READ THIS: CLODAGH Your Home, Your Sanctuary Our Coverage Sponsored by The Giving Back Foundation
The Giving Back Foundation, with operations in New York, London and Hong Kong, is a 501(c)(3) operation, with special emphasis on education and women and children in need. A documentary film, musical CD and coffee-table book are available from the Foundation, featuring vignettes and interviews with humanitarians such as Cherie Blair, Kerry Kennedy and her brother Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Hillary Clinton, Lord Loomba, Somers Farkas, Francine Le Frak, Bono, Donna Karan, Deborah Norville, Steven Rockefeller, Irish interior designer Clodagh, Mother Teresa’s Asha Daan and The American Friends of the Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry. Charities that inspire The Giving Back Foundation include many others in Hong Kong, Ireland, England, Africa, South America, India and the U.S.A. 100 percent of the proceeds of The Giving Back Foundation’s activities will be donated to charity. To donate to the Giving Back Foundation, please visit:
Meera Gandhi was interviewed herself as a Mover and Shaker years ago:
Her book launch in New York is on May 9th! Don't miss it and buy her book:
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Though Clodagh's book Your Home, Your Sanctuary was released in 2008, we were pleased to recently meet her and we couldn't wait to review it! You know we adore Irish people that pursue excellence, and she is one of them that you need to know! Her innate gift for putting the right natural touch on anything aesthetic is apparent throughout these 224 glorious pages that bring the best of Ireland to the world.
Clodagh's work has a very natural and organic feeling, which can't help but put you at ease. Just looking at these pages will calm your nerves (we're talking to you Manhattan! don't you think we're publishing this on a MONDAY for a reason!) and it is no surprise that she is the designer behind some acclaimed spas. The designs do transcend material properties to address human needs. Health and sustainability are clearly important to her.
In contrast to other books we've reviewed by interior designers, which is the first way any interior designer would be ever be featured on Whom You Know (in a book review!), Clodagh clearly has a passion to help others improve their space and doesn't only tell about everything she does. That is the difference between good and excellent: those truly excellent are interested in making those around them better. In
Also it is clear that Clodagh is quite tactile and sensitive to our five senses, which she considers and incorporates into many aspects of design. Even the book layout is aesthetically pleasing as on page 24-25 with the 9 photos perfectly arranged in a square and the 9 corresponding descriptions of each. We so like that. We also share her love of window seats. Important Indulgences: Nostalgia, Bar, Fireplace! (p. 53) Note when Peachy was a student at Farmington, most of the classrooms had a fireplace and the wallpaper was still up from years earlier when girls wrote inbetween the flowers.
Our favorite rooms by Clodagh are her bathrooms, but we're afraid Peachy and the 1,600 beauty products she's tested would clutter them a bit! The idea of a home spa is so inviting. Starting on page 160, outdoor spaces are a definite strong point as well. And Clodagh, do you have a pet rabbit on page 167?
In contrast to other books we've reviewed by interior designers, which is the first way any interior designer would be ever be featured on Whom You Know (in a book review!), Clodagh clearly has a passion to help others improve their space and doesn't only tell about everything she does. That is the difference between good and excellent: those truly excellent are interested in making those around them better. In
Your Home, Your Sanctuary, Clodagh literally spells out how one would design spaces yourself using examples of how to do it. However, we would like to see her address small spaces in Manhattan because it is inevitable that some do get more cluttered....there is only so much space here! We'd also like to see more shoe solutions (Clodagh, see our four shoe columns!).
Also it is clear that Clodagh is quite tactile and sensitive to our five senses, which she considers and incorporates into many aspects of design. Even the book layout is aesthetically pleasing as on page 24-25 with the 9 photos perfectly arranged in a square and the 9 corresponding descriptions of each. We so like that. We also share her love of window seats. Important Indulgences: Nostalgia, Bar, Fireplace! (p. 53) Note when Peachy was a student at Farmington, most of the classrooms had a fireplace and the wallpaper was still up from years earlier when girls wrote inbetween the flowers.
Our favorite rooms by Clodagh are her bathrooms, but we're afraid Peachy and the 1,600 beauty products she's tested would clutter them a bit! The idea of a home spa is so inviting. Starting on page 160, outdoor spaces are a definite strong point as well. And Clodagh, do you have a pet rabbit on page 167?
Whom You Know Highly Recommends Your Home, Your Sanctuary by Clodagh! It is absolutely what everyone in Manhattan needs to relax.
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“A space cannot be truly beautiful unless it functions in harmony with who we are...it’s about pleasure: discovering what pleases us and creating an environment that will celebrate those qualities and sustain us.”
Designing “eco-consciously” for over twenty-five years, Clodagh has long been out in front of the current green movement, which for her has been a lifestyle, towards eco-conscious interiors and architecture. In addition to private residences, and commercial projects, Clodagh is internationally renowned for the Zen-like serenity of spas she has designed, from New Zealand’s Spa de Serville, and the Sasanqua Spa in South Carolina, to the Noelle Day Spa in Connecticut, and the re-vamping of the famous New York flagship of Elizabeth Arden. Her residences celebrate “zen-luxury” and active lifestyles.
With the “four C’s”—contemplate, cleanse, clarify, create—Clodagh’s design objective is to contemplate space and life, cleanse it of the unnecessary, clarify the use to which it will be put, and thus create a space that is unique and timeless, whether it be a hotel, apartment or a home. Tapping into the the feng shui of each project, Clodagh favors environmentally friendly materials and art finishes, integrating with care, the natural elements of earth, fire, water, wood, and metal into each. The resulting environments, geared towards feeding the spirit and soul, are truly timeless, luxurious, sensual and low maintenance, and her goal in this new book is to inspire the reader to create this kind of sanctuary in every room of the home.
In Part One, chapters include The Invitation which explores the welcoming entryway; The Common Room; The Kitchen; The Bedroom; The Child’s Room; The Bath; Homework, which explores ways to integrate workspace into the home with minimal impact; and Beyond the Window, which talks about the importance of outdoor space. Part Two illuminates the Elements of Your Sanctuary, with special chapters devoted to Color, Sound, and Wellness. Whether it is a sensual bedroom, soothing spa bathroom, or common room that can adapt to social gatherings or be transformed into meditative space for the family, Clodagh provides ways to shape indoor and outdoor space into a tranquil environment that will free the mind, nurture the spirit, and embrace the body. Enhanced with beautiful photography, Your Home, Your Sanctuary is an essential sourcebook for achieving harmony at home.
About the Designer and Photographer: Clodagh‘s many award-winning commercial and residential projects include Miraval Resort and Spas, W hotels, and Equinox Fitness Clubs, and her firm designs accessories, bathroom fixtures, furniture, lighting, textiles and floor coverings. Clodagh’s numerous awards include being named one of Robb Report Luxury Home’s "40 Top Interior Designers", Interior Design's Top 100 Interior Designers, Interior Design's Hall of Fame, and being inducted into the prestigious Hospitality Design's Platinum Circle. W Hotels recently named Clodagh a Wonder Woman for their program featuring women icons, and she is a prominent spokesperson on contemporary design. Clodagh’s first book, Total Design, is in its third printing, and 2008 marks her 25th year in business.
Daniel Aubry is an internationally recognized photographer whose work has appeared in publications including Architectural Digest and Interior Design. He shows his fine art photography in galleries worldwide. He has published four phot books and collaborated with his wife, Clodagh on her earlier book, Total Design.
In addition to her studio’s design work, the designer has launched Clodagh Cares; an organization whose mission is to celebrate and support entrepreneurial projects which provide for the welfare and education of children in areas of greatest need, and the creative initiative of their families, through funding and advocacy. For further information please go to www.clodaghcares.org
Credit for the book must read: © CLODAGH: Your Home Your Sanctuary, by Clodagh, Rizzoli New York, 2008. Images to be credited on a case-by-case basis.
CLODAGH: Your Home Your Sanctuary
By Clodagh, written with Heather Ramsdell
Principal photography by Daniel Aubry
Hardcover 9” x 11” / 224 pages / 225 color photographs
$50.00 U.S., $57.50 Canadian, £25.00
Rizzoli New York / ISBN: 978-0-8478-3160-9
Release date: November 1, 2008
