Celebrating the book's publication with Ben.
My friend, talented magazine editor Ben Raynaert, has published a new decorating book called The Layered Home, and it's a pleasure to behold, filled with the colorful, exuberant homes of creative tastemakers plus lots of tips. Ben favors interiors that are warm, personal and joyful, and the book features 17 homes in the United States and Europe that express his fondness for delightful decorating.
"My idea for the book was to focus on highlighting creatives in the
industry - designers, artisans, antiques dealers, shop owners - who
have really unique personalities and very unique spaces," reports Ben.
"These interiors reflect who the person is. The subjects have their own
distinctive taste that they have cultivated over years."
I was happy to see that the first subject featured in the book is London-based garden designer Butter Wakefield. I had the pleasure of interviewing and writing about Butter for Frederic magazine.
Butter Wakefield's charming bathroom (all photos were shot exclusively for the book by Manuel Rodriguez)
You can read my story about Butter here.
For Ben, mixing objects with meaning creates interiors that resonate. "I love
layering different things together whether that's a salon style
wall with lots of different art I have collected or a coffee table with
layers of objects and book and trinkets and treasures I have picked up
over the years," says Ben. "I like having things around that feel really
personal to
me." His interest in the creatively produced homes of imaginative people reminds me of the books of my friend Mary Randolph Carter, who likewise advises that you "live with the things you love."
The cheerful kitchen of London art dealer Julia Collins.
Ben grew up in suburban Detroit in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and then studied fine arts and architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design. A job in Italy working for a book binder and print maker lead to a position in New York at the Morgan Library as an assistant to the book conservator. A gig at Martha Stewart Living magazine then blossomed into a career as a magazine editor at a number of design titles including Architectural Digest, Domino, House Beautiful and Traditional Home. Besides being an author, Ben is the Market Director at Elle Decor magazine, an interior stylist, and a co-founder with Christina Juarez of the popular shopping event The Ticking Tent.
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The Litchfield, Connecticut home of designer Schuyler Samperton.
In the midst of a range of digital and social media, Ben remains passionate about print magazines. "I love paper and I've studied paper making," he says. "I've always been really drawn to the cadence in a print magazine that showcases spaces in a series of photographs. Especially for interiors, you want to see them big." Beyond print, he embraces digital technology and indeed has a popular Instagram account at @spoonfulofbenjamin. "But at the end of the day its nice to hold something and read in your favorite chair on the weekend by the window," says Ben. "Print is now more of a luxury than it ever has been and it's increasingly more important to luxury advertisers so I do think we can have both."
Anjiri Aki's Parisian home.
The layered home provides a comfortable place to retreat and relax though with interiors based on collecting and mixing, one down side can be overdoing it with too much stuff. "You can really become a hoarder without borders in no time flat," warns Ben. "So it's important to have an in and out process. You have to be able to let things go as much as you let things in." Ultimately, it's determining what you like and what you don't like. "For me, its not about creating rules for decorating," says Ben. "It's more about giving permission to define and refine your own taste."
