Nancy Braithwaite

Book excerpt: Interior designer Nancy Braithwaite’s long-awaited first book is a striking tutorial in the power of simplicity in design. In the world of interior design, Nancy Braithwaite is known for her single-minded devotion to the principle that has guided her work for more than forty years: simplicity. Braithwaite’s work is luxuriously minimalist, its beauty inextricably tied to its Shaker-like purity. While her work varies from art deco to country, the underlying rules remain the same: every element should strive to be simple and powerful without compromise, and every room must have a level of power that comes from commanding scale, repetition of elements, subtleties of color, or the sheer beauty of forms. In Braithwaite’s world, excess is not opulent. Simplicity is opulent. Braithwaite takes the reader deep into her singular vision. Divided into five sections, the book begins with her manifesto on simplicity and the aspects of design used to achieve it, including architecture, scale, color, texture, pattern, and composition. She then presents three categories of style—country, classic, and contemporary—and explains and illustrates each with iconic rooms from her portfolio. Finally, she presents several houses as case studies, displaying the power of these principles in action and emphasizing the importance of craftsmanship in design, from a stunning modern seaside retreat on Kiawah Island, South Carolina, to her unforgettable country house in Atlanta.