Suggested Reading

Ah, here is an illustration from Mudpies and Other Recipes...

now, do you remember why we love Erik Blegvad?

Visual courtesy of the marvelous 

Vintage Kids' Books My Kids Love.

Check out her blog and her etsy shop. 

Good books for the holidays.

What could be better?

To Make A Mudpie

You might just need 

this great book. 

The author, Marjorie Winslow, is

pictured below (pushing the pram).

More to come, as we also 

do adore the illustrator,

Erik Blegvad.

Driving the Buggy

This little girl grew up to

write a great book.

More on that later.

and they come without buttons, too

Looky here, from the uber-talented Sandra Juto. 

How delightful. With or Without Buttons.

And there's more where this came from, 

and more and more. 

Cool 

warm worms for wrists 

&

wandering.

juto found {via vic} @ {the lovely} lost

 

Vintage Sartorialist, I Love

It seems likely that haiku will survive and most existentiallengthy phone conversations will not.

When the phone was introduced, some thought it might be the end of the art of conversation. With the texts and emails and twitter and video chat, who knows where it's all going? There are so many ways to connect. Quicker, & more often (if desired).

With so many words, I think we are learning to choose them more carefully. One would hope.

above: vintage sartorialist, vintage phone

Where The Wild Things Are: Thank You, Hollister Hovey

I can hardly bear it, how about you? 

Hollister Hovey has posted 

the best of the New York windows. 

Porter Hovey has photographed 

a somewhat uncommon but 

utterly delectable feast 

for which to give thanks. 

Go visit them. Love.

Hollister Hovey 

Porter Hovey

From Our House to Yours: An Original Film by Erik Thorne

From our house to yours,
a video that Erik whipped up tonight.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!

We Send To Mim

...gardenias & pearls for the holidays, 

with all 

Love.

Always.

design|style:victoriathorne

photo:nlmphotography

Alexander: Here's the Apple Pie!

Sweetbriar Apple Pie, With Love

Crust: 

• 1 pound o' butter
  
• 4 cups of good fresh flour
  
• 2 tablespoons, sugar
  
• 2 teaspoons, salt
  
• 1 cuppa water, with ice cube floating around (achtung! you will not use all the water!)
• NOTE: this will be enough crust for 2 or 3 pies

Innards for each pie will be: 

• 4 or 5 sour-ish green apples (granny smith or so), peeled and cored and sliced
  
• 1/4 cup, sugar
  
• 3 tablespoons butter
  
• 1/4 teaspoon each of: grated nutmeg, ground mace...and maybe a tiny scosh of cloves and cardamom? whatever. up to you. be creative (which you always are). 

Make that crust, just like you have been (i.e., that amazing picture you just sent) but: leave it twice the size, roll it out, and have some nice crumbly artistic edges...you will be folding it over the whole apple deal, in a very soigne way... (For those who would like a lovely pie crust recipe, click here.)

Put this artsy pastry into a nice big pie plate, and chill for about 15 minutes...afterwards, fill 'er up with apple slices, enough so that it looks nice and heaping but not overmuch or too little....

Now, the fun part: shake that sugar softly over the apple slices, and happily dot little bits of butter around.  Sprinkle spices on quick-like. Now, fold up those artistic pastry edges, sort of on top of each other. It will seem rather random, but I promise it will come out of the oven looking quite handsome (and taste lovely, to boot). Try to cover up most of those slicey apples, so they are tucked in nice. But don't spend much time on this part.

The pie usually takes about 45 minutes in a 375 degree oven. The crust will be look done, and you'll know. Cool for a few minutes, and then sklather on freshly whipped (no sugar, ist besser!) cream. You can add a bit of grated nutmeg on the top if you want to get super-snazzy. 

Enjoy. We will miss you at the turkey table, but we send blessings your way every second of every day. 

(Here, we would like to send said blessings, also, to Mim and Pop and the Basnights and every Thorne and Reynard we ever knew, along with the Brooksies and the Pilots. Aloha, fam. We love all of you and hope you get the right end of the wishbone, every one!)

Alexander: Call your mother if she wrote something down wrong, above; we can try to fix it. It can happen. And remember, my German is sehr rusty, but I try. Ist gut?

trimmings

Plate Bio: The spoon is coin silver, from an old Virginia estate; the fork is from eBay, and (so said the seller) the Civil War; the pewter is also eBay, from the 17oo's...the linen, German. The plate is an old favorite, unearthed at a long-ago garage sale.

These plates were created many months ago; as busy as we all are these days, I think the best use of time would be to print them out, on nice heavy stock, and put them on top of your own plates at the table. A little tongue in cheek chic for your holiday merriment, yes?

Think cranberries and turkey and all the trimmings. Think happy thanksgiving, from yours truly.

vt

That Shakespeherian Rag

Limoges.

Composed.

"...that Shakespeherian Rag — / It’s so

elegant...”

put this little number together

for Thanksgiving dinner shoot

victoria thorne style & concept

rick e. martin photography

Good Eye

A holiday table swimming with blue and white china, perhaps?

In Steiff We Trust: Thanksgiving Plate Poetry

Clearly, the children's plate. As the crowd waits for turkey, it's fun to think of these bits of art gracing the table...each place setting waiting for that certain someone. With our nod to Joseph Cornell, who needs flowers? A few beeswax tapers, held aloft by silver candlesticks at the center of the table, and we're off... 

This is a favorite, also...the book, the fox, and the plate (made at a tender age by one of my sons) were such fun to put together...for me, it is creating "family art" that brings joy...and there is true satisfaction when others find delight in the treasures. 

Chicago, Chicago

Place Setting: the souvenir plate from Chicago, the vintage German linens and silk ribbon...all purchased on eBay. Black and white polka-dot porcelain from Japan. Beige bisque dish is graced by Molly Pitcher (standing zaftigly next to a cannon). Our cannoneer is not seen, but her presence is felt: my mother finds the most incredible goodies, always has, and Molly is one of them. The pilgrims grace an early 20th century guide to Plymouth, Mass. (Ready to flourish in new world.)

Victoria Thorne Design

Holiday Plates: How to Dress Up Your Table Before the Bird Arrives

dearest readers:

all of the place settings

we'll post in the next few days were

created by victoria thorne,

& photographed by rick martin...hope they provide great

inspiration and joy during your holidays!

above:

mim's plate | quail and olive

Over the River and Through The Woods

Thought this might be fun...it's from a bit that I styled a few years back, for a magazine...Norma took the photos, and the model is the delightful Ashley. 

Our dreamer looks like she might be going back home with her elegantly ancient luggage and celebratory jewels, but she is, perhaps, thinking that a bigger bird might be needed to pop in the oven? 

It's all a bit Herbert Hoover-ish to me, and I can't help thinking this is more timely now than it was when we shot it...a chicken in every pot, right? You half expect an orphan to come tapping into the frame...and you sort of wonder where a girl like this got all those goodies... 

(Side note: I borrowed the jeweller's glasses--the magazine was, obviously, featuring her wares in the article--and plopped them on gorgeous Ashley's head at the last minute. It's still my favorite part of the photo.)

Happy almost-Thanksgiving to all! 

For the rest of the week, we'll be trying to dig up a few Thanksgiving photos and an apple pie recipe (just for you, Alexander in Germany). We might even throw in a little sweet potato casserole, and Helen Corbitt's stuffing. 

The T.K. want to know how it's done (all that Thanksgiving cooking, yum) after lo these many years. Cheers!

Kitchen Design: Warm Woods & Whites

Thought you might like a glimpse

of this kitchen. It was great fun to work on.

These are thumbnails, and--for

color & pattern--the cabinetry

is best seen in the photos at top and below.

Since this shoot, the wood in

the kitchen has developed a

softer luster, and the honed

marble and pewter has, somehow,

grown even more lovely. Some

materials really are simply ageless.

Above, Jane and her wonderful blonde boys

in the kitchen that was tailor-made just for them.

(And for Dad, who loves to cook.)

I'm happy to report

that the kitchen has only

gotten better with time.

kitchen | victoria thorne design

About Our New Profile Photo

The incredibly talented Miss M. Logsdon, above, is our new profile girl...the photo above was taken last spring during a shoot for a book which we have been working on for some time. Miss M. is a gifted actress and we thank her for providing us with endless amounts of inspiration. The shoot was styled and conceived by our design team, and taken by the marvelous Margot Hartford (whose website can be found here). We thought this light-hearted image would be just right while we prepare to roll out a new design start-up (we're also decking lots of halls for the upcoming holidays whilst we watch, warily, the economic news). Here at Victoria Thorne Design, hope doth spring eternal. 

Thank Goodness.

Miss M. is reading the delicious How to Dress for Every Occasion..., which is cheered on here by Daniel Handler and Lisa Brown. Her plaids are from The Scotch House of London and Mr. Lauren of NYC. The vintage cable sweater is from the collection of Miss Vivian Catherine Thorne, and the jeans are the model's own. 

The exquisite antique silk child's chair is from The House on Laurie Avenue.

A Room for a Boy, with Space to Read

since the resident of the room was an avid manga fan,

it seemed a good idea to create walls that

echoed ancient japanese landscapes via superflat...

and, as always, we tried to do so in a way that

would last for a good 10 years or more...classic design,

still pleasing after the manga moment moved on...

the child's roll-top desk is an eBay find, and the tatami mat

beneath was a delightful treasure found in an

antique store in deepest Menlo Park...canvas water bucket,

casually looped over the chair, courtesy of some

wonderful seamstress who worked for the French Army

the antique chinese scoop, draped with an ship's standard,

holds an ancient document, found on eBay...

regular pirate's treasure, as it's hundreds of years old...

we went for an adventurous look, a bit of Swiss Family Robinson by way of Murakami...French Army canvas was used to created the tent beneath the bed, and vintage European duvet covers, also from eBay, were the bedlinens of choice (adding a little Swiss to our Robinson)

design|style by victoria thorne design

The Story of a Boy (well, a Boy's Room): Coming Soon

A preview of one of the interiors

I've created...more to follow,

along with story and design ideas.

Here, just a glimpse.

Or two.

Pico and the Shadows

The light was killer when we finished setting up for Holidays on a High Note, but we were all flabbergastedly in love with the masterwork that Pico Soriano had just wrought. 

Here it is, snapped quick as the dusk crept over the polo fields outside, through a multitude of mullioned windows...

for a shadowless shot, see California Home+Design. We're all there!

The New Yorker

Autumn in Menlo Park

The autumnal yumminess above was some of the prep work to be found on Rene van Rems workbench prior to our event at the Circus Club in Menlo Park, Holidays on a High Note. 

You can simply imagine what gorgeousness he put together the next day, during his presentation. Perhaps I should fill you in a bit more as the week scampers on...

what's black and white and striped all over?

halston would've loved it:

black and white and stripes, and gloves for hats...

how happy is that?

good stuff 

from vicatlostdotnetdotau of australia, 

and the newly affianced (congrats!) cup of jo

we just love to let it snow

After many many years of creating our own stationery (and logos and wrapping paper and whathaveyou), it's always a joy to happen upon someone who makes stationery we don't think we can live without (and we have quite a lot o' stationery we already live with). Herein lies the reason we bring you this bit of beautiful, hand-wrought artwork that we just absolutely love. Hats off to you, hellohandmadepaper. Go Etsy! We heart this for sure.

via isaactobin.com

For more of Mr. Tobin, click here.

Well, I can't seem to get a photo to attach, but who needs it when they can go look at HHH?

Hollister, what hath thou wrought? How groovy are your kitchen ideas? How hard is it not to want all this yummy stuff? Geez louise.

And I love it that Mrs. Blandings (see comment) and brilliant Porter Hovey are looking at the tile floors...and the bathroom fixtures. I've been know to do that once or twice (and the looks you get when you take just a few snapshots of floors and fixtures...my goodness!). Wondering if I should publish my infamous Red Bar bathroom ("I just want to remember the magnificent color you picked, Kirk") shot, or the one in the women's wc at the New York Public Library, where I was so taken by the marble sinks (as dear T.D. said, "You could have a bat mizvah in there"). 

Good design is everywhere, thank heavens. And Hollister and Mrs. Blandings and Porter have quite the knack for finding it.  

Btw, if you didn't see the Astor Resurrection: here it is. To die for. I have long lived for the Thursday New York Times, as it has both Style and Home. What more could you ask for?

Jane, I'm glad we did your kitchen in walnut and white, with scads of good marble and warm floors. So glad.

MY GOD IT'S FULL OF STARS

MY GOD IT'S FULL OF STARS, by Cyclops-Optic:

this work is simply amazing. A brilliant artist.

The San Francisco Flower Mart

Went the other day with good friend Gayle and these made me want to do a wedding, with flowers like this, and a brilliant and charming and very fun bride and groom...


There were seas of hydrangeas. Continents of color. It was heady and somewhat overwhelming and deliciously glorious. And it smelled good, too, like the old days when the florist opened his glass-fronted case and the cool sweet perfumed air rushed out and wrapped you up in it...


Here's the recipe for a perfect thanksgiving table. Just add turkey. And cranberries, on the side.


Above, Gayle's impeccable picks...she has wonderful taste...the orange flower stuck it's head in, but only for the picture...


I sort of wanted to just take everything home and start events-r-us. Hmmmm....

Strawberry Blonde

This morning, found myself staring at the art of Carl Larsson and thinking that his rendering of linens, bedclothes, garments, and thus and such was magnificent, as well as timely and--that old chestnut--classic. (The above version doesn't do justice to the color. Will hunt for better.)

Wouldn't you love to have the stripey curtains tucked behind those Swedish beds, or draped in that domino-esque way on the ceiling? Those little red wool tufts hanging at perfect intervals above it all? Is this not magic? 

And, below, there's a strawberry blonde on a sled that makes me miss my sister...but not those long northern nights that we knew in Germany.


Do you remember the smell of melted ice on wool, mittens with a slight crust of snow from the lunky snowman we tried to roll together in the yard? Pinecones worked pretty well for eyes, and there was always a sprig of cedar for a lame little arm or two. Carrots for noses were not so easy, so a rock often sufficed. And, since they were there again, more pinecones for the smile. By the time we got to putting him all together, it was sort of done already...wasn't there a cup of hot chocolate waiting for us, maybe? Shouldn't we just plop his head on, stick those pinecones well in, and go somewhere warm?

I love the pale sun working it's way through the frostridden sky. And I miss that strawberry blonde, and her parents.

Love to all in Virginia, New York, Germany and elsewhere. 

Happy Day! Our Table is Featured in California Home+Design

Another little snapshot from our table for

"Holidays on a High Note."

We just found out, today,

that you can also see it

here, in

California Home+Design.

Holiday Cheer Coming Your Way!

{for a bit more of the table, click here or here}

Russian Children, 1909: The Color of Truth?

It's out-of-context to see, in shades that are true, color photographs that are 100 years old. We're so used to the old black and white: often gorgeous but, nevertheless, drained of hue. So it's a bit of a shock to look at these and remember that what we're accustomed to seeing, in old photos, was just part of the story. The part without color. And what might be more important than real color for telling a true story? All of the following information is from the Library of Congress. 
 

"Young Russian peasant women near the small town of Kirillov."

Photographer to the Tsar: 

The photographs of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) 

offer a vivid portrait of a lost world--the Russian Empire 

on the eve of World War I and the coming revolution.

"Children sit near White Lake, in the north of European Russia."

"Born in Murom, Vladimir Province, Russia, in 1863 and educated as a chemist, Prokudin-Gorskii devoted his career to the advancement of photography. He studied with renowned scientists in St. Petersburg, Berlin, and Paris. His own original research yielded patents for producing color film slides and for projecting color motion pictures. Around 1907 Prokudin-Gorskii envisioned and formulated a plan to use the emerging technological advancements that had been made in color photography to systematically document the Russian Empire. Through such an ambitious project, his ultimate goal was to educate the schoolchildren of Russia with his "optical color projections" of the vast and diverse history, culture, and modernization of the empire. Outfitted with a specially equipped railroad car darkroom provided by Tsar Nicholas II, and in possession of two permits that granted him access to restricted areas and cooperation from the empire's bureaucracy, Prokudin-Gorskii documented the Russian Empire around 1907 through 1915. He conducted many illustrated lectures of his work. Prokudin-Gorskii left Russia in 1918, after the Russian Revolution, and eventually settled in Paris, where he died in 1944."

Photos and Quotes: The Library of Congress. 

Thanks to Mena Trott's wonderful Dollar Short 

blog post, "Turn of the Century Autochromes," for the inspiration.

Tree Huts: Madison Square Garden

From:

Mad. Sq. Art presents Tadashi Kawamata: Tree Huts

"Tree huts in particular are an emerging focus of Kawamata’s work; a crystallization of Kawamata’s interest in the architecture of shelter and of the insertion of private objects into public spaces as a method of renegotiating the meaning of both."

See:

Madison Square Park 

madsqhuts blog

Shedworking

Inhabitat

Thanks to the ever-inspiring Shedworking 

for the heads-up...

it's been fun to watch this become a reality. 

Tree houses of dreams, yes?