Andrew Oyen
photo by Andrew Frasz
If you could have a second home anywhere, where would you live? Outer Cape or off Penobscot Bay.
What are three words to describe your style?
For myself: personal, eclectic, amusing.
Professionally: restrained, understated, thoughtful.
Tell us about your childhood bedroom? It looked as close as possible to a studio designed by Joe D’Urso or Bray-Schaible as could be achieved by a 13 year old boy in St. Paul, Minnesota.
What’s the first investment piece you ever bought for your house? An early 20th century alabaster light fixture from Eileen Lane. I was shopping with a client/friend and decided to hop on the roller coaster.
In the history of design, if you could hire any designer other than yourself, who would it be?
Unfair question! Emmanuel Pontremoli (Villa Kérylos)? Irving Gill? Gunnar Asplund? Richard Neutra? Horace Gifford?
No room is complete without a center; a focal point.
People think of me as a WQXR listener, but I am really a WBLS listener.
Things you omit from:
A flower arrangement: Roses
An hors d’oeuvre platter: Mass-market crackers
A bar cabinet: Omit nothing! Bars are for your guests, not just for you. Maybe Sprite.
A song for:
Dinner at home: Anything by the Modern Jazz Quart
Working at your desk: I work in a studio, so nothing; I like to hear the buzz of the conversations.
Going for a run: I don’t run, but if I did, the Paradis album by Recto Verso.
Biggest Vice? Being self-indulgent in my off-hours.
If you were on an Ambien high and internet shopping, what would you buy? Some addition to a collection, perhaps a missing piece of Royal Doulton “Bunnykins” or Copeland “Greek”. Or a pair of Keith Haring high-tops from H&M.
Do your clothes reflect your design sensibility, if so, how? I buy nicely designed and made clothes; they last forever and I keep them forever.
Who is your star crush? Andy Gibb
What is the thing you would never do on a project, but don’t detest when you see others do it?
Have a singular style
If there were a fire, and you could only keep one design book, what would it be? Impossible question. I would be the woman in Fahrenheit 451 who perishes in the fire.
For posterity, what would you like your work to be known for? Thoughtfully reflecting my clients’ dreams.
photo by Thomas Loof
Your Favorite:
Movie: Chinatown
Book: Wild Animals I Have Known (Kevin Bentley)
Scent: Gendarme
The fabric you always come back to: Liberty Tana Lawn
Dream project: A beach house
Meal: Choucroute garnie
Drink: Tanqueray & grapefruit juice
Hotel: Grand Hotel Budapest
Travel Destination: Anywhere in Mexico
Artist: Sargent
A cause near and dear to me: God’s Love We Deliver
Thing to collect obsessively: Things for the table
Era in the history of design: The 1910s and 1920s
Museum: The Met
Paint Color that always looks great: (Thanks to my friend & colleague Brian Covington) Benjamin Moore “Royal Silk”; it looks instantly rich, old and never tired.
Favorite person to follow on Instagram: Alan Milroy (@alanmilroy)
Dogs, Cats, or No Pets? Yes, yes, and no
