Past Perfect (Hardcover)

In this exquisite monograph, designer and antiques dealer Richard Shapiro demonstrates the alchemy required to create a home that seems cultivated over many generations. Shapiro has mastered the art of crafting refined, cultivated spaces that transport their inhabitants to distant lands and past epochs. Designers and homeowners who wish to endow their homes with authentic European charm and character will be inspired by Shapiro’s gift for conjuring Old World savoir faire.
The book focuses on Shapiro’s two magnificent, much-imitated homes, which provide a broad array of examples related to living graciously with antiques, replicating the aura of antiquity, and the complex challenge of marrying centuries-old building materials with new construction. Shapiro shares ideas from his work as a designer as well as lessons learned from years of collecting and selling antiques and fine art. As a manufacturer of furnishings with a distinctly European sensibility, he also brings to bear a thorough knowledge of production processes and finishing techniques based on Old World archetypes. With breathtaking new photography, the book functions as a master class, filled with illustrations and takeaways for readers, offering practical ideas and creative inspirations for channeling the glories of the past to enrich the present.

Richard Shapiro, a designer and antiquarian, is the principal of his own design firm, Studiolo. He is also an active artist and collector. Mayer Rus is a design writer, editor, and critic. He is currently the West Coast Editor of Architectural Digest. Mallery Roberts Morgan is a writer, curator, and designer. She is the L.A. correspondent for Architectural Digest France, and she has created residential interiors in London, Los Angeles, Paris, Mexico, and New York. Jason Schmidt is a photographer who specializes in architecture, interiors, and artist portraits. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and his artist portraiture has been published in two Steidl monographs.