The World of Interiors

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The World of Interiors

Editor’s Letter

ANTENNAE

What’s in the air this month

Take a Stand! • Sticking with sheet-music supports that fall rather flat? Don’t fret: David Lipton’s here to help you change your tune

Diadems Are Forever • But for a certain Napoleon Bonaparte there might be no Paris haut joaillier called Chaumet. Indeed, the debt the maison owes him – and he it – becomes crystal clear in a new gallery featuring models of the sublime headpieces, arranged for posing and posterity’s sake, that it created to burnish his imperial court’s image. Tiara boom de-ay, exclaims Carol Woolton.

Top of the Props • Ever since she was asked to make kinetic food sculptures for The Marvels, artist Sienna Murdoch has had jelly nailed, using her own special version to conjure frankly weird (and wobbly) pieces for television and film. Surreal melting sunglasses, lipsticks with a distinctly erotic twist, even a pair of fake breasts for a clown…? Yes, they broke the mould with this one. Ariadne Fletcher is, naturally, all aquiver.

Thread the Boards • You name it and the National Theatre’s prop and costume warehouse has probably got it, whether it’s plastic carcasses or silver samovars by the shelf-load. Now, making their debut for the briefest run in that depot of the absurd, we also have… some dramatic must-see rugs, both flatweave and knotted, striped and abstract. Enter, stage left, floor(c0verings) manager Gianluca Longo.

Cheers for Sheers • Ladies and gentlemen, please make a big noise for semi-transparent fabrics – real troupers when it comes to helping create a sense of theatre, unshowy though they may first appear. Here, doing just that with the aid of a supporting cast of cutouts, are some of the finest you could hope to behold, both patterned and plain. Feeling particularly effusive about all things diffusive, shadow puppeteer Miranda Sinclair puts them under the spotlight.

Sweet Surrender • Long caned, with unhealthy consequences, in the capitalist West, sugar has got a bad reputation. But don’t rush to judgement. With a sprinkling of good sense, those ‘empty’ calories can fill you with guilt-free, seasonal pleasure. After all, a little of what you fancy – caramelised nuts, gooey meringue or delectably crisp biscuits – does you good, no? So let caster master Daisy Garnett soothe you with her dulcet tones.

Stirring Stuff • One spoon or two…? You’ll probably want to scoop up a few more of these than that, says Rose Eaglesfield, considering they’re all so very, very sweet

Lion Tamer, Soldier, Sailor • From Staffordshire figures Hamish Bowles cherry-picks a rich cast of characters

Holiday Roundup • Illustrated non-fiction, recommended by Damian Thompson

Triangle of Sadness

Knots Landing

Network • Clare Holley chooses the best merchandise and events worldwide

VISITOR’S BOOK

A STREET BAR NAMED DESIRE • In William S. Burroughs’s Queer, the main characters meet at the Ship Ahoy, a drinking den in Mexico City. It’s one of several locations evocatively reimagined by Luca Guadagnino in his new film version of the novel, shot not on location but in environments built on the backlot of Rome’s historic Cinecittà studio. Here the director (and interior designer) explains the project’s long-standing personal significance and unpacks his sets in...