In the December issue of
Architectural Digest, iconic American fashion designer
Donna Karan opens the doors to her paradisaical getaway in Turks and Caicos. The multi-structure site, which is based on Begawan Giri, a five-star Balinese health resort, includes two guesthouses (one for each of her children), a sybaritic spa, a yoga pavilion, and a swimming pool lined with lava rock. Consider it her own brand of Zen.
In the
cover story, which is out on stands now, the queen of sensual power dressing says that the strip of white sand beach where her estate now sits was a gift from Karan to her late husband, artist Stephen Weiss, for their 17th wedding anniversary.
Weiss passed away six months later; and between grief and two broken knees, completing the project took Karan some time-nine years in all.
Karan founded the Urban Zen foundation in his memory, which promotes the integration of Eastern healing into Western medicine. The boutiques of the same name, sell, amongst other things, overscale daybeds, tables, and bean bags, which are featured in the house. Karan's motto for her relaxed furniture is: "If you can't fall asleep on it, I don't want to know from it."
With the help of architect Cheong Yew Keon, Karan translated the Urban Zen aesthetic into 21st century holistic minimalism--the perfect setting for a yogi mogul and her stylish jersey-clad brood.
Read the full story
here.
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Donna Karan's Parrot Cay Estate
Architectural Digest features the legendary designer's relaxed Turks and Caicos getaway in this month's issue. Get the full scoop.
Durston Saylor/Courtesy of Architectural Digest
"I wondered, How can I bring Bali three and a half hours away?" says fashion designer Donna Karan, who envisioned a simple, modern beach house on Parrot Cay, in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Architects and interior designers Enrico Bonetti and Dominic Kozerski collaborated with architect Cheong Yew Kuan to create the complex-"a marriage of East and West," Karan says-which includes three villas and three open-air pavilions. An infinity pool sits above the first floor of the main house. Sunbrella fabric on canopy bed.
Durston Saylor/Courtesy of Architectural Digest
African art that Karan collected during her travels decorates the living room of one of the guesthouses. "It really is an international environment," she says.
Durston Saylor/Courtesy of Architectural Digest
"Just being a part of nature, a guest of nature, was the most important key," remarks Karan. In the pavilion, as throughout, sliding doors and glazed walls minimize the boundaries between the interiors and the landscape.
Durston Saylor/Courtesy of Architectural Digest
Karan and her daughter Gabrielle in the pavilion atop the main house. "Donna likes things that are comfortable, easy, friendly to the touch, the eye and the body," says Kozerski, who, with Bonetti, designed most of the furnishings. "Everything is honest; we hate fakery and pastiche."
Durston Saylor/Courtesy of Architectural Digest
