The AD Aesthete

Latest Episodes:

Ep405: Inside the Obama White House: Everything Means Something Sep 29, 2020

Show notes

When AD100 interior designer Michael S. Smith was tapped to decorate the private quarters of the Obama White House, he found himself pondering heady questions such as, How do you get the leader of the free world to agree to red curtains? In his new book, Designing History: The Extraordinary Art & Style of the Obama White House (Rizzoli), Smith offers design enthusiasts and historians alike a close look at his masterful transformation. Today, he joins me to talk about the Obamas' personal style and what it was like to work with the thoughtful couple on the project of a lifetime.

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Ep404: Paradise Found Sep 22, 2020

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Celebrating his new book Twelve Gardens Around the World (Editions Gourcuff Gradenig), AD100 landscape designer Louis Benech takes readers on a global journey of paradises, where each acreage has "juste." As many a design writer has noted, the magic of Benech is that he conjures gardens that look as is they have never been created at all. Join us for a transporting talk through the paths of his imagination.

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Ep403: Searching for the Unconventional Sep 15, 2020

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Edo Mapelli Mozzi—the same who recently married Queen Elizabeth's granddaughter, Princess Beatrice—has for a dozen years been known in the UK as the founder and CEO of Banda. Created with the idea to identify unconventional buildings in neighborhoods off the slightly beaten path and to inventively transform them into impeccable luxury modern residences, he has a talent for developing top-notch urban homes at a lower price point. Long passionate about historic architecture, Mapelli Mozzi joins me today to chat about new projects, future trends, and how the pandemic has already changed what people want a home to be. I hope you enjoy the program.

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Ep402: Arranging Shapes in Space Sep 08, 2020

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Nicole Hollis, a leading American interior designer in San Francisco with a new monograph out from Rizzoli (NICOLEHOLLIS: Curated Interiors), describes her approach as less about pattern and color and more about shaping spaces with intention. Here, she speaks frankly about how her dyslexia acts as a creative springboard—a challenge and a gift, underscoring the importance of visual memory—and how she designs by reduction, focusing on forms and materials and how they interact and activate each other.

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Ep401: The Mesmerizing Style of Marrakech Sep 01, 2020

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Nobody understands Moroccan style better than international tastemaker, designer, and businesswoman Meryanne Loum-Martin, owner of the celebrated boutique hotel Jnane Tamsna and author of the new book, Inside Marrakesh: Enchanting Homes and Gardens (Rizzoli), which opens the doors to multiple private houses across the style spectrum—including a most-modern home constructed via 25,000 donkey cartfuls of materials. Join us as we travel to the heart of Marrakech design today, exploring the city's best and most inspiring rooms as described through the aesthetic language of both its insiders and expats.

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Ep312: Bunny Mellon and Her Gardens Jun 23, 2020

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Bunny Mellon may have been well known as an art collector, a philanthropist, and a self-taught landscape artist—yet it is the latter that is the focus of two new books debuting this fall: Bunny Mellon Garden Journal and Garden Secrets of Bunny Mellon (Vendome), in collaboration with garden historian Linda Jane Holden; interior designer Bryan Huffman, Mrs. Mellon's close friend; and Thomas Lloyd, Mrs. Mellon's grandson and president of the family's Gerald B. Lambert Foundation. All three join me to discuss the Mrs. Mellon, her life, and her gardens; I hope you enjoy the program.

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Ep311: One Person's Well-Placed Lamp Is Another Person's Ill-Placed Illumination Jun 16, 2020

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Architectural criticism has been a constant for centuries, with buildings under scrutiny throughout the ages. Interior design, however, has always received the white-glove treatment. Why? Join me for a lively discussion between Wendy Goodman, of New York magazine, and Suzanne Stephens, of Architectural Record, as we discuss the critiques of interiors and the history of aesthetic judgments.

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Ep310: Jayne Wrightsman, American Connoisseur Jun 09, 2020

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Jayne Wrightsman rocketed to international prominence from Midwestern obscurity, transforming herself into one of the most distinguished collectors of both French and English decorative arts along with her husband Charles B. Wrightsman. With the upcoming auction of her estate later this month, Christie’s experts William Strafford and Alan Wintermute join me as we discuss not just her many treasures but the woman who has rightly earned her place in the pantheon of American connoisseurship.

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Ep309: British Country Homes and the Stories They Tell Jun 02, 2020

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Historian Clive Aslet and photographer Dylan Thomas have captured a dozen romantic British country homes in their forthcoming book, Old Homes, New Life (Triglyph, July 2020), exploring in great detail the stories behind each property. Join me as they share how the younger generations are making their mark on these estates, from structural improvements to clever onsite businesses that are designed to keep these family homes preserved and productive for generations to come.

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Ep308: All in Hand May 26, 2020

Show notes

Though we live in the age of machines, we find ourselves drawn time and again to natural materials tooled by hand. With its focus on traditional craftsmanship, The American College of the Building Arts (ACBA) in South Carolina understands this instinct, offering instruction in areas like blacksmithing, stone-carving, and timber-framing. Talking about the importance of these centuries-old arts are William Bates, ACBA's chair of Architecture and Allied Arts, and Joe Whisonant, a recent graduate who has contributed to the restoration of Versailles and Notre Dame. I hope you enjoy the program.

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