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Trail of Tiles

by Anna Sui with Daniel Robbins

A fantasia in ceramic, Leighton House in London testifies to the decorative sense of its namesake builder, artist Frederic Leighton, and the craftsmanship of William De Morgan.
Ready to Wear

by Sarah Davis

One of the most discerning collectors of costume jewelry is fashion designer Norma Kamali, who has been snapping up lux and creative examples from around the world since the 1960s.
A String of Pearls in a Shoebox

by Marie Penny

In a radiantly decorated and appointed turn-of-the-century tea house on a Long Island estate, the vision of American artist and Elsie de Wolfe protégé Everett Shinn stands revealed.

Cartier: Jeweler of Kings, King of Jewelers - This spring, jewelry lovers visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum in London may have difficulty choosing between the institution’s encyclopedic collection of ornaments and the stunning Cartier exhibition, opening to the public April 12, which features more than 350 objects.

Smoking Hot - Are Ozempic-thinned celebrities bringing you down? So what else is new? A century ago another form of appetite suppressant caught fire among females in the smart set—nicotine. As hourglass figures were supplanted by boyish frames, slim became the new ideal and smoking provided the means to get there.

Exhibitions: Paperweights on Parade - The Flint Institute of Arts (FIA) in Michigan is the ideal venue for the new exhibition A Symphony of Glass: Paperweights from the Ellis Collection.

Paper Caper - Imagine walking along your downtown street, ready to spend an afternoon shopping. But as you’re glancing into shop windows, you don’t see wool sweaters or cotton dresses—instead, it’s all paper.

Exhibitions: Out of Obscurity, into the Light - Works by artist Nancy Elizabeth Prophet are rare and seldom exhibited because fewer than two dozen are known to exist. Nearly all of them are included in Nancy Elizabeth Prophet: I Will Not Bend an Inch, the first-ever museum survey devoted to this elusive American artist, whose important contributions to twentieth-century art, especially in the field of sculpture, have only lately been fully recognized.

Udotopia - Maverick, villain, libertine, genius. Austrian eyewear designer Udo Proksch has been known by many names, but the book excerpted here dives deeply into his archive, puts emphasis on his working methods, fecund productivity, and the undeniable impact he had on design in the twentieth century—and to this day.

Exhibitions: Late Bloomer - Although Rachel Ruysch is not exactly a household name, she is hardly anonymous: while she lived, she was an honored painter in the Old Masters tradition, and she has had her admirers ever since her death in 1750, at the age of eighty-three.

Objects: Enmeshed in Luxury - Unable to stop a spear but singularly effective at getting people to stop and stare, metal mesh handbags were all the rage at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Travel: Down by the Bay - Erstwhile colonial seat and mid-century destination for the Hollywood elite, San Juan is a city where rich food, good times, and reminders of the past are always just around the corner—nowhere more so than at the Caribe Hilton.

When the Bulb Bubble Burst - 400 years ago, the world experienced its first major financial crisis — and Dutch "Tulip Mania" was to blame.

Four Decades of Olde Hope - It may be worth noting on the fortieth anniversary of one of the treasures of the American antiques business, that the portraits, painted furniture, weathervanes, and quilts they purvey at Olde Hope Antiques are, in an important sense, emblems of the owners’ belief in bedrock values of our democracy.

A New Home for American Classicism - For decades, Kelly and Randall Schrimsher have acquired the best of the best in early nineteenth-century American furniture. Now, much of their collection has a period-appropriate showcase in Charleston, South Carolina.