Your Newspaper - HomeStyle - Jonathan Adler’s Happy Place

Posted on: October 13, 2010

Jonathan Adler’s Happy Place

Why style is not contingent upon money and why every room needs a few tassels

By Robert Sharoff
CTW Features

Image courtesy Image courtesy of Jonathan Adler

Take a chill pill: Decorating is a natural antidepressant,according to Jonathan Adler, who redecorates his home on a regular basis. He says that every element of his home, except the walls and the floors, is subject change at any moment.

Jonathan Adler is the ultimate designer hyphenate: TV personality, interior decorator, housewares entrepreneur, sharp-witted cultural authority and mad potter. His myriad product lines include everything from pillows and plates to furniture and lighting. Add author to that list, also – he recently published two books, “Jonathan Adler on Happy Chic Accessorizing” (Sterling Innovation, 2010) and “Jonathan Adler on Happy Chic Colors” (Sterling Innovation, 2010). He is, he says, dedicated to bringing “a general feeling of grooviness to your home.”

You have two new books out and both have the word “Happy” in their title. Are you sensing a lack of happiness in the world today?

Whether there is or there isn’t, I think we can always use a little more. I also think decorating is a great antidepressant.

How has the recession affected design?

It’s had a huge effect. People are spending less and being more careful about what they bring into their houses. But I think that makes my philosophy even more timely and relevant. I advocate a style that is chic and personal but also affordable and innately optimistic. In these dire economic times, I think that’s important.

This is an eternal question, but maybe it’s time to ask it again: What is the relationship of style to money?

There is no relationship between style and money. You either have style or you don’t and no amount of money will change that equation. You can make things look pretty groovy on a budget. You just have to be a clever shopper.

Designers have spent most of the last decade excavating Mid-Century Modern. What’s the next step?

I think the trend is to mix up the stuff you love, and maybe that’s Mid-Century next to Gothic next to Futurism. It’s about giving yourself permission to love what you love.

Does that mean anything goes?

I think so. The relentless pursuit of tastefulness is a rather empty endeavor. Where’s the fun? Where’s the heart? Where’s the joie de vivre? The more personal and meaningful something is to you, the chic-er it is. That’s my design ethos.

Given that you’re a more is more – as opposed to a less is more – kind of guy, do you have any kind of rule for how much stuff is too much?

As much as I exhort people to be personal and idiosyncratic and to go for more, more, more, I don’t fully mean it. You have to edit things and think about how they relate to each other. It’s what design is all about.

Image courtesy Image courtesy of Jonathan Adler

In your own house, what changes and what stays pretty much the same?

Everything changes all the time except for walls and floors. Everything comes and goes. It hangs on until the next product sample comes into my office and I giddily bring it home to try it out. And at that point something has to go.

What happens to it?

Well, I’m lucky enough to have 12 retail stores so I usually resell it.

It sounds like you’re not overly attached to any particular object.

Stuff is stuff and I love stuff. But stuff, ultimately, is not the most important thing in the world. My husband and my dog are more important than what’s in my apartment. That said, I have been known to buy things back if I start missing them. Years ago, for example, I had a collection of glass figurines that I eventually sold off. I recently repurchased a number of them on eBay for about five times what I originally paid for them. For now, they’re back on my mantel.

Jonathan Adler’s Maxims for Happy Chic Decorating

I believe that your home should make you happy.

I believe minimalism is a bummer.

I believe in being underdressed and overdressed always.

I believe tassels are the earrings of the home.

I believe handcrafted tchotchkes are life enhancing.

I believe in the innate chic-ness of red and brown.

I believe in Palm Beach style: Louis chairs, chinoiserie, Lilly Pulitzer and The Breakers circa 1972.

I believe that when it comes to decorating, the wife is always right. Unless the husband is gay.

I believe my lamps will make you look younger and thinner.

I believe in irreverent luxury.

Back to the Basics

“I have a soft spot for the crisp pairing of black and white,” says designer Jonathan Adler in his new book, “Jonathan Adler on Happy Chic Colors” (Sterling Innovation, 2010).

“In fact, I started my career making black-and-white striped pots. My inspiration was ‘The Graduate,’ notably the black and white striped awning in Mrs. Robinson’s backyard. It was so smart, so sharp, so country club chic. Awning stripes say everything that needs to be said about black and white: nifty, poppy, punchy perfection. You simply cannot go wrong expressing yourself in black and white; it’s a fail-safe pairing that’s graphic yet neutral and impossible to screw up. It’s either black and white or just white. I wear white pants every single day, even to black-tie events. When it comes to attiring your home, however, it’s best to use white as a neutral backdrop for exuberant colors rather than as a statement in and of itself; white on white is so cold and antiseptic looking (and yet, ironically, so impossible to keep clean). In its previous incarnation, my New York apartment featured every color under the moon. Then I tore off the grass cloth wallpaper and jettisoned the jolly accent walls and whitewashed every available surface. The result? Everything popped. White lets happy chic colors be themselves.”