis. More than any particular interior or architectural style, the townhouse represents a way of life.

Townhouse takes you inside the world’s most beautiful and stylish townhouses, such as an 18th-century Amsterdam canal house restored by Soho House designer Vicky Charles, a classic John Nash London townhouse renovated by Albion Nord, and an exquisite Mediterranean Revival house in Los Angeles reimagined by Night Palm. From Victorian London terraces and New York brownstones to Miami Modernism, contemporary Australian and Beaux-Arts Paris, Townhouse is a stunning photographic journey told through interviews with the world’s leading interior designers. 

A luxury fabric-bound edition with over 230 large-format colour images, Townhouse is this generation’s definitive survey of period and contemporary townhouse style.

As a contributor to the esteemed magazine l’architettura, under the discerning eye of Bruno Zevi, Giuliano Chelazzi first encountered the architectural brilliance of Arthur Dyson through a 1995 article on the Jaksha House. Chelazzi’s fascination deepened during a pilgrimage to the United States in 2007, where he met Dyson in person, igniting an insatiable desire for a profound understanding of Dyson’s work. This desire crystallised over the years, ultimately inspiring the writing of this book.

Dyson’s architecture, resplendent and visionary, emerges from a wellspring of fervent creativity and an intimate engagement with the unique qualities of its inhabitants. As an authentic organic architect, he envisions a reality that transcends the present, evolving into forms and narratives that are in perpetual flux. The remarkable Jaksha House serves as a precursor to the emblematic Woods House, which in turn leads to the spatial grace of the Hilton House. These are complemented by urban interventions such as the Webster Elementary School and the Selma Police Station, while the ethereal essence of the Betsuin Buddhist Temple offers a contemplative pause, resonating with spiritual depth.

Arriving in Britain just as war was declared Lee Miller, an American with no permit to work, used her camera as her principle means of combat during World War II.

Before Lee Miller left Britain to report in Europe she covered the Blitz, civilians braving the destruction around them and their contributions to the war effort as well as wartime fashion, camouflage and the women in the armed forces on the home front.

This book curated by the Lee Miller Archives is Lee Miller’s photography in Britain during the war with an essay by Ami Bouhassane. 

Dior’s cabine is legendary. Tania, Lucky, Victoire, France, Alla… so many names, figures, and silhouettes embody it in the eyes of the world and posterity, beyond the fantasied place that the term originally designates.

The word “cabine” refers, during the historical era of the haute couture house (1947-1957), to the fitting room reserved for models and, by metonymy, to the models themselves working full-time for the house. From the creation studio to the presentation salons, the cabine serves as the nerve centre of a collection’s life.

Dior and Gallimard invite twelve female writers—a reference to the twelve models who composed the historical Dior cabine—to imagine twelve stories, like a bouquet-show.

This collection of stories will aim, through the prism of fiction, to recreate the effervescence of the cabine, where the pinnacle of the house’s activity unfolded: the consecration of the models wearing designs for presentation to diverse audiences.

Authors: Jakuta Alikavazovic, Nathalie Azoulai, Catherine Cusset, Marie Darrieussecq, Joffrine Donnadieu, Clara Dupont-Monod, Alice Ferney, Simonetta Greggio, Anna Hope, Karina Sainz Borgo, Zeruya Shalev, Leïla Slimani.

“To build a home is perhaps the most primal form of architecture. A place of complete particularity to human existence, houses both influence and incubate individuality. A house situates the fragile territory between container and creator, the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace.” (Gaston Bachelard)

“This selection of 20 houses by Patrick Tighe shows a diverse spectrum of work, all tied by a shared occupation of the west coast. His work highlights the dramatic variance that can exist within residential architecture, how each project has been approached organically and intuitively but held by the familiar siting among the smoke and goldenness of the late afternoon of time.” (Kerouac, Out/West)

Architectural legibility requires both visual clarity of a building’s appearance such that its formal, spatial, and material compositions can be comprehended, as well as a certain clarity of the its social, cultural, and political histories. While the term legibility carries a connotation of conclusiveness or objective qualifications, legibility in architecture is most often inconclusive and unresolved. Such unresolved legibility is particularly visible in houses, which are the source of inquiry in this project. This project proposes new understandings and interpretations of American residential architecture by investigating and graphically illustrating the forms, spaces, and histories of ten residential types.

Perhaps no genre of architecture has been written about more than ‘the house’. As long-standing subjects of architectural discourse, cultural reflection, and experimentation, houses represent a confluence of architectural and broader cultural phenomena. The house is not only susceptible to, but in fact requires renewal and re-imagination; as an architectural type it reflects shifting societal values and the constant reconstruction of meaning that this shifting entails. Such social, cultural, political and contextual circumstances can best be evaluated under the rubric of legibility. While this might at first seem like an objective undertaking, legibility in architecture is indeterminate and unresolved, revealing the intertwining of architectural expressions with broader cultural circumstances.

An Atlas of Another America is a work of speculative architectural fiction and theoretical analysis of the American single-family house and its native habitat, the suburban metropolis. Mass-marketed and endlessly multiplied, and the definitive symbol of success in America and around the world, the suburban house has also become a global economic calamity and an impending environmental catastrophe. Yet, as both object and idea, it remains largely unexamined from an architectural perspective. This new book fills this gap through projects and essays that reflect upon, critique, and reformulate the equation that binds the house as an object to the American dream as a concept. Adopting tone and format of an historical architectural treatise, it builds upon an eminent lineage of architectural research from Piranesi and Ledoux to Branzi and Koolhaas in which imaginary but not implausible worlds are constructed through drawing in order to reframe reality and reorient the discipline towards new territories of action. An Atlas of Another America is a comprehensive, highly original, and also satirical contribution to an international discourse in architecture.

In recent years, guest houses have become exceptionally popular and attractive for people who live in the city but want to escape from the hustle and bustle. This book contains 42 case studies of guest houses. The book provides a professional analysis of the projects, accompanied with pictures of the projects. This book offers a good reference to anyone interested in guest houses, be it guest house owners or architects.

Sir Edwin Lutyens is widely regarded as one of Britain’s greatest architects. In a career of over 50 years, spanning the Victorian, Edwardian and modern eras of architecture, Lutyens was prolific. His work ranged from great country houses, city commercial office buildings, his famous World War I memorials across Europe and Britain, and his magnum opus designs for New Delhi built during the 1920s and 1930s. Despite such diversity of building types across his long career, Lutyens’s most celebrated works remain his country houses, which first established his reputation during the 1890s. As Lutyens’s practice flourished his work became widely promoted in publications such as Country Life magazine, and his houses, particularly those designed in the vernacular manner, would subsequently give rise to an entire genre of the English country house that became known, as it is to this day, as a ‘Lutyens-style’ house. Sir Edwin Lutyens: The Arts and Crafts Houses brings together in new, wide-format, full-colour photography a definitive collection of 45 of Lutyens’s great Arts and Crafts houses, in which he ingeniously blended the style of the Arts and Crafts movement with his own inventive interpretation of the Classical language of architecture. The book features 575 all-new current photographs of the houses, inside and outside, together with a selection of floor plans of the houses, and a fresh interpretation of Lutyens’s enduring architectural genius.

Indonesia fosters many noteworthy architects who have amassed a remarkable collection of works. Tropical Houses showcases a compilation of house designs by an outstanding group of Indonesian architects. Highly illustrated and providing a wide scope in terms of design integrity, architectural sophistication and style, this book follows closely in the wake of its incredibly successful first volume, published in 2013, disclosing each architect’s distinctive approach to the contemporary residential design realm. Featuring a wide range of design philosophies, projects are presented with full-colour photographs, visualising the detailed environment of every project and fully immersing the reader into every part of the house. Complete with detailed plans, sections, and elevation drawings, this book is an inspiring source for people in the architecture and design domains.

“This book is as beguiling as a book can be … From the first glimpse of its most agreeable small format – so satisfying to hold and with a cover that positively sings of the delights to be found within – you are charmed out of your wits.” – Lucinda Lambton in The Oldie

“This is at one level a book about a part of London and its buildings. At another, it’s a book about learning to savour our lives” – Alain de Botton

Take a walk around a park trodden by many but known by few. From Lancaster House, venue of famous speeches and summits, to 100 Piccadilly, the stage of an ongoing Soviet-themed reality experience, The Buildings of Green Park captures the unseen history of these well-travelled streets.

Green Park boasts a plethora of London landmarks, including Bridgewater House and the Canada Gates. The Buildings of Green Park gives each of these sites the attention they deserve, while also celebrating a multitude of overlooked buildings: those that are passed every day without comment from the guides. Local history, old photographs, paintings and floorplans offer a tantalising peek into the backstory behind these backdrops. Moving through the winter and into the spring, Andrew Jones’s crisp photography captures a London shaped by past, present and hopes for the future.

Munnu: Vision & Passion traces the creativity and vivacity of the late Munnu Kasliwal. Kasliwal’s magical designs put The Gem Palace, his family’s jewellery house, and India on the fashion map of the jewellery world.

The book follows the design journey of Munnu Kasliwal of The Gem Palace Jaipur, a jewellery house synonymous with luxury, sophisticated style, striking statement pieces, and exquisite craftsmanship. Munnu: Vision & Passion chronicles the metamorphosis of The Gem Palace from a local jewellery firm to an international jewellery house, an evolution synchronous with Munnu’s life. From the creation of the ‘T-shirt’ necklace to dreaming up settings that fused gemstone and metal in unique ways, Munnu produced a new genre of jewels that bridged the historical past with an uber-stylish present.

While Munnu loved and admired traditional Indian opulence and grandeur, he brought a unique vision and passion, a rare sensibility and elegance to all his designs, establishing his unique style. To Munnu, a piece of jewellery was a beautiful creation, to be liberated from the confines of the conventional. Published as a tribute to Munnu, this book documents his design journey for more than two decades.

A Way of Life has been put together as lovingly as Kettle’s Yard itself. It takes the form of a guided tour; you enter the door and venture through the house, taking in the rooms one by one, seeing the light play on glass, china, wood, stone and canvas, and seeing how the art and the living-space bring each other alive. A series of remarkable black and white photographs catches the spirit that Jim Ede was trying to evoke, and the text comments on them in his own words. The visit is interwoven with Jim Ede’s account of earlier attempts to create the same wholeness in earlier houses in London and France. He has also placed in the spaces and intervals of the book his choice of poetic texts; an anthology which indicates the spirit in which he has worked. Three influences animate this unique book: the sense of the way of life that Jim Ede created at Kettle’s Yard, the spirit of the house itself, and the gentle but persistently creative spirit of the man who put it all together and then put together this book as the record of his creation in his own words. Originally published in 1984. This edition (reprinted in 2021) contains the introduction by former director of the Tate Sir Alan Bowness first included in the 1996 edition.

“The London Youth Portraits (ACC Art Books), a sumptuous collection of never-before-seen photographs of punks, skinheads, New Romantics, goths, ravers, and fetishists.” — Huck Magazine

“A new edit of a beloved classic.” — Marc Jacobs Instagram

“Across 176 pages, the oversized volume documents Ridgers’ vision of England’s seminal youth culture from the height of punk to the birth of acid house, each image a tribute to the trials and triumphs of youth.” — 10 Magazine

‘As time passes, this kind of observational photography attains a new importance’ – Sean O’Hagan, The Observer

‘Ridgers’ portraits of young boys and girls are weighted with a raw poetry and beauty’ – Cory Reynolds, artbook.com

Between 1978 and 1987, renowned British photographer Derek Ridgers captured London youth culture in all its glory. With skinheads, punks and new romantics, in clubs and on the street, his images have come to define a seminal decade of British subculture.

Broadly based on the now out of print book 78/87 London Youth, this showcases a completely fresh selection of images from the depths of Ridgers’ exceptional archive – including many previously unseen – beautifully printed and bound in an oversized volume.

Each picture is a tribute to the trials and triumphs of youth, and a precious document of style and culture in 1980s England, from the height of punk to the birth of acid house. Several have been exhibited internationally in cities as far-ranging as Moscow, Adelaide and Beverly Hills, in the National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain and Somerset House. Ridgers has also collaborated with a number of major fashion houses, including Saint Laurent and Gucci, and his images continue to inspire photographers, artists and fashion designers around the world.

Yumi Katsura could be the greatest fashion designer you’ve never heard of. One of the world’s bestselling luxury wedding-dress designers, as well as a celebrated couturier, she was venerated in her native Japan as a cultural icon and an inspirational business leader. Among her most celebrated pieces are a paper ‘washi mode’ dress housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a vestment worn by Pope John Paul II and a diamond-laden wedding gown ranked among the most expensive of all time.

This beautifully illustrated biography tells the story of the woman who single-handedly created Japan’s modern wedding industry, turning centuries of tradition on its head. From Katsura’s childhood in the ruins of wartime Tokyo to her stellar international career, her life is an example to anyone who dreams of living for their passion. Written by Cori Coppola – producer of the acclaimed documentary House of Cardin – with co-author Kristin Coppola, this lavish fashion biography is a must-have for critics, connoisseurs and couture fans.

Working as a vet in a large zoo is a dream job for many—but for Tim Bouts, it’s reality. As Chief Veterinary Officer, he has spent over 20 years caring for animals in world-renowned parks like London Zoo. Today, he works at the Sheikh of Qatar’s ‘Panda House.’ In this book, he shares remarkable stories from his diverse range of patients: a lion battling Covid, a hippopotamus with tuberculosis, a tigress with dental issues, and a gorilla suffering from chronic pain. Some of his anecdotes are heartwarming, like his first successful surgery, or welcoming baby pandas to Pairi Daiza in Belgium. Others are pulse-pounding, such as the failed anesthesia of an antelope, and the escape of two chimpanzees. And some are deeply moving, like the euthanasia of a herd of herpes-stricken elephants or the heartbreaking loss of a walrus mother and her calf. Through these stories, you’ll get a front-row seat to Tim’s daily work and a rare glimpse into his thoughts. He doesn’t shy away from sensitive topics like euthanasia, contraception in zoos, and the challenges of quarantining animals.

Another Chance Encounter celebrates Lubaina Himid’s first UK museum exhibition since 2018. Beautifully designed in collaboration with the artist, this fully illustrated book documents three new bodies of paintings and installations created for the exhibition at Kettle’s Yard, one made in collaboration with artist and master printmaker Magda Stawarska. Inspired by the unique Kettle’s Yard house and collection, Himid’s new work illuminates figures and histories often considered marginal. Himid will populate the Kettle’s Yard house with paintings in cupboards and drawers, and display a new collection of found and made objects and in the galleries. The publication follows Himid as she brilliantly crafts alternative histories with her distinctive bold colours and characters. The book will include new texts by Amy Tobin, Amelia Groom and Aneta Krzemien in conversation with Magda Stawarska, as well as Himid’s own writing.