BELLAS ARTES

Estas casas, residencias, refugios y estudios de inspiradora diversidad de estilos le sorprenderán y asombrarán sin importar cuáles sean sus preferencias en cuanto a interiorismo, tanto si prefiere una casa de campo de estilo rústico, un moderno loft neoyorkino o un bungalow bohemio. Esta meticulosa aproximación al diseño de interiores contemporáneo reúne proyectos de todo el mundo, de Auckland (Nueva Zelanda) a Aviñón (Francia). Con cientos de imágenes tomadas por reconocidos fotógrafos de interiores, estos magníficos espacios le ofrecen ideas para la próxima renovación de su vivienda. Muchas de las casas seleccionadas pertenecen a creadores (diseñadores, cineastas y coleccionistas) cuyo talento para combinar a la perfección los diferentes elementos que componen un interior sólo puede definirse como extraordinario. Su forma de conjuntar papel pintado, muebles, tejidos y obras de arte, y de equilibrar cuidadosamente colores, texturas y formas, se convierte en una auténtica expresión artística. Eclécticos o minimalistas, antiguos o ultramodernos, estos proyectos reúnen lo mejor del interiorismo contemporáneo y muestran las incontables y asombrosas posibilidades del diseño de interiores.

From the mighty halls of ancient Alexandria to the coffered ceilings of the Morgan Library in New York, human beings have had a long, enraptured relationship with libraries. Like no other concept and like no other space, the collection of knowledge, learning, and imagination offers a sense of infinite possibility. It’s the unrivaled realm of discovery, where every faded manuscript or mighty clothbound tome might reveal a provocative new idea, a far-flung fantasy, an ancient belief, a religious conviction, or a whole new way of being in the world.In this new photographic journey, Massimo Listri travels to some of the oldest and finest libraries to reveal their architectural, historical, and imaginative wonder. Through great wooden doors, up spiraling staircases, and along exquisite, shelf-lined corridors, he leads us through outstanding private, public, educational, and monastic libraries, dating as far back as 766. Between them, these medieval, classical, baroque, rococo, and 19th-century institutions hold some of the most precious records of human thought and deed, inscribed and printed in manuscripts, volumes, papyrus scrolls, and incunabula. In each, Listri’s poised images capture the library’s unique atmosphere, as much as their most prized holdings and design details.Featured libraries include the papal collections of the Vatican Apostolic Library and the Trinity College Library, home to the Book of Kells and Book of Durrow. With meticulous descriptions accompanying each featured library, we learn not only of the libraries’ astonishing holdings—from which highlights are illustrated—but also of their often lively, turbulent, or controversial pasts. Like the Franciscan monastery in Lima, Peru, with its horde of archival Inquisition documents.At once a bibliophile beauty pageant, an ode to knowledge, and an evocation of the particular magic of print, Massimo Listri. The World’s Most Beautiful Libraries is above all a cultural-historical pilgrimage to the heart of our halls of learning, to the stories they tell, as much as those they gather in printed matter along polished shelves.

French artist, designer, and talented antique hunter Marin Montagut celebrates the joy of collecting everything from textiles to barware to architectural details, taking readers inside a dozen private homes, flea markets, and unusual ateliers to discover the most whimsical treasure troves in France. From a film prop house’s array of leather sporting goods and playing cards to a travel buff’s vintage maps and globes, and from a sculpture studio’s Grecian plaster casts to an amateur designer’s spiral staircase models, and from Montagut’s own wonder wall assemblages to a cook’s haven filled with porcelain dessert molds and copper pots—objects, when presented together as a series, create unforgettable interiors that radiate charm. Inspiration comes in repetition: wooden zigzag rulers with engraved numbers aligned on a wall in a herringbone pattern create an artful space. The spare wooden forms of capipotes—devotional statues used in religious processions, their eyes turned heavenward in ecstasy—and silver ex-votos can be the point of departure for the theme of an entire room. Montagut’s mood boards for each chapter provide endless ideas for the home.