A Room of Her Own is a manifesto for the 21st century. This stunning hardcover book features the dazzling homes of twenty extraordinary women from around the globe, curated by the Australian photographer, author and director Robyn Lea.
In this new Renaissance period – a time of artistic, cultural and intellectual rebirth – the women in this book have chosen to carve out their own space to live creatively. Today, Robyn Lea is on the blog to tell us just what she’s learned from them. Read on …
What I’ve learned about the modern creative woman and how they create beautiful spaces
While writing and shooting A Room of Her Own, I was privy to the private domains and personal philosophies of twenty creative women around the world. Many of the lessons learned touch on universal human challenges and dreams, which inspired me to examine my own thinking on a range of subjects.
For example, in sharing the insights she gleaned as a child while watching her mother practice the Japanese art of Ikebana, American sculptor Petah Coyne inspired me as a parent. Her experience confirmed that far from my children suffering due to my passion for my work, it provides them with an important opportunity to develop their own creative thinking and to appreciate the difficulties and challenges that present themselves along the way.
Similarly, design curator and founder of Schloss Hollenegg for Design in Austria, Alice Stori Liechtenstein reinforced my belief that good mental health is often the result of making your life work for you, rather than always fitting into the agenda and expectations of others. It’s an approach that drove her to reject the idea of moving into her husband’s Austrian castle in favour of continuing her career as an international design curator. She only agreed to the move many years later when it aligned with her own goals and dreams.
Other artists showed me that no surface is sacred when it came to creating. French painter Claire Basler, for example, paints on virtually every wall in every room of her rural home which is an homage to the colours, textures and forms of the natural world. Further south in Florence painter, Fiona Corsini, demonstrated how important it is, even with six children, to create something every day – whether for five minutes or a few hours. The consistency creates momentum, fuels ideas and generates a reserve of energy that can be drawn upon for use in other areas of life.
Fashion designers JJ Martin, Marta Ferri, Lucilla Bonaccorsi, Luisa Beccaria and Heidi Middleton taught me that the pursuit of joy is a worthy and important goal. It is okay to wear show-stopping, feminine gowns, simply to please yourself, even if the occasion doesn’t call for it. Eighty-year-old New York artist Beatrix Ost is a wonderful example of this outlook. For a stroll in Central Park she might wear a hand-painted silk skirt, impractical wide brimmed hat, high lace-up boots and fishnet stockings. She turns heads, makes people smile and most importantly, amuses herself.
It was in Dev Stern’s 17th century hacienda in the Yucatan, that I learned that an ancient garden can restore a weary mind and soul. That broth made with love can make you feel like crying with gratitude and that there is a magical ingredient in old recipes that can heal our modern lives.
Melbourne jewellery designer Fiorina Golotta and her sister, photographic artist Franca, reminded me of the magical dynamic that is possible when siblings share a creative outlook. They made me nostalgic for years past when two of my sisters lived close by and we would arrange exhibitions and dissect every aspect of the designs, books and paintings that caught our attention.
I hope the reader will learn as much as I have from the creators, trailblazers and pioneers in this book. They have come from many different backgrounds, but share a passion for using creativity in all aspects of their lives. Some of these women inherited powerful artistic legacies from their families and worked to shape a future which satisfies their modern values and ideals. Others have lovingly coaxed an artistic life from the ashes of families displaced or destroyed. While many of the women featured in these pages have not pursued positions of leadership, and would not identify themselves as such, it is impossible not to consider them so when we immerse ourselves in the colour of their lives. Emblazoned on the walls of their homes; the hues on their palettes or plates; the prints and patterns on their gowns, coats and capes, are the markings of the creators and philosophers that the world needs more of right now. Women who simultaneously strive for the best in themselves, while making life better for all.
—A Room of Her Own by Robyn Lea (Thames & Hudson Australia) is out on the 30th of March.
A Room of Her Own
Meet the creative women who are living life on their own terms in this stunning photographic survey of the most original homes and interiors.
A Room of Her Own features the dazzling homes of twenty extraordinary women around the globe. Across sitting rooms and studios, salon-style hangs and table settings, this is a book of daring inspiration...
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