Arthur Dunnam
Nick Johnson
If you could have a second home anywhere, where would you live? I am fortunate to have owned a second home in East Hampton for the last thirty years. While I love travel and exploring the beauty and history the world has to offer, I would not trade my East Hampton cottage for any other location!! After every travel adventure, I am always so contented to come back to my weekend and holiday routine in East Hampton, truly one of the most charming and stimulating villages around.
What are three words to describe your style? 1. Authentic 2. Unexpected 3. Wide-ranging
Tell us about your childhood bedroom? I was a very active participant in the design of my boyhood bedroom. Actually I was an active participant in all aesthetic decisions while growing up. My mom took great pleasure in sharing the story of my six-year-old self who, after exhaustive suit shopping for a special occasion, finally acquiesced to one, but insisted that we had to “change these hideous buttons!” I feel this story may offer more insight to my young self than recounting my blue paneled bedroom featuring a wall of bookcases that I could endlessly “style” with way too many objects serving as touchstones of my boyhood and travels.
What’s the first investment piece you ever bought for your house? A Cubist collage figural painting by Kris Ruhs from Tower Gallery was the first investment piece I ever bought for my apartment. It still hangs today in my bedroom and I still love it.
In the history of design, if you could hire any designer other than yourself, who would it be? For many years the answer to this question would have been Renzo Mongiardino, but we evolve in our lives and today I would probably go for Jean Michel Frank: I’m thinking straw marquetry, eggshell lacquer, and how about some parchment!
No room is complete without personal touchstones.
People think of me as outgoing, but I am really very introspective.
Things you omit from:
A flower arrangement: Too many colors…keep it focused.
An hors d’oeuvre platter: Overly large offerings. Keep it to one bite. Less messy!
A bar cabinet: If we are talking a bar for entertaining, which I do a lot of, most folks drink wine or vodka and I like to offer those in abundance and forego the rest.
A song for:
Dinner at home: Hard to go wrong with anything by Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto
Working at your desk: I don’t listen to music when I am working. It distracts me.
Going for a run: Chrissie Hynde and Martin Luther King: Moodswings Spiritual High… if you are not familiar with this song, listen to it… you will love it!
Biggest Vice? I’ve never smoked, don’t gamble, try my best not to gossip, hmmm, what does that really leave…? Surely you wouldn’t call my cherished nightly cocktail hour (‘tini, please… shaken… Goose absolutely!) followed by wine with dinner… a vice??? Sorry, I guess I don’t have any vices…
If you were on an Ambien high and internet shopping, what would you buy? Because I shop continually for my clients and projects, I really am not an obsessive shopper for myself. What I do get heavily into is PLANNING for travel. On an Ambien high, I could investigate the best restaurants in, say, Lisbon, for hours (and have). Or the best museums or points of interest, or hotels in a given city or region that I’m headed to next. Oh, and I can ferret out the best guides too… have a great track record for that! I’m a bit extravagant in my travels as I really want to experience everything amazing that I can when I am visiting a new place. Who knows if or when the opportunity will present itself again?
Do your clothes reflect your design sensibility, if so, how? Yes, I like to think that my clothes do reflect my design sensibility. I am drawn to a mix of high and low, but all imbued with quality and style. And while most of my clothing has wonderful design flourishes, it is by-and-large understated; no peacock feathers for me! Etro, Paul Smith, Loro Piano, and a smattering of other designer labels, often paired with jeans or a down vest from Uniqlo or J Crew.
Who is your star crush? While I love music, theatre, movies, and TV… both current and from previous eras, defining a long-term “star-crush” might be difficult for me. So many talented folks of note out there that just blow me away with what they do. But at the moment I am slightly obsessed with Lizzo. Her message of positivity combined with her talent is magnetic.
What is the thing you would never do on a project, but don’t detest when you see others do it? I would never put uncomfortable seating furniture on a project…in a location that one would really hang out in. Comfort for me is essential. But there are so many super cool pieces of sculpture that double as seating to be had these days. I often see a room with one of these stunning pieces in it… as the go-to location in front of the TV; and it looks swell. But then I think about the reality of someone being tortured while sitting on it; and know that as compelling as it may look, it’s akin to the emperor’s new clothes…
If there were a fire, and you could only keep one design book, what would it be? I cherish my signed copy of Billy Baldwin Decorates… and as it is right next to my signed copy of Billy Baldwin Remembers… and neither is a particularly large or heavy book… I’m sure I could keep them both!
For posterity, what would you like your work to be known for? Being for real people that live real lives, stylishly. Creating rooms that people really want to spend time in.
A Few Favorites
Movie: Toss up between The English Patient and Out of Africa
Book: East of Eden
Scent: Santa Maria Novella classic potpourri
The fabric you always come back to: Linen Velvet. It just gets better with age.
Dream project: Sprawling family compound of historic structures with modern interiors in the Hamptons.
Meal: The chef’s tasting menu at Kiin Kiin in Copenhagen. Then the only Michelin star Thai restaurant in the world. A totally immersive experience, combining superb food, presentation and atmosphere: authentic and intimate, and if you love Thai food it is not to be missed! Plan way ahead as it is a small venue and popular!
Drink: Grey Goose martini, up, no vermouth, just a bit dirty, with olives… and dirty ice on the side…
Hotel: Belmond Hotel Caruso in Ravello. Hands down the chicest hotel ever.
Travel Destination: Sicily. Every great civilization has been there at one time or another. And they left behind the most amazing things!
Artist: Wish I could be more inventive here, but have to go with Picasso. So diverse, and the father of so many movements.
Thing to collect obsessively: Life memories
Era in the history of design: Now. So many exciting new materials and approaches and technological advances. I treasure so many design periods, but wouldn’t swap for today, here and now.
Museum: The National Archaeological Museum of Naples. Housing the greatest hits from Pompeii and the astounding Farnese Collection (plus a trove of other offerings). For thirty years I longed to see this museum, and it was worth the wait!
Paint color that always looks great: OC-17 White Dove is a classic!
Favorite person to follow on Instagram: There are SO MANY whose posts I enjoy. In the warm summer months when the farmer’s markets are in full swing, I am often blown away by the amazingly colorful and artful food styling of @Christo4mason. But for year-round sustenance, I rely a lot on @sampson.nathan for sharing incredibly chic historic design images.
Dogs, Cats, or No Pets? DOGS!!!! OSKAR!!! Miniature multi-generational Australian Labradoodle. Find many images of him @arthurdunnam on Instagram.
