Author: Ms. R.

Lucinda Ganderton had the book hidden in the bottom of her shopping trolley. Around two years ago, she had taken a trip from London to Brighton, England, to visit Paul Couchman, a food historian and chef whom she met on Instagram. Ganderton, a textile artist whose family had once owned an antiques auction house, and Couchman, who specializes in 1830s British cookery, connected over a shared love of antique kitchenware. Ganderton was clearing out her house when she found……

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Four hundred bricks line Jason Harris’s hallway, and none of them hold the ceiling up. Arranged in an earthy ombre from ruddy terra cotta to cream, these once-functional rectangles are now purely for show. The London-based architect doesn’t think this hefty display lends him much gravitas in British brick collecting circles, though. “I’m a lightweight brick collector because I just like the color and the shapes,” Harris says. “I feel a little bit of a fraud amongst the collecting……

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Tucked away on the second floor of an antiques store in a small New Jersey town lies a shockingly large collection of antique vampire-killing sets. Covering the walls are the standard tools of the vampire hunter: the stake, the crucifix, the holy water bottle. But the stakes are far more than pointy, wooden sticks. Dating back centuries, all the weapons have been beautifully decorated with a variety of religious and allegorical carvings. They are spectacular objets d’art from every corner of……

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The riverside façade of Jelgava Palace is magnificent. Designed by the court architect of Imperial Russia, Bartolomeo Rastrelli of Winter Palace fame, its baroque exterior is graced by ornate windows and striking cast-iron medallions. With 669 rooms, 674 windows, 615 doors, and 25 chimneys, the palace served as the principal residence of the rich and powerful dukes of Courland. Situated on low lying land that is prone to seasonal flooding on the banks of the Lielupe, Jelgava Palace lacks a……

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Pedestrians in New Orleans’ Tremé neighborhood might notice a collection of beautiful, patchwork wooden doors. Known as “wooden quilts,” the colorful interwoven entryways showcase one artist’s incredible craftsmanship and history. Jean-Marcel St. Jacques is a self-taught folk artist with deep roots in the Louisiana soil. A 12th-generation Afro-Creole, he left the state in the 1970s, but returned 16 years ago to reconnect with the land of his ancestors. St. Jacques says he takes his inspiration from his great-grandmother, who made……

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The wonderfully painted rock juts up out of the ground along a wooded road in Marlborough, Connecticut. Not only are the roadside wonder’s origins a mystery, but its form remains a question as well: Most call it Snake Rock, but some refer to it as Turtle Rock, insisting that the small clumps of stones on either side are meant to be clawed feet. No one seems to know the identity of the artist who painted the rock. But a……

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