Best of Lifework: Jeff Carvalho of Selectism

Jeff Carvalho edits Selectism, a men’s lifestyle blog that started up in 2007. In an interview with Wallpaper magazine Jeff talks about the beginnings of Selectism. “David Fischer of the streetwear website, Highsnobiety, wanted to build a new property focused on more transitory menswear for that individual looking for a mix of street centric fashion and traditional menswear. By March of 2008, Selectism was running full-time to fill that content void.” And fill the void it did. Selectism turned out to be one of the strongest, and certainly best designed, online men’s destination. Here Jeff shares his workspace with us.

How long have you worked from home? And where is home? I started working from a home office in the Summer 2007 when I began full-time work on Selectism.com (a men’s lifestyle and fashion blog) and consult work. My workspace was inside a loft which was directly across the street from Boston’s Fenway Park. 88 to 90 days out of the year, ball park traffic – both human and vehicle – ruled. In 2009, I moved outside of Harvard Square on the Cambridge side of the Charles River for a bit of relief. I haven’t left yet.

Describe your style? My style is pretty simple. I prefer a very clean workspace which holds only the essentials. My desk and desktop are as bare as I can keep them, which can be a struggle at times.

How do you keep your office organized? I’m thinking here of the physical space but also your computer. Are there any particular programs you find really useful? At the end of each day, I do my best to reorganize it back into order. There is something about bringing my workspace back to order which actually keeps me focused when I sit down first thing in the morning. It is a bit habitual. Many friends tell me that workspace clutter is how they manage their day. I’m just not one of those people. I have to be organized (on both desktops) to stay focused. I also rely heavily on email filters and labels for both task management and assignment. I use Simplenote for lists but plan on moving to something more robust like Things sooner rather than later.

When you were setting up your home office what did you keep in mind? Well to be honest, the space I am in on this side of the Charles was initially supposed to be temporary. For this reason, most of office is still in storage. Everything from books, music, ephemera, and artwork are packed away. As I need a reference piece, I’ll dig through the boxes and take only what I need, which keeps the room pretty bare – in a positive way. There are lessons learned from this office which I’ll take with me to my next space. Natural light was the most important requirement. In the loft, I only had light during the early morning. Today light flows from two sides of the room, but both indirect rather than coming from windows directly in front of my desk. Also, a desk under-mounted USB hub makes plugging in devices fast and easy. I highly recommend diy’ing your own.

Is there any piece of home office furniture you particularly enjoy? I’ve had a Herman Miller Aeron chair for over 10 years now. It has been the one constant in my workspace since 1999 when I purchased it. While other parts of my workspace turn over often (think swapping iMacs every 16 months), the Aeron has always remained. Every three months or so, I work out of our Berlin office for a few weeks and their chairs are difficult. I miss the comfort of the Aeron immediately.

What is a desk accessory you can’t do without? The (massive) custom amplifier on my desk. I plug a pair of Sennheiser 595 headphones into it. That’s the amplifier’s only function – a headphone amp. It serves its single purpose role better than most devices on my desk.

What would you change about your own workspace? Maybe a bigger desk and some shelving so I can pull the books and magazines out of storage.

What do you most love about your space? Being able to look outside my windows and see green grass and sunlight.

What inspires you? Music inspires me every day as does the “hand made” movement which you can find at craft fairs like Renegade. It is inspiring to see what work people develop in this area – from printing, to accessories. It is incredibly impressive.

The Playlist: Artist & Illustrator Jordan Awan of The New Yorker (and Lifework)

A lot of you loved last week’s post by Brian Greene about pencils (incidentally, so did Boing Boing). And some of that is due in part to the post’s whimsical-cool illustrations by artist Jordan Awan. In addition to being a contributor here at Lifework, Jordan’s also the Art Director at The New Yorker and the founder (along with wife Morgan Elliott) of Springtime Studio Illustration. Here’s the music that makes up the Brooklynite’s (probably very long) workday.

What do you listen to while you work? I usually listen to rock and roll or just enjoy silence, which is sometimes easier for me to work to. The mix below is decently representative of what I like to listen and work to. Otherwise, I listen to opera; I also like to work to Philip Glass Ensemble.

How do you listen? My old record player finally gave up the ghost, so these days I listen to iTunes on the computer, or I use an iPod.

Do you have any favorite music websites/providers? I haven’t really explored those too much yet. Last FM seems quite good; the little time I have spent on it, I’ve been impressed with what they recommend based on the channel you create. Pandora is fine, too.

Does music influence your work? I’m more overtly influenced by literature or visual art, so it’s interesting to think about music influencing me. Actually, for a long time I was stealing titles for paintings from Simon and Garfunkel song lyrics. So, that’s something. 
I think John Cage’s funny and beautiful “Suite for Toy Piano” is really inspiring, and is maybe a close relative of what I aspire to do. I admire how Mozart could write something that is simultaneously silly and elegant, for instance his exuberant Overture to The Marriage of Figaro. Artists like Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, or Lou Reed, each of whom invented a new version of a musical vernacular, are very creatively motivating.

Where do you find music recommendations? My wife has had an influence on my musical taste, which probably happened naturally as our records and libraries got mixed together and her music would be on when I’m in the apartment. She got me interested in Hank Williams, Robert Johnson, Buddy Holly, Gillian Welch…blues and all its offspring, I guess. Music that is very American. Other than that, sometimes a friend will give me a good recommendation.

What song or artist best represents the work you create? Maybe Elvis? Might as well as be the king. A friend once told me that a Beat Happening song called “Indian Summer” sounded the way my drawings looked.

JORDAN’S PLAYLIST

Child’s Christmas in Wales, John Cale

Redondo Beach, Patti Smith

Spanish Harlem Incident, Bob Dylan

Cannibal Resource, Dirty Projectors

Waterfall, The Stone Roses

My Girls, Animal Collective

This Must Be the Place, Talking Heads

Sweet Jane, The Velvet Underground

Elvis Presley Blues, Gillian Welch

In the New Year, The Walkmen

From Stardust to Sentience, High Places

Images: Jordan Awan

Unplggd: Gregory Han’s New Home Office

“Name: Gregory Han

Location: Silver Lake, CA

Size: 6′ x 3′ Closet

Around this time last year I was happily enjoying working in a newly renovated home office I had designed and optimized for my workflow, furnished and accessorized with small space living in mind. It was a bright, cheery and ample space in an otherwise small studio apartment.

And then we moved.

I knew when we moved I was in for a drastic change in regards to my work area, since the 1 bedroom apartment we were migrating into was a space I actually photographed and toured for an Apartment Therapy Los Angeles house tour in late 2009. Our friend Alysia had used a portion of the living room as her home office, but I wanted to do something a bit different and use the closet as a work space. The option to close the door (and reminders about work) was partially the reason for this decision, but also because I prefer having distinct spaces for specific tasks, even if it meant downsizing into a much tighter fit (thankfully, there’s small window, a detail common to these 1900-1930’s units).

The biggest decision made was a stylistic one: going from bright and cheery decorated space to a darker, more sophisticated finish. I wanted just as much utility (though obviously not as much storage would be available) as the previous home office, so this required some planning and help from a contact at The Container Store, alongside hours of researching online about other closet home offices. I had several cinematic inspirations to work with, and when I saw a tech-stylized black wallpaper and purchased a wolf-shaped wall lamp, I knew I had the foundation pieces of my new work space.

The inspiration for my home office/home theater: Three of my favorite movies heavily influenced what I had envisioned for this tiny space: the Symphony No. 9 In D Minor/Ode To Joy scene in Immortal Beloved (staring up into the infinite stars, floating on top of water), the organized perfection of the residence in Tom Ford’s A Single Man, and a little of the mod-ultraviolence aesthetic of A Clockwork Orange. If anyone out there has a Kozik UltraViolence Ludwig Van Beethoven Bust they want to sell me, please contact me!

Inspiration: Designer and Illustrator Alexie Hiles

A rather elegant cat landed in my inbox recently. Alexie Hiles, an illustrator and graphic designer based in France, sent the images through of Mr Grey in response to our Pets in the Office series. I was intrigued by her space and her work so I asked her to share a little bit more.

How long have you worked from home? I’ve been working from home full time as freelance graphic designer for 3 years, I’m working mostly in the fields of institutional and culture communication in France. I am also an illustrator, which I enjoy most and I try to post a sketch as often as possible on my tumblr blog. I would love create children books now! I’ve always had a place to draw where I lived as long as I can remember.

And where is home? Our home is in Lille, in the north of France, between Paris, Brussels, London and Amsterdam. I really enjoy living in one of Europe’s cross roads. We bought our house 2 years ago from one of my partner’s former architecture teachers. I like the idea that the place where I spend most of my days has been a home office for a long time.

Describe your style? How would you define your aesthetic? The house was built in 1930, we are furnishing it slowly with furniture found in jumble sales or vintage stores from the 30’s to the 50’s. The home office is the place where I feel free to stick any pictures I love anywhere on the walls just because I want to be able to see them all the time (and take it away when I’ve had enough of it). It is full of tins, old books and toys I find everywhere.

How do you keep your office organized? I’m thinking here of the physical space but also your computer. I organize myself with a pen and a paper – everything starts in my big blue notepad (they are always the same, I only change the colors of cover when I buy a new one). All my lifework is in there. I once threw one away by mistake, and had to have a look in the street paper recycling bin to find it… my neighbors thought I’d gone mad that day. When my notepad’s closed my workday is finished. Also shelves! Plenty of them –  so that books, magazines etc. can stand vertically, instead of horizontally in piles. Filling the shelves with the books I love when moving in, it is always a great pleasure.

Are there any particular programs you find really useful? I use Skype everyday, it changed my way of working in team with other freelance graphic designers, they became kind of colleagues in a way!

When you were setting up your home office what did you keep in mind? When we moved into this house the ground floor walls, where I work now, were already covered with bookshelves which was ideal, and the former landlord had given us a beautiful old “double desk”. We just had to refresh the white paint, sit down, and work. We added a big old workshop table where I like to draw because it is far from the computer and a big “cat-approved” sofa to make the place warm and comfortable, friends are always welcome to sit down and have a drink and a biscuit.

Is there any piece of home office furniture you covet? Honestly not really…  I might need to find a place on the walls for a proper inspiration board to avoid flyers, articles and post cards everywhere, that’s all I am thinking of for the moment.

What is a desk accessory you can’t do without? My “gigantic” screen, I miss it when working away from home on my portable computer.

What would you change about your own workspace? My workspace is a bit dark in winter, I need better lighting.

What do you most love about your space?  When the sliding glass windows are wide opened in spring and summer I feel like working outside and I love it.

What inspires you? I receive the Grain Edit newsletter every day. I love art and graphic design from the 50’s, I love the clear, simple and efficient style. I admire the way artistes use subtle and bright colors. Charley Harper is one of my favorite illustrator. I also admire japanese illustrators such as Yoshitomo Nara, for the same reasons I guess. Apart from this, I think that if you pay attention around you,  everyday life is always very inspiring.

Inspiration: Graphic Designer Theo Rosendorf

Theo Rosendorf, author of “The Typographic Desk Reference,” is a design consultant whose client’s range from AT&T and Coca-Cola to Nintendo and Mercedes. Here he shares his home office.

How long have you worked from home? And where is home? Home is Atlanta Georgia, where I’ve worked as a graphic designer for just about twenty years. The bulk of my work has been as a consultant working out of my home office, though temporary stints commandeering client conference rooms is common. My company, Matador, takes an editorial approach to graphic design with a focus on typography for all media. By that I mean graphic design that starts with the content and works out to a finished product my clients can take to market. We do graphic design, but there’s a bit of writing to it as well. Some folks we’ve worked with: AT&T, Coke, IBM, ING, Mercedes AMG, Nintendo, and Time Warner.

Typography plays a major role in the practice beyond simply picking a font or knowing a particular brand’s guidelines. Every typeface has unique requirements in that it has to be set just so. It’s up to the graphic designer to understand what a particular typeface wants. We work within those bounds to let type communicate as it was intended. Everything else follows.

Being so enamored with type, I took time off from 2006 to 2009 to write  The Typographic Desk Reference (TDR), a dictionary of typographic terms and form. The TDR’s in its third printing and we’re looking to start localized versions before long. At the moment, we’re on the hunt for a European publisher.

Describe your style? How would you define your aesthetic? Initially I’d have to say I don’t have a specific style. My work requires adapting an aesthetic to the company or product I work for. But it could be said I have a modernist aesthetic. I don’t do postmodern, but if a client wants it I have a stack of postmodernist resumes I can haphazardly pick through. That’s a joke… well sort of. Postmodernist clients usually call back in five years, wanting to trade for a modern approach. Overall I’d have to say my approach is typographic, which could be considered an aesthetic at times.

How do you keep your office organized? I’m thinking here of the physical space but also your computer. Are there any particular programs you find really useful? I have some Bouroullec Valise boxes I use to file work documents. For archiving print work, I use some very refreshing plain white (with no advertisements) file boxes from the Container Store. Larger work gets tube rolled.

I have a server which gets backed up redundantly. Network user accounts get backed up to the server automatically, so adding a new MacBook is just a matter of logging in to the server with it. My music is on the server too—all 100 days of it.

For project management I use the 37 Signals Basecamp and Highrise apps. Nothing is proprietary, so the logistics of working with talent in Osaka is the same for someone in Copenhagen, or my printer here in Atlanta.

When you were designing your home office what did you keep in mind? I start with a book called Human Dimension & Interior Space by Julius Panero and Martin Zelnik. After brushing up on a little physical anthropology, I get to work realizing the space. Designing a physical space is no different than graphic design or typography where size, proportion, and space are equally considered. I’d say well placed furniture makes for high performance, but more importantly a better quality of life.

Is there any piece of home office furniture you most enjoy? My Eames Soft Pad Group Executive chair. I’ve had it for ten years and it just gets better with age. It doesn’t wear out, it wears in. Second would come my Eames Oval Table. It’s the only desk I’ve had that, placed diagonally, functions error free. I’ve just started to break-in my Ikea Billy bookcases. We’ll see how that goes.

What is a desk accessory you can’t do without? Where does the accessory end and the tool start? What often find their way back to the desk are my Pantone fan books. These are what I’d consider desk accessories to keep color organized, lest I imagine there’d be loose color all over my desk.

As difficult as it is, I try to keep things off the desk. My sideboard drawers are filled with little fiddly stuff like pens, paperclips and whatnot. This is a “desk accessory” I can’t do without. Open one of these drawers and you’ll clearly hear the theme music to Sanford & Son.

Oh, and my Leica D-Lux 3 camera. Best camera I’ve owned.

What would you change about your own workspace? The office is just big enough to fit two people comfortably, so I’d make it bigger, add more open space, and a half kitchen. A chaise for naps would be nice. I’d also like it to be detached from the house to slightly de-blur the work/home aspect. While we’re at it, just make the whole thing aluminum and glass and resurrect Donald Judd to design it.

What do you most love about your space? The view of the backyard through the sliding glass. The windows let in lots of natural light which is ideal for reviewing proofs and picking colors. It’s also good for the eyes to focus on something far away after staring at the computer screen.

What inspires you? For work related inspiration I look outside of graphic design to architecture, industrial design, music, and literature. And nothing beats traveling to see how other people do things.

Inspiration: Kelly Beall

For the past three years Oklahoma-based art director Kelly Beall has been juggling her day job and her passion for blogging about design. You can read her musings at Design Crush. Here she shares her home office with us.

How long have you blogged from home…and where is ‘home’? Design Crush began in June 2007, but I didn’t start blogging from my current home until I purchased it in July of 2008. I live in a 3 bed, 2 bath ranch style home with one entire bedroom devoted to my artsy side. It really is a dream come true. I blog from this refurbed red desk that I got at a hotel sale five years ago. I’m in the process of finding the perfect desk chair since my old one recently broke. For now this straight back will do and better my posture at the same time!

What does an average work day involve? I’m sort of meticulous about my blogging schedule. I have a day job as well as Design Crush, so I have to time manage extremely well. My weekdays start around 6am and I get into the office by 7:30. I spend roughly an hour perusing my reader and following up on emails. Then I’ll plan what posts I want to put up that day, write and code everything, and schedule them to drop throughout the next eight hours. After work, say three nights out of the week, I’ll research posts and do anything extraneous that’s hanging out.

I just got the new Mac mouse and it’s amazing. It has definitely changed the way I work. Is there any form of technology that really helps you with your work? It sounds cliche, but definitely my MacBook Pro. Without a doubt the versatility it allows is astounding. I lug it everywhere with me. This past January I spoke at the Alt Summit in Salt Lake City and thanks to my laptop was able to live tweet a lot of the information that was being passed on through the different panels. It helps to break down any barriers that might exist as far as internet access and getting content out to my readers.

How do you organize your space? My physical space is organized according to inspiration. I want anything within my line of sight to have an indirect influence on what I’m doing at any given moment. So my desk faces my inspiration board and the window directly next to it looks out onto the back yard. My home magazines are immediately within reach to the right and a large amount of my art supplies are stored within boxes are the shelves to the left. I’m also really old school as far as planning goes, paper all the way.

What item from your desktop can you not do without? My speakers (not shown). I listen to music all day, every day. It plays a big part in determining my mood for the day and can really heavily influence my design on a good day. I live on blip.fm.
What is your favorite piece of office furniture? It’s actually the Chiasso Studio chair I currently have at work. I’m hoping to replace the current one in my home studio with the very same. It’s so comfortable!

What inspires you? The easier question would have been what doesn’t? I’ll just stick with the biggies to spare you: mid-century modern architecture and design, great logos and books.

Inspiration: Academic Christin Fonn

Christin Fonn is immersed in the world of Norwegian design – not as a designer but as a student –  she is writing her master’s thesis on the topic and also remodelling her apartment. In her spare moments she works on her design blog Fine Ting og Sjokolade.

How long have you worked from home? And where is home? My home is in Oslo, the capital of Norway. We bought our apartment last year, and have been remodeling since. The room we are planning to use as a home office is not finished yet, so for the last six months I have been sitting at the kitchen table writing my master thesis in art history. I’m writing about the Norwegian design community, at home and abroad, in the Scandinavian Design years, around 1955.

Describe your style? How would you define your aesthetic? I try to mix new and old, and think its important that some of the things we surround ourselves with have a history. I especially love objects from the 50s and 60s, and combine them with a modern, simple interior. White walls are a good base for teak furniture, and all my old tinboxes and enamelobjects from the Norwegian producers Cathrineholm and Emalox.

How do you keep your work space organized? A lot of binders are the clue for keeping my table clean. I work with newspaper articles from the fifties, and the copies have a tendency to cover my entire work space. To keep track of my thoughts Ive hung a large piece of paper on the kitchen wall. On the paper I’ve written down the main structure of my thesis, and I constantly add new information to it. Seeing my thoughts written down like this, help me see new connections and what is really important.

You are remodeling your apartment right now will you have a space for a home office? We have just started with the last room, which will become a combined office and guest bedroom. It’s quite a puzzle deciding how to decorate it, and we still havent made any definite choices. Time will show…

Is there any piece of home office furniture you covet? I want many, many meters of bookshelves, so I can keep everything organised. The dream is to own twenty meters of Nisse Strinnings String-selves (www.string.se).

What is a desk accessory you can’t do without? Post it-notes for practical reasons, and my Moomin-mug because it makes me happy.

What would you change about your own workspace? At the moment it is of course to have the workspace somewhere else than in the kitchen, which is not very practical in the long run. Books and paper all over the place while trying to cook dinner is not a good thing..

What do you most love about your space? The large table where I can spread out all my notes, paperclippings and books. And in moments when my head feels like it’s filled with cotton, and it’s impossible to write anything at all, the view!

What inspires you? My friends, beautiful blogs, magazines, books, art-exhibitions, riding the tram and citywalks with music in my ears.

The Playlist: Martha McQuade of UNIFORM Natural

Clothing designer, trained architect, teacher, and writer Martha McQuade makes simple, beautiful things from her studio in Minneapolis (be sure to check them out here and here at her UNIFORM Natural online shops. Inkblot table runner below). And this week, she made us a simple, beautiful playlist (be sure to check that out below).

Do you listen to music while you work? It depends on what I’m doing. If I am working on production sewing or photo editing, I will listen to podcasts (I love The Moth) or loud music (usually punk). If I’m doing something where I need to think, it will be quieter music. When I’m creating a new clothing collection, I’ll listen to something that feels inspiring to that particular collection, although it is usually something quite minimal in sound—ethereal/ambient.

What do you listen to? I think my musical tastes are all over the place. I tend to listen to stuff I’ve had forever because I’m too busy to find new music that I like. Generally, my heart lies in punk, minimal/ethereal/ambient, dance/electronica and breathy woman vocalists. I also like it when I can hear a guitar player’s fingers on the strings.

I sort of feel like my tastes don’t change too much, although when I was in grad school in the late 90’s, a friend let me listen to a demo tape given to him from a friend who worked for a radio station. It had the song “Greenlander” by Pavement on it. At the time, it wasn’t on an album and I remember the song really haunting me. When I asked the friend about it later, he didn’t remember it and had returned the tape. I periodically thought about the song, but couldn’t find it (and that was back before the Internet was so huge).  Recently I thought of it again, looked it up on Google (it was finally released in 2002), and was disappointed that it really didn’t live up to my memory.

How do you listen? In my downstairs studio, I listen through a speaker system on my iPod, or on headphones if there are other people in the house. At my desk upstairs, I listen on my computer.

Do you have any favorite music websites/providers? I really like Last.fm because you have the ability to build a library of artists that is easy to browse and search. They also have a function that suggests other bands you might like based on bands in your library. My 9-year-old even has his own account.

Does music influence your work? Certain music definitely influences how I think about design. I’m interested in design that is simple, but has a bit of interesting detail in the construction with an emphasis on texture. My Fall 2008 collection, titled “Land,” was really inspired by images of Iceland as well as minimalist ethereal music like of the Icelandic band Sigur Rós. What I think of as a spare but beautiful tone in their work really inspired me.

Where do you find music recommendations? I get music recommendations from friends for the most part. I find I don’t have the time to search for new music these days.  And as I mentioned previously, I like how Last.fm will recommend bands based on what is in your library. As far as influence goes, either I like it or I don’t. I can usually tell right away if I like something—I can just feel it inside. I’m the same way with color. There are certain types of music that make me feel physically ill. (Bluegrass would fall into that category.) There are also certain songs that I just think of as happy songs, like “The Boat Dreams From the Hill” from Jawbreaker’s 24 Hour Revenge Therapy. Strangely enough, most of the songs on that album are happy songs for me.

If your work was a song or a musician, what or who would it be? I guess I would like it to be Sigur Rós, but it’s not there yet. It’s where I aspire my work to be.

MARTHA’S PLAYLIST:

West Bay Invitational, Jawbreaker

Secret, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

Sweetest Decline, Beth Orton

Debaser, Pixies

When I Grow Up, Fever Ray

Why Can’t I Be You?, The Cure

Go Do, Jónsi

Downtown Train, Tom Waits

Mysterons, Portishead

Compression, Everything But the Girl

Pretty Little Girl, All

I Feel It, Lorraine

I Try, Macy Gray

The Walls Are Coming Down, Fanfarlo

Sir Duke, Stevie Wonder

Safe From Harm, Massive Attack

Three MC’s and One DJ, Beastie Boys

The Greatest, Cat Power

Billie Jean, Michael Jackson

Tribulations, LCD Soundsystem

Glósóli, Sigur Rós

Mouthful of Diamonds, Phantogram

Images: Martha McQuade and Sarah Rubens

Unplggd: Home Office in the Trees

“We love this as an office in the trees. While maybe not exactly relying on trees for its structure, this Baumraum in the clouds is exactly the kind of space that would lend itself easily to some serious business activities while giving us an inspiring view through the work day. There are actually two projects shown here. One is called “King of the Frogs” and the other, “Treehouse world of Living“, both located in Germany.

From Baumraum:

A treehouse! A promise of adventure for the kids, a retreat for the adults, a romantic hideaway close to nature. These special little dwellings installed up among the trees fire our imagination and rouse our curiosity, bringing back childhood memories, and with them the desire to climb up and enter a magic world amongst the foliage. To be spellbound again, to witness the different sights and sounds up there by day and night and throughout the seasons. To play up there, to work undisturbed, to relax, to daydream…

By Peter.”

Inspiration: Editor Jean Lin

How long have you worked from home? And where is home? Before [design and architecture blog] otto, and before I started writing about design, I worked as a fashion designer in the NYC fashion industry. I worked ridiculous hours in a design studio and never saw the light of day. When I decided to start my own fashion line dressed in yellow about 5 years ago, I needed to find a job that gave me flexibility. That’s when I started working from home as an editor of a design newsletter.

Today, I’m still in New York City and I work from home as editor of otto a+d, a trade blog that targets interior design professionals; I am also the US Editor for WGSN-Homebuildlife, a trend forecasting agency based in London; and of course I’m still designing for dressed in yellow.

Describe your style? How would you define your aesthetic? I love the word “style” because to me it’s a matter of self expression, fashion and design are simply tools we use to achieve this. For this reason, my style is a bit all over the map. For me, style is what happens day to day when I reconcile comfort, mood, beauty, inspiration and restraint.

How do you keep your office organized? I hate to admit it, but I am quite disorganized by nature. I have towers of papers, books, fabric and press kits on my desk, threatening to fall on me and ruin my life. With all the different jobs I have going right now, I have come to depend on my Google Calendar. It is what keeps me from missing my deadlines, double booking appointments, and forgetting to buy a father’s day gift.

When you were putting together your home office what did you keep in mind? Honestly, I just hoped everything fit. Once it was clear that my small apartment could house all my enterprises, I wanted to make sure that my sewing table, drafting table and desk were able to get good light.

Is there any piece of home office furniture you covet? Is there any that I don’t? I love design and have made a career out of looking at great design day in and day out. To me, the greatest design is when function, form and process work in harmony, and when that happens, how can I not wish that piece was in my life?

What is a desk accessory you can’t do without? Surface area. Since I’m a piler, I need the surface area to organize my papers visually!

What would you change about your own workspace? If I change something, my tower of junk might come unbalanced and fall.

What do you most love about your space? I get amazing light in here, and my windows face west looking at the Manhattan skyline. When the sun starts to set, the light has a magical golden glow that makes the entire space feel like a warm, fuzzy dream.

What inspires you? Great people who have done great things in their lives. One time I cried reading a book about the fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli. One time I cried when watching a documentary about the band the Pixies. One time I cried while watching the end of a triathlon. Other than making me cry far too much, these people inspire me to push myself harder, to work towards the best version of myself — be it designer, editor, daughter, friend, dog mom — possible.