Francine Gardner - Art de Vivre

Sunday, July 26, 2009

BIG NEWS - INTERIEURS DESIGN STUDIO SELECTED BY METROPOLITAN HOME MAGAZINE AND SHOWTIME TELEVISION TO PARTICIPATE IN TRIBECA SHOWHOUSE

I'm proud to announce that my team at Interieurs Design Studio has been selected by Metropolitan Home Magazine and Showtime Television to participate in a Designer Showhouse in TriBeCa inspired by one of Showtime's award winning edgy shows. Here's a hint as to which show IDS was assigned:

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Touring Iceland: A Land of Savage Beauty

Back in January I began planning a hiking and touring trip of Iceland with my dear friend Judith Hopkins (both our husbands are cold-weather curmudgeons, though they would call it an "allergy").

Why Iceland??? We both love rugged landscapes and challenging terrain having earlier traveled together on a National Geographic Expeditions trip to Tibet and Everest Basecamp I. That trip (possibly the subject of a future post here) was headed up by Peter Hillary, son of legendary Everest climber Sir Edmund Hillary. For a variety of reasons, mostly related to professional obligations and physical training time constraints, we opted for Iceland over a more "exotic" and distant locale.

I had recently read a book by French nature photographer Patrick Desgraupes: Islande: Le Sublime et L'Imaginaire and it provided Judith and I all the inspiration we needed to pick Iceland as our destination. I had fallen in love with Desgraupes' stunning images of the island which is geologically the youngest land on Earth. Iceland is a country of staggering raw beauty where active volcanoes and glaciers coexist in an almost surreal harmony. Having seen it, I now understand how Iceland became the inspiration for Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth."

It is so astonishing to walk through country so alive and violent - surrounded by the pungent smell of sulphur and the sounds of bubbling lava - that you almost feel as if you are witness to the birth of the Earth itself. The landscapes are truly awesome (in the classical meaning of the word), with desolate black lava fields, glacial ice and surreal shades of blue, green, yellow, orange and white.

All buildings in Reykjavik are covered with corrugated metal siding

Icelandic children are so buoyant and stylish

The Blue Lagoon is a man-made lagoon created as a by-product of
Geo-Thermal energy capture. The lagoon's waters are rich in minerals
and a swim or soak in the lagoon is a must have experience

Just one of many small calderas of
living volcanoes scattered around Iceland

Iceland is divided between the North American and European Tectonic Plates.
What you see here is the Tectonic divide between the two plates

Land of Boiling Waters

Strokkur Geyser ready to erupt

Hiking near steaming vents and boiling mud pools

Endless driving among desolate lava fields as far as you can see

Hiking in Landmanlauger, I felt I had entered an enchanted landscape

of boiling lava, steaming mountains florescent colored paths and
magical hot springs at a perfect temperature to soothe sore muscles.

The Sellfoss Waterfall is the largest in Europe

My favorite waterfall at Skogar. The "Pot of Gold" at the
end of the rainbow is the waterfall itself

The black sand beach at Vik

June is nesting season for Icelandic gulls.

A restored traditional grass roofed house.

The focal point of our trip was to experience glacier hiking. Vatnajokrell is the
longest glacier in Iceland. Five active volcanoes are buried under the glacier
and eruptions cause catastrophic mud slides and floods.

Equipped for the task. Walking up and down the Crevices is not for the
faint of heart. During the first hour of the hike I was terrified and I don't
scare too easily. Once I got my "Ice Legs", I let myself become
enthralled by the ethereal beauty of the ice.

During one of our last hikes, we stumbled upon a small section of the glacier where
the ice goes to die. The glacier is retreating with frightening speed. Iceland's
ice melt is a testament to the effects of climactic change.

The midnight sunset on July 4th.

The best way to experience Iceland is to rent a 4x4 with heavy duty tires and a good suspension. Some food items, several good maps (we needed them for the roads which are often unpaved and also to find gas stations which are scarce in Iceland). Judith commented that the little Suzuki 4x4 we rented probably saw more off-roading during our short trip than any of the Hummers we often see cruising around Fairfield County will ever see during their entire serviceable lives.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Swimming Pools

Living in the Northeast United States means living through long cold and too often dreary winters. During those long winter months I console myself with the thought of the sunny summer days to come with the deep rich fragrance of Damask roses, rosemary and thyme and the visual explosion of white Sea Foam blooms that cascade over the edge of my pool.

Swimming is my sanity and I do my best to make a habit of swimming a mile every morning before I head off to Manhattan for work because it clears my head for the day ahead and gives me just enough of an endorphin kick to make a very challenging time easier to manage.

Below are three images of my pool at home. Placing it was quite a challenge due to the nature of my land and the vagaries of my town's zoning laws. We were finally able to reach an agreement with the town for placement, but it meant terracing the site and cutting out a great deal of deeply buried rock and large boulder's left behind in the wake of retreating glaciers from the last ice-age. We eeked out every last foot we could within the zoning restrictions on the property and the final dimensions of the pool are 45 feet long by 18 feet wide, making a short but very usable lap pool that is also suitable for entertaining.

The great thing is that my mason was able to recycle all of the stone that our pool contractor extracted from the pool site to use in the construction of the stone terrace walls. My landscape and masonry contractor (a now retired old school native Italian) understood immediately the look and ambiance I wanted to achieve and his team built all the walls within 10 days of starting the project.

At the rear, above the pool, is a separate seating area for meals or cocktails

Sea Foam roses run the length of the pool

Below are some stunning pools from the pages of one of my favorite French design magazines, COTE SUD (No. 117 / April-May 2009).

Photo: A. Font

Photo: B. Tuillon

Photo: E. Nicolas

Whenever I travel for pleasure or business, I make a point of trying to stay in a hotel with a beautiful pool.

Below are a sampling of some of the beautiful hotel pools I've been lucky enough to swim in or lounge around...

The Baray Villa Pool - Sawasdee Village Resort, Kata Beach, Phuket

Photo: FG

If you're new to this blog, see my earlier post of February 13th on the Baray Villa Resort and Spa

When I'm on a business trip in Bangkok, it is particularly pleasant to have access to a nice pool to relax in after a grueling day of tuk-tuk rides to and fro.

The Peninsula Hotel, Bangkok
By day: