The Dream List No. 34: Romilly Newman

In this edition, culinary creative and aesthete Romilly Newman invites us into her world—a place shaped by family, fragrance, and beautifully lived-in spaces.

Romilly Newman lives in the in-between: between food and design, memory and mood, elegance and ease. A third-generation New Yorker raised in a home where aesthetics were as intuitive as emotion, she grew up surrounded by art, books, and the cadence of dinner parties. Her grandmother, who built a home with architect Romaldo Giurgola and decorated it with the help of Albert Hadley, instilled in her a reverence for space—not just as shelter, but as atmosphere. At eleven, Romilly began documenting her culinary instincts on a blog. By sixteen, she’d caught attention for her prodigious skill in the kitchen, her sense of style, and her already formed creative voice.

Today, Romilly is a writer, food stylist, and creative director whose work sits at the intersection of taste and texture. She’s contributed to Architectural Digest, Vogue, Town & Country, and beyond, always bringing with her a sensitivity to details—how a table feels in late afternoon light, how a dish can look like a still life, how objects can evoke entire narratives. Her work doesn’t just photograph well—it lingers. It’s less about visual perfection and more about emotional fluency. About care. About character.

In this edition of The Dream List, Romilly opens the door to her world—sharing the references and rituals that shape her days. From a pomegranate-shaped gift to a pair of chairs she can’t choose between, from Kyoto’s quiet ceramics to Mexico City’s confident pulse, this is a life composed with the same intention she brings to a well-set table: unfussy, evocative, and deeply felt.