Permanent Collection

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Permanent Collection Permanent Collection is a curated line of clothing, accessories, and design objects based on historical and contemporary design classics.

California‐native, London‐based curators Mariah Nielson and F***y Singer have created Permanent Collection: a line of luxury clothing, accessories and objects based on historical and contemporary originals. Inspired by the principles that guide acquisitions at the world’s greatest museums, Permanent Collection offers pieces defined by timeless value, whose currency as art and design will endure. Daughters of legendary Northern Californian artist J.B. Blunk and world-renowned chef Alice Waters, respectively, Mariah and F***y met in London while studying design and art history at the Royal College of Art and the University of Cambridge. Mariah and F***y recognized in each other a shared set of values, in relation to fashion and personal style, but also to how they approached design and art. Their graduate studies, and their curatorial experience at institutions including The Serpentine and Tate Modern, led them to the idea of applying curatorial rigor to the world of fashion and design. They began by selecting a group of historical designs they felt were elegant, minimal and versatile: the types of pieces they believed would become the staples of a personal “permanent collection.”

Permanent Collection offers understated yet indispensable clothing, accessories and design objects that will never go out of style.

— Today we’re spotlighting Italian artist Piero Gilardi who used synthetic foam to preserve and celebrate nature. He c...
11/02/2026

— Today we’re spotlighting Italian artist Piero Gilardi who used synthetic foam to preserve and celebrate nature. He carved polyurethane into detailed floor sculptures he called Tappeti-Natura (Nature Carpets), depicting forest floors, rocky seashores, vegetable gardens, and riverbeds. Each carpet invited visitors to walk on it, sit on it, or lie down on it.

Gilardi trained at the Liceo Artistico and debuted in 1963 with “Macchine per il futuro” (Machines for the Future). But it was the Nature Carpets that made him world-famous. He carved the elements with meticulous detail, saturating the polyurethane foam with vinyl resin and rubber latex. The works looked like high-quality photographs that mimicked the glossy magazine images that had inspired them.

His carpets appeared in major galleries and museums across Europe and America beginning in 1966, including the influential 1968 “Eccentric Abstraction” exhibition in New York. Yet at the height of his success, Gilardi walked away from the commercial art world to become an activist, working with students, workers, and Native American causes in Nicaragua and Africa. In 2003, he founded Parco Arte Vivente (Park of Living Art) in Turin, a public space for ecological art and community engagement. He died in 2023.

Sources: Upstate Diary, Artforum, Magazzino Italian Art

— Russian-French sculptor Ossip Zadkine (1888-1967) pioneered a distinctive style of Cubist-inspired figurative sculpt...
10/26/2026

— Russian-French sculptor Ossip Zadkine (1888-1967) pioneered a distinctive style of Cubist-inspired figurative sculpture. Born in Vitsebsk, Belarus, he was sent at age fifteen to Sunderland, England, to study English before attending Regent Street Polytechnic in London. In 1910, he moved to Paris and immersed himself in the Montparnasse art scene at La Ruche, an artists’ residence where he encountered the emerging Cubist movement.

By around 1917, Cubism had deeply influenced Zadkine’s work, and he developed a mature sculptural language of abstracted human forms. After serving in the French military during WWI, his subjects became more politically motivated. During World War II, he fled occupied France due to his Jewish heritage, eventually reaching the United States where he taught at the Art Students League in New York. Following the war, he returned to Paris. In 1946, he visited Rotterdam and was profoundly moved by the devastation from N**i bombing. This experience inspired his most celebrated work, “Birth of Forms” (1947), a memorial to the ruined city.

Zadkine achieved considerable acclaim, with his work included in major collections including MoMA, the Tate, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. He died in Paris in 1967. His former home and studio in Montparnasse have been transformed into the Musée Zadkine.

Sources: Artnet, Sotheby’s

It’s tea-all-day-long season at last! And even though we need a robustly caffeinated cup to get us started in the mornin...
10/25/2026

It’s tea-all-day-long season at last! And even though we need a robustly caffeinated cup to get us started in the morning, we favor herbal blends to see us through the rest of the day. We love all of the teas from our friends at _leavesandflowers, but we’re particularly partial to the formulation we created together,  Mt. Tamalpais. A tender blend of aromatics that recalls the lush landscape the Bay Area’s most notable peak…with Roasted Buckwheat, Lemon Verbena, Tarragon, Orange Peel, Anise Hyssop. What more could you need?

— Today we’re heading to Tacubaya, Mexico City where Luis Barragán built Casa-Jardín Ortega between 1940 and 1942. It ...
10/23/2026

— Today we’re heading to Tacubaya, Mexico City where Luis Barragán built Casa-Jardín Ortega between 1940 and 1942. It was his first house and the first of his mature works — a prototype for ideas he would refine for decades.

Barragán acquired a large, sloped property and subdivided it into four sections. He designed Casa Ortega as a T-shaped residence, but the garden was the primary motivation. He created a series of terraced platforms at different levels, recalling the patios and gardens of the Alhambra and Generalife in Spain. Wandering through the compartmentalized garden, space unfolds incrementally.

Barragán lived there from 1942 to 1947, when he sold the house to Alfredo Ortega, a Mexico City silversmith and fellow visionary, to raise capital for his larger landscape project, Jardines del Pedregal. The two collaborated throughout, refining details together.

The house remains in remarkable original condition, filled with furniture by Clara Porset and Barragán himself. Next door stands Barragán’s last house (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site museum), built in 1947. Casa-Jardín Ortega remains little-visited and still owned and preserved by the Ortega family. 

Sources: Casa Ortega Mexico, The World of Interiors, photography by François Halard.

RECIPE // Spencer Huey’s Roasted Honeynut Squash with Pomegranate, Pistachio & Pounded Mint.
Tangy pomegranate molasses,...
10/22/2026

RECIPE // Spencer Huey’s Roasted Honeynut Squash with Pomegranate, Pistachio & Pounded Mint.

Tangy pomegranate molasses, crunchy pistachios, and a bright, herbal sauce make this a great roasted squash side dish to usher in fall, and one to keep on hand for your holiday tables.

Spencer Huey is one of our absolute favorite cooks in the Chez Panisse family and consistently uses Alice’s Mortar & Pestle to make magic in the kitchen. Here, he pounds fresh mint with a good pinch of salt into a fine green paste, then stirs in olive oil for a vibrant mint oil that would be just as delicious ladled over fish or grilled meat.

You’ll find Spencer’s recipe in our recipe archive, linked in our bio.

The kitchen of the Kokfelt House in Tisvilde, Denmark, designed by Arne Jacobsen in 1955–56 as a summer residence for Kn...
10/21/2026

The kitchen of the Kokfelt House in Tisvilde, Denmark, designed by Arne Jacobsen in 1955–56 as a summer residence for Knud Kokfelt.

Source: Adam Štěch, photos Adam Štěch.

Clocks go back on November 1st, and we’ll be glad to have extra candles and our candleholders on hand.

They’ll be lit a...
10/20/2026

Clocks go back on November 1st, and we’ll be glad to have extra candles and our candleholders on hand.

They’ll be lit a little earlier each evening, but candles aren’t only for dark nights. We like to light one first thing in the morning with coffee, at the table with a late lunch, or on a stormy afternoon when the house needs a little warmth.

These go fast, so we recommend picking up a set soon so you’re set for the season ahead.

— French-American sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002) created joyful, colorful monumental sculptures that celebr...
10/19/2026

— French-American sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002) created joyful, colorful monumental sculptures that celebrated women and challenged conventions. Born Catherine Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle in France, she moved to Greenwich, Connecticut at age three when her family lost their fortune in the stock market crash. She had a difficult childhood in a strict household, but as a teenager worked as a model for Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, and Life magazine.

Saint Phalle began making art as therapy after her marriage to writer Harry Mathews in 1949. Self-taught, she was inspired by the architecture of Antoni Gaudí after traveling to Spain. In the 1950s, she created her famous “Tirs” (Shooting Paintings) — violent, cathartic performances where she shot at paint-filled bags with a r***e, using the medium as a form of personal and political protest. These works gained international attention and led to her inclusion in the Nouveau Réalisme movement alongside Jean Tinguely, Yves Klein, and Christo.

From 1964 onward, Saint Phalle created her signature “Nanas,” exuberant oversized sculptures of women and creatures painted in brilliant colors. She collaborated with Jean Tinguely on monumental works including “She: A Cathedral” (1966), a 28-meter-long reclining woman featuring interior rooms. They married in 1971 and lived together in Tuscany.

Her masterwork was the Tarot Garden, a large sculpture garden in Italy with house-sized creations. She died in La Jolla, Californi in 2002.

Sources: Lapis Press, Artnet

— In Southeast London stands Eltham Palace, where a medieval fortress meets 1930s art deco extravagance. The estate da...
10/16/2026

— In Southeast London stands Eltham Palace, where a medieval fortress meets 1930s art deco extravagance. The estate dates to 1086, when it belonged to William the Conqueror’s half-brother. By 1305 it became a royal residence. Henry VIII spent his childhood there.

The palace fell into disrepair for 200 years, reduced to a farm. In the 1930s, wealthy collectors Stephen and Virginia Courtauld leased the estate from the Crown and commissioned architects Seely & Paget to build a modern house beside the original medieval great hall. The Crown stipulated they repair King Edward IV’s hammer-beam hall from the 1470s.

The Courtaulds called it an “ultra-modern party house.” The entrance hall, designed by Swedish architect Rolf Engströmer, features a triangular space with curved sides, a concrete and glass domed roof, and a parquet dance floor. 

Italian designer Peter Malacrida furnished the dining room with bird’s eye maple walls, aluminum leaf ceiling, and black lacquered doors with Greek key patterns. Virginia’s ensuite features gold-tiled alcoves, onyx-wrapped bathtub, a statue of Psyche. The house contained the first underfloor heating in England, synchronized clocks, and a centrally heated cage for their pet lemur, Mah-Jongg.

When completed in 1936, critics were divided. The Queen Mother called it “a little overdone.” Today it’s an English Heritage site.

Sources: Dezeen, Shani Kravetz, Open Space

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