Shelter Island homes featured in ‘Design in the Hamptons’

A sleek, beautifully photographed coffee table book, “Design in the Hamptons,” was just published last month by the Monacelli Press. It contains over 300 full-page images of the interiors and exteriors of 19 homes, mainly on the South Fork, but including three on Shelter Island.

The author, Anthony Iannacci, an art critic, journalist and curator, comments in his introduction on the “pursuit of authenticity” evident in the book’s designs and notes that what unites the different approaches is “a celebration of an undeniably unique place.” He emphasizes that the homes featured in his book are “not what traditional connotations of the Hamptons evoke. They are not necessarily grand nor have they been built to the maximum size allowed by the building code … they are often thoughtful structures designed to maximize true appreciation of their enviable surroundings and site… .”

A good example is the Shelter Island home architect Cary Tamarkin built on a site his family had lived on for years. Before building his new home, the author said Mr. Tamarkin studied the sound of the waves at different tides to decide where and how high to site the house. Suzanne Shaker collaborated with the architect on the interiors, using earth tones with “punctuating colors … in beach appropriate blues and purples.”

The book is available locally at Bookhampton stores in East Hampton and Southampton.