Cotton presents rooms that mix historical and modern influences, resulting in luxuriously sleek interiors for casual, yet sophisticated, living. The glam-orous spaces many designed for art-world clients, including Cindy Sherman and Lisa Yuskavage are anchored in tradition but reflect the relaxed sensibili-ties of our time. Cotton shares his multiscaled approach to design successful turns with his varied collections, which are often included in his interior projects. Furniture, lighting, wallpaper, tableware, and terra-cotta planters are part of his repertoire. Cotton s industrial designs like his interiors embody an intelligence and under-standing of design history. This book, the designer s first, documents the groundbreaking work of a rising and notable talent and should be in the libraries of designers and connoisseurs of fine living.
The first book on the work of Steven Volpe, a designer acclaimed for his grand-scale, bespoke interiors and his impeccable craftsmanship that blurs the line between art and furnishings.
Steven Volpe combines a minimalist approach with a classical sensibility and a connoisseur's appreciation for authenticity. Adept at mixing pieces from different periods-eighteenth-century pieces combine with midcentury furniture and contemporary art, for example-Volpe brings a richness to his modern interiors.
Volpe was one of the first to champion loft living, moving into a 75-year-old converted warehouse, but he brings his classical training into the modern spaces he favors. «I learned what was appropriate and proper, and now I, too, can break those rules,» he says. One of the ways Volpe breaks the rules is by melding art with decor in his interiors, endearing him to a sophisticated, artistic clientele.
Founded in 1996 by Brian Messana and Toby O Rorke in New York City, Messana O Rorke describe their particular brand of minimalist-infected modernism as pragmatism, with their approach to design capturing as much usable square footage as possible, rigorously limiting the number of interior elements, and extracting maximum impact from the chosen interventions. This distinctive approach extends to their entire material vocabulary: white walls stripped of mouldings, with recessed lighting at their perimeter; honey-toned oak floors; highly polished stainless steel railings and hardware; and marble fixtures and countertops and dark limestone flooring in the bathrooms and kitchen. With their masterful manipulation of space and judicious selection of materials oak flooring wire-brushed and lightly limed to contrast white walls but also to bring out its vivid grain, simultaneously conveying the woodworker s craft and the rawness of nature; statuary marble in a kitchen chosen for the painterly quality of the veining; architectural photography and ceramic objects adding sophisticated drama Messana O Rorke create complete environments of simplicity and serenity.
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