My heart flutters when I 'windowshop' Moda Operandi fashion, and their home decor is no different.
Today they debuted their offering of luxury housewares, and just like the fashion, it's a refined edit.
These are my picks:
1. Anything Vladimir Kanevsky
His flowers are magical realism rendered in porcelain. Deceivingly true to life, yet fantastic in their perfection, Kanevsky's sculptures are modern high society's take on granny's precious antique Capodimonte flower baskets. Small pieces begin around $3,000; huge centerpieces range as high as $180,000.
2. Venetian Glassware
Speaking of Italian grannies, I've long held onto a Venini blue and white ribbon handkerchief vase, despite its utter lack of stylishness. Over the past 60 years it's been downgraded all the way from cherished display object to vessel holding my facial cotton in the bathroom. I am delirious with validation that LSD herself is also a lover of traditional Venetian glass, and I think tabletop is a great way to incorporate it into modern life, beyond tourist totems.
3. Exclusive Luisa Beccaria Home Collection
Unapologetically feminine and frilly. The glasses are great, the dishes fine but the table linens are divine. It's only available at M'O.
4. Arjumand's World Italian Fresco Wallpaper
$3000 is a bargain to instantly get the feel of Pauline de Rothschild's bedroom, non?
5. Frances Palmer Ceramic Vases
Perhaps my favorite thing about Moda Operandi is that it introduces me to designers and artisans I haven't heard of. Frances Palmer is a working artist in Connecticut, who has been making ceramics since 1987 but was educated in art history. This combination lends a poignancy to her best pieces, which look as if a very talented amateur spent hours upon hours sitting in a museum, copying neoclassical ceramics with limited resources. Palmer's vessels retain the elegance of their period inspirations, but have a high-end homemade feel, like true sculptor's editions.