John Stefanidis Fabrics: RICE

 A fresh design of scattered rice grains within a large check
- very Zen!

Available in Soft Pink, 
Cinnamon and Charcoal

 Rice in Soft Pink - used in a Florida bedroom

Available from:

London, UK - Tissus d'Helene

Showroom: Chelsea Harbour, London, SW10 0XF

Phone: +44 (0) 20 7352 9977

Email: tissusdhelene@mac.com

Website: tissusdhelene.co.uk

Miami, USA - Monica James

Showroom: 40 NE 40th Street, Miami, FL 33137

Phone: + 1 305-576-6222

Email: sales@monicajames.com

Website: monicajames.com

Los Angeles, USA – Harbinger

Showroom: 752 North La Cienega Blvd,West Hollywood, CA 90069

Phone: +1 310 858 6884

Email: Info@HarbingerLA.com

Website: harbingerla.com

Melbourne, Australia – Tigger Hall

Showroom: 720 High Street Armadale Vic 3143

Phone: +61 (0) 3 9509 6456

Email: info@tiggerhall.com

Website: tigger hall.com

John Stefanidis Fabrics Website

stefanidisfabrics.com

FABRICS: Celia Birtwell

'Celia Birtwell'recently published by Quadrille 
is a book about the wife of Ossie Clarke, David Hockney's muse and unmatched fabric designer. The book is very evocative of the 60's and 70's. 
The fabrics are too good to become dated.  I have used them frequently in my work and they always make me smile with pleasure...

Left: Celia drawn in crayon by Hockney




Right: An Image of Celia. A detail of this Cubist-inspired work showing Celia's face was featured on the cover of French Vogue, December 1985

BOOKS - for those who read paperback, hardback or kindle

Last week I received two books as presents: 

My bookish friend Victoria McDonaugh sent me Garden of the Brave in War – Recollections of Iran by Terence O’Donnell published by Mage Publishers Washington DC in 2003.  An enchanting book written by an American who lived in Iran for fifteen years, written without ever being condescending, he gives a vivid description of his life on a farm and Iranians in all their complexities and marvellous descriptions of the country’s beautiful landscapes.  Important to read when Iran is demonised by politics.

The writer, Polly Devlin, sent me Among Booksellers - Tales Told in Letters to Howard Hodgkin by David Batterham published by Stone Trough Books.  This book consists of letters sent to the painter Howard Hodgkin over the years.  These letters are quirky, lively and prove that booksellers are rather 'odd’ – to quote the author – odd in the most delightful way! 

John Stefanidis Fabrics: BUTNAIR

Sophisticated contemporary design with simple, spiral shapes.

Available in: Brown on White, Brown on Cream & Olive on Cream.

Available from:

London, UK - Tissus d'Helene

Showroom: Chelsea Harbour, London, SW10 0XF

Phone: +44 (0) 20 7352 9977

Email: tissusdhelene@mac.com

Website: tissusdhelene.co.uk

Miami, USA - Monica James

Showroom: 40 NE 40th Street, Miami, FL 33137

Phone: + 1 305-576-6222

Email: sales@monicajames.com

Website: monicajames.com

Los Angeles, USA – Harbinger

Showroom: 752 North La Cienega Blvd,West Hollywood, CA 90069

Phone: +1 310 858 6884

Email: Info@HarbingerLA.com

Website: harbingerla.com

Melbourne, Australia – Tigger Hall

Showroom: 720 High Street Armadale Vic 3143

Phone: +61 (0) 3 9509 6456

Email: info@tiggerhall.com

Website: tigger hall.com

John Stefanidis Fabrics Website

stefanidisfabrics.com

Season's Greetings

Season's Greetings

DESIGN: SCAGLIOLA

Scagliola [from the Italian scaglia, meaning ‘chips’ is a technique for producing stucco columns, sculptures, and other architectural elements that resemble inlays in marble and semi precious stones.

Churches in Rome and elsewhere in Italy abound in scagliola columns that look like marble but ain’t – if they are cold to the touch, they are marble, if not they are scagliola. It is versatile – under used – you seldom find marble to equal what scagliola can do!  

Some examples of where I have used scagliola:

A yali on the Bosphorus in Istanbul
**** see January 2012 issue of The World of Interiors****

A JS designed lamp base

A  fireplace for contemporary house 

Detail of a fireplace in a country house

..Available in 80 colours no less!

SHOPPING: TIES, SOCKS, SCARVES, KNITS, ETC

Quintessentially Neapolitan: Marinella, 54 Maddox Street, London, W1S 1AY  http://www.marinellanapoli.it....for the world's very best ties.
Quintessentially English: Drakes, 3 Clifford Street, London, W1S TLF  http://www.drakes-london.com/

BOOKS / DESIGN: The Golden Game

Alchemy played such a role in times gone by it should not be forgotten.  
Highly recommended: The Golden Game - Alchemical Engravings of the Seventeenth Century by Stanislas Klossowski de Rola

CARPETS AND RUGS

CARPETS & RUGS - the most romantic links to the past were made along the Silk Road for centuries.

Kilims from Anatolia in Turkey and The Caucasus; carpets from Persia, Bokhara, Samarkand, Tibet & Bessarabia.

Pile and cotton dhurries from India - Moghul designs in Agra carpets persist to this  day - European rugs and carpets made in Spain, Portugal [best for needlepoint rugs], England and France [Savonnerie and Aubusson], and Morocco and Tunisia and Egypt and China and America for palaces and tents.

At John Stefanidis Brands Ltd, we have designed rugs made all over the world.  There is always a moment of astonishment when a design, only previously seen as a small drawing with wool samples, is finally rolled  out.

A cotton dhurrie made for a house in Greece 

In my practice we have taken inspiration  from:

Moghul carpet 17thC

18th C. Savonnerie carpet

The Nigde carpet 17th C.

Turkish rugs first came to be known in Italy and the rest of the Western world after the Siege of Constantinople in 1204 during the First Crusade.  The rugs were portrayed in paintings: 

Nicholas Eliasz Pickenoy [1620]

The very best antique carpets, rugs and tapestries in London can be found at: 

• C. John, 70 South Audley Street, London, W1K 2RA
• S. Francis, 80 Jermyn Street, London, SW1Y 6JD
• 
  

The best rugs and carpets made now are from: 

• Luke Irwin, 22 Pimlico Road, London, SW1W 8LJ
• Sinclair Till, 793 Wandsworth Road, London, SW8 3JQ owned by John Canessa
• www.sinclairtill.co.uk

CIANCIMINO

Ciancimino: Gongshi - a Collection of Scholar’s Rocks, 85 Pimlico Road, London SW1W 8PH www.ciancimino.com

Jean-Claude Ciancimino is a remarkable man.  For years, there was a shop on the Pimlico Road which excelled as the best source for Regency furniture of style and quality.  One day he switched – moved a few shops along and started selling the best of 1920’s, 1930’s and 20^th century furniture and objects.  He, moreover, makes the most elegant side and occasional tables….and, suddenly, an exhibition of extraordinary scholar’s rocks!   

The World of Interiors: Istanbul Yali

TURKEY is very topical at the moment with its new political strategy

See Herald Tribune article of December 3

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20111203/ZNYT03/112033007

Not totally irrelevant is the house that I did in Istanbul which is featured in the

January 2012 edition of the World of Interiors:

TWO GREAT NEW COOK BOOKS

The Family Meal - home cooking from the legendary Spanish restaurant el Bulli.
Published by Phaidon

Heston Blumenthal at home

Published by Bloomsbury

Cooks take note ~ yummy recipes!

SHOPPING: Useful for presents or an indulgence

...Go to Holland Street, off Kensington Church Street, London, W8
www.yastikbyrifatozbek.com
www.willer.co.uk

LIVING BY DESIGN: Make the best of a view

SILK TAFFETA CURTAINS EMBROIDERED IN BLUE, with an unstructured blind behind to guard against glaring light or sunlight.  In the foreground, crushed velvet and blue check--also velvet--cover the chairs, the blue relieved by pistachio green, silk cushions.  The walls in this New York apartment are stencilled blue on blue.  The colour scheme harmonises, or contrasts with, the green trees of Central Park beyond and the grey, staggered skyscrapers .  

FABRICS: Love Butterflies?

John Stefanidis Fabrics

"Butterflies"

Attractive large scale check with butterflies bordered by delicate lacy curlicues - inspired by decorative paper found in Venice.

Available in 3 colours:
Denim, Café au Lait and Candy Pink

Available from:

London, UK - Tissus d'Helene

Showroom: Chelsea Harbour, London, SW10 0XF

Phone: +44 (0) 20 7352 9977

Email: tissusdhelene@mac.com

Website: tissusdhelene.co.uk

Miami, USA - Monica James

Showroom: 40 NE 40th Street, Miami, FL 33137

Phone: + 1 305-576-6222

Email: sales@monicajames.com

Website: monicajames.com

Los Angeles, USA – Harbinger

Showroom: 752 North La Cienega Blvd,West Hollywood, CA 90069

Phone: +1 310 858 6884

Email: Info@HarbingerLA.com

Website: harbingerla.com

Melbourne, Australia – Tigger Hall

Showroom: 720 High Street Armadale Vic 3143

Phone: +61 (0) 3 9509 6456

Email: info@tiggerhall.com

Website: tigger hall.com

John Stefanidis Fabrics Website

stefanidisfabrics.com

HYDE PARK IN AUTUMN

Sunday November 20


A perfect day with the sun shining ...a  swan on the Serpentine in Hyde Park is unperturbed by the delighted shrieks of terror coming from the  Winter Wonderland fairground, now an annual prelude to Christmas.

BOOKS: The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt

A REMARKABLE BOOK - RIVETING!  

How the Renaissance began...so illuminating about the Papacy...manuscripts burnt, lost and found. 

Humanist of classic texts in monastic libraries of Europe...  

LIVING BY DESIGN: Use of Wood

Oak is a wood that can shine golden or be dark and depressing. The same can be said of mahogany. 

Here are some examples of my projects:

Dining Room, Mayfair, W1

19th Century panelling restored to its former glory with carvings of masks and foliage, typical of 1870's nostalgia.

Bathroom, Mayfair, W1

In contrast, the oak here is much lighter with only a vast shower [not shown], counter top and bath surround in marble.

Library, Mid West, USA

Carefully chosen, book-matched mahogany of good colour.

Note: John Stefanidis Coffee Table with marble inlay.

Hall in a Rotunda, USA

We designed this inlay wooden floor which I like to think is as brave and bold as those found in the palaces of St. Petersburg, Russia.

John Stefanidis Fabric: Baskets

A light-hearted design inspired by a Venetian paper print with alternating bands of butterflies and floral baskets printed on a superior quality of bright white linen

Available in a range of six colours:

Indigo, Candy Pink, Slate, Charcoal, Mahogany and Pearl Grey

 


Available from:

London, UK - Tissus d'Helene

Showroom: Chelsea Harbour, London, SW10 0XF

Phone: +44 (0) 20 7352 9977

Email: tissusdhelene@mac.com

Website: tissusdhelene.co.uk

Miami, USA - Monica James

Showroom: 40 NE 40th Street, Miami, FL 33137

Phone: + 1 305-576-6222

Email: sales@monicajames.com

Website: monicajames.com

Los Angeles, USA – Harbinger

Showroom: 752 North La Cienega Blvd,West Hollywood, CA 90069

Phone: +1 310 858 6884

Email: Info@HarbingerLA.com

Website: harbingerla.com

Melbourne, Australia – Tigger Hall

Showroom: 720 High Street Armadale Vic 3143

Phone: +61 (0) 3 9509 6456

Email: info@tiggerhall.com

Website: tigger hall.com

John Stefanidis Fabrics Website

stefanidisfabrics.com