Category Archives: Axel Vervoordt

European Élan in Dallas

This is the story of a decades-long love affair and fascination with the Far East, and with the tradition of fine European antiques and objects. Long before the Belgian-Dutch look was en vogue in the states Betty Gertz, owner of antiques emporium East & Orient Company in Dallas, Texas, discovered its Old World allure while traveling […]

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Winter Gardens

L’esprit du jardin d’hiver is in the air, a quest for a life-affirming sanctuary in colder climes. Russian royalty dedicated palaces to Winter, as with the sixteen-hundred room Winter Palace of the Romanov’s in St. Petersberg. Emperor Nikolai I decreed that Russian artist Eduard Gau create watercolor renderings of the Winter Palace’s interior, the Russian Empire’s […]

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Axel Vervoordt: The Art of the Room, Part II

Art is as natural to an Axel Vervoordt interior as the horizon is to a landscape. In my last post, Axel Vervoordt: The Art of the Room, Part I, photographs of vignettes taken within the designer’s Belgian castel focuses on his sensitive and exacting curatorial prowess at creating tableau that stirs the mind, soul and […]

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Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer

For me August defines “those lazy-hazy-crazy days of summer” – a tune originally made popular by Nat King Cole. As summer’s heat intensifies and the air becomes still a languid lull sets in, where it seems all one can do is sit quietly, relax and drink in the nearest quenching facility of water. The houses […]

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Wabi-Sabi at the Greenwich Hotel

Posted May 12, 2014. Filed in Axel Vervoordt, Elemental Design

Belgian interior designer and antiquarian, Axel Vervoortd, recently cast his imitable style over a three-bedroom penthouse suite in New York’s Greenwich Hotel, owned by Robert De Niro and Ira Drukier. One-part Japanese farmhouse and another part aged stone château, the newly conceived aerie over Manhattan introduces an unexpected aesthetic in the city that never sleeps: […]

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ROMANCING THE TABLE

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. Have you booked that enviable cozy banquette set into a discreet niche in your city’s most romantic restaurant? If not, sorry Charlie, you’re too late! At this point in time you will be lucky to score a booth at Applebee’s, which in all directness won’t score the points you’re aiming for. […]

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NATURALLY MINIMAL

Posted January 11, 2014. Filed in Axel Vervoordt, Chalets, Elemental Design

The chalet pictured above appears as though it could have been perched on this Alpine slope for two-or-three-hundred years, preserved with great care and affection by its succession of stewards. But in fact it was only recently constructed by antiquarian and interior designer Axel Vervoordt and his wife, May. Sited with an enviable view high […]

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FRESCA ALPINA

With one of the coldest winters on record I assume many of you would love nothing more than to escape to a warmer clime, perhaps St Barts or Mauritius. I, however, have my sights set on the Alps, with its fresh, crisp air and distinctive and inviting all-wood constructed chalets and their rustically elegant and […]

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The Allure of Orange

Orange as a color for decorating, or sartorial considerations for that matter, doesn’t often enter my design vocabulary for whatever reason. However, autumn is my favorite of the seasons and I practically become giddy with excitement at the first sign of autumn’s golden yellows, glowing oranges, and fiery reds. The color orange radiates warmth  and […]

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Palazzo Labèque

Posted October 19, 2013. Filed in Axel Vervoordt, Italian Country Houses, Tuscan Style

Axel Vervoordt imbued the Tuscan palazzo of the internationally famous Labèque sisters, Katia and Marielle, with his unique brand of elemental elegance in the mid-1990’s. Situated inside a fortified medieval city, the pianist duo’s sprawling residence is narrow but high. In the living room, above, Vervoordt mixed carefully selected pieces in unexpected combinations. As so many […]

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Under The Tuscan Sun

From the Etruscans’ who left behind many roads that are still traveled today, to the expansive power of the Roman Empire and the Medici family, who financed  much of the Renaissance, Tuscany is rich in history, romantic ancient villages, rustic farmhouses and elegant villas, distinctive regional cuisine, and soft rolling hills for as far and […]

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Hello, Yellow!

The color yellow has been getting its due lately. In just the past few months it seems to be popping optimistically from the pages of shelter magazines and design books. Perhaps it is a reflection of the times in which we live, with sights set on a brighter future, or a longing and remembrance of […]

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