The origins of Il Delfino, a new oceanside inn in the surf town of Yamba on Australia’s east coast, go back to its founder’s childhood. “I grew up in this area, fascinated by this ramshackle surf cottage,” says the Australian fashion stylist Sheree Commerford. “Having it was a secret dream for as long as I can remember.” At the end of 2021, Commerford bought the building, which had previously been a rustic family lodge, and spent the last two years transforming it into a four-room inn and bungalow that she opened last month. “We wanted to keep all its original midcentury features but add inspiration from some of my favorite travels in the Mediterranean,” she says. That means whitewashed walls, citrus trees in terra-cotta pots and a terrace with Italian-made sun beds and uninterrupted ocean views. The guest rooms, which are named for Italian destinations like Ravello and Ischia, are all equipped with kitchens and each feature a colorful mural by the Australian artist Heidi Middleton. There’s no restaurant at the hotel, but staff will organize breakfast boxes upon request and recommend places to eat in Yamba. They can also help arrange whale-watching excursions, in-house massages and surf lessons. From about $300 with a two-night minimum, ildelfino.com.au.
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In Manhattan, a Multimedia Show by Asian Artists and Designers
A veteran of the media and design world, William Li founded his art consultancy, Armature Projects, last year as a way of bridging art and interiors. This month, Li and the interior designer Aamir Khandwala, in collaboration with the rug company Fort Street Studio and the Asian American Pacific Islanders Design Alliance (AAPIDA), present “Eastern Standard,” an exhibition of works by emerging and midcareer artists and designers of Asian descent. Li’s selections, which are displayed in vignettes arranged by Khandwala at Fort Street Studio’s Manhattan showroom, include blocky seating and shelves made from dripping black and brightly colored foam by the South Korean designer Sang Hoon Kim and embroidered scrim works by the Cambodian-born artist Hon Chen-Gaudet. There are also stoneware pieces by the Japanese artist Niho Kozuru, who comes from a lineage of ceramists who’ve been making the pottery known as Agano ware on the island of Kyushu for hundreds of years, as well as a large acrylic-and-oil painting by the actress Lucy Liu. Khandwala, who was born in Pakistan, shows one of his own calligraphy pieces, a collaboration with the artist Rachel Jensen that features seven of the approximately 18 different words for love in his native Urdu. “Eastern Standard” is on view through June 20 at Fort Street Studio, armatureprojects.com.
When Marie-Louise Sciò’s signature gold evening clutch fell into a state of irremediable disrepair, the Rome-based chief executive and creative director of the Pellicano Group’s hotels, and Issimo, an online shop that sells Italian goods, began to search for an alternative, only to come up empty-handed. So she turned to Melissa Morris, the American founder of the London-based leather goods company Métier, whose bags are handmade in Florence. “We’re both meticulous about details and a less-is-more approach,” Sciò says. Morris spent six months refining an aureate finish that, she says, “wasn’t too loud or too matte and had the perfect amount of shimmer and shine.” Marrying Sciò’s Italian glamour with Métier’s discreetly distinct silhouettes, the four-piece collaboration includes an oversize wallet and pochette, complete with a detachable shoulder strap and golden hour-inspired interior lining. Though Sciò and Morris initially conceived the bags as ideal accessories for anyone vacationing by the Mediterranean Sea, the subtle metallic accents can travel far and wide. As Sciò puts it, “They’re neutrals.” From $290, metier.com.
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A Brooklyn Boutique Brings Its Colorful Goods to Tokyo
Since it opened in 2021, the Brooklyn boutique Tangerine has become a destination for colorful swimwear, gingham bags, hinoki-scented soap and sculptural jewelry. Its founders, Gina Esposito and Amanda Lurie, envisioned it as “a space where we could curate all of our favorite brands together,” says Lurie. The pair also run their own brands that are sold in the store — Esposito has the swimwear label Nu Swim and Lurie created the clothing company Coming of Age. This week, they opened their first international pop-up within the Japanese department store Isetan in Tokyo. “We have many Japanese clients come to Tangerine, which is crazy for us,” says Esposito. “We’re just a small store in Brooklyn.” The pop-up, on the third floor of Isetan’s Shinjuku location, emulates the red-and-white color palette of Tangerine’s New York boutique, accented by silver strips that usually hang from the ceiling of the department store, giving it a festive feel. On offer are some of Esposito and Lurie’s signature staples, including one-shoulder swimsuits and nylon windbreakers, as well as some exclusive pieces from collaborators such as a tangerine-shaped candle that they designed with the Japanese artist Olga Goose. The Tangerine pop-up will be open through June 22, tangerine-nyc.com.
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A Dramatic Chaise Longue From the Designer Camilla Stærk
The designer and artist Camilla Stærk merges the drama of Old Hollywood with Danish minimalism in the clothing, accessories and home décor that she sells under her namesake label, Stærk. She has also designed the interiors of restaurants and hotels around the world, most recently the dining room for Brooklyn’s Ilis. Now she’s launching her first piece of furniture, the Signature Chaise No. 1. Inspired by the Danish author Karen Blixen’s memoir, “Out of Africa,” the chaise longue features a horn-inspired block base, hand-painted oak frame and upholstery made of saddle leather and shearling. The leather lacing on its sides — intended to evoke the tight crossings of a corset — is complemented by metal and black pearl hardware and a headrest made of Stærk’s trademark hand-knit leather, which she calls “armor.” Stærk, whose previous collections have referenced David Lynchian surrealism and the transgressive photography of Robert Mapplethorpe, sees design as a form of storytelling. “I love creating a whole mood and atmosphere and world, and just letting the fantasy take over,” she says. Signature Chaise No. 1 is on view at Twentieth Gallery in Los Angeles and is made to order. Price on request, twentieth.net.
The fashion designer Issey Miyake was always interested in the way clothing could move with its wearer. His first solo show, held in 1971 at the Japan House in New York, included several pieces of bodywear made of clingy jersey material that, as Kazuko Koike writes in “Issey Miyake,” the Taschen book about the designer, “represented the latest innovations from Japan’s textile industry.” Throughout his career, Miyake played with materials (“Anything can be clothing,” he once said) and silhouettes, from the delicate accordion style that he made famous with his Pleats Please line to a square coat inspired by the Japanese futon. The book, initially released in 2016 and recently updated with examples of the designer’s work from 2015 up until his death in 2022, catalogs these developments chronologically using archival imagery alongside essays by Koike. The encyclopedic collection of photos from museum exhibitions, runway shows, concept drawings and campaigns is proof of Miyake’s devotion to texture and capacity for constant experimentation. $100, taschen.com.
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