1 Jonathan Adler
Sex Bomb: Jonathan Adler
Issue #28
The designer talks about creative inspiration
By Jen Hazen
Published: June 1st, 2006 | 12:00am
Designer Jonathan Adler wants to inject your interior décor with a hefty dose of Prozac. Whether it's his candy-apple red geometric-patterned shower curtains, acid-green lacquer tables, or stark white bulbous pottery, Adler deflates the dour image of design and creates pop-kitsch with a country-
club twist. The best part? His pieces come in a range of prices.
These days, Adler lives a charmed life in New York City with his husband, Simon Doonan, and their Norwich Terrier, Liberace. He owns seven bi-coastal stores, wrote a decorating book (My Prescription For Anti-Depressive Living), and launched a housewares line at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Yet the 40-year-old designer's rise to success hasn't always been easy. An evil pottery professor in college told Adler to ditch his passion to study law. Then four years of non-stop orders and clay-crusted hands, affectionately referred to as "making the doghnuts," triggered a creative burnout. Venus chatted with the designer about orange pillows, dining with the dead, and stopping at nothing to achieve your dream.
I love your obsession with "WASPy, country club style," as you call it. You make the stuffy and unattainable light and fun. It doesn't seem like you take yourself too seriously,
either.
It's actually a bit of a conundrum. On the one hand, I'm deadly serious about design and strive to make things that are beautiful and chic and timeless. I can lose sleep over a misplaced button detail on a sofa or wax rhapsodic over a teapot's silhouette.
I don't think anyone should take himself too seriously. I hate when designers are dour and obscurantist when discussing their work. I strive to be playful and communicative and make my work fun. I fear I do myself a disservice by not being more dour ... that people might not take me as seriously as a designer as they would if I was a bummer. But, it's a tradeoff I'm willing to make. Life's too short.
How did you overcome the harsh criticism of the evil professor to become what you are today?
This is going to sound all Oprah-ish and spiritual, and that's really not who I am, but I overcame the criticism by deciding to make the stuff that I really, really wanted to make and to have, rather than making the stuff that I thought my teachers would approve of. The second I forgot about other people's approval is when I became the most creative. I think that everybody should have an evil professor in their past to rebel against.
Why did she say that you should go into law?
I think she recommended that because she saw it as the least creative and dreariest career she could think of ... although I don't think so. I come from a family of lawyers.
What inspires you most lately?
I'm a bit schizophrenic in my designs and my inspirations. I love Palm Beach WASPy style — acid green, needlepoint, Greek key patterns. And I love Big Sur Hippie Dippie style — earthy textured pottery, natural wood, hand-loomed alpaca throws. And I love Pop Art’s punchy style — orange, groovy graphics ... humor.
If you could have dinner with three famous people — alive or dead — who would they be and why? And, of course, I'll add a dog to that dinner invite for Liberace.
What a difficult question! I think that I would want to have dinner with the dead designers who have inspired me the most: Bonnie Cashin, Alexander Girard, and Bjorn Wiinblad. All three of them approached design and life with a sense of joy and fun that is startling to me.
I believe that we live in a world in which people have been hoodwinked into believing that chic has to be cold and minimalist. Cashin, Girard, and Wiinblad were the opposite. Their oeuvres were unimpeachably chic and infectiously fun. I strive to channel their playful, chic spirits in all of my work.
Living people? My husband, Simon, and my dog are my all-time favorite dining companions every night.
You mention in your book that when you started burning out from making the doughnuts, you worked with a non-profit to create "Non-Kathy Lee Gifford" workshops in Peru. Can you talk about that?
I found my Peruvian workshops through a non-profit called Aid to Artisans, which connects American designers with artisans in developing countries for a PC business relationship. It's been an incredible relationship — there are about 100 artisans in Peru working on my wares and it's enabled me to grow my business in America from five employees to 60. Sometimes doing production offshore can actually help to create more jobs in America! It's a great organizaton.
What do you think about your Sex Bomb status?
Hot!
What's one easy, cheap tip to Prozac up a room?
Buy a new punchy pillow. Or, buy a can of orange paint and paint something orange. Orange, orange, orange!
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