Just because the summer sees fewer book releases than spring and fall doesn’t mean the books are any less worthwhile. From gardening to beach lifestyle books, here’s a list of what you can expect to see new on shelves this summer.
California Luxury Living: A Private Tour (Images Publishing Dist Ac) by John Finton was released in June, just as the summer season began to heat up. With a career spanning some 25 years with trips to more than 80 countries, Finton shares the exceptional process by which he undertakes luxury construction, or, “building art through construction.” The nearly 300-pages invite the reader on a captivating journey through the magnificent homes and estates Finton has built in California, with rare insight into what it takes to build these works of art.
Louis Benech: Twelve French Gardens (Gourcuff Gradenigo) presents gardens designed by Louis Benech, including the Jardin du Soleil et des Nuages at the Château de Villandry; Square Nicolas Forestier in inner-city Paris; an estate in the Sologne; a Normandy manor house; a Breton flower garden; an exotic oasis in central Paris; a project in the footsteps of Russell Page in Burgundy; and the gardens of the Château de Pange, officially recognized by the French Ministry of Culture as a jardin remarquable. In their wide diversity, these 12 gardens reflect the many facets of a remarkable talent that has earned Benech worldwide recognition.
As part of Interior Design magazine’s Best of series (which also includes Best of Year, Best of Hospitality and Best of Office), Best of Residential Architecture & Design (Sandow Media) edited by Cindy Allen offers an insider’s view into some of the most contemporary and innovative residential projects. It spotlights dwellings of varying scale and locale—from luxurious residences as far-flung as Kuwait and Monte Carlo to a minimally sleek Chelsea loft in New York. The book is divided into nine chapters, each focusing on a distinct trend in the world of interior design: Inside/Outside, Vintage Modern, City Living, Modern Family, Getaways, Green, New Tradition and Global Inspiration.
Out next month, Rural Modern (The Images Publishing Group) by Russell Abraham presents a tantalizing selection of modern country houses in a variety of styles and forms. The 21st century has seen rural residential architecture take ideas from both the Modern Bauhaus design movement and the ever-popular Shingle Style. The result is a style that borrows from vernacular forms and materials, but uses them in new ways. Issues of sustainability and energy conservation are also key to contemporary country house design. Orienting windows to capture heat in winter, but protect the house from the sun in summer is an ongoing design objective. The modern country house is a hybrid of several ingenious ideas blended together to create a modern, sustainable and highly livable architecture that respects the past and looks forward into the future.
Also available in August, Formica Forever (Metropolis Books/Formica Corporation) celebrates 100 years of global design with a commemorative book that captures the Formica Group’s 100-year evolution through cultural shifts, economic uncertainties, trend exploration and global growth. Designed by Abbott Miller, a partner in the renowned international design consultancy Pentagram, the 408-page book contains more than 400 images and is modeled after a Formica(R) brand laminate swatch book from the 1960s.
