“A jewel of Baroque architecture, the Castelluccio Palace is the spotlight of a beautiful book retracing its history, its long restoration and its precious ornaments. These photographs reflect the Sicilian Golden Age.” —Fanny Guenon des Mesnards, AD France
“This monograph is an invitation to visit the Palazzo Di Lorenzo del Castelluccio.”—Italian Vogue
“A Palace in Sicily: A Masterpiece Restored doesn’t just pull back the curtain on the finished palace, it details the four-year-long process through an elaborate array of photos…” —Architectural Digest, and Yahoo
With its sun-drenched sands and Mediterranean waters, Sicily has been a favored destination of travelers for centuries. History is alive on this island, from ancient accounts of the Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Normans; to the journals of wealthy young European men embarking on the Grand Tour. This book captures the sun-steeped aesthetic of the island, while detailing the restoration of one of its finest attractions: the Di Lorenzo del Castelluccio palace.
Marquis de Castelluccio was one of the last “servals” or “leopards” of Sicily – wealthy aristocrats who flooded the island with luxury. Following his death, his home fell to ruin. A half-century later, Jean-Louis Remilleux fell in love with this dilapidated 18th-century palace and made it his mission to restore it. Unveiled for the first time in this beautifully illustrated book, the Di Lorenzo del Castelluccio palazzo is one of the finest testaments to Sicilian architecture and art.
Today, lush green palm trees welcome you to the palace’s imposing front façade. Frescoes, arabesques, masks, imitation marble, ceilings and wainscoting have all restored to their former glory, over decades of elaborate work. This book charts the restoration process and celebrates the astonishing end results. It contains an album’s worth of photographs that capture the beauty of this palace beneath the Mediterranean sun.
In this book you will rediscover the beloved ‘Country Style,’ which can be applied in so many different ways in a variety of interiors. From modern villas to old fermettes, country design finds its place everywhere. With an emphasis on natural elements, muted colors and an eccentric accent here and there, you’ll learn from these homes how to get started in your own interiors, too. Photographer Brent Darby and author Wink Colville guide you through these more than 20 dream interiors.
Companies face increasingly turbulent times. To what extent are the traditional strategy models still relevant to deal with this new environment? This new book presents how to analyze turbulent environments, how to build new strategies, and how to implement them. Through many case studies managers of large and smaller companies can learn how to successfully react to fundamental change. It covers these topics: 1. What is turbulence: disruption vs. disturbance. 2. Corporate foresight/sensing turbulence (incl. scenario analysis) 3. Choosing the right turbulence strategy 4. Implementing turbulence strategies
Even though they belong to the mineral kingdom, the stones in the collection of the French writer Roger Caillois appear miraculously similar to works of art. Beginning from this mysterious but captivating link between two such apparently distant universes, the book collects a carefully curated selection of the finest stones in the collection and recounts the life of Caillois (sociologist, member of the surrealist movement…), reviewing and presenting his essays on stones. The persona and the personality of this atypical 20th-century intellectual emerge from the essay by Stefano Salis, who introduces us to Caillois’ world and that of Marguerite Yourcenar, who took his place in the Académie de France after his death with a speech reviewing his life and work. The literary critic Carlo Ossola traces the outlines of the cultural climate in which Caillois lived and operated, while François Farges, now in charge of the collection, illustrates it in the final essay.
Holly Addi is a U.S.-based artist who creates abstract paintings focused on the philosophy of beauty in imperfection. With a background in psychology, Addi examines energy, color, space, and landscape through tempered abstraction. Addi considers her practice as a “composition of imperfectionism.” By utilizing abstraction, she creates moments by means of rules and omissions, acceptance and refusal, providing a space for contemplation. Her works do not reference any particular form, and interpretation becomes multifaceted. She has exhibited nationwide, and has been featured in Architectural Digest, My Domain, and Electrify Magazine. Holly’s work can be found in public and private collections worldwide.
Color in Knitting: By Designers, for Designers delves into the methods of constructing multicolor knits using knitting structures, techniques, and technologies. The book not only showcases the beauty of multicolor knitwear but also provides a solid foundation for readers to further explore and manipulate these methods for their own design work. The book begins with a color journey of fascinating patterns, designed and implemented by Stoll from both past decades and recent collections, which illustrate the different color effects of multicolor knitting. In the second part of the book, the authors provide insight into the specific structures and techniques used to create these patterns; the section also includes stitch diagrams written using basic knitting symbols to further elucidate the construction of a knit.
“…sumptuous large illustrations of the selected Works, with a beautifully printed tonality”
“lt is exciting to think about how this important collection can continue to grow while this publication is already a beautiful tribute to Scottish art.” — Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History, Volume 29, 2024-2025, p.128
The National Galleries of Scotland is home to the most important collection of Scottish art in the world. This beautifully illustrated book introduces the collection through 100 works, specially chosen by the curatorial team who care for them.
The selection ranges chronologically from a 16th-century portrait of a Scottish king to 21st-century instalations and prints. Some of the most famous painters in Scotland’s history feature alongside some of the finest artists working in Scotland today. Many of the most distinctive movements in Scotland’s artistic heritage are represented, including the Celtic Revival, Arts and Crafts, the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish Colourists.
Each of the 100 works is reproduced alongside a text by one of 23 three expert contributors. The introduction gives an overview of the collection and Scottish art history more broadly. It is perfect for those who already love Scottish art, and those who are yet to discover its riches.
Over the past 15 years, Sabine de Milliano has driven through all the countries of Europe, covering a distance of over 150,000 km. As a photographer she is constantly in search of the most beautiful views and spectacular roads, interspersed with visits to cozy villages and lively cities. Sabine shares her favorite road trips in Europe and offers lots of inspiration to anyone who wants to make an unforgettable journey by car. With colorful photography, clear maps and plenty of tips for hikes and trips, she helps you design your own road trip through the old continent. From a surprisingly spectacular week in the Benelux to a month through the Balkans: after reading this book you will want nothing more than to pack your bags and get in the car!
The book explores the Arabic script in its widest possible usage in Africa: in Arabic texts; as a sacred Islamic script; and as a script for writing African languages. Through various contributions, the book examines the social impact of Arabic-script writing, aiming to parse the materiality of the book in African societies and to understand African manuscripts in their life cycles from creation to archival shelf. Essays examine Arabic-script manuscripts as material objects, statements of social values, cultural affirmations, and spiritual companions. They peel back the chronological layers of `ajamī writing that has been used for instruction and cultural and political identity, and remind us of how new technologies enhance access to these manuscripts, just as they present challenges to the intellectual property they represent. Essays are organised into five parts: Manuscript Collections, Manuscript Networks, Manuscripts and Social Values, and Technical Issues; with a concluding essay that identifies the core texts in West Africa’s manuscript culture during the past 300 years.
The book begins by the North Sea. It is a late summer’s afternoon, and a bright sun has dispersed the greyness of the day. Two Englishmen are enjoying a swim off the Essex coast when all at once both have the feeling that they are back at the French seaside. They find themselves starting to tell each other of their youthful experiences of living in France. The adventures they narrate follow one after another like waves rolling onto the shore.
Clive, coming from London, had found himself spending a year deep in the French countryside within sight of the western Pyrenees; John, hailing from Devon, had ended up living for a while in the City of Light within sight of the Folies Bergère. Outsiders though they were, they momentarily became part of French society, their adventures fuelled by the culinary delights of their adopted land.
They tell their tales with humor and relish as they recall their initiation into the French way of life of decades ago – and how it shaped their own.
“…amazing black houses from around the world.” — Mano Namai Lithuania
A black home commands attention. Black adds drama, sophistication, and edginess to residential architecture. In Modern Houses in Black, Susan Redman explores the trend in black home design through a curated collection of twenty-eight residential properties across the world.
Illustrated with striking images of houses sited in either urban settings or remote rural landscapes, the book features these bespoke residences confidently displaying their dark exteriors, making a bold statement wherever they are located.
By including interviews with architects who explain their design choices for structure and materiality, from black-stained or burnt wood and metal cladding to black glazed brickwork and tinted concrete, Redman provides insights for current developments in the trend.
The homes featured will appeal to lovers of distinctive design, particularly to those who appreciate both the elegance and daring that black offers modern residential architecture.
A Year in the Vineyard is a tribute to the cycle of the vine. From winter pruning to vine leaves capturing the energy of the late autumn sun, the narrative is spun through vignettes about activities in vineyards around the globe, accompanied by photographs and background paintings. The book honors seasonal rhythms and rituals without glossing over potential risks, such as hail piercing acres of nascent chardonnay in Champagne or wildfires in the Napa Valley. The hope is that each spread captures a gesture, a step in a dance with the natural world, thus providing an experiential understanding of the axiom ‘wine is made in the vineyard’ and of the notion that fine wines are achieved in tandem with nature, not through triumph over the elements. It also shows wine growers as operating on the front line of the climate crisis, posing questions and offering potential remedies in response to the earth’s changing ecology.
Floral Poetry in Normandy features awe-inspiring floral designs of Cédric Deshayes, Meilleur Ouvrier de France finalist and Vice Champion de France 2019 in floral art. With an emphasis on showcasing the rich history of his native region, Normandy, Deshayes has beautifully captured magnificent floral arrangements in various locations.
More than 70 meticulously crafted floral designs, created using diverse techniques, are artfully presented across 35 picturesque sites scattered throughout the five departments of Normandy. In collaboration with his dedicated team and the skilled photographer Jean François Lange, Cédric embarked on an incredible journey spanning all four seasons, seeking out prestigious and historically significant sites for his floral displays. From the grandeur of Rouen Cathedral and the architectural marvels of Palais des Bénédictines to the majestic castles of Château de Tilly and Château de Carrouges, this stunning book captures the essence of Normandy’s cultural heritage. It also showcases the natural beauty of iconic towns like Êtretat and Honfleur, as well as hidden gems like Cidrerie des Hauts Vents and Abbaye du Bec Hellouin. Not to mention, a breathtaking glimpse of the world-renowned Mont-Saint-Michel.
This exceptional book captures the charm and history of Normandy and celebrates France’s cultural heritage in a way that is nothing less than breathtaking.
Text in English and French.
“A charming, entertaining, and illuminating read – not only for all those in or around the wine trade, but also for all those outside who want to see in to what makes it so special. “ – Neil Beckett, Editor, World of Fine Wine
The memoirs of a wine trade insider, from the heady days of 1960s to today. Quickly discovering that a knowledge of wine opened doors that were closed to lesser mortals, Ben had a front row seat as the wine trade grew from an elitist and rather amateurish profession into a multi-million dollar global business. This is the story of how it happened, and of the many remarkable characters he befriended along the way – people whose marketing genius was matched only by their desire to put a smile on everyone’s faces. In true vinous style, Ben’s book is sure to do the same.
Plumbing the depths: – Ben’s valiant attempts to sell wine to beer-loving miners, which involved actually joining them at the coal face.
– Englishman abroad: a jolly jaunt through French châteaux, Spanish bodegas and Portuguese quintas, where Ben forged many of the friendships that would last a lifetime.
– Serious business: Ben’s career takes off during the golden age of wine and spirits marketing, when he played a part bringing many of the world-famous brands we know and love today into being.
The book begins by the North Sea. It is a late summer’s afternoon, and a bright sun has dispersed the greyness of the day. Two Englishmen are enjoying a swim off the Essex coast when all at once both have the feeling that they are back at the French seaside. They find themselves starting to tell each other of their youthful experiences of living in France. The adventures they narrate follow one after another like waves rolling onto the shore.
Clive, coming from London, had found himself spending a year deep in the French countryside within sight of the western Pyrenees; John, hailing from Devon, had ended up living for a while in the City of Light within sight of the Folies Bergère. Outsiders though they were, they momentarily became part of French society, their adventures fuelled by the culinary delights of their adopted land.
They tell their tales with humor and relish as they recall their initiation into the French way of life of decades ago – and how it shaped their own.
Vincent van Gogh boarded the last train from The Hague to Hoogeveen on Tuesday, September 11, 1883. He stays there for several weeks, then moves to Nieuw-Amsterdam/Veenoord and visits Zweeloo. The landscape makes a deep impression on him. Everywhere around him he sees landscapes that remind him of the work of his great examples: the Dutch landscape painters of the 17th century, the 19th-century Barbizon School of France and his contemporaries of the Hague School. It inspired him to set to work himself. His period in Drenthe is an important moment in Van Gogh’s development as an artist that ultimately made him world famous. This book sheds new light on perhaps the least known chapter in Van Gogh’s life story.
“… In fact, my entire journey through Amsterdam’s vibrant house museums was one great historical sensation in a variety of contexts. I followed in the footsteps of Dutch East India Company directors, workers, orphans, writers, artists, architects, and many others, seeing how they lived and worked. How they ate in poverty-stricken 19th-century slums or at lavishly laid tables in canal-side mansions of Van Loon or Bartolotti. How they prayed in secret with Father Parmentier in a clandestine attic church. I am not longer just an Amsterdammer: now I’m an Amsterdammer with a past.” – Froukje Wattel.
Text in English and Dutch.
One of the oldest storytelling traditions, shadow theater combines puppetry with music, philosophy, history, storytelling, fashion, ritual, religion, and education.
While each nation in Southeast Asia has its own distinct culture, shadow theater is a shared theme. Many of the masters make their own puppets, play all the musical instruments, learn long texts in ancient languages, sing, study movement, and perform for long period of time in what is one of the most difficult and challenging art forms. Most of the performers are farmers, fisherman, factory workers, or teachers by day and artists by night.
Through documentary photography, A Life in Shadows by Constantine Korsovitis, illustrates the sophistication and value of shadow theater and its creators, and the author has been capturing the spirit and multiplicity of shadow theater since 1999 in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia, the common thread being the use of the Hindu epics of the Ramayana and the Mara Mahabharata as a source stories.
“What is Bangkok like?” asked an American visitor, rhetorically in 1903. Some answer the question by relying on cliches ‘Venice of the east’ or ‘city of places in temples’. Others insisted that its contrasts and contradictions made an easy description impossible.
Bangkok at the turn of the 20th century was a city in transition, mixing as it did east with west and traditions with modernity. Here live the diverse communities which made it what it is today but this collection of writings by a huge variety of visitors to Bangkok captures the city through foreign eyes.
In Bangkok is a collection of texts which reflect the foreign experience of the city the foreigners in question being both long-term residence and short-term visitors. It draws on a wide range of sources including travel books, memoirs, novels, short stories, verses, inscriptions, newspaper reports, directories and advertisements. It is richly illustrated with contemporary artwork and photographs.
Dalí in 400 Images explores the full range of one of the most significant Surrealist painters of the 20th century. The exhaustive selection of works will reveal key masterpieces by perhaps the most famous of the Surrealists, as well as less familiar works including drawings and objects. Spanning the entire scope of the artist’s career, this volume shows the complexity of the artist’s vision from the early works inspired by Post-Impressionism and his engagement with Cubism in the mid-1920s, his major Surrealist paintings of the 1930s, through the American years (1940s), the artist’s embracing of Classicism in the 1950s, with his return to Spain, and finally his re-engagement with avant-garde experimentation in the 1960s and beyond. The 400 reproductions of Dalí’s work are complemented by a unique selection of historical photographs.
Alive with images and information, this compact gem is a must-have for all art enthusiasts and connoisseurs.
How do you portray sin, evil and foolishness in humans? Religious and political tensions and even the weather – we are talking about the depths of the Little Ice Age – contributed to a boom in representations of the Seven Deadly Sins in the Low Countries and immediate surroundings in the long sixteenth century. In this publication, four accessibly written essays highlight different sides of the pictorial tradition of the Seven Deadly Sins, with the renowned print series of the same name designed by Pieter Bruegel the Elder at its center. A fifth, literary essay describes the feverish visions of one of the victims of a true 16th-century series of murders permeated by the deadly sins.
During the German occupation, a Jewish Dutch couple had to sell a painting to go into hiding. Their daughters were placed in a children’s home, but were rounded up in early 1944 and deported to Auschwitz, where they died. The parents survived the war and did not discover their children’s fate until 1946. The search for the painting also remained fruitless for a long time, until Origins Unknown Agency discovered that it had ended up in a German museum. The museum had previously tried unsuccessfully to trace its provenance. Thanks to the Origins Unknown Agency, the heirs of the original owner were found. The German museum and the heirs agreed that the painting, an 1882 work by Camille Pissarro, would remain at the museum. As part of the compensation, the painting will be kept on display from November 2024 to February 2025 at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
Contemporary Living presents 20 new residential projects – houses and apartments – in the Middle East designed by renowned architects and interior designers. Packed full of inspiration and stunning photography, this coffee table book also includes a profile of each architect and designer, along with a presentation of each photographer specializing in the Middle East whose work is showcased.
Includes the work of Giacuzzo Design Studio – H+A Architects – Neeshay Nouman The Niche Corner – Tristan Du Plessis – HiProjects Melissa Charlier – Studio M Abboud Malak – VSHD – Leila Khalil – XO Atelier with Augustine Wong – ArchiSense – Leila Khalil, JMDA, NAQSH, Hana Hakim.
Building on her experience following a several-week trip to Taliesin West, Kora Bürgi investigates Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture and traces his work in the USA and Switzerland. The result of the field research is a presentation of his influence on the Central Swiss architectural landscape – a theme that has not been studied before. That influence ranges from partial copies of elements of Wright’s architecture to own interpretations of his architectural ideas.
This publication analyzes 14 buildings in Central Switzerland – from the Heimbach school and the Villa Schnyder (both in Lucerne) to the residential buildings in Brodhubl (Canton of Obwalden) – including Wright’s influence on various architects, such as Josef Gasser, Lisbeth Sachs and Otto von Deschwanden. The author also sheds light on the distribution of Wright’s urban-planning principles and the future of his architecture in Switzerland.
Text in German.