I was recently asked a rather seemingly simple question of 'who are my favorite interior designers,' and I had to really thing about it. It is very hard to distinguish one individual who does everything "right" in my eyes,when design is a world of "the eye of the beholder." After mulling the question over, I really got to thinking about who has a specific aesthetic that stands out among the rest. In my opinion, there are few people that really are
artists; who create something a little unexpected, ever evolving, and inspire others. In any case, I came up with a few visionaries that I would move right into anything they come up with.
The first designer that always comes to mind is the great
Kelly Wearstler, she is a trendsetter, plain and simple. I mean the girl literally marches to her own beat. Remember when Hollywood Regency style made a HUGE comeback?? Everyone was on Craigslist searching for anything Greek key, brass or something with those lines to paint a bright cheery color. Then whenever we all thought that was the greatest thing ever, she changed things up and started dipping into retro 1980's overstuffed furniture and bold marbles. I like to think of her as High Fashion meets Interior Design.
Ms. Wearstler evolves on to not only a fabric designer (come on who didn't have some sort of Imperial Trellis something???), to clothing, jewelry and sculpture. Like I said, a complete visionary, that mark my words, everyone will be clamoring over her designs years after she's already in the groove.
Then I started to think a little more locally. In Houston, a household name is
Sally Wheat. Sally has gone from the very beginning of the French Country/ Belgian Design to Modern to Classic and is also ever changing her aesthetic.
Many of Kitchens have been inspired by her personal Kitchen and I would love to pick her brain about her adorable courtyard. Wheat's aesthetic is what I like to call Casual Class.
And last one off of the top of my head, is local here in the Dallas area, none other than
Gary Riggs. I recently visited his North Dallas store that took over two retail locations and uber amounts of square footage-- Oh! and I saw him in action taking super precaution in where things were located in his store, and artist at work!
Gary's style is something that I like to call Southern Layers. Super eclectic, colorful, charming, collected, and with a little southern twist. His designs are super energetic with tons to look at, and the man wrote the book on pattern play.
This image above has been in my Dream Folder for quite awhile now...its just so good! The wood floor, paned glass, hex tiles, that sink! Collected perfection.
