OFF THE SHELF Three top releases
Soak up our edit of the best new book releases this summer – they’ll get your creative juices flowing
LIFE IN THE STUDIO: INSPIRATION AND LESSONS ON CREATIVITY by Frances Palmer (£27.99, Artisan Books) There is no one way to follow your creative vision, but this wonderful new book explains the theory behind how Frances Palmer does it, becoming a manual – of sorts – for the arts. Having been a potter for more than 30 years, making vases in a variety of shapes and glazes, Frances has been able to distil the lessons she has learned into Life in the Studio, generously sharing her insights into how to harness your inspirations. Much of her work is inspired by the 30 raised beds that surround her barn studio in Westport, Connecticut, full of flowers that flow into her creations. She explains: ‘The blooms give context and proportion to the forms.’
But this tome is more than just a philosophical exercise, and as well as advice about being an entrepreneur, it includes a visual journey of her beautiful work.
SPLENDOUR OF MARBLE: MARVELOUS SPACES BY THE WORLD’S TOP ARCHITECTS AND DESIGNERS by Karen Pearse (£59.95, Rizzoli)
Architects and designers have long had a love affair with marble, and who among us hasn’t coveted – or perhaps even got – swathes of it in their home? Its beauty, its ability to create dramatic spaces and its feeling of luxury are all endlessly enticing qualities. Celebrating this wonderful stone, marble expert Karen Pearse examines how it is incorporated into a home environment; adding organic textures, irregular patterns and a diverse range of natural colours to projects designed by some of the world’s most prominent decorators and creatives. Full of beauty, this book presents fascinating ways in which designers such as Kelly Wearstler, Robert Kime and Juan Pablo Molyneux have embraced the material to create some seriously jaw-dropping interior spaces.
JIKONI: PROUDLY INAUTHENTIC RECIPES FROM AN IMMIGRANT KITCHEN by Ravinder Bhogal (£26, Bloomsbury)
Celebrated chef Yotam Ottolenghi once replied, when asked, that the one restaurant that isn’t his yet he really wished he owned was Jikoni. Yes, Ravinder Bhogal’s Marylebone eatery truly is that good. Big on flavours, on layered tastes that seem almost to glisten, and on using pattern dramatically, her second cookbook distils Jikoni’s ethos to perfection. Blending her Kenyan, Indian and British heritages, you’ll find recipes such as lemongrass poussin with a tinglingly zesty mango salad, charred broccoli with a creamy and rich cashew dressing and, rather kindly, Ravinder has included the banana cake with miso butterscotch and Ovaltine kulfi that has proved such a hit on Jikoni’s menu. A true gem of a book to feast on.