Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 49
Occupation: Founder and creative director of Flavor Paper.
Instagram: @flavorpaper
Hometown: New Orleans, LA.
Studio location: Brooklyn, NY.
Describe what you make: Flavor Paper creates and prints hand-screened and digital wall coverings that flip the concept of traditional wallpaper design on its head. We utilize unconventional materials, technology, and visuals to bring conversational works of art to the wall.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: Depends on who you ask! Our Warhol collection is the most notable and commercially successful. But I feel our Conduct collaboration with Francois from UM Project was the most creative work we’ve done. I had the idea to use conductive ink to bring a room to life via the walls, and together we realized that concept in a beautiful and engaging way. Simply touching hand-printed wall coverings allowed you to turn on lights, create sounds, move fans, and more.
Describe the problem your work solves: The world is a very serious place these days: justifiably so. Flavor Paper allows people to smile and escape into a different world, whether it’s via humorous toiles, transformative murals, or scratch-and-sniff wallpaper.
Describe the project you are working on now: I’m creating a wall covering and overall design for an oddly shaped family room with very low ceilings for a large Irish Catholic family ranging from adult to toddler. It’s part of the upcoming Kingston Design Connection Showhouse, which presents many challenges and a wonderful opportunity to engage.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: We’re in development on an artist series with very well-known living artists that will allow an unprecedented interaction with the artists’ work and clients’ personal desires via our in-house hand-screened and digitally printed techniques working in unison. It’ll be released at an upcoming art fair.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: I am a huge record collector and come from the music biz, so some soulful music is a must. I also require a lot of coffee. We spend a lot of time laughing which saves the soul.
What you do when you’re not working: I spend as much time as possible outside in the Catskills with my wife and five-year-old son Cosimo.
Sources of creative envy: Sun Ra, Basquiat, Da Vinci, Gaudí, and Chappelle.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Email and technology issues.
Concrete or marble? Marble.
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse.
Remember or forget? Remember.
Aliens or ghosts? Ghosts. New Orleans is full of them!
Dark or light? I love the cycle of light and darkness. Both are beautiful.
