A Window to the World | Begun in 2013 as a Tumblr account, Places + Faces was originally a hub for the atmospheric photographs captured by the London-based creative duo Ciesay and Soulz when they snuck into gigs. “I would say that I worked for Vice and that I had flown in to document the concert and afterparty, and I'd get in,” says Ciesay. It was not long, though, before the pair were recognized by key talents on the grime and hip-hop scene—stars from Skepta to Stormzy—and began receiving invitations to events around the world.
Over a decade later, many of Ciesay and Soulz’s early musical connections have evolved into longstanding friendships. This month, they are mounting a selling exhibition at Sotheby’s London and releasing a photobook with publisher Idea to present some of their favorite images from along the journey.
One of the editioned photographs available for purchase is a 2016 portrait of musician A$AP Rocky. Ciesay recalls: “He and I were just hanging out. At the time, he had a working relationship with Gucci so he was wearing an outfit straight off the runway, but just with some hotel slippers. He’s smoking, holding up an orange juice, standing on the balcony of a hotel in Paris—that’s like a rapper’s lyric—but it captures Rocky in his most authentic form. He still reminisces about it too, even though we’ve taken over 1,000 images together in different locations. Whenever we see each other, we always come back to this moment.”
—James Haldane
Paint by Numbers | Inspired by her Swedish roots, interior designer Beata Heuman is known for creating rooms rich with patterned textiles, block colors and fanciful silhouettes. What is even more impressive is that her spaces also possess an enveloping sense of order and comfort—such are the skills of a talent who trained at the knee of star decorator Nicky Haslam.
To assist those less confident with a color wheel, Heuman recently released a collection of 24 paint tones in partnership with Mylands, a heritage British paint company founded in 1884. The Dependables offers a palette of considered and reliable options, manufactured with natural earth pigments, to make artful eclecticism that little bit easier.
—J.H.
Bright Ideas | Gabriela Hearst’s six-piece high jewelry collection is as clever as it is charming. The chain earrings, for example, come apart to form simple studs, double strands or even a pendant, while the Triple Goddess Ring is engineered to look as though its padparadscha sapphire is floating on air.
Pictures Worth a Thousand Words | Sarah Hoover’s recent book, “The Motherload: Episodes from the Brink of Motherhood,” details her harrowing post-partum ordeal. It’s ironic then that the painting on the book’s cover, a 1707 work by Dutch artist Willem van Mieris, is titled “A Mother Feeding her Child (The Happy Mother).” Hoover isn’t buying the happy part: “She just looks so weary,” she says of the woman shown dutifully spoon-feeding her baby. Trained as an art historian, Hoover didn’t pick the portrait herself, but she was thrilled when the designer, John Gall, presented it to her. “The art of that period is beautiful,” she says. “It’s dark and moody, just like me.”
Using historic portraiture to illustrate very contemporary books, like Hoover’s, is an interesting choice. “I think the best one was ‘My Year of Rest and Relaxation,’” Hoover says, referring to Ottessa Moshfegh’s 2018 novel, which featured the 1798 work “Portrait of a Young Woman in White” by Jacques-Louis David. Another example, Melissa Febos’s upcoming memoir “The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex,” uses the 1877 painting “Sappho” by Auguste Charles Mengin. This knowing mix of old and new reminds Hoover of Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette,” which brought Converse sneakers into Versailles. And, she says, its appeal is a sign of the times: “In the age of AI and the self-driving car, people are attracted to the handmade.”
Wall-to-Wall Elegance | Americans love a paneled room, and the French have always provided. This month, Féau, the Parisian purveyor of historic and new boiseries, is marking its 150th anniversary with its first New York showroom, a space where centuries of French wall fashion will be on view. In recent decades, says CEO Guillaume Féau, American taste has shifted away from crazily ornate Louis Quinze-style rooms to pared-back Art Deco styles, like the straw-marquetry panels by Jean-Michel Frank, collectibles in themselves, that Féau is bringing to TEFAF New York in May. Also popular, he notes, is Neoclassicism, whose strict geometry enables it “to digest the mix of modern and contemporary art” that over 80% of Féau’s clients collect. “If you have a big Rothko,” he advises, “it can go across the moldings. You don’t have to be stressed about that.”
—Sarah Medford
Curves Ahead | Spiral staircases and cylindrical rooms punctuate Alaïa’s new Paris flagship, designed by Japanese firm SANAA and creative director Pieter Mulier. Interspersed with art and design, the store fulfills the late Azzedine Alaïa’s dream of opening on the city’s stylish Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
Upward Bound | Set in the storybook Swiss village of St. Moritz, Badrutt’s Palace Hotel is a bastion of old-world alpine glamour. Since 1896, Hollywood luminaries and British royals have flocked here because so much stays the same—from the afternoon tea service to the Rolls-Royce that chauffeurs guests from the train. This year, however, there is something new: a six-story addition known as the Serlas Wing that marks the first renovation in over a century.
Designed by ACPV Architects Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel, the wing’s 13 rooms and 12 suites (including two penthouses) complement the main hotel by offering more residential accommodations able to host multi-generational families. Taking inspiration from traditional Swiss farmhouses, the Serlas Wing channels natural materials, like the solid Dorato Valmalenco stone that makes up the façade—one of the wing’s distinguishing features, says architect Antonio Citterio. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows bring the sun’s warmth into rooms with oak accents and cream Loro Piana-wool paneling. The new wing might make a virtue of staying in, but when the outside beckons, there’s an underground tunnel system to reach the high-street shopping of Via Serlas—and world-class ski slopes a shuttle bus away.
—Christopher Ross
A Return to Form | In its heyday, the Palm Beach—a 1928 Hispano-Moorish-style casino at the tip of the Croisette in Cannes—held lavish galas and events that drew a glamorous mix of aristocrats, political bigwigs and film stars. It’s where Django Reinhardt played solos, Marlene Dietrich sunbathed and Maurice Chevalier entertained. Now, after a €250 million ($260 million) five-year renovation by architects Caprini & Pellerin, this massive seaside gaming complex features top-notch restaurants like La Petite Maison, luxury boutiques, a cabaret and the reimagined terracotta-walled art deco Casino Royal Palm. Add to that the très exclusive Members’ Club, the Riviera’s first, providing access to a private state-of-the art gym and wellness center, a saltwater pool (backdrop for the classic 1963 noir film “Any Number Can Win” starring Alain Delon) and the speakeasy-style Members’ Club bar, Jean-Paul. “Call it a dialogue between the splendor of past and present,” says architect Jerry Pellerin. Expect padded leather chairs, a checkerboard ceiling, palm-themed decorative screens with hand-crafted precious-wood inlays and the standout: an amber-lit U-shaped bar with an ice-cube-inspired bubble glass chandelier.
—Lanie Goodman
