Designer Profiles
Sitting down with industry greats.
10 Questions With… Mia Karlova
“It seems like I’ve always been involved in building art collections,” admits Mia Karlova, who credits an early exposure to her mother, a gallerist and art historian. After moving from Moscow, where she helmed an interior design studio for 10 years, Karlova founded collectible design destination Mia Karlova Galerie in Amsterdam in 2020. In addition to functional design, the gallery specializes in mixed-media, sculpture, ceramics, and three-dimensional art, from an international roster of creatives.
The career transition was one that made sense. “Art and design is what elevates any interior to a completely different level,” Karlova explains. Despite an opening timed with the global pandemic, a keen eye for eclectic show-stoppers quickly earned the gallery international recognition.
Interior Design sat down with Karlova to learn more about the book that she calls her curating mantra, her view on function in design objects, and a decade she is particularly passionate about, which is reflected in the interior of her home. More in Interior Design magazine.
Photography courtesy of Mia Karlova Galerie.
10 Questions With… Willie Cole
It’s safe to say Willie Cole has a shoe fetish. With the closure of museums and galleries, income and exposure was in short supply for artists during the global pandemic. Like many, Cole turned to Instagram, and with headpieces for Comme des Garçons, sculptures, self-portraits, installations, furnishings, and masks all dynamically exploding with repurposed shoes—among other reclaimed materials—his following grew. “The global pandemic encouraged independence,” he says. “When you start out as a young artist, it almost feels like you work for the gallery, but the fact is, the gallery works for you.”
Most recently, Cole presented Artcycling, a collection of furnishings and sculpture produced in collaboration with luxury Italian shoe brand Tod’s. Showcased last September at the Salone del Mobile furniture fair in Milan and in December at art and design event Art Basel Miami Beach, Artcycling is made of materials discarded during Tod’s production process. Interior Design sat down with Cole to hear more about Artcycling, as well as the first high heel that caught his eye, the piano that became sculptures, and the unexpected hazard of too many shoes on a headpiece. Photography courtesy of Willie Cole. More in Interior Design magazine.
10 Questions With…Arthur Mamou-Mani
“Sure 3D-printing can spark the imagination, but there are many types of 3D-printing,” says architect Arthur Mamou-Mani. Working out of a 2,200-square foot hangar in Bethnal Green, London’s East End, the Paris-born architect and founder of architecture and design studio Mamou-Mani and printer service company FabPub loves showing this technology’s untapped potential in unexpected ways. From a majestic temple at the Burning Man festival in Nevada to an installation for fashion label COS that drew crowds at the Milan Furniture Fair, his visually arresting, highly original projects have brought global attention to the process of making three dimensional architecture from a digital file.
Most recently, as part of the 2021 edition of the London Design Festival, Mamou-Mani strung up 3D-printed bioplastic beehives in the atrium of the flagship of upmarket department store Fortnum & Mason for his installation “Mellifera: The Dancing Beehives.” Made of sugar, the beehives can be composted at the end of their lifecycle. More in Interior Design magazine.
Photography by Ioannis Zonitsas.
10 Questions With… Philippe Starck
“The beautiful story of our animal species in its evolution is my only source of inspiration,” says Philippe Starck, who first caught the public’s eye with an experimental inflatable structure exploring materiality in 1969. In 1983, the French designer—who was just 34 years old—was commissioned by the country’s president, François Mitterrand, for the high-profile interior renovation of his private apartments at the Élysée Palace. With his belief that “evolution is in everything—but only we can control our evolution,” Starck is now one of the most prolific designers in history, with some 10,000 creations in just about every genre, from watches and all types of furnishings to hotels, restaurants, super sail boats, and architectural landmarks. More in Interior Design magazine.
10 Questions With… Michael Anastassiades
“Who isn’t?” Michael Anastassiades replies, when asked if he is inspired by Alexander Calder, the American sculptor known for his mobiles. Last year, when named Maison & Objet Designer of the Year 2020, Anastassiades hypnotized curious onlookers with “16 Acts,” an installation of 16 mobile chandeliers. With small motors setting them in motion, the mobiles created a soothing geometric light show and memorable retreat from the busy tradeshow floor during the winter edition of the usually bi-annual Paris furniture fair (The Fall 2020 edition was canceled due to COVID-19).
Since founding his studio in 1994, the London-based Cypriot designer has worked with the likes of B&B Italia, Cassina, and Herman Miller. In 2007, he founded his namesake manufacturing label, in order to also produce his own lighting and objects and, as he says, “express my ideas in the most uncompromising manner.” More in Interior Design magazine.
10 Questions With… Juli Capella
Juli Capella once tried to imitate “a more international style”—before quickly realizing his mistake. “I must design just as I am—maximalist, Barcelonan, and passionate,” reveals the Barcelona born and bred architect and co-founder of Capella Garcia Arquitectura. Then the global projects started pouring in. Over an illustrious career, Capella has continually proved “the most local is the most international”—that’s quoting Catalan writer Josep Pla—with hospitality and retail projects as far flung as Mexico and the Bahamas. More in Interior Design magazine.
10 Questions With… DesignAgency
With a forward-thinking vision for a university bistro, Toronto-headquartered DesignAgency was born. Two decades after serving steak tartar to students, business is booming for founders Allen Chan, Matt Davis, and Anwar Mekhayech, who can rattle off hostel brand Generator Hostels, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, and culinary brands Nando’s and Momofuku from a high-profile client list. More in Interior Design magazine.
10 Questions With… Ilse Crawford
“The line between my work and life is thin to nonexistent,” says British designer Ilse Crawford, who lives above her studio with her husband in a converted tannery warehouse in Bermondsey, London. Before founding design studio Studioilse in 2001, Crawford studied history and worked as a design journalist, launching Elle Decoration UK in the process. Today, with high-profile interior projects including Soho House New York and the Ett Hem hotel in Stockholm under her belt, Crawford incorporates a love of history and editing skills on a steady influx of commercial and residential projects, as well as collaborations with manufacturers Georg Jensen, Engblad & Co, and Zanat, among others. More in Interior Design magazine.
10 Questions with… Baranowitz + Kronenberg
World nomads who tend to mix business and leisure, Alon Baranowitz and Irene Kronenberg reveal the secret to the success of their high-profile hospitality projects around the globe: They design for people like them. Since founding their office in Tel Aviv in 1999, the husband-and-wife team behind Baranowitz + Kronenberg Architecture have completed a long list of successful restaurant and hotel interiors—among them the W Amsterdam and Mad Fox nightclub in Amsterdam; Zozobra restaurant in Tel Aviv; and, for the Sir Hotels brand, the Sir Joan hotel in Ibiza and Sir Savigny in Berlin. More in Interior Design magazine.
10 Questions With… Verena Haller, Chief Design Officer for Standard Hotels
“Designers and architects who approach projects in an unconventional way, are not afraid to do so, and don’t take themselves too seriously are the ones that really inspire me,” reveals Verena Haller. A Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Equinox Hotel alum who worked with hospitality guru Ian Schrager, Haller got her start in Europe before becoming chief design officer of Standard International, the company behind The Standard Hotels. Photography courtesy of Standard International. More in Interior Design magazine.
10 Questions with… Baranowitz + Kronenberg
World nomads who tend to mix business and leisure, Alon Baranowitz and Irene Kronenberg reveal the secret to the success of their high-profile hospitality projects around the globe: They design for people like them. Since founding their office in Tel Aviv in 1999, the husband-and-wife team behind Baranowitz + Kronenberg Architecture have completed a long list of successful restaurant and hotel interiors—among them the W Amsterdam and Mad Fox nightclub in Amsterdam; Zozobra restaurant in Tel Aviv; and, for the Sir Hotels brand, the Sir Joan hotel in Ibiza and Sir Savigny in Berlin. More in Interior Design magazine.