A HOUSE IN THE TROPICS [MUSTIQUE]

  

A HOUSE ON THE ISLAND OF Mustique I designed with Toronto based architect, Jack Diamond. www.dsai.ca

Egypt's Forthcoming Elections

Like this ancient Egyptian, we should pray for a stabilising outcome for the September elections.


The Egyptians, who gave us a moral lesson in Tahrir Square [bar villains and gropers], are the nicest people in the world.


They deserve the stability that will allow us to return to this wonderful country. 


I was born in Egypt and lived in both Cairo and Alexandria. I lived intermittently in Eritrea.


I was at school at the English School in Heliopolis, Cairo until I was 17 and then went to Oxford - returning  only as a mere tourist to the country of my birth.

 

GARDENS: My terraced garden in Patmos in July

 

Agapanthus africanus

   

Bougainvillea glabra

          

 Available from Amazon and other good book sellers. 

John Stefanidis 'Forest' available in 5 colours

John Stefanidis Forest in Cocoa

Also available in Prussian Blue, Grey Blue, Claret & Scarlet

Available from:

London:          Tissus d'Helene, Chelsea Harbour, London, SW10 0XF

Phone: +44 (0) 20 7352 9977

                        Email: tissusdhelene@mac.com

                        Website: tissusdhelene.co.uk

Miami:            Monica James, 40 NE 40th Street, Miami, FL  33137
Phone: + 1 305-576-6222

                        Email: sales@monicajames.com

                        Website: monicajames.com

Los Angeles:   Harbinger, Almont Yard, 636-A North Almont Drive, CA 90069

                        Phone: +1 310 858 6884

                        Email: Info@HarbingerLA.com

                        Website: harbingerla.com

Hilary and Galen Weston go public with their private corner of Windsor, Florida

The latest issue of Architectural Digest features the delightful home of Hilary and Galen Weston designed by John Stefanidis.


An Elegant Florida Escape

New Urbanism patrons Hilary and Galen Weston build a home of their own in the community they founded more than 20 years ago

An Elegant Florida Escape Homes: architecturaldigest.com

FILM: The Concert by Radu Mihaileanu

A bit late in the day but I recently saw on DVD The Concert [2010], directed by Radu Mihaileanu - great fun and an insight into Russian life.

Also by the same director, Live and Become, a moving and extraordinary film about the exodus of Ethiopian Jews to Israel.

GARDENS: Pink Bougainvillea

Left: Bougainvillea in a pot - my garden in Patmos, Greece.




Below: A pink sitting room in Cock Crow, Dorset, England [Living by Design by John Stefanidis [1997].

DOG LOVERS

Medici dogs and their keeper - a court dwarf.

In the background, the Boboli Gardens of Pitti Palace in Florence, Italy.

Dogs resting in a Louix XV sitting room. Note  screen in front of fireplace - it must be summer. A hunting dog sits on a much-sat-on bergère, another lies on a cool, tiled floor. 

My dogs resting in London and playing in Patmos. Their portrait by Hugo Guinness.

John Stefanidis Fabric 'Ladakh' - available in 4 colours

John Stefanidis Ladakh in Hot Pink

               Ladakh - Burnt Orange          Ladakh - Dusky Blue              Ladakh - Celadon

Available from:

London:          Tissus d'Helene, Chelsea Harbour, London, SW10 0XF

Phone: +44 (0) 20 7352 9977

                        Email: tissusdhelene@mac.com

                        Website: tissusdhelene.co.uk

Miami:            Monica James, 40 NE 40th Street, Miami, FL  33137
Phone: + 1 305-576-6222

                        Email: sales@monicajames.com

                        Website: monicajames.com

Los Angeles:   Harbinger, Almont Yard, 636-A North Almont Drive, CA 90069

                        Phone: +1 310 858 6884

                        Email: Info@HarbingerLA.com

                        Website: harbingerla.com

Twombly painting in my Dining Room - Cheyne Walk, London






Cy Twombly has just died.  His masterful paintings have given me great pleasure over all the years his genius unfolded. 'Xaire' Cy.


JOIE DE VIVRE: Lunch with Harry Fane

LUNCH WITH HARRY FANE--always glamorous, never dull. The table is set in a room with delectable, glowing jewels and objects in vitrines - a pleasure indeed, particularly as the host is both gallant and charming.


www.harryfane.com 

DESIGN: Le Richemond Hotel, Geneva

In this comfortable, well-run North American hotel with smiley staff, they have a television in the washbasin mirror – very neat – a joy while you perform your ablutions ...but oh my, the black bathroom and brown, black and grey colour scheme of the room is a shade dispiriting!

When I designed for Le Richemond Hotel in Geneva, the palette was very different. 

Lobby

'Le Bar'

   

CULTURE: Cy Twombly: Dulwich Picture Gallery

Cy Twombly’s genius was not acclaimed when I first met and became friends with this most charming and talented of painters. 

NOT TO BE MISSED: Twombly and Poussin – Arcadian Painters at the Dulwich Picture Gallery – until September 25.

http://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/

Gardens in London

LONDON IN HIGH SUMMER 

is like nowhere else, dramatic and beautiful cloud formations

 and golden evening light, atone for an excess of rain. 

John Stefanidis' London garden in late June

HYDE PARK boasts majestic trees with lush, green grass beneath heavy branches.  Glimpses of private London squares. 




EDWARDES SQUARE in Kensington, London, W8 is perhaps the best [left].