ISSUE NO. 72

A January Issue

To love is to choose presence. It is an action rooted in attention, patience, and the willingness to be changed without self-erasure. Love requires risk because it asks you to reveal what is unguarded.

To be loved is to be seen without performance. It is the ease of being taken seriously, where your inner life is met rather than managed. Nothing essential about you needs softening to be acceptable. And then there is the act of remaining…

ARCHITECTURALLY CURIOUS

Held By What’s Above

The space opens with a slanted ceiling lined in pine, running long and uninterrupted above the main living area. Light travels across the wood throughout the day, warming the room without relying on decoration. Built-in seating stays low and wide, keeping sight-lines clear and allowing the ceiling to remain the primary architectural move. The room feels steady and composed, shaped by structure more than objects.

Color With Restraint

Clay plaster replaces hard white surfaces, giving walls a dry, mineral depth that absorbs light rather than reflecting it. Near the water, a muted pink wall doubles as an outdoor shower screen, balancing function with a quiet sense of presence. Timber decking sits flush with the pool edge, turning circulation into a place to pause. Every surface feels selected for how it ages.

Continuity Over Contrast

Inside, smooth microcement floors run uninterrupted, allowing movement to feel fluid from one area to the next. Teak cabinetry and wall panels introduce darker grain, grounding bedrooms and transition spaces without breaking the palette.

Lighting remains soft and directional, grazing walls and emphasizing texture. The house reveals itself slowly, through consistency, proportion, and material discipline rather than spectacle.

GLOBAL GLIMPSE

A Framed Quiet

Before you enter, the space holds its shape through proportion and restraint. Layered moldings, tall door casings, and a deep mantel establish a classical rhythm, while sculptural seating interrupts it just enough to feel current. The parquet floor grounds everything, its pattern guiding the eye forward without distraction. What stands out is the balance—ornament is present, but never competing for attention.

Between Detail and Pause

Thats a shift to the stair, where carved wood rails meet cool marble and smooth plaster. The contrast is deliberate: one surface carries history, the other clears space around it. A single dark candlestick form anchors the landing, turning circulation into a moment of stillness. Light here is soft and indirect, allowing texture to do the work.

Objects That Are Restrained

A tiled hearth, worn wood surround, and a spare metal chair sit slightly apart, leaving room for air and time. Decorative pieces are chosen for shape rather than shine, placed with enough distance to be read individually. The result feels considered but unforced—a setting where nothing rushes, and everything earns its place.

VISUAL COMFORT

Yearning

Working in clay slows everything down, and that pause is visible in John Arsenault’s ceramic vessels. The surfaces are dense and worked by hand—braided ropes pressed into clay, glazes left uneven, forms allowed to bulge, scar, and settle—so touch becomes the primary language.

Nautical references and hair-like textures surface quietly, tied to memory rather than symbol, while soft pinks and charred blacks register emotion through color and heat. Classical vessel forms appear only in outline, distorted and thickened until they feel bodily and present. These pieces hold a sense of endurance: shaped slowly, altered by pressure and fire, and confident in their refusal to be polished or resolved.

MUSICAL INTERLUDE

What I'm Listening to in January

Not clinging. Not disappearing. Staying intact when uncertainty appears. Remaining is steadiness without force, presence without pursuit. It is quieter than love and more demanding than being loved; I’ll see you next week my friends.

p.s. Interior Identity: African Diaspora preorders will receive an update on January 25.

Warmly,
/shane