Melissa Biggs Bradley
Guido Taroni, Safari Style Exceptional African Camps and Lodges, Vendome Press
If you could have a second home anywhere, where would you live? I have a second home in Southampton, which I love and I am spending more time there since the pandemic. In fact, I’ve switched from four or five days in the city to four or five days in the country—that is when I am not traveling, of course. But my next dream home would be an apartment in Paris.
Tell us about your childhood bedroom? I am one of four girls so I shared a bedroom with my younger sister but as soon as I was allowed to have my own room I went all-in on Laura Ashley with a cornflower blue and white motif trying to conjur the Cotswolds.
What’s the first investment piece you ever bought for your house? Probably a George Smith sofa for my library. I had always loved the comfort and elegance of a wood-footed squashy sofa that evoked fireplaces and long country walks and afternoons of novel reading. I had it covered in a Braquenie print and it is now been recovered for a different room in a beige twill weave.
In the history of design, if you could hire any designer, who would it be? Renzo Mongiardino. I love the exotic atmospheres that he created that were inspired by exotic influences and mingled eras and aesthetics. He is the ultimate maximalist, and while I can appreciate minimalist interiors, I feel most at home in a room brimming with curiosities and treasures from around the world.
No room is complete without books.
People think of me as a constant nomad, but I am really half nomad and half nester.
Things you omit from:
A flower arrangement: Baby’s breath
An hors d’oeuvre platter: Anything with fish to avoid fish breath
A bar cabinet: Nothing because who knows what a guest may choose.
A song for:
Dinner at home: La vie en rose, Edith Piaf
Working at your desk: Classical music heavy on the Bach
Going for a run: Fat Bottom Girls, Queen
Biggest Vice? Jewelry
If you were on an Ambien high and internet shopping, what would you buy? A vintage piece of jewelry by Verdura or Cartier
Do your clothes reflect your design sensibility, if so, how? Yes because they are a mix of cultures and influences and brands with an eye to artisanship.
Who is your star crush? Keith Urban who is the most joyous performer I’ve ever seen
What is the one thing you would never decorate your home with, but don’t detest when you see others do it? A severely minimalist space.
If there were a fire, and you could only keep one design book, what would it be? Elements of Style by Michael S. Smith, who is a friend and a genius of design.
For posterity, what would you like your work to be known for? That I’ve inspired people to go places that they wouldn’t have and be changed by them.
Guido Taroni, Safari Style Exceptional African Camps and Lodges, Vendome Press
A Few Favorites:
Movie: Out of Africa
Book: A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin
Scent: Route du The by Barneys
The fabric you always come back to: Braquenie prints
Dream project: An apartment in Paris
Meal: Breakfast in the bush in Africa.
Drink: A cold, crisp Sancerre
Hotel: Impossible to choose
Travel Destination: Three are always top of list: Paris, African safari and a place I have never been before. I love having a blank slate discovery experience. This fall Qatar and Antarctica will be totally new discoveries for me.
Artist: Ilya Repin; he was a Russian painter who I discovered in St. Petersburg at an exhibit a few years ago and I fell in love with his portraits.
A cause near and dear to me: Reach the World, which brings travel and exchange into public school classrooms.
Thing to collect obsessively: Treasures from my travel. Great—I have brought back sculpture from Cambodia, a carpet from Samarkand, plates from Istanbul—and small (I collect travel charms that I add to a necklace I found in San Miguel de Allende with a lapis globe).
Era in the history of design: Louis XIV because of its range from grand architecture and formal gardens to the intricacies of its craftsmanship in Goeblin tapestries and boule furniture.
Museum: Newest discovery was Palazzo Burata in Sicily which is an incredible mix of eras, art and objects in an 18th century palace. We’re doing one of our Insider Journeys to Sicily next year and this will be a highlight of the trip. It recently opened and should be on everyone’s radar but few know of it.
Paint Color that always looks great: Hague blue from Farrow & Ball.
Favorite person to follow on Instagram: My friend the super talented designer Aline Asmar d’Amman who redid the Crillon hotel and the Jules Verne restaurant in the Eiffel Tower.
Dogs, Cats, or No Pets? Love pets and have had beloved dogs and cats but at the moment am traveling too much to leave one alone at home.
