At Home in Bali

Hundreds of glorious photographs and an evocative text offer an insider's look at the exotic style of the "island of the gods."

Since early this century, Bali's paradisiacal beauty and the remarkable spirit of its people have attracted a steady stream of artists, architects, anthropologists, mystics, and celebrities from all over the world, and the new residents have interpreted traditional Balinese style with elegant, chic, eccentric, and inspiring results.

Featured in this exquisitely illustrated volume are 24 exceptional homes, both traditional and modern, all shown in their lush tropical surroundings. They include the pondok pavilion dwellings of the rice fields; classic village houses; royal palaces; beach houses; spectacular mountain residences; and homes with magnificently designed gardens. The book also features the courtyard shrines and the public temples that play a role in daily life for both the Balinese and the newer residents.

A visitor's guide and international source list of Balinese wares completes this insider's tour of the island, making At Home in Bali the next best thing to being there.

Other Details: 260 illustrations, 250 in full color 216 pages 9 7/8 x 9 7/8"

bungalows from the era of colonial exploitation. The Bali Hotel in Denpasar and the Narmada Hotel in Sanur survive today as fine examples of Dutch Colonial Art Deco, from the period preceding independence. All these models have influenced local architects and designers to the present day.

Before delving into the details of form and function and style, one should know that Bali has been the end of the road for cultural and artistic migrations for many thousands of years. The ancient proto-Malays, who brought wet rice cultivation from the tropical reaches of present-day Laos, Myanmar, and Yunnan, seem to have ceased their eastward migration in Bali and deposited some of their greatest cultural treasures here. The spread of Islam in medieval times also stopped at Bali when the priests and princes from Java's greatest Hindu empire migrated here, bringing with them more veils of sophistication and philosophy to lay over their eager host. With this slow migration came redbrick temple gates, the giant pavilions of Javanese palaces, and the many palettes of court colors. The notion of garden follies done on a grand scale was also imported at this time.

Geographically, Bali is the end of Asia: Wallace's line, which runs between Bali and Lombok, the neighboring island to the east, was postulated by British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace to separate Asian from Austronesian flora and fauna--a line declaring "the wombat starts here." And wombats there have been.

In the 1970s, with the arrival of mass tourism and the various day-feeding marsupials from Down Under, ballet dancers started leaving their stages for a life here on juice blenders. The cultural dilution was not as great, however, as in Hawaii or Acapulco--the Balinese culture has, over the centuries, resisted colonialization and Islamization and come through relatively intact. Terms like turis, art shop, and losmen (hostel) may be here to stay--in fact, today's hotels are considered New Age temples to architectural prowess--but the richness and resilience of the Balinese culture is proving to be the island's saving grace.

With mass tourism came mass investment, a feeding frenzy of investors from Jakarta and Singapore, two regional capitals known for hard-nosed urban attitudes. Their influence on the architectural language of Bali's tourist hubs bore much fancy fruit--the Ghost-Train Gothic school of "Balinaise" wedding-cake architecture, with its neocolonial bonsai gardens, to name just one. The arrival of the hippies, surfies, New Agers, and lately, Zen yuppies, by contrast, fueled various building booms, like the Rustic Charm movement, the Expatriate Dream Home movement, the aman-wannabe, and the po-mo-for-homo. One can't help getting excited writing about the Balinese lifestyle, be it indigenous or adopted, because it is always so weird and wonderful. Fertile, fecund, and fanciful are certainly three words that sum up the state of Balinese architecture today.

Foreigners come and fall in love with the island, the culture, and the people, and want to build an homage to that love. The fiercely industrious Balinese then want to keep up with the foreigners, who are themselves busy going native. The hotels may be the New Age temples, but the many temples are being rebuilt in finishes kept alive by the hotel industry.

This book will lead you through various facets of the Balinese experience, through the dwellings of Bali's inhabitants. Generously interspliced are images of the Balinese way of living--the vibrant customs and religious practices and the colorful patterns of day-to-day life.

"They say there are more temples than homes on Bali, and if this inviting book is any guide, then the gods on this enchanted Indonesian isle bask in domestic bliss.The photographer was an art director for a Milan fashion house, and her sense of style is well reflected here.This book will open many doors. And once inside you won't want to move."--Newsday

Author Biography: Isabella Ginanneschi grew up between Milan and Tuscany. In Milan she worked as an art director with the top designers and photographers during the city's fashion boom. Soon after moving to New York in 1985 she became the art director for Barneys New York. Bali has been her second home since 1992. Her first photography exhibition at the Ganesha Gallery at the Four Seasons Resort Bali led to her current representation by the Staley-Wise Gallery in New York. Her editorial work on Bali has been featured in Travel & Leisure, Departures, and House Beautiful magazines.

Made Wijaya, an architect, landscape designer, and tennis coach, is the author of The Encyclopedia of Balinese Architecture and Tropical Garden Design. An Australian also known as Michael White, he has lived in Bali since 1973. His monthly "Stranger in Paradise" column for the Sunday Bali Post is much loved on the island.

This beautifully illustrated volume offers an enticing look at the exotic style of the island paradise that has attracted a steady stream of artists, architects, anthropologists, mystics, and celebrities from all over the world. Photographer Isabella Ginanneschi and Wijaya (architect, landscape designer, and author) present 24 exceptional homes, both traditional and modern, all shown in their lush tropical surroundings. They also feature the courtyard shrines and the public temples that play a role in daily life for both the Balinese and the newer residents. Contains hundreds of color and b&w photographs. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR