Drexel Heritage by Norris

The celebrated author of under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany, Frances Mayes, was under the Fort Myers and Naples sun recently when she was in the area for a working visit. Although the poet/novelist/travel writer divides her time between a San Francisco house she shares with her husband, poet Edward Mayes, and their famous home in Cortona, Italy (you did see the Diane Lane film, didn't you?), Mayes told me she likes to come to Florida. She finds the air balmy and she adores spending time with a sister who lives in Lakeland. Also, Mayes completed her last two years of college at the University of Florida in Gainesville, so she definitely has ties to this state.

But her recent sojourn wasn't about relaxing with family and friends. She was here on business for Drexel Heritage. It seems the successful writer can now add furniture designer/entrepreneur to her list of talents. In cooperation with Drexel Heritage, Mayes has been working on the design of 50 pieces of furniture, all of them eminently suitable for Mediterranean Revival or traditional homes, and all of them inspired by authentic Italian antiques and textiles. The collection is called At Home in Tuscany and was in part inspired by many choice antiques that fill the writer's square stone house in the Tuscan hills.

Here's how it happened. Mayes has been living part-time in Italy for the past 15 years, much of her days taken up with refurbishing her "ruined casa" called Bramasole. Although some refer to this romantic home as a villa, Mayes says that is much too grand a description. The house has 14 rooms but each is quite small, and the total area of the house is only about 3,000 square feet. But the home has a seamless connection to the outdoors, its rooms gracefully stretching onto terraces, patios, garden rooms and an olive orchard.

Mayes has always been particular about furnishing the home, scouring Tuscany for antiques of the proper scale and proportion. Her favorite city to hunt treasure is Arezzo, which she says is the antiques capital of the country. On each foray she'd drag things back to Bramasole and often ship one or two back to the states for her California home. She studied antiques with an expert and eventually developed the eye of a true professional. So her San Francisco home evolved into a showplace for some lovely and wonderfully utilitarian Mediterranean pieces such as a convent table, which she uses as a lamp table, luggage rack and bedside table.

At just the moment the writer began to realize it might be fun and profitable to design and market selected furniture based on ancient Tuscan designs, she was introduced to Drexel Heritage president and CEO Jeff Young, who came to visit her in Italy. He already had an Italian line under way when she suggested developing the very same thing. When Young saw her home in Cortona, he knew he had found the partner for a project that would bring high-quality furniture based on authentic Tuscan antiques to American consumers.

Mayes took Young shopping in Arezzo, and the rest of the collaboration unfolded as naturally as it would for any two bargain hunters on a mission of bliss. "Our first piece was based on a credenza circa 1700 that I had found in Arezzo for Bramasole," remembers the author. "The first time I saw the two pieces side-by-side, my antique and what Drexel Heritage had made, I knew we had something special. You simply cannot tell one from the other."

The case goods come in several finishes: light or dark, distressed surface, and there's a painted finish, too, which Mayes says is probably her favorite. From the At Home in Tuscany collection, Mayes says she now owns a sofa with curvy arms, two slipper chairs in a watermelon pink silk, a blacksmith's table, several beds, and an armoire fitted as a wine storage unit that she put in her dining room. The front of the armoire is the design of Bramasole's front door. "I think of this furniture as simple, sturdy, but playful and romantic," says Mayes. "And each piece suits the Tuscan lifestyle and the Florida one, too."

Frances Mayes is genuinely devoted to this latest venture in her creative life. Three years ago she resigned her position as chair of the creative writing department at San Francisco State University (she'd been there for 23 years) so that she could concentrate on writing and on developing the furniture collection. "What surprised me is how much I enjoy the business end," she admits. "I really get pleasure from discovering that perfect antique that expresses the Tuscan way of life and then working on the process that translates the spirit of that ancient piece of furniture into something new yet old that others can own and enjoy."

Because many Southwest Florida homes are larger and have higher ceilings than Bramasole, some of the At Home in Tuscany pieces (such as the Contessa dining room chairs) come in two sizes, one scaled for bountiful spaces and another for more intimate rooms. To evaluate which size is perfect for your casa, you'll want to breeze on down to Drexel Heritage by Norris and inspect every single glorious piece. If you can't vacation in Italy this season, you can at least take something home from Norris that has the charm of Frances Mayes' beloved romantic ruin.

Bay Design Store

Many successful designers with globetrotting clients who maintain more than one home eventually find it practical to open additional offices and showrooms in cities where clients can access their expertise easily and efficiently. Susan Bay, along with her design partner since 1991, Jim Kunstel, has taken the plunge, and Bay Design Store is now located in the heart of Old Naples as well as in Ann Arbor, Mich. One day last week, no fewer than seven of Bay's Michigan clients walked into her Naples store to say hello and to let her know they are glad she's opened a store in town and is in residence during season.

Susan Bay has been in the business for 20 years and has quite an enviable reputation in Michigan as a genius at pulling together a classic scheme that retains a sense of freshness and relaxation. She's had a vacation home on the water in Naples for the past five years, and when space on 13th Avenue South became available last September, she decided the time was right for a Bay Design Store in Southwest Florida. Her boyfriend, Kevin, is a boater and major fisherman. Susan is a gardener, and a lot of her bromeliads and orchids make it into the shop.

The elegant new store is located in the space that was occupied by Crickets swimwear for more than 35 years. Consequently the designers needed to effect a complete transformation. They got right to it, overhauling virtually everything. The renovation included new flooring, a raised ceiling, properly outfitted workrooms and modern lighting. Details such as crown molding, granite counters, chandeliers and fabulous furniture and accessories came last.

Bay carries high-end furniture (such as a matching pair of cabinets for $22,000) and glamorous accessories, but surprisingly the store also can provide just the right hostess gift-potpourri, scented votive candles, a small piece of precious art glass, a unique box. Prices for those items start at a modest $15. And the store has a welcoming feeling. The showrooms are the size of one's living room or family room. She offers a client approval service, which means you take an item (or several) off the floor and try it at home before you make a decision to purchase.

You'll know when you're anywhere near this beguiling new establishment because the oyster-textured exterior is distinctive with carriage lights, pearl-gray awnings and potted palms. Bay Design Store stands out but at the same time looks quite at home amid the sophisticated art galleries, antique shops, restaurants and specialty boutiques.

The store is organized into five vignettes, each with a distinct design attitude. The largest of the showrooms is devoted to a tropical scheme, since that's the one so popular with full-time and seasonal residents. But the store is also an excellent resource for the eclectic look, a genteel Old South motif, traditional and Mediterranean. Expect the elements of each room to change frequently, because Bay and Kunstel are imaginative and quite up to date on the latest design trends. And besides, when have you ever known a design professional to leave things completely alone for more than a day and a half? The creative ones are always fine-tuning.

Nuspört

Modern, fashion-forward people who believe in looking fab while they are exercising are right in tune with the kind of luxury sports and resort clothes that Nuspört and its designer Don Polley are offering. A Nuspört store already exists in Palm Beach and one is opening in Martha's Vineyard this summer, so it's only natural for Naples to be added to the list.

The appeal of Nuspört is obvious. Suppose you are power walking at a marina and dear friends spy you through their porthole and dash out to invite you to join them for happy hour aboard the yacht. You want to look your best, and in a pale mango fleece cashmere hooded shirt ($248) and matching shorts, you will.

Robin Fuchs, who owns Nuspört, has lived in Naples for five years and has watched the town grow younger. When her friend Polley told her last year that he was working on a new collection of luxury sports and spa wear, Fuchs decided to open a store to sell it. She has a successful background as the owner of clothing emporiums in the Northeast and still divides her time between here and New York.

The fabrics that Polley uses for the Nuspört private label are 100-percent pima cotton, cotton/Lycra blends, cashmere and fleeced cashmere. The inventory is organized by color and the colors are so yummy: pale turquoise, tender buttercup, ivory and white, sea-mist green, mango, shell pink-everything soft and sophisticated, no primary colors.

The way that the inventory is arranged and displayed contributes to the light and airy ambience of the store, with its bamboo floors and comfortable, oversized modern furniture. You'll feel good shopping here amid the camisoles, sweaters (the cashmere ones from New Scotland are $298), tank tops, and exercise trousers with a comfortable elastic waistband. The tennis, golf, workout and spa clothing inventory is select, which means there isn't a lot of it, but what there is will certainly tempt you.

One side of the store is devoted to women's togs; the opposite side is for gentlemen. Besides clothing, Nuspört stocks several collections of scented candles (in fragrances such as sake, cypress and palomino, $45), and body pampering products such as soy eye gel ($35), Hesperides body shampoo, various balms, brown-sugar body polish, and soaps with luscious names such as jasmine rose, fig apricot or gardenia magnolia for $9. Each bar is beautifully wrapped in metallic flecked opaque paper and tied with a golden string-a useful hostess gift or something special for a guest bath or your own. After all that shopping, you'll want to enjoy a nice, long soak.