BELLAS ARTES

An exhaustive compendium of marble, Afbeelding der Marmor Soorten (A Representation of Marble Types) depicted 570 samples across 100 colour plates, accompanied by texts in five languages. Published in 1776 at the peak of the Enlightenment, it is regarded, rightly, as one of the finest illustrated scientific books of the era.Over the course of the 18th century, beautiful books that categorised, annotated, and illuminated the Enlightenment pursuit of learning across Europe had become increasingly popular. Knowledge was everything and everywhere, and these books provided it for those not wealthy enough to build their own personal collections of rare and exotic objects.

In the 1980, fashion wanted to make a statement and found in legendary British fashion photographer David Bailey its perfect chronicler. After Bailey shaped the style of the Swinging Sixties, fashion in the eighties posed a new challenge: brighter colours, higher glamour, statuesque models, extreme makeup, spandex, lycra, jumpsuits, power dressing, big hair, and as Grace Coddington puts it in her introduction, “jackets with padded shoulders over the shortest mini-skirts and dangerously high-heeled shoes.”

Weinfeld is renowned for work that exudes the power of classical modernism while being completely of its own moment. Biophilic design, an approach to architecture that emphasizes and embraces the natural world and its restorative qualities, is at its heart, allowing for a gorgeous aesthetics while also celebrating nature. Here, design offers sublime symbiosis where natural world and that which is human-made serve as complements. Above all, the buildings are easy to be in, inviting, and elegant—and all without ostentatiousness.