LIFE - AD
I confess I subscribe to Architectural Digest. I don't know why I term it a confession, I suppose because this magazine is really a tome dedicated to all that is over-the-top, lavish and, in the minds of many, completely unnecessary in the world we live. For instance, the Airbus A380-800 on page 281 of the May 08 issue which includes a 14-person conference-cum-dining table and teak walls in the lounge area. This thing is owned by ONE person.
Still AD, with its fair share of colour riot USA interior styles and ads for properties selling in the Hawaii for US$7.996 million, also provides a fascinating insight into the minds of people who create internal and external physical spaces that even the poorest of us will live around, if never within.
To me it's intriguing to hear the way a designer's mind works, what they're trying to communicate through their work and how they marry a client's vision with their own and with practicalities. AD represents the unique madness of humanity; our belief - perhaps misguided - that we can have some permanency in this world. And the visions of the designers, set loose amidst an array of obstacles, is something I admire. You see it in so many areas of life ... people who set themselves a challenge and then overcome huge obstacles just to meet it. Amazing!
The other thing, of course, about AD is that it is so well written and there is always a crowd of articles celebrating or investigating design of yesteryear. This month you can read about the work couturiers Christian Dior, Paul Poiret and Elsa Schiaparelli did when designing wallpapers in the 1930s. I mean it is astounding. And there are certain witches in my life who will love the witchy inspired fabrics concocted by Cecil Beaton. As is a constant theme with me, stories like this seem to hark back to a time when the world knew how to stop at 5pm for a martini and witty conversation did not centre around 'Dancing with the Stars' but that, of course, is just my imagination. Humans have always been humans. In the 1930s the drink trolleys were just a little more sexy.
ROAD TO AUSTIN
Well the travel agent is hard at it now working out the itinerary for us for October - Nashville, New Orleans and Austin. Is this part of travel almost as much fun as the experience itself? I certainly like to make a career out of it. (Note to self: Never be my travel agent.) I think it's the realm of possibilities that present themself in the planning phase of a trip, plus the fantasy element of the places one might stay ... until the realities of budgets set in.
New Orleans is what I see as the 'glam' part of the trip. Hence I have travel Genie looking at W New Orleans - French Quarter, Royal Sonesta and Hotel Le Cirque. Sonesta is truly, obsenely decadent. Love it! You wouldn't think I went to Internally Displaced Persons Camps in Uganda last year. Clearly the experience has had NO impact on me and I will go to hell in a hand cart!!!!!!
In Austin I like the look of the San Jose (all the musicians stay there apparently - but they'll let me in too) but Mrs P, who is already living over there, said to check out the Austin Motel which also looks good.
The odd link:
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