by Meghan Edwards
The exclusive worlds of two renaissance men – Steampunk designer and artist Art Donovan and Dorothy Draper and Company president Carleton Varney – are revealed in two late summer book launches.
Analog Appeal
Profiling 17 extraordinary artists who identify with this nascent Victorian-inspired movement, The Art of Steampunk features essays and 200 color photographs expounding polished brass, moving clock gears, hand-carved wood, and worn-leather details. Author Art Donovan curated the world’s first museum exhibit on the subculture, held at the Museum of the History of Science in the University of Oxford last year, and is founder of Donovan Design, an art and design studio based in New York. “In the world of Steampunk,” Donovan explains, “machines must not only be practical, they must be pieces of art.” A prime example, Richard Nagy’s Datamancer Steampunk Laptop incorporates wood, brass, copper, clock gears, glass, and leather hand rests into a functioning laptop that switches on via a large antique key. Other artists include Australia’s “Mad Uncle Cliff” Overton, Canada’s Daniel Prouly, Switzerland’s Vianney Halter, and Japan’s Haruko Suekichi. “Whatever the application, the art celebrates a time when technology was produced, not by large corporations, but by talented and independent artisans and inventors,” writes Donovan. $19.95; Fox Chapel Publishing, available through Amazon.
Make a Splash
A luscious and uplifting look into the world of one of Architectural Digest’s so-called “Deans of Design,” Mr. Color: The Greenbrier and Other Decorating Adventures is an homage to one celebrated designer’s inventive and unexpected use of color in interiors. Author Carleton Varney offers up advice for decorating with color and has a long list of recommendations; among them, he’s the current head of the legendary Dorothy Draper and Company and face of the popular HSN television show Live Vividly. Over 300 photographs by Michael Arnaud reveal Varney’s trademark eye for grand scale and bold contrasts in fabrics, wall coverings, and furniture designs and offer an insider’s tour of his television show’s set design alongside resorts such as the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, and the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan. $95; Shannongrove Press, available through ACC Distribution and Amazon.
