“The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love color the most.” —John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice
Allow me to introduce myself. I have just stepped ( joyfully!) into the editor in chief role at this marvelous and legendary magazine. As there is nothing that delights me more than a riot of vivid pattern and hues, it is serendipitous that my entrance happens to coincide with the issue annually themed “Living with Color.”
Victorian essayist John Ruskin’s quote is provocative, especially given the current vogue for decorating in “high hotel” style—that is, a luxurious yet generic minimalism. Also provocative are the wild interiors of Paris-based maestro Mattia Bonetti, an enfant terrible of the 1980s whose haute-primitive designs with his then-partner Elizabeth Garouste earned the duo the moniker New Barbarians. I am really pleased and proud to feature a downright hallucinogenic Hong Kong residence conceived by Bonetti this month, and his tart quotes in Mitch Owens’s lively story prove that Bonetti remains a rebel at heart: “If people who can afford incredible decors keep commissioning bland minimalist interiors—which, I admit, are much easier to sell—it’s the end of decoration.” Fighting words. Is Bonetti of a purer and more thoughtful mind than the global legions of clients and professionals opting for something a bit more, shall we say, conservative? Or is he just braver? Either way, it is an issue worthy of debate as we contemplate the role of interior design in today’s high-tech, fast-paced world. The spaces that merit the pages of Architectural Digest are certainly intended to inspire, but they should also, I would argue, push the viewer just a bit outside their comfort zone.
Mattia Bonetti’s exuberant hand at work in a Hong Kong apartment.
A rich and graphic mix in a Long Island house.
An English garden bursting with bright blooms.
