THE LANGUAGE OF THEATRICAL DESIGN
IF ACTORS ARE ALL ABOUT ENTRANCES AND PLAYWRIGHTS ABOUT EXITS, designers in the theater are about complementary frameworks, physical and emotional. From elaborate to humble, with sets and props it’s everything with a purpose and everything in its place—the unsung narratives of the theater. After all, it’s not just the writer and actor who tell […]
THE HEIRLOOM KEEPER
I HAVE ALWAYS FANTASIZED ABOUT STARTING FRESH and moving into a house where I bring no décor baggage with me. I would visit all of my favorite stores and pick out exactly what I wanted, because in my fantasy, money grows on trees. The resulting space would be chic yet comfortable, juxtaposed yet pulled together, […]
UN SALUTO ITALIANO
MY CURIOSITY ABOUT ITALIAN RENAISSANCE GARDENS began with the pandemic and a slew of Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens). After the quarantine profoundly reduced tourist activity on Charleston’s narrow sidewalks, I took advantage of this unpleasant situation and frequentlyventured out (masked, of course) to enjoy long, uninterrupted strolls around the peninsula. That’s when I began to […]
STORIES, LIKE PLANES ON A RUNWAY
MARY ALICE MONROE penned her first story, Willy the Wishful Whale, when she was 8 years old. Not surprisingly, it was about an animal, and it was a foretaste of what was to come. A childhood passion for nature and its most vulnerable inhabitants has never waned. Today, the Isle of Palms resident awaits the […]
WINE FAMILIES
WHEN YOU TIE YOUR BUSINESS FATE to Mother Nature, you sign up for the uncertainty of frost, hail and seasonal swings, not to mention the volatility of climate change. The 2020 harvest delivered more than its share of challenges. From COVID-19 to wildfires in the West, last year’s vintage was heroic in many ways. Wine […]
IF STONES COULD TALK
IF YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE PIECES OF JEWELRY, what comes to mind? Maybe it’s your mother’s wedding ring or your own, or the earrings you bought on vacation. Jewelry can be a way to pull an outfit together, but it’s more fun to wear when it holds a treasured memory. This concept is what […]
ADD SOME TWINKLE TO ANY STYLE OF GARDEN
I LIVE SMACK-DAB IN THE MIDDLE of one of the world’s finest arboretums—peninsular Charleston. This plantsman’s paradise has no official name, no admission fees and, under normal circumstances, is always accessible. It extends from Hampton Park down to Cannon Park, past Colonial Lake and into Waterfront Park. Those who elect to explore on foot receive […]
GIFTS THAT KEEP GIVING
IF YOU’VE GOTTEN MARRIED or bought a wedding gift in Charleston in the last 15 years, it’s likely you already know Jeffrey Bannon and his namesake store, Jeffrey Bannon Ltd. As he celebrates the store’s 15th anniversary this year, Bannon is feeling reflective. “I’ve been very fortunate that I get to do what I love […]
VISIONS OF LIGHT: ITALIAN STYLE
GIOVANNA DE LUCA has achieved something art house cinemas have struggled to do in recent years: complement loyal older patrons with young filmgoers. As founding director of the annual Nuovo Cinema Italiano Film Festival, Dr. De Luca, an associate professor of Italian at the College of Charleston, has poured heart, soul and showmanship into making […]
THE PANDEMIC PROJECT PARDON
A FEW WEEKS AGO, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal written by Jason Gay, in which he declared beach body amnesty for the summer of 2020. We were just a couple of months into the pandemic, and he humorously chronicled his experience in quarantine as a surreal new reality of Zoom calls […]
