Thomas Pheasant: Simply Serene (Rizzoli International Publications)

The work of influential, award-winning interior designer Thomas Pheasant is best described as "contemporary classical" and simply serene. Celebrated interior designer Thomas Pheasant is best known for his seamless melding of tradition and the contemporary. His spaces are fresh and of the age yet also enduringly timeless. Balancing classical elements, like recessed paneling, pilasters, crown moldings, and carved plaster garlands, Pheasant introduces modern details, sometimes including such flourishes and surprising complements as a scroll coffee table and a room screen of ribbed, translucent glass. Unafraid of combining pieces from various traditions, he achieves a sense of harmony and balance. This lavish offering of his work gives the reader a sensible, artful approach to interior design, presenting models of great aesthetic subtlety and beauty. Based in Washington, D.C., Thomas Pheasant works around the globe. Recent projects include the redesign of Blair House, the President's guest house on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the White House, and apartments in Washington, New York, Paris, and Moscow. Never a strict by-the-book traditionalist, Pheasant responds to and sees in classicism its rational order, its quietude, its serenity.