Tom Kligerman
If you could have a second home anywhere, where would you live? Santa Fe, New Mexico
Tell us about your childhood bedroom? We lived in a colonial revival house in Connecticut. My bedroom was on the third floor with sloped ceilings, fan light windowsand deep set dormers. The casings and moldings and a massive mantle were glossy dark mahogany. The walls and the ceiling surfaces were covered in a very realistic wallpaper of white pine boughs and pine cones. I screwed it up a little bit by hanging black light posters featuring Jefferson Airplane, the Disraeli Gears album cover and something or other about Big Sur. But it was private and it was home!
What’s the first investment piece you ever bought for your house? I was lucky to inherit a fair amount of furniture. I spend time now finding incredible pieces at estate sales around Rhode Island and Connecticut. I'm not sure what my biggest investment was but you’d be dissappointed.
In the history of design, if you could hire any designer, who would it be? William Morris and his bevy of Pre-Raphaelite painters.
No room is complete without books.
People think of me as a shingle style architect, but I really love and work in all styles
Things you omit from:
A flower arrangement: More than 3 colors
An hors d’oeuvre platter: Oversized bruschetta
A bar cabinet: Any kind of pre-mixed cocktail
A song for:
Dinner at home: Hate music during meals
Working at your desk: Anything by Claudio Monteverdi
Going for a run: The Rolling Stones
Biggest Vice? European and American cars from the 1960s
If you were on an Ambien high and internet shopping, what would you buy? 1961 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible
Do your clothes reflect your design sensibility, if so, how? Straight leg Levis, Oxford cloth, blue blazer and cordovan loafers--simple, classic, tailored materials. I think that's what we tried to do in our work at KA&D.
Who is your star crush? Penélope Cruz
What is the one thing you would never decorate your home with, but don’t detest when you see others do it? Fancy curtains
If there were a fire, and you could only keep one design book, what would it be? Either the four volume McKim, Mead & White monograph or the three volume Edwin Lutyens monograph. Is that cheating?
For posterity, what would you like your work to be known for? Being familiar stylistically but individual enough to be recognized as something designed by our firm that pushes the envelope.
A Few Favorites:
Movie: Rosemary’s Baby or Captains Courageous
Book: The Remains of the Day
Scent: The air along the rocky Maine shoreline
The fabric you always come back to: Mattress ticking
Dream project: An adobe compound in Tesuque, New Mexico
Meal: Sloppy Joes
Drink: Woodford Reserve on the rocks
Hotel: The Gidleigh Park, Dartmoor
Travel Destination: Rome
Artist: Egon Schiele or Michelangelo
A cause near and dear to me: Billion Oyster Project
Thing to collect obsessively: Memories
Era in the history of design: the Arts and Crafts era—basically 1880 to about 1920, whether in Great Britain, the European continent or the United States
Museum: Sir John Soane’s Museum
Paint Color that always looks great: Farrow & Ball Breakfast Room Green
Favorite person to follow on Instagram: too hard. Something about sailboats, vintage cars, art, or history. I went down a rabbit hole trying to pick something. Gave up after 2 hours.
Dogs, Cats, or No Pets? Either a golden retriever or a standard poodle but don't mix them.
