Western Massachusetts: Berkshires

Interview with Jane Iredale, founder of Iredale Mineral Cosmetics which recently established its headquarters in the former Bryant School in western Massachusetts. Architects: Croxton Collaborative Architects. School built in 1889, Arts and Crafts style.

In Cummington. Built in 1785, expanded in the mid-19th cent., and currently open to the public.

Features two resort areas: Sugarloaf, Northwestern Maine, architects and landscape architects: Sasaki Associates; Heritage Greylock, western Massachusetts, architect: Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and Abbott, landscape architects: SWA Group.

Dunnam is design director with Jed Johnson Associates, a New York interior design firm. Here he selects suppliers of antiques, carpets, and textiles in picturesque towns in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts such as South Egrement, Great Barrington and Sheffield.

Craft has become part of the vibrant cultural mix that transforms western Massachusetts into a hub of activity for residents and visitors alike during the summer tourist season. There is a particularly strong art scene in the Berkshires, partly due to the overflow of artists from Pioneer Valley, approximately 25 miles away, which experienced its own artistic flowering a number of decades ago.