Gypsy: A World of Colour & Interiors

by Sibella Court

Revered designer Sibella Court is known for her eclectic, creative vision and vibrant Bohemian style and interiors. In Gypsy Sibella takes you on a whirlwind tour through the Galapagos and Ecuador, Indochine, Turkey, Scotland, and Transylvania. From place to place, she reveals diverse elements that inspire her, from churches, favorite suppliers, and table settings, to colors, animals, and aromas. Filled with dazzling patterns, gorgeous layouts, and eye-catching designs, Gypsy encourages you to use all five senses to draw artistic inspiration from the world around you. Sibella teaches how to take pieces bought or seen on your own travels and use them to fashion unique spaces full of color, texture, imagination, and meaning. She also emphasizes the importance of scents, reminding how fragrances can help transport you to places you’ve been—or dream of going. An extraordinarily beautiful volume, Gypsy is a deluxe, cloth-covered guide filled with lush photos taken by Sibella’s brother, Chris, a renowned, award-winning photographer.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Art, Interior Design, Design, Lifestyle, Coffee Table Books

272 pages, Hardcover

First published November 11, 2013

About the author

Sibella Court is an interior stylist & creative director: from vision & concept through to direction & creation. Her most recent spaces for private clients & the Merivale Group include El Loco, 30 Knots, Upstairs at The Beresford, MsG’s, York 75, Bistrode CBD and Private Dining at Ivy.

She returned home to Sydney to launch her brand and shop, The Society inc., after 15 years living & working in New York. Her store is home to hardware & haberdashery & treasures collected globetrotting & adventuring into terrains less trodden.

In New York she was styling in demand for retail giants Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale’s, Saks on Fifth Ave, Pottery Barn, Target and West Elm as well as publications Gourmet, Marie Claire and Vogue Living. Sibella travels between her two homes regularly for jobs & inspiration. Her projects have been vast including concept, design and styling for commercial and residential interiors, magazine & advertising shoots, catalogues and product design with a nail polish, hardware and 110-colour paint range under The Society inc.

Her wanderlust has seen her accumulate over twenty years of global inspiration from trips frequenting South East Asia, India, Europe, the Middle East, the States, Central America and Australia (and that’s just in the last year). She travels alone, with the Anthropologie inspiration team & because she is a nomad.

Sibella is a best-selling author: award-winning, ‘Etcetera etc: creating beautiful interiors with the things you love’, ‘The Stylist’s Guide to NYC’ and ‘Nomad: bringing your travels home’ due for release globally in November. She has written extensively for publications such as CountryStyle, Grazia, Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue Living as a feature writer & contributing editor.

A history degree allows Sibella a unique foundation on which to combine research, travel & inspiration into projects that are unique, magical & unexampled.

Reviews

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes I just wanted to look at something beautiful, so I did. Sibella Court rambles around the world taking in the sights and smells, she looks for inspiration, finds colour palettes and using these things as inspiration for her interiors. Her travel photos are blended with the interior photos and it is hard to tell what is what. No matter it is quite pretty and that is what I was looking for. I see that my own home isn’t inspired so much by travel as it is by my surroundings here in the north. A lot of greys, soft linen and large windows to let the light in. Plants to remind me of spring. One very ugly patchwork quilt that my mother made for me. It is very cozy and when I am wrapped in it I am reminded that she loves me, even though we do not see eye to eye on decor issues. I suspect I am a bit of a snob. I put it on my bed, it is warm on cold nights and throw it off in the middle of the night during a hot flash. I don’t mind if my big dog lies on it and gets dog hair all over it as it is easily washed.

[C. Frazier Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though some have criticized this book for not be "decorate-y," enough, I beg to differ. Written in the style of an intimate travel journal, this book is a love letter to travel. The photographs are stunning and scrumptious, plus, I learned a lot. Did you know the Gulf Stream travels all the way from Florida to the northern most tip of Scotland where it creates a semi-tropical environment for both flora and fauna? Neither did I, and that folks, is why you read.

[Kristina Romero]

Not a huge fan of the name, but as someone who absolutely LOVES to travel and see the way interior spaces shape our lives and can even became a part of our cultural identity, this was a very fun book to flip through.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I like all things gypsy and the book cover was interesting and some of the paintings inside were intriguing. But then I got it home and realized the pictures are rooms/spaces from around the globe, but they are staged with furniture bought from places other than the place they are being photographed in. It's like looking at a catalogue for fancy furniture, but you wanted an art book instead or a travel book or a poetry book, but it isn't any of that. It's like the designer didn't know how to stop selling objects and learn to see beauty where she was at. I tried to be inspired, but I was just left feeling annoyed.

[Marcy Graybill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much content, but a lot of pretty pictures.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book. If I were going to write a book, I would want it to look like this.

The author's decorating style does not appeal to me. All I see is a lot of junk that is going to need to be dusted.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

A combination of travel diary and interior design ideas. Some beautiful photographs and colour palettes along with some interesting historical facts and travel tips.

[Xia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A visual inspiration

[Relyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love Sibella Court's style. All her books are visual perfection.

[Celest]

The colors and writing are very nice, a kind of travel diary if you will. The designs were not much to my taste and I would have liked to see more pics from her actual trips versus her inspired designs.

[Jenny Ekberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five stars for aesthetics, but the romanticism of the colonial is jarring, so I would give it 3.5-4 stars overall.

Sibella's books are a feast for all the senses. The colour palettes are stunning and everyone can get inspiration from her books, in particular those based on her travels which allows you to "armchair travel" and get a sense of places if you cannot go yourself. In Gypsy, Nomad and Etcetera, I got very inspired from the colour schemes and sense of place, and found the destinations I have visited myself to really match the feeling conveyed in the books.

I feel that there is one problematic thing here though - there is too much romanticism around the colonial. Even the title... (I know this was written quite a few years ago, when many ppl used the word "gypsy" inappropriately, including some of my friends who actually have Romani ancestry.) I don't think Sibella did this on purpose; I don't think she had the slightest thought of it - she seems to come from a completely different (perhaps more privileged) background than most of us. I am torn, because while I also love the sentimentality of her books, the "expat orientalism" is jarring.

[Karo'Line · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous inspirational read - the section on Ecuador and Transylvania are mesmerising. Lots of interior ideas and how to translate your travel memories into every day interiors.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delicious, rich, lush, beautiful, inspirational! THE perfect coffee table book!

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous book. With each turn of the page a wonderful scene. A perfect book for me with the mix of photography, history, art, decorating and travel. Love!