Welcome to the T List, a newsletter from the editors of T Magazine. Each week, we share things we're eating, wearing, listening to or coveting now. Sign up here to find us in your inbox every Wednesday. And you can always reach us at tlist@nytimes.com. |
A Renovated Estate With Volcano Views in Guatemala |
 | | The renovation of the hacienda-style Villa Bokéh includes the redesign of seven rooms and suites, most decorated with black-and-white portraits by the photographer Mitchell Denburg.Bronwyn Knight |
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By Michaela Trimble T Contributor |
Set on the outskirts of the colonial town of Antigua, Guatemala, the recently opened Villa Bokéh is the picture of tranquillity. To renovate the original hacienda-style property — which sits on nearly six acres of verdant gardens — hospitality developer Grupo Alta commissioned the architecture and interior design firm Paliare Studio to take on the project. Their redesign includes a refresh of seven rooms and suites, most with sweeping views of the Volcán de Agua. On the ground floor is a cozy living room that hosts a private art collection, from black-and-white portraits by the photographer Mitchell Denburg to early 1900s tapestries curated by the Guatemalan textile expert and collector Violeta Gutiérrez Caxaj. During a stay, guests can dine at the property's greenhouse-style restaurant, run by Guatemalan chef Álvaro Perera, venture into town to partake in a natural-dye workshop at Luna Zorro Studio and access the hotel's sister property, Casa Palopó, set on Lake Atitlán, by a 20-minute helicopter ride. From $250 a night, villabokeh.com. |
 | | The smoke-roasted beet steak at Carne Mare.Briana Balducci |
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The only steak carved tableside at Carne Mare, chef Andrew Carmellini's new chophouse in New York's revitalized South Street Seaport, is made not of beef but of beet — a regular red one, on the larger side, which evokes the pageantry, texture and taste of the old-school menu's meatier options (albeit with a bit of "cheekiness," as Carmellini, 50, notes) thanks to its clever preparation. Kept whole, each beet is brined, then dry-rubbed with a mixture of spices, charred onion and dehydrated vegetables — which lends umami and mimics a steak's seared crust — before being smoked, slow-roasted, then basted in a pan with butter, garlic, thyme and rosemary. After that, it's brought out to diners on a small grill, where it's served alongside a reduced beet-juice jus and a traditional pat of maître d'hotel butter, this one made with goat milk in homage to that time-honored flavor pairing. Innovative yet classic, rich yet light, vegetal yet meaty, this smoke-roasted beet steak, as the menu describes it, conjures something akin to the uncanny valley, as your mind squares the delightful experience of enjoying a root that doesn't look or taste like any that have come before. "Vegetarianism is part of modern, urban life," says Carmellini, who was inspired by his wife, a former vegetarian, to create the dish. "And this allows people to participate in the [chophouse] culture and not have a piece of meat." carnemare.com. |
An Art Dealer's First Venture Into Fashion |
 | | Men's and women's styles from Salie 66's debut collection.Zhi Wei |
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By Zoe Ruffner T Contributor |
When the art dealer James Shalom first visited a Neoclassical townhouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side nearly two years ago, he had no idea that the sweeping space would eventually become the headquarters of his very own clothing line. "Fashion was completely new to me," recalls Shalom. With an eye for fabric and fit, he and his father, Elliot, a wholesale manufacturer, set to work constructing his dream uniform of simple silhouettes expertly crafted by a handful of small family-run mills and factories in the Bassano del Grappa region of northern Italy. "We were on Zoom with them every day, refining each piece," Shalom says of the carefully considered men's and women's wardrobe essentials that now make up his new label, Salie 66, named for his mother. Soft moleskin jeans, silk-wool polo sweaters finished with pointelle stitching and oversize cotton poplin shirts featuring mother-of-pearl buttons are staples of the collection. As he puts it, "We wanted to create clothes that you could wear every single day — throughout the seasons and the years — and not have to think too much about it." salie66.com. |
An Exhibition of Work by Mária Švarbová |
 | | Mária Švarbová's "Atlante" (2021).© Mária Švarbová for Kolektiv Cité Radieuse, with authorization from Le Corbusier Foundation ©FLC/ADAGP Paris 2021 |
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By Erik Morse T Contributor |
For her newest show, "Fragile Concrete," Slovak photographer Mária Švarbová captured a young, fashionable couple posing throughout the Le Corbusier-designed Cité Radieuse, a Brutalist apartment building in France's Marseille, where her exhibition is also on view. The pair, often shot in relaxed yet playful positions, appear almost as deities in the complex's various terraces and alcoves. In "Cariatide and Atlante" (2021), the woman stands behind the man, clutching him as he raises his hands toward the rooftop, as if supporting the weight of the structure all on his own. "Helénê and Pâris" (2021) and "Apollon and Daphnée" (2021) depict a far less impassioned couple, each turned away from the other, barely touching, absorbed instead by the sublime vastness of their surroundings. In each one of the 19 images, the subjects' gestures are delicate and subtle, intensified only by the richness of the colors around them: the Radieuse's white concrete slabs, the bright azure of the Mediterranean sky and shore. Much like the artist's previous series ("Swimming Pool," 2014-20; "Futuro Retro," 2014-21), "Fragile Concrete" makes use of the photographer's distinctive style and attention to color to infuse each shot with a sense of otherworldliness. "Fragile Concrete" is on view at Kolektiv Cité Radieuse through August 27, instagram.com/kolektivciteradieuse. |
A Tailor to the Stars Opens Wide |
 | | Carol Ai working in her studio in Long Island City, Queens.Sunny Shokrae |
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By Jane Gayduk T Contributor |
If you've envied the drape of Cardi B's dress or the precision of Jay-Z's suit, you're in luck: Carol Ai, the tailor perfecting many of those A-list fits behind the scenes, recently expanded her commercial work to include on-call services for the non-celeb set. A patternmaker, clothing designer and former sewing teacher, Ai realized tailoring was a viable career move in 2013, when she landed a gig altering costumes on "Dancing With the Stars." The Los Angeles native remained busy before moving to New York for an agency job with In-House Atelier, and eventually opened her own namesake business, Carol Ai Studio, at the end of 2019. Now, Ai's carefully selected team of tailors covers clients in both cities, providing personalized on-location fittings that will make you feel ready to walk the red carpet. Prices start at $350, carolaistudio.com. |
How to Create Your Very Own Outdoor Dining Area |
 | | Cushions from the living room and a Summerill & Bishop tablecloth dress up the dining table, which is canopied by a high hedge of tangled roses.Carlotta Cardana |
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To fashion a small oasis at her London home, the homeware designer and creative consultant Matilda Goad enlisted the help of the garden designer Butter Wakefield. "Though I grew up in the countryside, where my mum has a beautiful garden, I'd never had one myself," Goad says. "I'd seen that Butter had done a tiny London patio which was really inventive." For this space, they devised a plan that hinged on dividing the garden into sections — Goad wanted to shake up what could have been a formulaic layout. "A lot of people want a lawn in the middle and borders round the sides, but I thought it would be nice to walk through two hedges, and beyond the second hedge, the garden would open up into an outdoor dining area that catches the sun all day," says Wakefield. In that section Goad plans to install a concrete-topped table, but, for now, makes do with an old wooden style that she often dresses up with Hungarian linen tablecloths, though the one shown here is by Summerill & Bishop. Hungarian linen "often comes in long stretches and is a heavier weight that absorbs stains easier," she says. For more tips on how to create — and entertain in — a bloom-filled outdoor space of your own, visit tmagazine.com — and follow us on Instagram. |
Correction: Last week's newsletter misspelled the given name of a French actress; she is Brigitte Bardot, not Brigit. |
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