In 1972, on a street in Nairobi, I met a charming filmmaker who was heading down to the Serengeti to make a film on the life cycle of the Cheetah. Long story short – we fell in love, and I joined him for 18 months in a mobile camp we used as a base as we followed our beloved cheetah, Brigitta, across the Serengeti Plains.
In 1989 I produced The Serengeti: Land of Endless Space (Rizzoli Publications) and, again, in 1994 The Serengeti Migration (Hyperion Press) which aimed to teach young adults about one of the earth’s most remarkable migrations – the yearly wildebeest and zebra migration.
Serenget – in, Maa, the language of the original inhabitants of this vast and beautiful ecosystem, the Maasai- means “where the eye never ends.” If the Tanzanian Government has its way, this will no longer be the case. Highway 101 will bisect this vast swath of pristine country, will befoul one of the most intensively studied ecosystems on earth, will interrupt, and perhaps terminate, one of the globe’s most impressive, most functionally complex, natural movements on earth.
How can this be?
There are so many reasons why the highway would be an appalling act; to read them all here would be less cogent than to read them on the website of www.savetheserengeti.org. They are many, and some of them, surprisingly, have less to do with saving animals than protecting people. It is not all bleeding heart and sentiment. There is a hugely rational argument underpinning the Serengeti’s protection.
I am a traveler, a wanderer. I am passionate about this earth. I came of age in the Serengeti. I scattered the ashes of my loved one in the Serengeti. I raised my children in the Serengeti. It has been the beginning and the middle of my life, a compass, a north star to my life’s trajectory.
The Serengeti is a cathedral, a place to worship the fine design of the earth’s workings. And it is glorious – in its colors, its weather, its wildlife, its people who have been so marginalized over the years.
Perhaps, most simply put, the Serengeti’s magic is in allowing the eye to reach the unreachable edge..Serenget, “where they eye never ends.”
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"
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