The Current, Vol. 2

Ten months. Five countries. Thirty cities across the globe. This book represents the thousands of miles and hours we spent exploring the world to understand how our collective and individual sense of place shapes us. From city streets and coastal stretches to countrysides and mountain highs, all the way back to our own perch in Charleston, the following pages pay tribute to the destinations and perspectives that both steady our gaze and guide us forward.

Welcome to The Current, Volume 2. 

CITY

There’s a reason people borrow from the language of anatomy to describe a city: the daily pace of life is its pulse; the thoroughfares its vital arteries; the neighborhoods its heart, each with its own unique beat. Cities are living—always moving, always growing, always evolving.  And, yet, despite the constant change, they have a fundamental character that defines them—and, in turn, shapes the people who live there, too. It’s a symbiotic relationship, and everyone has a role to play.

DESTINATION LA

THE TASTE MAKER

Chef Melissa Perello, a talented restaurateur with an equally visionary design sense, ventures south from San Francisco to Los Angeles to open her third, and most ambitious, restaurant yet.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

STEPHEN EARLE

Having cut his teeth as a lieutenant for boldface names such as Martha Stewart and Ralph Lauren before taking up the creative mantle at Related Companies, Stephen Earle is now bringing his discerning eye to bear on one of Manhattan’s most ambitious residential development projects to date.

COAST

There’s a frontier spirit that comes from living on the edge of land. Regardless of the shoreline, the pull of the sea pushes us to defy boundaries, test limits, embrace the unknown, discover new worlds. As a location, the coast offers an unparalleled study in contrasts: it cleanses and weathers, gives and takes, laps and swells. But therein lies the beauty, for in its ebbing and flowing tides we see daily proof of our own gravity, and the sheer scale of its vastness puts everything else around us into sharper perspective.

NANTUCKET, MASSACHUSETTS

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

THE WATER IS WIDE

The son of a seafood legend, Jesse Sandole followed a coastal path from Nantucket to Charleston to chart his own course. Today, his two 167 Raw outposts combine new-school versions of briny classics with effortless hospitality and a solid sense of his seaside homes.

MONTE-CARLO, MONACO

TIM GOSLING

Exploring art, product design, superyachts and more with the multifaceted London designer.

COUNTRY

To be in the country is to escape to the present where a new kind of acuity sets in. Distractions fall away, noises fade, relationships grow and imagination reawakens. It’s a purposeful existence, but it isn’t purpose-driven. It takes restraint to preserve the untamed, but when you connect with and create from the land, or make art from its elements, you experience a place on the deepest level.

DORSET, ENGLAND

THE COUNTRY MAN

For Nick Ashley-Cooper, the 12th Earl of Shaftesbury, an unexpected twist of fate led to a commitment to reviving and sustaining his ancestral estate. With the help of a merry and talented band of kindred craftsmen and creatives, he continues to transform his family’s house into a home.

MOUNTAIN

Life in the mountains is about calibration and adaptation. Unlike most landscapes, mountains don’t easily yield to human force. Instead, they challenge us with their unmovable majesty: think bigger, aim higher. Their power and scale demands ingenuity and devotion, and each day is an achievement. But the experience of being there, whether in the valley or higher in the peaks, is a lesson in strength and form that keeps us coming back for more—to the rare place where we can unearth our creative best in the presence of a larger shadow.

KETCHUM, IDAHO

CHANNELING HEMINGWAY

A project by Tim Campbell
Photography by Karyn Millet

For designer Tim Campbell, creating an overnight retreat for artists and creatives in Sun Valley’s restored Hemingway House afforded an unexpected opportunity to reflect on his own personal and professional journey.

ASPEN, COLORADO

CRISTOF EIGELBERGER

Architect and designer Cristof Eigelberger brings an aesthete’s eye and an engineer’s mind to some of the West’s most awe-inspiring mountain homes.