I love the models I build as part of the design process, and this one in particular. It’s a dining room for a house in Chicago for a family originally from Detroit. The home was in a former orphanage and it had monumental rooms that were sort of institutional. We were going to commission the potter Matt Merkel Hess to take motifs from important milestones and elements from Detroit history and build an iconography around that through hand-painted tiles.¹ This project has actually stalled and is no longer happening, but I’ve kept the model out because I’m so interested in the idea, and it’s going to come back. We’re renovating my house right now and Matt is doing something like this. And we also incorporated it into a house in Connecticut. One room had this old Federal-style wallpaper and we took all the motifs from the wallpaper and turned them into tiles and re-wallpapered the room. It’s one of This story is from Kinfolk Issue Forty-Four Buy Now Related Stories Design Issue 42 My Favorite Thing The garden designer, Fernando Caruncho, shares the story behind a painting of his mother. Design Issue 39 My Favorite Thing Interior designer Pierre Yovanovitch tells the story behind his favorite piece of furniture. Design Issue 48 Studio Visit: Anupama Kundoo The Berlin-based architect knows what the city of the future should look like. In fact, she’s already built it. Design Interiors Issue 48 At Work With: Studio Utte A visit to the small, sophisticated Milanese studio of Patrizio Gola & Guglielmo Giagnotti. Design Issue 48 Off to Sea with Cyrill Gutsch Meet the self-appointed design ambassador for the oceans. Design Issue 48 The Aalto Boat The Finnish architect was a visionary completest—and an amateur boatman.
Design Issue 42 My Favorite Thing The garden designer, Fernando Caruncho, shares the story behind a painting of his mother.
Design Issue 39 My Favorite Thing Interior designer Pierre Yovanovitch tells the story behind his favorite piece of furniture.
Design Issue 48 Studio Visit: Anupama Kundoo The Berlin-based architect knows what the city of the future should look like. In fact, she’s already built it.
Design Interiors Issue 48 At Work With: Studio Utte A visit to the small, sophisticated Milanese studio of Patrizio Gola & Guglielmo Giagnotti.
Design Issue 48 Off to Sea with Cyrill Gutsch Meet the self-appointed design ambassador for the oceans.
Design Issue 48 The Aalto Boat The Finnish architect was a visionary completest—and an amateur boatman.
