Go Design Go

When Deborah Needleman asked David Netto and Sara Ruffin Costello what they each could not give up or stop loving in design, David laughed and agreed that there were probably too many things to name.

"I can, of course, do all kinds of straight, clean design but what I really love is more organic and woody," said David. "I love the architecture of everything because it's personal and eccentric—or at least it should be. I can't shake that love for shape."

"I love magazines so much... too much," Sara said. "They serve up what I crave, which is newness—new things, new design, new creativity. I love where advertising has gone too. It's now more like rustic luxe with peeling paint and lavish drama. Ilse Crawford is a great example of this; she makes the elaborate very comfortable."

"I also need to add here, that I truly want to be the love-child of John Fowler and John Dickenson!" Sara added. "I think that's become obvious in my answers and slides!"

Sara's comment was met with nodding heads by her peer panelists and by Deborah, all of whom agreed that she was nothing but Fowler’s and Dickenson's love-child.

"I now have to ask what a few things each of you are truly sick of in design?" asked Deborah. "What is overdone, overused, beaten to death?"

"Wallpaper, but I can't stop using it!" claimed Sara. "Otherwise, I'd have to go with cerused oak; it's just what everything seems to be right now. I think one of the best things that people can learn from trends, whether they're the popular Pantone guides or something created by a true leader of style, is that following a trend is what can make them so awful. We now have counter movements to trends with things like etsy.com where I can buy something made by one little woman in Wisconsin, and it's one of a kind, and no one else has it but me—and that's special. That's trendsetting."

When the topic of Ikea and Crate & Barrel surfaced as an example of product lacking unique qualities, Miles Redd pointed out what a designer's talent and job should be.

"You can take a piece from Restoration Hardware or Ikea away from a set of everything like it, and integrate it into other things—if you do it well, no one will ever know that it's Restoration Hardware," said Miles. "A talented designer should be able to use anything and put it in a setting that makes it feel unique. Luxury doesn't HAVE to be one of a kind. Luxury is first and foremost about privacy."

"It's harder to be a decorator now than it was ten years ago," David added. "Magazines can make people think they can do everything themselves and it's easier to show now because of the internet. What shouldn't be forgotten, however, is that a designer is hired because of his or her ability to compose things. The ability to bring everything together is the essence of our authorship."

Running too long to take questions, Deborah closed the discussion after the four collectively decided that if nothing else, each of their next steps in design would be the career-long commitment to dismantle the current trend of hanging the flat screen television over the mantle.

Check back with GoDesignGo to learn what we chatted about with Deborah and Sara at the Fortuny reception that followed.