The Magazine Antiques

June 2, 2009  |  In the introduction to The Way We Live with the Things We Love, co-author Stafford Cliff writes, "This book is not concerned with what to collect, or where to find it, but with how to display the things you find or buy to their best advantage." And here Cliff, former creative director at the Conran Design Group, and Gilles De Chabaneix, a French lifestyle and design photographer, have traveled from North America to Europe to Asia, and compiled a dazzling assemblage of interiors—from more is more to minimalistic—where objects, collections, and curiosities are the central focus. The book's seven chapters cover a diverse range of material—Flea Market finds, Tribal artifacts, Art House displays, Antique collections, Religious artworks, Rustic objects, and Kitchenalia kitsch; even so, the book presents a unified (yet eclectic) look, and the featured collections appear natural and, refreshingly, not over-styled.

More for collectors of books on decorating and visual display than for collectors of antiques, The Way We Live with the Things We Love is nonetheless a largely successful marriage of both worlds. The rich illustrations are well edited to show arrangements of collections that are inspiring if not all enviable; however it is not a true "how-to" book, and there is minimal text and cursory captions. This new publication is part of a series by Cliff and De Chabaneix that includes The Way We Live by the Sea, The Way We Live in the City, and The Way We Live with Color.
 
The Way We Live with the Things We Love is published by Rizzoli, New York, 2009, hardcover, 256 pp., $45.00. Available for purchase at www.rizzoliusa.com. Images © Gilles De Chabaneix.