As obsessions go, I’m a luxe minimalist. I adore interior design and shoes. My love for both go deep, and my travels in pursuit of them take me far, far, away, to places both predictable and unexpected. Paris like New York City are obvious travel destinations for both, but are anything but de rigueur. They dovetail an innovation and vibrancy that spills forth from young creatives, who blessedly don’t know what they don’t know, with an old guard of visionary icons whose names are both whispered in reverence and shouted from the rooftops. These places are home base for those likeminded souls who found their differences weren’t so different from those whose existence sat squarely at the epicenter of creativity inside a Parisienne cafe, the garment district, the Triangle D’Or or Nolita.
While we’ve been hibernating, these very creatives have been abuzz with the activity of refining and redefining, and I am unabashedly agape, agog, and in awe of what some of the masters have produced when time stopped. Miles Redd, some of you work from homer’s will argue, has been up to no good. A longtime favorite of mine for his maximalist restraint, his sleek lacquered walls, ceilings, and furnishing, that give way occasionally to silks, seagrasses, and intricate art installations, no surface is safe from his magical make-overs, and now he has taken on a partner!
Together David Kaihoi and Miles Redd set out to set the record straight on where work should take place, and what it will look like hence forth, if I had my way, for ever and ever amen, with the following caveats: most offices don’t adorn their walls with incredibly famous, pretty famous, soon to be famous -works of art that are gallery worthy and should have their own security detail, but that’s not to say you can’t do it your own way. Second, it’s entirely impractical to outfit your Zoom/Podcast Room in head to toe Schumacher crimson silk velvet – be impractical anyway if you can afford it. Surprise and awe, surprise and awe, surprise and awe.
Beauty is inspirational, and makes the world go round. Never be afraid of it. Beauty begets beauty, institutional imprisonment begets government quality service – just sayin’. Now for the do’s. Do have fun with it, get cheeky and clever like Redd and Kaihoi with the 19th century giltwood mirror that they flipped upside down to resemble a pair of sunglasses – so Cali cool I’m gushing. The conference room’s ceiling is a gold diggers paradise, but you need not break the bank when you consider you own fifth wall. I do implore you to consider it nonetheless. Some of my very best ideas come when I am staring up at one, or off into the distance where brilliance lies.
It’s time to give the tired tale of boundless productivity a rest. Put on a party dress, pant suit or pair of $500 jeans, embrace the commute and all that moving from one place to the next offers. We’ve all been motionless for too long, wouldn’t you agree?
