BELLAS ARTES

Designer Nina Farmer has made a name for herself with her classically beautiful interiors. From reimagining century-old homes to more modern dwellings, Farmer has a way of creating looks that celebrate the past and simultaneously live squarely—and stylishly—in the present. In these pages, Farmer introduces readers to the design solutions she has found for creating that special combination: a carefully curated mix of the classic and the contemporary that looks like it was collected over time rather than created all at once.

Architect Adams has long had a passion for design. His appreciation for how things are made had its genesis in his childhood experiences on a farm in Asheville, North Carolina. As a boy, Adams always had a pencil in hand, sketching for hours. Today, it is his understanding of craft and response to place that sets him apart. Informed by Adams’s deep knowledge of historic precedents, proportions, and details, the homes featured in this book are imbued with soul, whether it’s a charming house in the woods on the lake, a refined contemporary beachside retreat, or a traditional manor house in town. While the homes featured range in scale and style— Tudor, Arts and Crafts, French country, Southern farmhouse—Adams imbues each with natural materials such as bespoke architectural details in millwork and molding, arched doorways, and oversized windows. He brilliantly weaves wood, stone, copper, and other natural substances through the interiors to create an effect that casts a spell inside and out. These are houses that are grounded in the past, designed for the present, and intended to remain beautiful and functional over the long term.

It was the Belle Époque, a time before air travel or radio, at the brink of a revolution in photography and filmmaking, when Burton Holmes (1870–1958) began a lifelong journey to bring the world home. From the grand boulevards of Paris to China’s Great Wall, from the construction of the Panama Canal to the 1906 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Holmes delighted in finding “the beautiful way around the world” and made a career of sharing his stories, colorful photographs, and films with audiences across America. He coined the term “travelogue” in 1904 to advertise his unique performance and thrilled audiences with two-hour sets of stories timed to projections of multihued, hand-painted glass-lantern slides and some of the first “moving pictures.

From romantic to contemporary, from famed architects to little-known craftsmen, you’ll scale the heights to visit all manner of treetop structures, from a teahouse, restaurant, hotel, and children’s playhouse to simple perches from which to contemplate life, enjoy the view, and discover that tree houses take as many forms as the imagination can offer. With an abundance of gorgeous photographs and illustrations, this is an ode to alternative living, where playful imagination meets eco-sensitive finesse.

Tuscany’s historical residences tell stories that no mere guidebook can capture. The houses that dot the landscape—from the stately Medici villas to the more humble yet charming farmhouses—are not just structures but also symbols of a way of life, a lasting testament to the fusion of an agrarian lifestyle, picturesque towns, notable architecture, fine craft, and art. In the book’s foreword, Cabana founder Mondadori writes, “Tuscany is not merely a region; it is a living canvas, a dreamscape that has cradled the imagination of artists, poets, and thinkers for centuries.” The interiors presented in this book are a celebration of the talents of the diverse contemporary homeowners, who are keeping the region’s creative spirit alive. Houses brim with the output of skilled craftsmen, exquisite tapestries, brocades and damasks, objects arranged as if painterly still lifes, fantastical murals, rare books, furniture from a range of periods, and fine porcelain.

Buried in the 14th century BC but unearthed by Howard Carter in 1922, the objects entombed with Tutankhamun are an invaluable window into a long-extinct belief system. Seen today, they create an intricate picture of how the ancient Egyptian people viewed the perilous journey to paradise, a utopian Egypt that could only be entered following the final judgment. When acclaimed photographer Sandro Vannini started his work in Egypt in the late ’90s, a technological revolution was about to unfold. Emerging technologies enabled him to document murals, tombs, and artifacts in unprecedented detail. Using the time-consuming and strenuous multi-shot technique, Vannini produced complete photographic reproductions that revealed colors in their original tones with vivid intensity. Through these extraordinary images, we discover the objects’ quintessential features alongside the sophisticated and cleverly hidden details.