Dan’s Notebook: Inside the Best of The Grand Tourist in 2024 (So Far)

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Following our 10th season finale with fashion muse Daphne Guinness [Apple Podcasts, Spotify], The Grand Tourist is firmly in summer mode with weekly Curator newsletters until we return for the 11th season on September 18. With that in mind, and since I know many of you are looking to catch up during your idyllic summer holidays, I’ve assembled some of my behind-the-scenes notes on the most popular episodes of the year so far—in ascending order of popularity—from cryptic hints dropped by Frédéric Malle to some truly gossipy insider knowledge from stylish expats. —Dan Rubinstein

Yabu Pushelberg: Building a Better Life
It’s always a joy interviewing designers I’ve known for a long time, but I’d say that if I had to spend a holiday on a secluded island somewhere with any of them, these boys would be at the top of the list. George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg are known for being exquisite hotel designers, though today they’re equally known for their lighting and other bits of furniture. But above all, the couple in work and life are known for just being an absolute joy to spend time with. And while there’s a considerable amount of glamour in their portfolio, they truly bring a sense of depth to their studio. And if I’m being honest, it was equally as interesting to hear about their personal backgrounds as it was to listen to them bicker a little like an adorable old couple. [Apple Podcasts, Spotify]

Kit Kemp: “I’m Frightened of Beige”
If you’ve ever thought that most luxury hotel chains are dull, cold, and formulaic, then you haven’t stayed at a Firmdale hotel before. Kemp is a legendary British hotelier who has the extraordinary distinction of not just designing hotels, but owning and operating them all at the same time. It’s practically unheard of, and when you walk into one of them, you can immediately feel the difference. (Even if color and pattern aren’t your thing, the comfort and realness of it all is undeniable.) On this episode, we celebrated her third location in New York in the booming Tribeca neighborhood, and it was incredible to hear about how she and her husband, Tim, built their little empire from practically nothing. Her can-do nonchalance is inspiring, to say the least. [Apple Podcasts, Spotify]

Es Devlin: All the World’s a Stage
You can call it stage design, theater design, scenography…to me, it’s all about spectacle. And chatting with Devlin—who has created massive sets for theater and other live events like U2 and Adele concerts, the Olympics, and runway shows for YSL and Dior—was a truly wonderful experience. She sat mostly on her bed during the entire interview from her London home, every once in a while checking in with her teenage son about the bandwidth usage in the home. Despite her high-stress and ultra-high-profile career, she was incredibly warm and thoughtful. The interview was spurred by her solo show at New York’s Cooper Hewitt museum, and after seeing it you immediately get that she’s much more than just a sum of her parts. It’s something that everyone who’s listened to this episode understands. [Apple Podcasts, Spotify]

Frédéric Malle: “A Perfume Has to be a Part of Life”
Malle was everything you wanted him to be and more: erudite, knowledgeable, honorable. I think many people reacted well to this episode because he speaks about fragrance in a language of creativity and craft and truth that most of my listeners comprehend. Fun note: After the interview, some of the PR folks were dying to know every last thing he said, which was a mystery at the time. Keep that in mind toward the end when I ask him about the future. Lo and behold, he stepped down from his role at his own label last month. [Apple Podcasts, Spotify]

Tom Hollander: Bringing Truman Capote to Life
For a period of time, the only TV show people seemed to be talking about was FEUD: Capote Vs. The Swans, with Hollander in the lead role as the famed writer and society bad boy. He was our first actor on the podcast, and I was lucky enough to be his first podcast, too. Selfishly, I got to ask him about one of his breakthrough roles on Absolutely Fabulous, which he seemed really tickled by. Oh, and while I did get a DM from a friend who used to date Hollander in a past life, he was also once romantically attached to another guest of mine, our current season’s finale guest, Daphne Guinness. [Apple Podcasts, Spotify]

Pierre Yovanovitch: Warmth and Rigor, Poetry and Structure
What can I say? I haven’t gotten this kind of reaction to a design guest in quite a while. If you’re not familiar, Yovanovitch is one of the most respected interior designers of the day. He was nervous about his accent and apologized profusely for it, but I think when you’re that chic, some things are universal. He is also a fairly private person in today’s IG-soaked design world, so many people appreciated an inside look into his world. [Apple Podcasts, Spotify]

Living the Dream: House Hunting in Italy
I have no idea why, but something about the news currently is making me appreciate this episode even more. This episode was a surprise hit for me, and it started selfishly enough: I wanted to know more about what it takes to buy a home in Italy, so I started assembling the most insightful names I could muster. And what a group it is: From Chicagoans living their best life in Milan to travel pros that brought The White Lotus to Sicily, I really lucked out on my lineup. So much so that I’m definitely going to add a few days to my next Italy trip to do a little bit of apartment hunting. Expect a follow-up to this episode on new locales in the future. [Apple Podcasts, Spotify]

Kelly Wearstler: Interior Design’s Tastemaking Dynamo
It should come as no surprise that this one is the most popular episode of the year so far: I’ve known Wearstler from afar and up close for decades, and it’s been fascinating to see her career blossom, morph, and evolve. When I first set out to do this episode—a real treat, as she’s quite shy when it comes to public speaking, and many listened to this just to know what her voice even sounded like—I had no idea that we would devote so much time to AI. But that’s exactly what we did, and I feel like I learned so much more about how design is evolving. (She’s not the only designer I know who has leaned heavily on the new technology lately.) If there was one drawback to this episode, it’s that I’ve interviewed her so many times (including for her recent book that I penned) that I might have gotten lost in the weeds on certain things. Perhaps this is one star who deserves a part two? [Apple Podcasts, Spotify]

Barcelona Remembers the Woman Behind the French New Wave, and São Paulo Celebrates a High-Profile Friendship; See July’s Global Openings

Barcelona, “Agnès Varda: Photographing, Filming, Recycling” (Until Dec. 8)
She was the grandmother of the French New Wave, inspiring its hallmarks—nonlinear plot, saturated mood, and creative liberties—before the genre even existed. Often described in the same sentence as “fierce,” “free,” and always “ahead of her time,” French photographer and filmmaker Agnès Varda produced more than 40 short and feature-length films that mingle private narratives with socially conscious documentary. This survey examines her radical work and life, with a selection of her short films and previously unseen photography, including a series from her trip to Catalonia in 1955, where she shot a portrait of Dalí. cccb.org

Cleveland, “Picturing the Border” (Until Jan. 5)
With photographs by Latino, Mexican, and Chicano artists, this showcase examines the implications of the Mexican American border on personal definitions of citizenship, nationality, and selfhood. From intimate portraits by Chicana photographer Laura Aguilar to documentation of border crossings by Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide, the roughly four dozen photographs seek to take back the negative representation of the border prevalent in the media. clevelandart.org

Salzburg, “Hans Josephsohn” (Until Aug. 31)
For the entirety of his career, Swiss sculptor Hans Josephsohn sculpted the human figure—sitting, lying down, portraits, and half-figures. He made them out of plaster then cast them in bronze, leaving the surfaces raw and his fingerprints behind. Though in his later work, the human presence grows subtle, and the squat bronze sculptures seem less manmade than of the earth. This major retrospective, a first for the gallery, follows his trajectory with pieces from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s. ropac.net

São Paulo, “Calder + Miró” (Until Sept. 15)
The friendship of Catalan surrealist painter Joan Miró and American sculptor Alexander Calder, which began in 1928, seems like fate—one can clearly see the shared aesthetics and curiosities between their work. Though they were later divided by an ocean and World War II, they produced remarkably similar bodies of work inadvertently titled “Constellations.” In 1936, The New York Times described Calder’s mobiles as “living Miró abstractions.” This exhibit, sponsored by Igautemi, studies the consequences of this friendship on abstract art in Brazil, bringing together 150 works by the two greats and by artists influenced by their liminal forms, such as Hélio Oiticica, Mary Vieira, Milton Dacosta, and Tomie Ohtake. institutotomieohtake.org

Toronto, “Thirty-Six Brooches” (Until Sept. 2)
The most popular accessory to spice up a jacket, the brooch has had a mainstream renaissance this year on red carpets and runways. And why not? The jewelry is versatile—whether it’s a humble outlet for personal taste, bedazzled statement of status, or a pin-sized political statement. The pins don’t get much attention besides, which this presentation aims to change. With 36 elegant brooches designed by contemporary Canadian jewelers, it examines how the storied piece (once purely utilitarian) has come to express so much. harbourfrontcentre.com —Vasilisa Ioukhnovets