John Whelan
If you could have a second home anywhere, where would you live? Currently, on the island of Buyukada, part of the ‘Princes’ Islands’ just off the coast of Istanbul. I’ve been in thrall to the delapidated Ottoman splendor of the villas one finds here, as well as the surreal but relaxing silence given that cars are not allowed.
What are three words to describe your style? 1. Timeless. 2. Melancholic 3. Punk
Tell us about your childhood bedroom? My childhood bedroom was a wall-to-wall patchwork of cut-out images from magazines that fired my imagination From Wallpaper* to The Face and Thrasher. I was into style and attitude-heavy publications from an early age. My two childhood bedrooms also overlooked the Solent (the sea off the Isle of Wight) and Lake Geneva, which no doubt helped me to daydream.
What’s the first investment piece you ever bought for your house? I would say that this was the large abstract painting by my friend De Rrusie that hung above the sofa in my flat in Bayswater. I let him stay in my apartment for a summer when I was on a building site in Paris, supplying him with a bespoke canvas size and materials. He then went to work, creating almost a prototype in acrylic for the style he has now honed in oils. I think in the future it will be worth far more than what I initially paid to make it happen.
In the history of design, if you could hire any designer other than yourself, who would it be? Gosh that’s tough. I think that if I was living in town, I would hire Jean Dunand to create a sleek Art Deco masterpiece. If I was living in the country, probably Roberto Peregalli. I would then spend much time scruffing up his historicist vision!
No room is complete without human interaction. People bring spaces alive.
People think of me as harsh, but I am really kind.
Things you omit from:
A flower arrangement : twigs
An hors d’oeuvre platter : caviar
A bar cabinet : electric wine bottle opener
A song for:
Dinner at home : ‘If I had a hammer’ sung by Sam Cooke
Working at your desk: No music when I work!
Going for a run: ‘Pursuit’ by Gessafelstein
Biggest Vice? Cigarettes and Alcohol.
If you were on an Ambien high and internet shopping, what would you buy? Probably some rare vintage piece of outerwear by Massimo Osti designed companies Stone Island or C.P. Company. I have quite a large collection.
Do your clothes reflect your design sensibility, if so, how? Not really. I dress more like a football hooligan than someone who aims to make soulful, timeless interiors! I should probably be wearing Italian tailoring with a rollneck (I do occasionally). However, I feel that traditional menswear has been ruined by a bunch of fame-hungry peacocks on Instagram, and so I choose to dress like Liam Gallagher (see next question!).
Who is your star crush? Liam Gallagher from the band Oasis. His unswerving dedication to straight-up honesty, humour and Stone Island parkas entertains me greatly. I also think that his voice is like a punk John Lennon, always in the minor key, always melancholic. Perhaps I want to make work then that looks like an Oasis track sounds!
What is the thing you would never do on a project, but don’t detest when you see others do it? I would never do a monochromatic ‘wabi sabi’ thing, as I rely on colour too much to elicit an emotional response. However, I really like it when Axel Vervoordt and Hollie Bowden do it.
If there were a fire, and you could only keep one design book, what would it be? Wiener Werkstatte published by Taschen. I’m not sure I would have become a designer had I not acquired this book around the age of 30.
For posterity, what would you like your work to be known for? For giving new life and relevance to historic buildings and interiors. I always like to work within a historic framework, and aim to preserve original features as much as possible. I was in fact motivated to become a designer when I saw how so many Postmodernists (like Philippe Starck) or Futurists (like Zaha Hadid) had no quarms with destroying a historic building in order to impose their ‘Starchitectural’ vision.
A Few Favorites:
Movie: La Grande Belezza by Sorentino
Book: A Rebours by Huysmans
Scent: 4711 for daytime, Habit Rouge by Guerlain for evening.
The fabric you always come back to: Linen
Dream project: The Chateau Marmont in L.A.
Meal: Pasta and Ragu
Drink: Guinness
Hotel: Albergo di Purgatorio in Naples
Travel Destination: Istanbul
Artist: De RRusie (because I know him and appreciate his approach)
Thing to collect obsessively: Stone Island jackets
Era in the history of design: The Wiener Werkstatte
Museum: MAK Museum, Vienna
Paint Color that always looks great: A mournful, Vervoordt blue patina
Favorite person to follow on Instagram: Stephen Alesch of Roman & Williams
Dogs, Cats, or No Pets? Dogs!
