In What We Keep: Advice from Artists and Designers on Living with the Things You Love, gallerist Jean Lin presents an interior design book for collectors, would-be collectors, and design-loving hunter/gatherers who crave objects of beauty to display in their homes.
Foreword by Asad Syrkett, editor-in-chief of Elle Decor
Learn the refined art of display and get an insider’s education in collecting from gallerist Jean Lin. Follow in her footsteps and tour the unique and beautiful homes of more than a dozen dedicated collectors.
Whether you're starting a new collection or wish to display an existing one, each chapter offers inventive ideas for styling and displaying favorite objects, along with a primer on materials, studio visits with ceramicists, textile artists, and woodworkers, and wisdom from some of today’s most fascinating artists and makers.
Featured artists include:
Mira Nakashima
Aleishall Girard Maxon
Noguchi Museum Director Brett Littman
AD 100 and Elle Decor A Listers: Christine Gachot, Leyden Lewis, Michael K Chen, Workstead, and Ghislaine Vinas
TWA Hotel designer Adam Rolston/INC
Architect Preeti Sriratana/Modellus Novus
Fashion designer Carly Cushnie
Glass artist and winner of Netflix Blown Away, Deborah Czeresko
Architect Worrell Yeung
Ceramicist Stephanie Shih
Top Chef and James Beard Award-winner Kwame Onwuache
Includes Color Photographs
Praise
“Nothing is more irresistibly captivating than a truly personal collection, warts and all. Step into the captivating world of What We Keep and discover that great creatives are just like us! They guard heirlooms, they agonize over choices, they love objects with passion, and the meaning they infuse in them amplifies the personality of each chosen piece. The book is a journey not only into many interior designers’ minds, but also into their hearts.”
—Paola Antonelli, senior curator for Architecture and Design and director of Research and Development
“Owning things. It might seem so . . . twentieth century. But as Jean Lin demonstrates in this magical compendium, the forces of digitization, and even well-founded concerns over sustainability, make it all the more important to connect deeply with the objects in our lives. What we keep close to us can itself be a form of art; this book shows us how.”
—Glenn Adamson, curator, author, historian; former director of the Museum of Arts and Design and head
“I think curation is underrated. I believe that selling design is very difficult. I find writing a book almost impossible. So that’s why I’m always impressed with Jean Lin’s output, her spaces, and her selections. With this new publication she has managed to dig up some new stories about compelling people that are deeply engaged in making fresh stuff; and it also turns out that she is a particularly good writer, and interviewer, too.”
—Tom Dixon, OBE, designer and creative director
