At Home at Camp Kent with Alexandra Champalimaud

Posted on March 28, 2021 by Stacey Bewkes   •   6 Comments

At Home at Camp Kent with Alexandra Champalimaud

As one of the most in-demand creators of luxury contemporary living around the globe, Alexandra Champalimaud is known as a fearless designer who enthusiastically embraces change,  yet at Camp Kent, her rustic summer retreat in Connecticut she shares with husband Bruce Schnitzer and their large multi-generational family, she prefers things to remain the same. Please join me and Susanna for a video visit to this extraordinary lakeside getaway.



Whether the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, the charming Topping Rose House in the Hamptons, The Little Nell in Aspen or Troutbeck, the award-winning estate hotel in Dutchess County, Alexandra intuitively knows how to connect a specific sense of place with extraordinary style.…

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At Home on Clove Brook Farm with Christopher Spitzmiller

Posted on March 7, 2021 by Stacey Bewkes   •   12 Comments

At Home on Clove Brook Farm with Christopher Spitzmiller

During the week, gifted ceramicist and designer Christopher Spitzmiller is busy creating his exquisite lamps, tableware and accessories found in the most stylish design shops and homes across the country including the White House. But weekends find him at Clove Brook Farm, his picture perfect country retreat in Dutchess County, NY. Five years ago, we filmed an episode with Chris there and recently revisited him to see the many updates to the property. Please join me and Susanna for a magical day at Clove Brook Farm where Chris and partner Anthony Bellomo welcomed us to their ever growing domain!

Here Chris actively tends to his gardens, his expanding flocks of animals and enthusiastically entertains – our inviting garden lunch, below.…

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Posted in architecture, At Home with, books, food and drink, garden, interior design, Quintessence video series, video | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments  

At Home in Tangier with Frank de Biasi and Gene Meyer

Posted on February 14, 2021 by Stacey Bewkes   •   8 Comments

At Home in Tangier with Frank de Biasi and Gene Meyer

It would seem designer Frank de Biasi was always destined for a home in Tangier. With a college degree in international relations, studies at the Sorbonne, followed by six years at Christies and then twelve as Director of Interiors at Peter Marino, Frank expanded on his love of travel, art and history with blue chip design experience. While expertly accessing design sources and creating interiors around the world, it’s somehow not surprising (after having homes in New York, Miami and Paris) that Frank and partner, fabric and textile designer Gene Meyer, would land in this magical melting pot of cultures and creative ex pats from around the globe.…

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At Home in Connecticut with Susanna Salk

Posted on January 24, 2021 by Stacey Bewkes   •   31 Comments

At Home in Connecticut with Susanna Salk

Over the years, the hosts Susanna Salk and I feature in our video series have inspired us just as you have said they do you. And in this special episode, Susanna invites us into her own Connecticut country home to show how she has interpreted many of their unique styles to inspire you to perhaps do the same.

As our video series has grown and we have collected a stable of over 100 episodes featuring top designers and tastemakers around the world, it occurred to us that a printed collection might be in order. So, I am delighted to share that a book, to be published next year, is in the works, as Susanna describes, “kind of a reverse course of the video series: taking some of our favorite visits over the years and distilling them back into still pictures and giving them their own chapter and adding my memories.” …

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Posted in architecture, art, interior design, Quintessence video series, video | Tagged , , , , , , | 31 Comments  

At Home in the Hudson Valley with Martin Cooper and Karen Suen-Cooper

Posted on December 13, 2020 by Stacey Bewkes   •   17 Comments

At Home in the Hudson Valley with Martin Cooper and Karen Suen-Cooper

After years of urbane sophistication, living in New York, London and traveling the world, fashion designers Martin Cooper and Karen Suen-Cooper felt the calling for more – more time, more space, more nature and more joy. They found it in an 18th century Federal style farmhouse in the Hudson Valley that they have been renovating for the last fifteen years. Please join me and Susanna for a behind the scenes visit to Old Chatham, New York with this inspiring and creative couple.

As busy fashion industry mavens (the first married couple to be inducted into the CFDA ), Martin and Karen had international calendars filled with events and travel, but a visit to rural Columbia County sent them in search of a weekend place.…

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Posted in architecture, At Home with, gifts, interior design, Quintessence video series, Stationery, video | 17 Comments  

At Home in London with Alidad

Posted on November 15, 2020 by Stacey Bewkes   •   9 Comments

At Home in London with Alidad

Renowned for his layered and opulent interiors, celebrated designer Alidad relies on his love of pattern, color and deep knowledge of history and art to create spaces with intricate bespoke detail and timeless appeal. And yet this was not always his career path. After a halcyon childhood in Iran, his family relocated to London where he first studied statistics and computer science. He then followed his passion and enrolled in a course at Sotheby’s, staying on to become the youngest ever director of the auction house’s Islamic Art department. After eight years he realized his talents and interest lay more in the realm of interior design and in 1985 founded his eponymous firm with his own apartment as his first project.…

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At Home with Jack Lenor Larsen at LongHouse Reserve

Posted on November 1, 2020 by Stacey Bewkes   •   7 Comments

At Home with Jack Lenor Larsen at LongHouse Reserve

In the world of textiles, Jack Lenor Larsen is an icon. As one of the most influential fabric designers of our lifetime, Larsen is an accomplished weaver but also much more. At LongHouse, his home in East Hampton, he has created an extraordinary 16 acre reserve and sculpture garden, open seasonally to members and the public.  With a mission of living with art every day, LongHouse Reserve was the inspiration for Jack’s first performance fabric collection, perfect for the indoor/outdoor creative lifestyle he espouses. Please join Susanna and me at LongHouse to see his vision, a look at the collection in situ and Jack’s amazing approach to art and life.…

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Posted in architecture, art, At Home with, garden, interior design, Quintessence video series, sculpture, video | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments  

Markham Roberts Notes on Decorating

Posted on October 11, 2020 by Stacey Bewkes   •   8 Comments

Markham Roberts Notes on Decorating

As designer Markham Roberts explains in his inspiring new book, Notes on Decorating, “There are thousands of moving parts that need to come together cohesively for a successful outcome.” In his first book he addressed the basics of design (although I would hardly classify anything in his interiors as basic) and now he features all those aspects that help to make his work so memorable – from sussing out the client’s deepest desires to the practicality of challenges and solutions, the crucial addition of layers and the final touch of something unexpected.

It is all these considerations that make Markham’s rooms stick with you, not only for their beauty and comfort but their extraordinary symbiosis of client, place and originality.…

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Thank You to The Local Vault

Posted on October 4, 2020 by Stacey Bewkes   •   3 Comments

Thank You to The Local Vault

Based in Greenwich, CT, The Local Vault is a valuable new design resource for those living in the Tri-State area. With an inventory of both high-end consignment furniture as well as pieces from local retailers, designers, artists and artisans, they personally vet each private client  and take care of all details from listing to arranging for pick up and/or delivery. In addition they have a special to-the-trade program and invite design industry locals to participate as guest curators. I am delighted to be featured as the latest in the series.

Please make the hop over to read a few thoughts I shared on design and shopping for vintage furniture and some of my picks.…

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Posted in art, furniture, interior design | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments  

At Home in the Office with Michael Aiduss and Houlès

Posted on September 27, 2020 by Stacey Bewkes   •   8 Comments

At Home in the Office with Michael Aiduss and Houlès

It all started at Villa Kerylos. From the moment designer Michael Aiduss serendipitously discovered the celebrated house in Beaulieu-sur-Mer on the French Riviera, he was enthralled. With a passion for history, architecture and fine craftsmanship, Michael found Kerylos a source of enduring inspiration. So when French heritage brand Houlès tapped him to create their first designer trim collection since the company’s founding in 1928, Kerylos became his muse. Join Susanna and me in Michael’s stunning Montclair, New Jersey design studio to see his inspiration, a peek at the collection and his creative design aesthetic.

In what was once the world’s largest lacrosse netting factory, Michael renovated the large industrial space into a stylish studio for his design firm.…

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Posted in At Home with, history, In the Studio with, interior design, Quintessence video series, video | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments