Richard Rabel
Stephen Karlisch
If you could have a second home anywhere, where would you live? A second home is of 0 interest – I like the novelty and freedom of exploring new places unencumbered by dealing with a Property Manager or worse, tackling the unending issues of home ownership myself.
What are three words to describe your style?
1. Understated
2. Refined
3. Relaxed
Tell us about your childhood bedroom? The room had plastered textured walls, a combo built-in desk/bookshelf in solid mahogany. Dad loved mahogany so he decided that where applicable, he would have it in solid form in the house – doors, closets, built-ins, etc. The “coolest” things in the bedroom were the bamboo roller shades, a signed poster of tennis great Ivan Lendl and a collection of twentysomething Olympic 12 x 9 mini posters dating back to the first Games in 1896.
What’s the first investment piece you ever bought for your house? A pair of horseshoe-back, Chinese inspired, Giorgetti armchairs that are still with me 30+ years later. I love them.
In the history of design, if you could hire any designer other than yourself, who would it be? Peter Marino
No room is complete without: Art, whether fine or decorative.
People think of me as serious, but I am really resolute.
Things you omit from:
A flower arrangement: Different colors or types
An hors d’oeuvre platter: Anything that one can’t grab with 2 fingers or is too big to eat in one bite
A bar cabinet: Those “mini” free bottles – buy your own people!
A song for:
Dinner at home: Anything Bossa Nova in Brazilian Portuguese
Working at your desk: Bach or Handel or anything that keeps me from breaking out in song or practicing my sitting dance moves
Going for a run: “Can’t Stop the Feeling” Justin Timberlake
Biggest Vice? Zesty Doritos from Canada or Ruffles con Queso from Mexico in equal measure … though not together!
If you were on an Ambien high and internet shopping, what would you buy? Wabi sabi ceramics
Do your clothes reflect your design sensibility, if so, how? Yes. Grays, Blues, Greens. Browns. No loud colors and the style is relaxed but stylish.
Who is your star crush? You mean this week or last?
What is the thing you would never do on a project, but don’t detest when you see others do it?
Using the ever so copied pedestrian Chandigarh chairs by Pierre Jeanneret.
If there were a fire, and you could only keep one design book, what would it be?
Forget the design book; my passport.
For posterity, what would you like your work to be known for? I don’t worry about those things. They’re truly unimportant to me.
Joshua McHugh
Your Favorite:
Movie: A toss-up between Tom Ford’s A Single Man and Luca Guadagnino’s I am Love
Book: The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho, a book my dad gave me before he passed
Scent: Anything citrus
The fabric you always come back to: Mohair
Dream project: I only work with nice clients and (sometimes) great spaces, so in a way, every project is a dream project. I’m unbelievably lucky I can be choosey.
Meal: Super fresh sushi or squid-inked pasta or a tasty burger or pastor street tacos … you name it
Drink: Anything with tequila
Hotel: The Peninsula, Hong Kong
Travel Destination: Somewhere far where I don’t speak the language and there are no Starbucks or luxury box stores around.
Artist: Caravaggio and Mark Rothko
A cause near and dear to me: Cancer prevention
Thing to collect obsessively: Scandi and Japanese ceramics
Era in the history of design: 20s and 30s
Museum: The Prado, Madrid
Paint Color that always looks great: BM Chelsea Gray
Favorite person to follow on Instagram: I don’t spend too much time obsessing over Insta but I do regularly look at your (Alexa’s) feed
Dogs, Cats, or No Pets? Someone else’s dog
