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Home and Away

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Green Interiors

houses we love • Our editors pick some of their favorite vacation rentals that architects and designers have uploaded to Dwell.com.

Modern World

Junior Sealy • For Barbados-born designer Junior Sealy, a move was necessary to pursue his interests in fashion. “When you don’t have a certain type of community in your country, you try to find it elsewhere,” he says. Sealy landed in Toronto, where he studied management and ran his retail brand, LAB&iD. “Toronto basically birthed me as the person I am,” he says. His career eventually took him to Berlin, where he immersed himself in the industry before moving back to his Caribbean home. Now he more frequently gets to enjoy the creations of Bridgetown, Barbados’s capital.

Licheng Ling • Shanghai-born Licheng Ling, founder of luxury loungewear brand Homeism, moved to New York City in 2010 to study fashion. “I felt excited about everything, but also a bit nervous,” she says about moving. Soon enough, however, New York reminded her of home. “In the 1920s, people called Shanghai the Manhattan of the East,” Ling says. “In some ways, the cities are very similar: They’re diverse, open, and never sleep.”

Urvi Sharma • New Delhi native and furniture designer Urvi Sharma moved to Providence to study at the Rhode Island School of Design. “Because I was in school, it was a soft landing,” Sharma says. “I eventually learned how to drive on the wrong side of the road and immerse myself in a city small enough to feel comfortable yet big enough to offer new discoveries.” As cofounder of design studio Indo-, Sharma continues to draw inspiration from her hometown. The many artifacts she’s collected from the city adorn her New England home and studio.

Ini Archibong • Before moving to Switzerland, designer Ini Archibong grew up in suburban Pasadena, California. “One of the biggest influences was being able to be out in its peaceful streets,” he says. “It hasn’t changed that much since I left ten years ago.” With a studio in Neuchâtel, the heart of the Swiss watchmaking industry, the designer enjoys a bucolic setting while still having access to major urban centers. The setup reminds him of home—Pasadena, he says, isn’t all that different.

Mimi Plange • Though raised in Southern California, fashion designer Mimi Plange grew up immersed in the culture of her hometown: Accra. It was her mother’s photos from 1950s Ghana that first introduced Plange to fashion. “That’s how I fell in love with clothing and identity,” she says. “I always wanted to showcase the real country that I experienced through these images in my designs.” Her clothing mixes traditional African and modern influences, counting Rihanna and Michelle Obama as acolytes of its distinct cool.

Setting Up Shop • Two Americans—a dancer and a retired academic—find the home they never knew they needed in a Portuguese storefront.

Bare Feat • Local sandstone and plenty of pine keep this Mallorca weekend home light and bright.

Tropical Storm • Hawaii is drowning in a flood of the same factors creating a housing crisis all over America. Will the state become a model for finding a way out—or a cautionary tale?

LETTERS FROM HOME • DWELLINGS July/August 2022

an idea with legs • Inspired by an errant arachnid, a designer couple weave contemporary elements into a traditional Kyoto townhouse.

POINT OF DEPARTURE • Rick Doblin is best known for founding the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which changed how we view drugs. The 1970s home he built in the Florida suburbs is...