designer jonathan adler

There are few other potters in the world who have made such a mark on design (and contemporary culture) as Jonathan Adler. He is one of the major voices in the interior design world, known globally for his strong use of colour, graphics and mid-century styling, especially in his interior design work, pictured above. Jonathan has also managed to cross over and be known to the broader public thanks to his furniture and homewares (available across his 14 stores, and at a multitude of global stockists) and his role as lead judge on TV's Top Design.

But it's worth noting what motivated Jonathan at the very start. It wasn't money or fame. It was the simple desire to be creative. Jonathan was born in New Jersey and studied semiotics and art history at Brown University all the while dedicating much of his free time to pottery. In 1994 he showed some of his first pots to Barneys, which quickly placed an order. Eight years later he launched a furniture collection. He has been unstoppable ever since.

Which five words best describe you? Optimistic, disciplined, restless, hungry, maker.

How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? My career has been very accidental. After a series of go nowhere jobs in the film industry, I decided that I had no future and I might as well do what I love and just be a potter. I envisioned years of hocking my wares in rain-soaked craft fairs in upstate New York. I got myself a studio and starting throwing all day every day. I got my first order from Barneys and the short story is that the rest is history.

What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? That if someone tells you that you can't do something, that you do it anyway. Only you know what you are truly capable of achieving.

What’s your proudest career achievement? Every time I open a new store, I feel very proud. We just opened our 14th location, a fab new store in Atlanta.

What’s been your best decision? To follow my dream and do what I love. That and going on a blind date 16 years ago with Simon Doonan.

Who inspires you? My holy trinity of muses are Bjorn Wiinblad, Bonnie Cashin and Alexander Girard, all of whom were mid-century designers who made stuff that was gorgeously chic and inspiringly optimistic.

What are you passionate about? I'm passionate about impeccable craftsmanship and design.

Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? Auntie Mame

What dream do you still want to fulfil? To design an airline! Also, I wouldn't mind a potters wheel over-looking the Faraglioni.

What are you reading? The Kids are Alright by Patti Smith. I have a pretty complicated business and sometimes I forget that the whole reason I got into this was because I had something to say, I had to make pottery, I had to be creative, I had to had to had to! This book reminds me of my early years which were only about creativity and I was totally broke.

images courtesy of jonathan adler

designer & writer david netto

It is little wonder that David Netto was appointed contributing design editor for the Wall Street Journal last year. He has a wealth of knowledge, and experience, on the subject. He grew up in New York City, with textile designer Alan Campbell as his uncle. He has worked extensively as an interior designer, and a product designer. His range of children's furniture, under the name NettoCollection, was bought by multinational corporation Maclaren. For three years in a row David was named House Beautiful's "Top 100 designers in America". His work has appeared in Vogue, Elle Decor, House & Garden and Domino. I interviewed him recently for real living magazine, and his knowledge and respect for the Modernist architect of his LA home, Richard Neutra, was palpable, and inspiring.

Which five words best describe you? Determined, Gemini, frustrated, romantic, optimistic.

How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? I was very lucky in two ways: (a) I met early mentor figures whose encouragement helped me a great deal, such as Nasser Nakib, the first architect I worked for. He really shaped my understanding of how to at least try to be successful and took the time to explain to me what I should do. That is very important to a young person. My godfather, the textile designer Alan Campbell, was another. (b) I never stuck with a school or a job I didn't feel was taking me in the right direction, which does take courage if I say so myself. If I hadn't dropped out of Harvard things would have just taken much longer, and if I'd kept on working for someone who shall not be named I would have become insane. Ever since that time I have done things for roughly five-year stints, then tried to exit honourably, or just torn them apart and started something else. That's healthy to me. I'm on my first year as a design editor for the Wall Street Journal now, and it's going great.

What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? Invest in your own ideas quickly and with maximum commitment, no matter how much people try to talk you out of them.

What’s your proudest career achievement? Not going bankrupt in 2008/9 and instead selling NettoCollection to Maclaren, with the help of my lifelong friend and business partner Claude Arpels.

What’s been your best decision? Marriage to my wife Elizabeth.

Who inspires you? Debbie Harry. Ted Turner. Peter Cushing. Lena Horne. Paul Smith. Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho. Brooklyn Decker. Randy Newman. Q-Tip.

What are you passionate about? I'm very passionate about getting people to see something they are used to and have stopped feeling special about in a different way: Make baby furniture into an object of desire. Write about architecture or design which is maybe so familiar nobody ever bothers to think about WHY it's great anymore (NY apartment houses). I'm passionate about trying to be a good father, and I have arranged my life around that priority. I'm passionate about trying to be a good husband too. I'm passionate about Ducati motorcycles.

Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? It goes like this: Dudley Moore, Ava Gardner and I and have dinner at the Stork Club and they don't hate me.

What dream do you still want to fulfil? I want to own the Carlyle Hotel in New York. What's the point of having a dream if you're going to get it?

What are you reading? George Hamilton's autobiography Don't mind if I do was one of my favorite recent books.

images courtesy of david netto and via habitually chic

designer michele michael

The beauty and simplicity of the ceramics that Michele Michael creates for her business Elephant Ceramics almost belies the breadth and depth of her life as an all-around creative. She has been a decorating editor for the US's House & Garden magazine, worked as a freelance prop stylist and opened a prop hire business. But when you look at her pieces, you can see that there's more than artistry at work. There is a deep knowledge of colour, texture, styling, photography and story. Almost as good as hers...

Which five words best describe you? Passionate, organised, earnest, motivated, driven.

How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? I was working at a boutique in SOHO where one of my clients was a decorating editor at House & Garden Magazine. She hired me to be her assistant. Knowing that I had gone to school to study fashion design she told me that if after a year I was not interested in interior design and I still wanted to pursue fashion she would do her best to get me a staff position at Vogue magazine. I’m not sure if that would have been possible, but it was an offer I couldn’t refuse, and lucky for me I loved the whole world of interior design! My very first shoot was with the photographer Horst P. Horst and I worked with other amazing photographers such as Sheila Metzner, Oberto Gili, Eric Boman, Todd Eberle and Francois Hallard shooting gorgeous homes and apartments. I quickly fell in love with the whole world of design and learned a great deal from working there. From there I went on to work as an editor at several other magazines, write a decorating book, produce interior design stories and style shoots as a freelancer, open a prop house called Elephant Props, and now hand make my own ceramics.

What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? Be happy in the moment.

What’s your proudest career achievement? This is a tough one. I think I am proud of my career as a whole. For me it’s a constant evolution. There is still so much to do and learn.

What’s been your best decision? To take risks.

Who inspires you? So many people inspire me. People who do so much with so little inspire me. They inspire me to keep moving forward everyday.

What are you passionate about? Animals and nature. And working in clay.

Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? Dr Dame Daphne Marjorie Sheldrick who has spent a lifetime saving orphaned baby elephants and baby black rhinos in Kenya. She lives and works in Nairobi National Park where she runs an orphan’s nursery and manages The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Daphne Sheldrick has campaigned tirelessly at an international level against the abuse of captive animals and has promoted wildlife conservation worldwide. I would love to go to Kenya, meet Dame Daphne and visit the orphaned elephants.

What dream do you still want to fulfil? Traveling to so many places I still have not been such as India, Japan, Greece, Mexico, Vietnam, Argentina, The Seychelles, Madagascar, The Faroe Islands and many other places.

What are you reading? I love reading mysteries and thrillers. I just finish the book The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer, which was so riveting I didn’t want it to end.

images courtesy of elephant ceramics, portrait jennifer causey

interior designer tobi tobin

She has been called the rock 'n' roll Martha Stewart by the LA Times. Tobi Tobin started working as a designer about 15 years ago and has built up a strong client base, especially in the music and film industry. Over the years she has created a range of her own products, including bedding, furniture, flooring and candles. Tobi also has a store on Sunset Blvd, pictured above.

Which five words best describe you? As a designer: timeless, historical, relevant, modern and reflective.

How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? I have had many career paths in my life (model, writer, chef, designer) and now brand owner. They have all been stepping stones in my life that have created my personal life and my brand. The Tobi Tobin brand is a reflection of all those journeys. The choices I made in life were from a place of passion. Really, I feel that I have never worked a day in my life. I just love what I do and I am very grateful to being doing the thing I love so much everyday. That's the gift. It's all in the doing.

What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? Keep moving forward, keep moving forward. That's the key. Never take no for an answer. Keep pushing until you get what you want.

What’s your proudest career achievement? My first cover of AD and the opening day of the Tobi Tobin flagship store in Los Angeles.

What’s been your best decision? To launch and build the Tobi Tobin brand. I love it. I wake up everyday and can't wait to start working.

Who inspires you? Those who push against all odds, all of us who overcome and believe that we have the power to design our own lives.

What are you passionate about? Design, luxury goods, fashion, food and my Swiss Mountain dog Theo.

Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? Anais Nin

What dream do you still want to fulfil? Finding the love of my life.

What are you reading? Perfumes by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez

images courtesy of tobi tobin

interior designer alexandra champalimaud

Some of the most well-known hotels of the world - especially in the USA - have had the interiors designed by New York-based Alexandra Champalimaud. In America, she is behind looks at the Hotel Bel-Air, The Algonquin Hotel, The Carlyle and is in the process of redesigning the Waldorf Astoria. In London Alexandra has been working on the interiors for The Dorchester and has completed hotel commissions in other countries including China and Germany. Alexandra was born in Portugal and started her first interior design business in Montreal, Canada. In 1994 she moved her offices to New York to reflect her growing US and international client base. Alexandra has also designed a line of rugs for The Rug Company and will release a fabric range for Holland & Sherry.

Which five words best describe you? Driven, sophisticated, worldly, intuitive, creative.
How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? My first hotel work was with a professor from my university in Lisbon. It was the Hotel Vilalara in the Algare in Portugal. In my career and in my life I look for open doors and then I just walk through them.
What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? To bring more white into a room.
What’s your proudest career achievement? I’m not sure I’ve had it yet, but at the moment I am particularly proud of the Canyon Villas at the Hotel Bel-Air.
What’s been your best decision? Being fearless.
Who inspires you? My sons.
What are you passionate about? Health and fitness, design, fashion, travel and my family.
Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? Again... my mother.
What dream do you still want to fulfil? A grand hotel in Paris - the renovation and reimagining of.
What are you reading? Steve Jobs biography

images courtesy of alexandra champalimaud

designer and furniture maker scott hudson

It turns out that working with his grandfather during his teens was a defining time in Scott Hudson's life. Together they would make things. Henry was a builder and cabinetmaker, and lived in North Carolina. Scott went on to art school before carving a career in book publishing in New York. After a few other detours, he helped start a kids media company and an internet software company focussed on publishing. In 2001 created Henrybuilt, taking the principles he had learnt from his grandfather and applying them to kitchen and furniture design and manufacture. The company makes products by hand and to order in Washington state. It has showrooms in Seattle and New York, and works with customers across the globe. Recent projects have been completed in Brussels and Mexico City.

Which five words best describe you? Would rather be making something.

How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? I don’t know that I have a "career", but the start of whatever it is was definitely working with my grandfather in the summers when I was a teenager – who knew how to do whatever needed to be done. From working with my grandfather it was publishing, to software to Henrybuilt – where the three prior steps all come together.

What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? Again it’s three things that go together: "pursue the highest standard you are capable of pursuing, try to do it in a way that benefits everyone involved, and never give up."

What’s your proudest career achievement? Working with a bunch of great people to build a company where work rises above the ordinary meaning of work and where people who want to excel get the opportunity to develop. It’s a work in progress, of course.

What’s been your best decision? Marrying my wife. If you were to say, "but I mean professionally", I would give you the same answer.

Who inspires you? My kids, and everyone I see that is doing something with excellence and for lack of a better word "style", whether pruning a tree, waiting a table or directing traffic.

What are you passionate about? Designing and building things, whether a product, a company or a woodshed.

Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? I have no idea really, but one of the first people that comes to mind in the moment might be cliché but it would be very interesting to have a drink with Winston Churchill.

What dream do you still want to fulfill? I would like to travel more with my wife, and start an educational/internship program for people who want to build businesses around products.

What are you reading? I wish it were something that would make me sound interesting, but lately I just read in little bits. I just reread a section of Naked Economics.

images courtesy of henrybuilt

illustrator leah duncan

Austin, Texas in the USA has a strong and vibrant creative community. It is where graphic designer Leah Duncan moved when she made the decision to pursue a career as an illustrator. That was in 2008 and since then she has taught herself to sew and create surface pattern design. She has also had her work licensed by Target, Urban Outfitters, Teroforma and Land of Nod.

Which five words best describe you? Passionate, silly, introverted, determined, and curious.
How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? I'd always been interested in art, but it never seemed like a logical career path. I originally studied commercial printing in college which had nothing to do with art other than designing our own projects to print on commercial printing presses. We were graded on how well it was printed, not on how well it was designed, but I fell in love with design through the process and it's been my focus ever since. I got a job as a graphic designer after college and worked for an advertising firm, followed by a screen-printing company. The problem with those jobs was that there's only so much creativity involved in that sort of business and you ultimately have to answer to your client and your boss. I knew in order to fulfill my creative hunger I would need to be the one in charge, so when we moved to Austin four years ago I started my journey into art, illustration, sewing, pattern making, and small business.
What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? Learning to say no. I've always been a people pleaser and it's gotten me in over my head on one too many occasions. I've learned that saying no is hard, but it leaves me open to projects that are better suited to my business and gives me time to spend with my friends and family, which to many small business owners is oftentimes a luxury.
What’s your proudest career achievement? Deciding to do this! And everything since then has been a dream come true.
What’s been your best decision? Besides deciding to do this, deciding to marry my husband and adopt my dog were equally as good.
Who inspires you? Everyone. I'm pretty much a sponge who is hopefully squeezing things out in my own voice.
What are you passionate about? Art, illustration, design, animal welfare, food, fitness, and my family.
Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? Frida Kahlo. I just love her bold quirkiness.
What dream do you still want to fulfil? Living on and owning a farm. Starting a family.
What are you reading? Imagine by Jonah Lehrer. I find studies of creativity intriguing.

images courtesy of leah duncan; portrait paige newtown

designer gabriel hendifar

The most successful designs are often ones created when someone isn't able to find the item themselves. Enter the lights from Apparatus. Gabriel Hendifar, who trained in costume and scenic design and has worked as a fashion designer, was looking for something time-worn yet modern for his home with Jeremy Anderson. Together they decided to create their own. New York-based Apparatus is the result. You can see more of Gabriel's design work here.

Which five words best describe you? Closet-introvert, maker, thinker, laugher-at-inappropriate-things, aesthete.

How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? I was trained as a costume and scenic designer and have been primarily designing womenswear for the past 10 years - first with JMary then with Raquel Allegra. I took on interior design clients as a way to expand my perspective and sharpen my eye. I really value an interdisciplinary approach — design solutions become more rich and layered that way. Apparatus was conceived when my partner Jeremy Anderson and I moved in together a few years ago. We were redesigning our apartment and I couldn’t find the fixtures I wanted to hang in our space - something that strikes a smart balance between utilitarian and decorative.

What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? Let your brain roam and play and make. Then edit. And then edit some more.

What’s your proudest career achievement so far? Showing up to work every day knowing that I get to be an independently creative person makes me pretty proud.

What’s been your best decision? That’s a tough one. Maybe believing in my perspective until others catch up. It’s very “if you build it, they will come”.

What are you passionate about? That moment when everything comes together. Balance. Imbalance. Music.

Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? Can I throw a dinner party? Grace Coddington, Charles Aznavour, Chopin, and Cy Twombly.

What dream do you still want to fulfill? Expanding our collection into textiles and furniture. Designing menswear.

What are you reading? Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

images courtesy of apparatus

photographer william abranowicz

The photographs of America's William Abranowicz are held in collections at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, The International Center of Photography in New York, The National Portrait Gallery in London and The Smithsonian in Washington, DC. He has been a regular contributor to Conde Nast Traveler for more than 20 years and has also had his work featured in Vanity Fair, Vogue, Elle Decor and The New York Times Magazine. Advertising clients have included Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani, The Gap and Rolex. But the projects that he is most proud of are his books: The Greek File and Hellas. They celebrate and document a 30-year love affair with that country.

Which five words best describe you? Father, husband, photographer, focused, committed.

How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? I started taking photographs when I was a teenager. I photographed friends all the time. I went to college as an economics major - God knows why. It was a job track I suppose, took a photography class and transferred to an art school (School of Visual Arts in NYC). I started working for photographers including George Tice - a fine art photographer and then Horst, the fashion and portrait photographer. My path has been forward since then and I have done a really wide variety of different things -making images for myself as well a number of magazines - travel, people, food, still life, interiors. I am always looking to make images that are personal. It's a balance against the commercial aspects though my editorial images are as close to myself and my own work as possible. I started photographing in Greece nearly 30 years ago, have done two books on the country (The Greek File - Rizzoli, 2001 and Hellas - Hudson Hills, 2011) and just returned from another month of photographing there. I have made a long term series of images of my three children that I hope to turn into another book. The path I've taken combines every aspect of my life and the influence that life and the the things around have made on image making. I photograph what I live but have been immensely fortunate in my work and the places that work has taken me.

What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? This is a marathon and not a sprint. Say no to things that don't matter.

What’s your proudest career achievement? My two books.

What’s been your best decision? Marrying my wife, Andrea, and having three kids. Andrea and the kids have given me great inspiration in my work. They support me when I need support and I work hard to be able to take them to as many of the places in the world that have moved me.

Who inspires you? Aside from my family, poets and writers - poets like Seamus Heaney and Edmund Keeley. Writers like Nicholas Gage and Louis De Bernieres.

What are you passionate about? The fine print. The shift from analog to digital image-making has been a rough one and the drive to make the perfect print in that transition is something that drives me.

Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? James Joyce

What dream do you still want to fulfil? I simply want to remain relevant.

What are you reading? I just finished Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard about the US president James Garfield, as well as The Obamas by Jodi Kantor - I love reading about politics and these two books are about two great US Presidents.

images courtesy of william abranowicz