Akira Tani and Kim Hyunsook met in Paris. Both were in their twenties and had come to immerse themselves in the language and culture: Akira, who is Japanese, sold vintage finds at a flea market, and Kim, who is Korean, designed for a fashion brand. After years in France, they moved to Tokyo and founded Orné de Feuilles, their housewares shop specializing in everyday niceties, such as Shaker Box Wastebaskets and Display-Worthy Cat Beds. For years the couple lived in a house they longed to redesign, but earthquake regulations hampered what they could do. Ultimately, they decided to start from sc ..read more

“Your home should be your storyteller—the weaver of the red thread and a marker of you and yours.” “The rolling hills are almost human in their falls and curves.“ “It’s not the fanciest house, but if it makes people feel, then I’ve done what I think is right.” You’d be forgiven for thinking that these are excerpts from a gorgeously written novel. But Cassandra Ellis, designer and color doyenne, writes more lyrically than almost anyone we know about her projects. (Further evidence here, here and here.) She also treats rooms themselves as poetry, most recently through Atelier Ellis, her Bath, En ..read more

After this week’s Deep Clean issue (see: a streamlined guest house in Denmark, the ideal laundry bag, and should you make the move to cold-water washing?), we’re ready to open the windows and let spring in. Ahead, a French cookbook launch in NYC, a sculptor’s home, and how to think about starting a potted garden… Above: Photograph by David Mitchell, courtesy of Also Office, from Bed-Stuy Beauty: An 1880s Townhouse ‘Unraveling Into the Present Moment’. A favorite tip from this week’s Required Reading: A Year Full of Pots by Sarah Raven: When planting a potted garden, “think about the colors a ..read more

We’ve been following the work of low-key design savant Helen Rice for more than a decade now (we first profiled her creative agency, Fuzzco, which she cofounded with Josh Nissenboim, back in 2014). And when we checked in with her recently, we found ourselves transfixed by her Pitt Street project in Charleston, undertaken by Serious Buildings, Fuzzco’s design-driven real estate investment company. The interiors are painted a uniform shade of Tallow from Farrow & Ball, but we’re especially taken by the subtle touches of red she deploys throughout the interior (see The Unexpected Red Theory ..read more

Admired in a recent editorial meeting: a handy laundry bag from Steele Canvas, ideal for hanging from the back of a bathroom door, toting around the house, even lugging (as a backpack) to the laundromat. (I wish I’d had one in my days of living in an apartment without a washer/dryer. It would’ve made the weekly trips down three flights of stairs and five blocks up to the wash-and-fold that much easier.) Have a look: Above: “Whether you’re traveling down the stairs, to the laundromat, or paying your loved ones a visit (the ones with in-unit laundry), this tote is tops for a launderer who has t ..read more

“Our work is underpinned by a philosophy of reuse,” writes London designer Maria Speake. “Materiality is part of the fun of life in our studio—we always try to incorporate reclaimed materials and demonstrate how old and rejected materials are still relevant.” Speake’s castoffs come from Retrouvius, the combination salvage business and interior design office she runs with her husband, Adam Hills—he does the hunting and gathering, she leads the design team. We’ve been avidly following their work for years: in 2009, Julie spotlighted Retrouvius’s use of glass funnels as hanging lampshades. More r ..read more

Browsing West Elm’s offerings recently, we spied a familiar-looking wall-mounted sconce. Here’s a look at the original version and its low-budget doppelgänger: High Above: In Common With’s Ceramic Disc Surface Mount “cedes the spotlight to its handmade ceramic shade” (and has an equally elegant hand-blown glass bulb). Each light is made to order and available in white (shown), tan, terracotta, green, and black; a variety of hardware colors; and hard-wired or plug-in (shown). From $1400. Low Above: And the lookalike: West Elm’s plug-in Stella Sconce with a ceramic shade is $159. More high/low ..read more

The latest Vipp guest house sits on its own in a coastal stretch of Denmark known as Cold Hawaii. Vipp is the family-owned Danish design company that gots its start in 1939 with the invention of a pedal-operated steel trashcan. Its design offerings have grown to include modular metal kitchen systems, bathroom vanities, furniture, lighting, even soap dispensers, all with the same industrial-modernist DNA as the original bin. And, of late, the brand has started opening lodgings in enchanted corners of the world. Their approach is to enlist local design teams to build or remodel existing quarters ..read more

Carol Song is always trend-spotting. “Every season I was like, What’s the new concept?,” she told us, talking about her time as the fashion director for Opening Ceremony. Lately, the new concept is Dae New York, the Korean cafe/wine bar/design shop she opened in Brooklyn that’s so inspired, so fresh looking, that the Instagram photoshoots quickly got out of control and had to be (largely) banned. Still, many of the design concepts of the moment were there from Dae’s early days: stainless steel surfaces, stamped plates, and the intricate molded butter that’s launched a thousand imitations. Toda ..read more

Noted this week: how to dip your toe into color (in the tiniest room in the house), a home office in a springy hue, and more: Above: Spring things in this week’s By Instinct: A Colorful Project by Designer Sophie Rowell That Follows ‘No Rules’. Photograph by Chris Snook, courtesy of Côte de Folk.   Spotted: a robin’s-egg-blue home office for the founder of Sézane. Fans of Christina Kim and Dosa: Head to the upcoming open studio in DTLA, April 4-7 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., 850 South Broadway, 7th floor. In NYC, Nickey Kehoe’s new shop at 49 East 10th Street is open to members of ..read more