Design icon Jonathan Adler
Design icon Jonathan Adler's outsized impact on the world of design.
After leaving his day job to commit to his first love, pottery, design icon Jonathan Adler sold a collection to Barney's in 1993 and opened his first store in Soho in 1998. Today his company has over 25 retail stores worldwide, a thriving e-commerce site, and a wholesale business with more than 1,000 locations globally.
This year, he will continue to inspire designers and homeowners from the Ceasarstone Stage at IDSwest in Vancouver. (Some of his wildly popular products will be available at an onsite pop-up shop.)
We asked some of the Pacific Northwest's leading designers, architects, makers and artisans to share their views on Adler's wide-reaching influence on the world of design.
"Jonathan Adler's joyfulness has had a big impact on design. He has very lavish, joyful interiors, but they're quite rigorous at the same time. There's something exhilarating about this mix – it's playful but takes a strong aesthetic skill and a confidence that is almost infectious. It's given designers and homeowners permission to be bolder and braver, to trust their instincts a bit more. You can tell by looking at Jonathan's work that he's always taking risks."
MELISSA HIGGS is an architect who specializes in civic projects and is an associate at HCMA, which designed the Caesarstone Stage at this year's IDSwest. "Public buildings, particularly recreational and cultural buildings, are increasingly becoming living rooms for cities. We try to find ways to encourage people to feel comfortable in them and to stay longer," she says.
"His work is very layered: He observes historical design, taps into pop culture, considers form and injects humour and playfulness. 'Joy raising' is his brand, but it's also his gift, and we all get to benefit. As a role model for artisans, designers and homeowners, he's such a great example of the value of being a fully self-expressed person, of the rewards of waking up every day and answering to what feels right."
MEREDITH NICOLE is the founder of Oden Gallery, an IDSwest 2015 Maker exhibitor. "We are a mainspring for forward thinking, design-savvy people to invest in and commission modern handcrafted home decor and furnishings."
"Jonathan Adler brought bold style and colour into the mainstream. He started out as a ceramicist and now has 25-plus stores and products in many other stores as well – that's extremely impressive. Similarly, the impetus for our company was Joe's intuition and design ideas, and from there we learned everything we could to understand the business side of it. It's not just about making a beautiful chair or a beautiful object – it's also the business and marketing."
DYLAN LYNCH and JOE GIBSON are partners in Portland's Revolution Design House. "We try to show the hand of the maker and tell the story of each product," says Lynch. Revolution is part of the Portland Pop-Up at IDSwest and will have a live candle casting station at the GRAY Design Lab.
"My favourite thing about Jonathan Adler's work is how much fun he has with it. For example, in his design manifesto, which includes hilarious things like 'we believe in carbs' and 'we believe that the wife is always right, unless her husband is gay,' he says he doesn't believe that colours clash. He's all about being brave and choosing things that he loves. That's a book designers can take a page out of, even if it's to a lesser degree. It's important to remember that we don't live in showrooms. It should really be about having fun – injecting your personality and things that you love into your space."
Vancouver designer Gillian Segal is a contributor to MarthaStewart.com. She believes in "trying to figure out what's unique about my client and what they love and letting them lead the design process so their spaces really feel like home." She is one of a select group of designers invited to participate in the Open Studio Workspace exhibit at IDSwest.
"Jonathan Adler is playful in a way that no one in the design world had been before. Interior design has long had a reputation as being a stuffy world where there are strict rules. He said goodbye to a lot of these rules, infusing his projects with his own ceramics and bright colours, combining furniture from different eras and parts of the world in a way that hadn't been done before. His collaborations with JC Penney and other large retailers have made his objects available at different price points, making it possible for people to bring elements of his bright, happy style into their homes. In that way, he's been a huge inspiration to so many people, making them feel that they, too, could have interesting, unique homes that reflect their taste."
HGTV star ORLANDO SORIA is the West Coast creative director for Homepolish. On his blog Hommemaker.com, he writes, "… everyone is an artist. You just have to believe in your creative abilities. And if you don't, I'm going to come over there and make you believe in your creative abilities. It won't be pretty." Soria will be speaking on the Caesarstone Stage at IDSwest on Saturday, September 26 at 3 p.m.
"Jonathan Adler has brought mid-century style to the forefront of design, and has inspired the incorporation of bold colours and patterns. His approach is so multifaceted, with his interiors, furniture collection and accessories. His designs are fun and whimsical and not too serious. That's what design should be about – having fun with it and making each space your own."
Media favourite Alykhan Velji will be speaking on the Caesarstone Stage at IDSwest at 11 a.m. September 27. "As a design firm, our aesthetic is always timeless – with elements of modern, traditional and antique – but we still inject colour, pattern and our client's personality into each of the spaces that we design," he says.
This content was produced by Randall Anthony Communications, in partnership with The Globe and Mail's advertising department. The Globe's editorial department was not involved in its creation.