Friday, October 31, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
The Seattle Times and Us! "Set a Stunning Thanksgiving Table"
Kim Boatman, Rick Martin, and I teamed up several times (over the past decade) to present holiday tables (and other bits of decoration, for other bits of holidays) for the Mercury News. It was really a very glorious undertaking, and--like all glorious undertakings--involved lots of hard work and preparation...
All fun, though, because it was a most excellent team. We did enjoy working together, and came up with some pretty good stuff, methinks. At least, the Merc liked us. Year after year, we were asked to cover one holiday after another. Good times.
I was the designer/stylist/prop master, Rick the photographer, Kim the scribe. It was such a great lark, and I must admit that, when October rolls around, I grow somewhat nostalgic for the tables. As luck would have it, a few still seem to exist on the web (and elswhere...Lord, it would be fun to make a book out of them...hmm...new project brewing?).
I'll try to dig through the archives this holiday season, and throw a few out there for your viewing pleasure (and my trip down memory lane!).
Above photo is by your click-happy amateur photog, moi.
It's another little still life, taken in Weimar:
Sunday, October 26, 2008
The Insomniacs Kitchen, a New Delight from Artist Emily Lister
I absolutely love a wonderful new blog called "The Insomniacs Kitchen."
It's charming and spritely and cheerful and it makes me want to learn Yiddish and cook things in my dutch oven (it's about time...that dutch oven was getting lonely in the cupboard) and try to make Raisin Bran Muffin Cake and only eat whole grains. Why? Because Emily says so, and because she makes it all sound so deliciously fun.
Come to find out, Emily doesn't just write wonderful bits about blackstrap molasses gingerbread and Laurie Colwin and the Old Sturbridge Village Cookbook. (I still have a little straw broom from Sturbridge Village, acquired at the ripe old age of seven. It is, for me, a great prize...it brings me a bit of handmade bliss...)
Well, back to wondrous Emily...she is also the incredibly talented illustrator of over a dozen books, and an extraordinarily gifted painter. Please do drop by and visit her new digs!
Above: a snapshot from the
Wouldn't it be fun (and just a little swanky)
to have a bit of tea and gingerbread at this table,
after cooking up yummy goodies from
I think so.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Happy Places III
One more quick trip around
the heavenly cottage
(see "happy places one," below).
These were just little snapshots I took
on the spur of the moment...
a wondrous space, yes?
An extremely talented designer,certainly.
Check out Red Bar, in Southampton, for more of his
incredible work.
Happy Places I
I hope that our incredibly talented
man in the hamptons
doesn't mind that I've posted these...
it's just that, as we cruise into fall,
and summer fades to a glimmer on the far horizon...
well, I wanted to take one more look.
You can see why.
This heavenly place: isn't it amazing?
Don't you want one?
If it looks like the cottage of your dreams,
I can verify that it most certainly is...
Cheers to a very gifted KB
(another strange coincidence--see below--all the marvelous KB's in our lives...I'm even married to one. Two of the others are in these photos, as are the birthday girls from St. Barbara's day, and St. Barbara + one).
Next happy place?
Surely, we will visit Hawaii, again, on the blog.
With Mom and Dad.
Magical.
Just like them.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Six Degrees of St. Barbara
Of course, you know that St. Barbara is
the patron saint of the Artillery (go Dad!).
But did you know that her feast day is on
December 4th?
Imagine.
A lovely day it is, as is the day after.
These are the dates, respectively,
of my daughter's and my sister's birthdays.
It often amazes me that St. Barbara
shares her name (and date)
with many of the dearest friends and family in my life.
Happy Birthday, a few days late, to
Barbara Catherine.
This coincidence of Barbaras has often caused me to wonder
if there are, really, any coincidences.
And, I promise, there will be more pictures of flowers soon.
It's just that, tonight, I am floral-ed out,
having been madly arranging for days now.
Exhausting, exhilarating, enlightening--
I adore flowers, working with them, looking at them...and,
golly,
I surely would love to cultivate
a sweet little quarter-acre of some...
the gardener in me,
perhaps she is just
a
late
bloomer?
Monday, October 20, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Dear Eloise! "Oh my Lord I am absolutely so busy I don't know how I can possibly get everything done"
Like Eloise, we are scampering around this weekend preparing our table design for the luscious "Holidays on a High Note" event in Atherton at the venerable Circus Club. So, please be patient and wait for further postings...some of which are sure to include, happily, the finished table: "A Birthday at the Little House."
There will be egg cups.
And, as you know,
We are leaving you with
a lovely pic of Clara Bow, who looks...
well, not that busy.
But awfully stylish.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Tales of the Twentieth Century: Mr. Dole, Mr. Vickers, and Mr. Everen Save the Subways From Gloom
Herbert Dole, Squire Joseph Vickers, and Jay Van Everen,
"all classmates at Cornell University's College of Architecture,
designed most of the plaques and tile work on the N/R line,
and in subway stations above Grand Central Terminal
on the East Side and below
Times Square on the West Side."
From
When I snapped the above photo this summer
(I'd fallen in love
with the mosiacs in the subways, particularly one
that was the most charming little house...we seem to run past it
at the speed of light, surely late to something),
little did I know that
I'd be meeting--a few months later--an
absolutely marvelous woman who knows first-hand of
the magnificent architect behind the art...
life is full of wonderful little miracles, isn't it?
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
December Domino: Something Different is in the Air.
Looking for Something Different?
Got it.
This is a bit of fun, out-takes from a shoot that was actually for a house that was under construction (we selected many of the finishing materials and colors for the interiors and exterior).
Margot, Megan and I took a few moments off to do a riff on "Brooke Astor Meets Eloise by Way of The Little House," or something like that (Brooke Astor had just passed away, and I was reading Patchwork Child, one of her autobiographies, and was enchanted by it).
I'd hoped to create a little advertising campaign for our design business around one the other shots--a close up, finished, with the binoculars. It was to say
"Looking for Something Different?
Victoria Thorne Design."
I got cold feet, though...I wasn't sure how many folks were, actually, looking for something different. When I look at the new December issue of Domino Magazine, though, I like what I see. Something different is in the air.
Style: Victoria Thorne
Photos: Margot Hartford
I Can Fly
mary blair, genius
margot hartford, photography
v thorne, design
laurie avenue, pink
(thumbnail for "my magic mim")
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Audrey Hepburn Redux
The little Audrey Hepburn table has been a big hit...
so I've ordered up one more dish o'raspberries
with a sweet smile on the side. Cheers!
design | style victoria thorne
"Garden office rooms are all the rage," says Emilia D’Erlanger
Great article on working from home, via Shedworking.
(If I read Shedworking enough,
will a lovely little shed appear in my backyard?
With a comb and a brush and a bowl full of mush?
And an old lady--would that be me, now?--whispering hush?
Once upon a time,
I certainly read "Goodnight Moon" enough...
when the T.K. were all so very little.
And it seems it has appeared, somewhat...
now, where is that rocking chair?)
I digress.
Anyhow, lovely quote from the article:
"Garden office rooms are all the rage," says Emilia D’Erlanger, interior designer. "The smartest of addresses now all want a media room and a garden office as a sanctuary away from distractions."
Anyway...Roald Dahl and Dylan Thomas worked at home...
and they certainly are groovy company, methinks.
(A bit intense, perhaps, but groovy nonetheless.)
And totally smart, ja?
So: working at home. The new old frontier?
Now, if my smart garden shed
would manifest in my backyard. Bitte.
(above, a sweet little brickhouse @the Presidio)
Friday, October 3, 2008
Audrey's Wedding: Delight in the Details
the wedding of dreams:
click any photo for good up-close look...
there are lots of delightful details in each picture
our table design, honoring audrey
design: victoria thorne
photo: nlmphotography
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Be Light of Heart
A Summer Rhyme, In Time for Fall
I asked my mother for fifty cents
To see the elephant jump the fence;
He jumped so high he reached the sky
And didn't come back till the Fourth of July.
illustrated by Maurice Sendak
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