Mitch Owens
If you could have a second home anywhere, where would you live? France, specifically Gironde.
Tell us about your childhood bedroom? Since I was a military brat, I didn’t have one — I had about 15 childhood bedrooms. But the two I remember most clearly are (1) San Diego, California, where I covered one wall with a giant orange fishnet and tucked masses of starfish and (2) Jacksonville, North Carolina, where my mother installed a red, white, and blue wallpaper that had a Colonial Revival theme, with an emphasis on eagles and swags.
What’s the first investment piece you ever bought for your house? A roof — we purchased a late-eighteenth-century house in central New York State that had been abandoned for decades. It was utterly uninhabitable without a new roof. And it was the most money I had ever spent on anything in my life.
In the history of design, if you could hire any designer, who would it be? Ruby Ross Wood
No room is complete without a scent.
People think of me as a know-it-all, but I am really just obsessed with research.
Things you omit from:
A flower arrangement: All greenery à la Syrie Maugham
An hors d’oeuvre platter: Crudités
A bar cabinet: Jägermeister
A song for:
Dinner at home: Classical, no lyrics, low volume, just a hum of sound
Working at your desk: Madrigals, because of the contemplative quality— obsessed right now with a 1937 Nadia Boulanger recording featuring Marie-Blanche de Polignac singing “Amor” from Claude Monteverdi’s “Lamento della Ninfa”
Going for a run: “Bollywood Flashback” by Bally Sagoo (1994), if I had to choose any music. But I never run, I only walk swiftly — and even then I mostly listen to the British podcast “In Our Time”
Biggest Vice? My iPhone
If you were on an Ambien high and internet shopping, what would you buy? Old Paris porcelain dinner services https://www.rafaelosonaauction.com/antiques/2016/americana-fine-art-marine-2016/old-paris-porcelain-dinner-service/
Do your clothes reflect your design sensibility, if so, how? Multiple patterns (tartan jacket with striped shirt and polka-dot handkerchief) in the manner of the Duke of Windsor, which reflects the multiple patterns in my house — no white rooms.
Who is your star crush? Volker Bruch, star of the German series “Babylon Berlin”
What is the one thing you would never decorate your home with, but don’t detest when you see others do it? Mission Style furniture
If there were a fire, and you could only keep one design book, what would it be?
Vogue’s Book of Houses, Gardens, People (1968)
For posterity, what would you like your work to be known for? Accuracy, surprise, and rhythm.
Your Favorite:
Movie: “The Rise of Catherine the Great” (1934) starring Elisabeth Bergner, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Dorothy Hale, and Flora Robson and directed by Paul Czinner
Book: “La Cuisine de France” by Mapie Comtesse de Toulouse-Lautrec (1964)
Scent: Oudh Infini by Dusita (winter). 4711 by House of 4711 (summer). That being said, I’m a scent whore when it comes to airport duty-free shops and sample bottles, which is how I got hooked on Twilly d’Hermès.
The fabric you always come back to: Flowered chintz — doesn’t matter the flower depicted, as long as the fabric is glazed chintz.
Dream project: My own book-publishing imprint
Meal: Steak tartare (with quail’s egg, please), frites, and a gin Martini, followed by île flottant
Drink: Gin martini, absolutely ice-cold, meaning shaken about 75 times, straight up, with olives on the side
Hotel: The Wilbraham, in London, which doesn’t exist anymore, sadly
Travel Destination: Rome, Italy
Artist: The more obscure, the better
A cause near and dear to me: Historic preservation
Thing to collect obsessively: Hi, I’m Mitch Owens, and I have a chair problem.
Era in the history of design: Early nineteenth century, 1815-1848, Central Europe — Biedermeier!
Museum: Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Paint Color that always looks great: Pink, pink, and more pink
Favorite person to follow on Instagram: David Perrelli @old_beautiful
Dogs, Cats, or No Pets? Dogs — mutts, please
