Tuesday 2 February 2021
For Bernie de Le Cuona, who founded her eponymous fabric brand in 1992, the natural world has always been at the heart of what she does. ‘I grew up on a farm and have always been very aware of our environment,’ says the South African-born designer, who moved to England shortly before launching the company, which offers wool, cashmere, silk, linen and alpaca blends. Bernie works with a handful of small mills across Europe – many in Belgium and France, where the best flax comes from – and has garnered a loyal following for her stonewashed linens, understated cotton velvets and woven paisleys over the past 29 years.
Maximalism Is on Full Display in This 16th-Century Tuscan Villa
How Hubert Zandberg restored a sprawling estate in the Italian countryside without going over the top.
By Nancy Hass and produced by Cynthia Frank Jan 7, 2021 Simon Upton
A few years ago, a South African couple in their 40s living in Geneva asked Hubert Zandberg, a fellow countryman with a design and architecture practice in London, for help with a sophisticated problem. The house they had recently built, which fitted in gracefully with the Swiss city’s sleek modern residences, was feeling a bit too Brutalist. Could he make some interventions that would soften the effect, without betraying the house’s minimalist DNA?
Craig Fordham
I have quite mixed feelings about cushions. On the one hand, I love them for what they bring decoratively to a room and find them essential to one’s comfort. On the other, they can be really annoying, superfluous items that give people in this industry a bad name as cushion-scatterers. I particularly dislike those little bullets that are stacked three-deep on a sofa, leaving no room to sit, and the ones on a bed that have to be thrown on the floor before you climb in.
It is very important that a cushion is generous and soft. Its role in life is to draw you in, catch you in the small of your back or around the shoulders and make you comfortable. Its other function is to look good. When buying an armchair or sofa, consider whether you want to add cushions, because if you do, you need the seat to be deep enough to accommodate them well.