Desert by Design

Desert by Design features the interior spaces in Earth’s arid climes and, just as importantly, the creative minds who inhabit them

It is a love letter to these dreamers and doers, the many kinds of people who reside in these places around the world with the same basic thing in common—lack of rainfall—but, as it turns out, share much more. Deserts are not known to be the easiest, most comfortable places to settle. And so, there is something about those who choose to live there, who are inspired by a challenge, who constantly create and innovate. This book explores exactly what that “something” means.

Texas desert dwellers Molly Mandell and James Burke set off on a quest to identify more than thirty incredible spaces and get to know the people who created them. By area, deserts make up a third of Earth’s landmass, so Mandell and Burke had a lot of ground to cover, making their way through the southwestern United States, down to Mexico and Argentina, and across the pond to Egypt, Morocco, Spain, and Jordan. They ventured to India and to a micro-desert in New Zealand. They visited high desert and low desert, urban desert and rural desert, sandy desert and scrubby desert. They photographed everything from iconic desert spaces, like those inhabited by Yves Saint Laurent, César Manrique, and Donald Judd, to new, groundbreaking structures, all the while interviewing the choreographers, hoteliers, sculptors, environmentalists, chefs, audio engineers, preservationists, and more who have created these notable places.

The result—which is genuine, beautiful, and unexpected—is decidedly not your average interiors book. From tips on cultivating an unpretentious, highly functional, striking aesthetic, to images evoking mindful living and ways to maintain a close link with culture and nature, Desert by Design is both a celebration of a uniquely inspiring climate, its most extraordinary spaces, and memorable personalities and a manual for adopting elements of this lifestyle, no matter your location. Yes, this book is for desert people—those who reside in it or who simply resonate with this environment. But it also exists for all of us who are seeking authentic design inspiration or courage to take the path less traveled, regardless of where we call home.