This is your Thailand…the graceful carving, the floating roof. Your senses are prepared for these iconic images.
But be awake to another Thailand. Indeed, look for the other land that the guides don’t talk about.
Smell the waterways and market stalls; hear the chanting hum and temple bells; feel, even, the acrid sting in your nostrils.
Travel is a multivocal experience.
The graceful and the jarring, the odd, the startling and the blissful meld into a memory that lingers and is recalled on the intake of a deep breath.
John Derian is a treasure. It's not that there aren't many with talent and vision because there are, the world over. But Derian has other attributes that make him so beloved. His eye is unerring, his sense of scale is perfect, he layers cultures and eras seamlessly in a room. And he is accessible in brick and mortar. His two shops on East Second Street have been haunts for years. One carries the decoupage he designs and constructs locally (and that make the best gifts ever) along with the coveted ceramics of Astier de Villatte. The second Dry Goods store next door showcases quirky antiques, an assortment of vintage furniture, stacks of heavy french linen, Moroccan rugs and soft cotton Indian clothing. Both are small, but intriguing and interesting enough to seduce you on a journey of the senses.
And now, Derian has opened on Christopher Street in a double-windowed storefront of a two-story 18th century house. It's like walking in to another world. Traditional Astier, and the later Derian/Astier collaborative pieces, line the walls from roof to floor of the front room. The back room, wallpapered in his new cabbage rose design and lit by beautiful Balthus-designed standing lamps with parchment shades, offers a living room in which to settle in, thumb through books and albums, and rest the soul.
So, go to shop, or simply go to travel in spirit to another place and time.
https://www.johnderian.com/pages/our-locations"
["post_title"]=>
string(21) "John Derian Goes West"
["post_excerpt"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_status"]=>
string(7) "publish"
["comment_status"]=>
string(4) "open"
["ping_status"]=>
string(4) "open"
["post_password"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_name"]=>
string(21) "john-derian-goes-west"
["to_ping"]=>
string(0) ""
["pinged"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_modified"]=>
string(19) "2018-06-07 09:33:42"
["post_modified_gmt"]=>
string(19) "2018-06-07 13:33:42"
["post_content_filtered"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_parent"]=>
int(0)
["guid"]=>
string(31) "http://lisalindblad.com/?p=8571"
["menu_order"]=>
int(0)
["post_type"]=>
string(4) "post"
["post_mime_type"]=>
string(0) ""
["comment_count"]=>
string(1) "0"
["filter"]=>
string(3) "raw"
}
}