Welcome to The Arcadian Revivalist
Where personal experiences and professional insights allow us to have a conversation about life lived with intention around connecting us with nature and one another.
Welcome to The Arcadian Revivalist Substack. This exciting next chapter for Arcadian Revival has come at a moment when our business is taking off, and also at a point in which we have more to say. More years of experience, more life lessons learned, more parenting under our belt, and more seasons of my hands in the dirt learning the rhythms of the land and our place in the world.
The name The Arcadian Revivalist was coined by my husband Jamil one late, warm summer evening while sipping wine on our back porch after putting our daughter down for bedtime. It was one of those memorable evenings to me where I was dreaming up big dreams as I do, and Jamil went along with me. What was most eye opening as it all came together in my head is that Arcadian Revival is so much more than an interior design and lifestyle business. It is type of person, a movement if you will. There is something actionable to it.
To me, being an Arcadian Revivalist has been a guiding star that I’ve developed for myself first to establish and really lean into a set of values for my adult self, around family, community, and the crucial role we each play in understanding and nurturing our environment.
Here, we will cover it all: design insights and tips, the latest book I’m reading, what I am cooking, doing, or wearing, what I am excited about as we celebrate the seasons here at home, ideas for holidays and milestones, gardening stories and tutorials, recipes and traditions from our kitchen - you will find bits of it all here.
We will continue sharing thoughtful, creative writing in the Arcadian Revival Folio, a collection of stories that live as our online journal at arcadianrevival.com.
For the full Arcadian Revival experience, we invite you to subscribe to our Substack where we’ll share a roundup of exclusive content for our closest community.
Pull up a chair. At Arcadian Revival, we always leave an open seat at the table.
Arcadian Revivalist /ɑːrˈkeɪ.di.ən/ /rɪˈvaɪv(ə)lɪst/ (noun):
A person who intentionally lives a life driven by their values of self-enrichment, of home, seeking harmony with the natural world, and cultivating community. One who balances elegance and ruggedness.
An individual who strives to leave a positive impact on all things great and small, who holds close to their heart the things worthy of being held onto from the past, but keeps a keen eye on the future. A leader, a dreamer.
A person with grit who believes in creating and pausing for beauty, especially as it relates to nature and humanity.
One who seeks or appreciates the realization of these characteristics visually through design.
Why Arcadian Revival, and how I came up with the name…
“Revival” easily fell into place when we found our home, which is designed in the Greek Revival style of architecture. "Revival”, meaning to bring something back and to make something better holds significance. Let me explain.
“Arcadian” came first. I have sketches of potential company names that filled space in notebooks for years. It was during the early months of 2020 when civilization felt like it was being tested that I had an epiphany about this creative endeavor that I felt drawn to pursue.
I have long been a fan of many of the Hudson River School artists since childhood visits to the Cleveland Museum of Art, including most notably the Hudson Valley’s well-known Thomas Cole. And so it wasn’t a surprise when in early April 2020 I was contemplating the chaotic state of the world and thought of Cole’s series ‘The Course of the Empire’ emerged. The paintings take viewers through several phases of civilization, from pure wilderness to the rise and fall of great empires. The second painting in the series, ‘The Arcadian (or Pastoral) State’ represents man achieving perfect harmony with nature.
Regardless of whether or not this harmony was actually ever achieved (maybe for each of us in brief moments or seasons, but most certainly unlikely as a civilization as a whole), the idea of returning in a way to that state, where we can live more connected with the earth - and take this idea a step further to better connect with one another as well in today’s global society - is what I mean by striving toward an Arcadian Revival.
I look forward to this more conversation-style format of writing and cannot wait for all of the beautiful connections and happenings that I know will emerge. We would love to hear what you think.
Until we meet again,
Bethany
