New Book Compliments the Natural Home and Reveals the Elegant Simplicity of the Adobe Design Style

In their fourth book, award-winning authors/designers Karen Witynski and Joe P. Carr embrace an eclectic mix of cross-cultural furnishings. Adobe Details (Gibbs Smith, Publisher; $21.95 hardcover; ISBN 1-58685-030-X; 8 ½ x 8 ½ in; 96 pp; 85 Color Photographs; July 2002) celebrates the natural materials -- earth, wood and stone, which are the ingredients that weave together time-honored elements with new-world refinements.

AUSTIN, TX, July 2002 - In their fourth book, award-winning authors/designers Karen Witynski and Joe P. Carr embrace an eclectic mix of cross-cultural furnishings.    Adobe Details (Gibbs Smith, Publisher; $21.95 hardcover; ISBN 1-58685-030-X; 8 ½ x 8 ½ in; 96 pp; 85 Color Photographs; July 2002) celebrates the natural materials -- earth, wood and stone, which are the ingredients that weave together time-honored elements with new-world refinements. A compliment to the authors third book Casa Adobe, which heralds the revival of adobe and celebrates its rugged romantic design aesthetic, this book celebrates the furnishings, accents, and architectural elements that reveal traditional beauty and character.

From rugged Arizona ranches and haciendas to colonial and contemporary Santa Fe homes, Adobe Details reveals the popularity of adobe architecture and the rich design style that celebrates handcrafted details. From adobe walls textured with agave fibers to hand-adzed vigas and gleaming Saltillo-tile floors, the adobe home is alive with rich surfaces that evoke a casual, timeless context.

In vivid detail, Carr and Witynski reveal the elegant simplicity of the adobe design style: sculptured walls, nichos and bancos with contoured corners and softly flowing lines, breezy portales, stone-paved courtyards, and cross-cultural furnishings that exude warmth and grace. Favored decorative accents include richly hued textiles, antique trunks with decorative iron lock plates, hardy Mexican tables, glazed pottery, and handcrafted tin and copper mirrors.

Witynski and Carr have been at the forefront of the Mexican design movement for over twenty-five years as designers, antique dealers and restoration consultants. They are currently involved in the development of a Mexican Design Center housed in a colonial hacienda on Mexicos Yucatán Peninsula. The hacienda will open its doors in 2002 and will showcase the best of Mexican design within authentic old-world surroundings.

Founded in 1969, Gibbs Smith, Publisher specializes in books on design and architecture, but also features titles from categories including childrens (featuring the celebrated Sierra Club Books for Children series), inspirational, nature, gardening, western, holiday and cookbooks. In addition, Gibbs Smith, Publisher offers an impressive array of interior design reference titles, from contemporary to rustic to wabi sabi style.

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