Rose Florence Anderson is behind The Rose Period, a Substack you likely already follow, if you care about art and beauty. She’s often surfacing artists and work you wished you’d known about sooner. Rose is also the brand director at Alex Mill, which makes sense given her keen eye for color. I was curious to know what’s been on her mind lately and she kindly obliged.
What super specific thing are you obsessing over lately?
Super specific is my specialty. Lately I’ve been obsessed with miniatures — especially the Stettheimer sisters’ dollhouse at the Museum of the City of New York. It’s one of the city’s best hidden gems and even includes original tiny artworks by artists like Marcel Duchamp.
A product of any kind you’ve been appreciating lately?
Ceramics you can’t find anywhere else by somsack sikhounmuong
Is there anything better than homemade? I think not, especially when it’s this cool. Our creative director at Alex Mill, Somsack makes the most spectacular hand-built clay vases, soap dishes, and snack plates.
Each is unexpected and totally one of a kind, and it’s hard not to notice his extra special touch: a rock pocketed from a Positano beach, a crackle glaze, a smatter of polka dots. Get one for yourself but also, it makes the most perfect gift.
Speaking of gifts, what’s the best gift you’ve ever given or received?
My mom spent an entire summer handwriting our family recipes into an old-school recipe box for my birthday. She had my dad and my siblings write some too, so I’d always have their handwriting. Also tucked inside: a few of my grandmother’s original cards — spaghetti stains included. I opened it and cried. It felt like a little archive of our family.
What’s the most interesting thing you screenshotted in recent weeks?
The purple/red combos on the Fall Winter 26 runways. The Marni, Prada, and Chloe shows were my fave.
What’s a movie or TV series you tell everyone to watch?
THIS documentary about the Vogels, a librarian and a postal worker who somehow built one of the most important contemporary art collections in the world… out of their one-bedroom New York City apartment.
They didn’t buy the big, obvious pieces. They bought the stuff artists were making on the way to those pieces. Early Sol LeWitt wall-drawing instructions instead of the finished wall. Tiny Eva Hesse studies in latex and string before the sculptures. Even a literal rope scrap from Richard Tuttle’s larger installation.
They got creative and scrappy: they bought in early, cheap, and before anyone else cared. Now that little apartment collection lives at the NATIONAL GALLERY.
It’s a good reminder you don’t need a huge income to start collecting. Get creative be curious. And most of all, just start! ⚘
