Anthology Launches in New York

Homes & Gardens Anthology arrived in New York with a simple intention: to put the magazine into the hands of the people it was made for, and to start conversations around it.

Across launch week, that meant a chic uptown debut, a charming autumnal pop-up, a packed program at What’s New, What’s Next, and, perhaps most importantly, plenty of strong opinions.

We're all about strong opinions.

A Magazine of Many Voices: The Launch at Marcel

If you know us even just a little, you know we love to party. So, of course, the week began with a fabulous celebration at Marcel (above), the new restaurant designed by Roman and Williams in the Breuer Building, where we gathered to mark the launch of Anthology Volume One.

The evening was supported by Little Greene, Morris & Co and Corston, three brands whose commitment to craft, quality and enduring design closely reflects the values behind Anthology.

As the evening unfolded, with the Anthology logo projected across the terrace, oysters, foie gras, martinis, Negronis and Champagne flowed.

But, really, the evening was all about the people, and the conversations that happened.

Illustrious designers, editors and friends of Homes & Gardens joined us, among them Dan Fink, Thomas Jayne, Peter Dunham (below, left), and Steven Gambrel (above, right), alongside many of our first issue Anthologists.

From the outset, Anthology was conceived not around a single editorial voice, but a collective of them. So rather than a conventional launch speech, we asked some of our Issue One Anthologists to tell a story that was personal to them.

Michael Diaz-Griffith (above), Lori Weitzner, and Joy Moyler each shared something about the important people, places and experiences that had shaped them, alongside stories from the editorial team.

It was our way of bringing to life just some of the wonderful conversations we've had in conceiving and creating Anthology.

It made for a fitting first night: not simply a celebration of a new (dare we say?) ground-breaking magazine, but of the exciting, different voices and perspectives within it.

Bringing the Cover to Life: The Pop-up

On Wednesday, Anthology opened the doors to its own little shop at Officina 1397 in the West Village.

The idea was to take the abundant, layered mood of the Volume One cover and bring it into three dimensions. The space became an abundant harvest of apples, baskets, magazines and objects, alongside, Anthology hats and merchandise.

We love fun merch almost as much as we love parties.

Outside, illustrator SJ Axelby (who painted one of our hero features in Volume One) spent the day painting the facade, turning the storefront itself into part of the event.

Around 200 people came through over the course of the day, including Nathan Turner, Sean Anderson, and Meta Coleman. It was intentionally informal: somewhere to drop in, pick up a copy, see the world of Anthology beyond the page, and stay for a conversation. Of course, we think there's always a conversation to be had.

A Day of Design at 200 Lex

Thursday took Anthology to 200 Lex for What’s New, What’s Next, with a day of (more) conversations spanning British and American design.

At de Le Cuona, Nicola Harding, and Francis Nicdao joined David Nicholls for a discussion exploring the exchange of ideas between the two design cultures, while Christopher Farr Cloth hosted Sarah Spiteri, Martin Brudnizki, and Nick Jeanes for a conversation around British craft, traditional making and its continuing influence on contemporary interiors.

Corston also hosted an Anthology Lunch & Learn with Zoë Feldman, looking at the architectural details that can quietly transform a room, from hardware and proportion to the decisions that often go unnoticed but make a space feel resolved.

Alongside the talks, Anthology created a live installation around one of the magazine’s recurring ideas: that design becomes more interesting when people are prepared to have an opinion.

All (design-related) opinions welcome, however controversial.

Visitors were invited to add their own opinions to a growing moodboard, writing comments and convictions onto cards and pinning them up throughout the day. Layered with fabric, pattern and texture inspired by the show, the board kept evolving as more people joined in, becoming a visual record of the conversations happening around it.

Some may appear on merch for our next events. Watch this space (we know some of you are already collecting the hats).

The answers ranged from practical to provocative: “It’s PR, not ER.” “I am not a decorator.” “Always spec a bidet.” “Squishy sofas are overrated.”

Some were serious, some emphatically not. As the cards accumulated, the moodboard became an increasingly unfiltered snapshot of the design community passing through 200 Lex that day.

And that, in many ways, summed up the week. Anthology may be a magazine about interiors, but it is equally interested in the people behind them: their stories, their convictions, their disagreements and the things they care enough about to have an opinion on.

For a first issue built around the exchange between British and American design, New York felt like the right place to begin the conversation.

Subscribe to the biannual print edition, bookmark Anthology online, and follow @homesandgardensanthology for a richer, more thoughtful view of design.