Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 43
Occupation: Interior Designer.
Instagram: @ryanclawson.
Hometown:Wynne, Arkansas.
Studio location: New York, New York.
Describe what you make: I make places for people to sleep and to eat and drink and to shower and to work and to celebrate: places for people’s lives to unfold in ways that they didn’t know were possible. I hope that doesn’t sound grandiose. I am an interior designer and decorator. But, there’s a little more to my thinking and to my practice than just picking out furniture.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: My team and I pour our energies into the projects that are on the table before us. So, in a way, and in the interest of keeping ourselves engaged and of keeping ourselves in business, the most important thing is the next thing we are working on. It’s a big deal for me to focus on the future instead of on the past. But, I also appreciate your question and will try to answer it more directly. I’ve had the good fortune of being in business for myself since I was twenty-four years old. I’m now forty-three. My projects have become bigger and more complex as time has passed. I’ve had many clients return to work on second and third projects. So, somehow I think that’s my answer – my clients have found solace and joy in my work enough that they have trusted me and my team to work on their next project. That seems important.
Describe the problem your work solves: There are so, so many options available to us these days – for so, so many things. Furniture selections. Paint colors. Light bulbs. Tiles. Flowers. Dishes. Bedspreads. Antiques. So many things. But, just because there are many options available, that does not mean that everything should go together. What I spend a lot of time thinking about is the RIGHT selections and combinations. What I think our work does best (“solves” is such a grand idea….) is that it helps to edit or to limit the options. I like to say that after a lot of thinking and looking – a lot of iterations – we land on the right things. The inevitable things. The project doesn’t need all the options. It needs the right options. It shouldn’t be multiple choice. It should be just right.
Describe the project you are working on now: Thankfully we are working on a big variety of projects. A beach house on the beach in Connecticut. A modernist house in Austin. A bungalow in Houston. A couple apartments here in New York City. A house in the Hamptons. A turn-of-the-last-century mansion in St. Louis. Finishing up my own house in California.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: I just launched a collection of paint for the French paint company Ressource. It’s a selection of twelve colors that I worked on selecting for over a year. It’s really exciting to put that out into the world. I cannot wait to see how people use the colors in their own projects.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: My studio is full of books. My team, wonderful humans, groan audibly every time a new book arrives. There just isn’t enough room. But, I pretend like I don’t hear them.
What you do when you’re not working: I love to watch people and listen to people. I love to search auctions and stores for antiques and textiles. I love to eat. I love a gin martini with cocktail onions. I love to travel. I love to see my parents. I love looking at books. I can’t name all the things.
Sources of creative envy: Hmmmmm. Creative envy. I don’t exactly know what creative envy means. I admire a lot of creative people. There’s a silly question people ask me about guests at a fantasy dinner party. I’ll give that.
Interior Designer Jacques Grange
Painter Cy Twombly
President Bill Clinton
Historian David McCullough
My college friend Danny Meyer
My client Richard Grosbard
Actor Jake Gyllenhaal
My childhood neighbor and art teacher Mrs. Gardner
That seems like enough.
The distraction you want to eliminate: I don’t have a television. I don’t like to know too much too quickly.
Concrete or marble? Are the two mutually exclusive? I like both. But I think I would choose concrete over marble.
High-rise or townhouse?Townhouse.
Remember or forget? I like to remember things that made me feel good.
Aliens or ghosts? Aliens are real for sure. But I am more interested in ghosts.
Dark or light? Light.
