Best interior decorators

The 20 Most Famous Interior Designers Working Today

Overnight success is rare in the design industry. Most famous interior designers have spent years working with clients, developing product lines, and building their brands. Becoming a household name requires hustle—and lots and lots of media savvy. Today’s best-known designers took a variety of roads to the top, but now can often be spotted gracing the covers of magazines with buzzy commissions and clients, or landing regular gigs on TV. Once they made it, they figured out how to capitalize on their success and expand their reach worldwide. While they each have specific specialties and styles, these designers and architects have certainly left their mark on the industry, and continue to influence the way people live and decorate. Read on for AD PRO’s roundup of the most famous interior designers working today.

Joanna Gaines

In just six years, Joanna Gaines—with help from her contractor husband, Chip—has created a design empire. Since Fixer Upper premiered on HGTV in 2013, the designer and TV star has launched collaborations with mega brands like Target and Anthropologie, started a magazine, published books, and made shiplap and farmhouse-style design ubiquitous. The couple has also turned the town of Waco, Texas, into a tourist destination with the Magnolia Market at the Silos, a 4.9-acre shopping and dining complex that draws an estimated 30,000 people per week. While Fixer Upper ended its run in 2018, the Gaineses are continuing their path to design domination. Next up is a hotel in downtown Waco and their own cable television network.

Nate Berkus

In 2002, Nate Berkus made his debut on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and he quickly became one of America’s favorite design talents, landing TV shows, book deals, and collaborations galore. His eponymous firm, which he founded in 1995 at the age of 24, attracts an array of high-profile clients, including Ricky Martin, and Berkus has partnered on product lines with Target, Kravet, the Shade Store, and Framebridge. He and husband Jeremiah Brent star in TLC’s Nate & Jeremiah by Design and the couple recently unveiled their latest collection for Living Spaces.

Kelly Wearstler

In 2009, The New Yorker declared Kelly Wearstler “the presiding grande dame of West Coast interior design,” and since then her reach and influence have grown far beyond California. The trendsetter has shaped the hospitality industry with her designs for the Viceroy Hotels and Residences, Four Seasons Anguilla, and, most recently, Proper Hotels in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin. On the residential side, her client list includes Cameron Diaz, Ben Stiller, and Gwen Stefani, and she’s designed lines for Ann Sacks, Lee Jofa, the Rug Company, Georg Jensen, and Visual Comfort, as well as her own collection of furniture and accessories.

Martyn Lawrence Bullard

There are celebrity interior designers, and then there’s Martyn Lawrence Bullard, the go-to decorator for superstars like Elton John, Cher, Kylie Jenner, and Khloé and Kourtney Kardashian. He’s also a favorite collaborator for brands and has designed a dozen licensed lines that include tile for Ann Sacks, mattresses for Custom Comfort, and silver crowns for Christofle. When he’s not designing for the stars, Bullard is making his mark on the hospitality scene with interiors for Casa Laguna in Laguna Beach and the upcoming The Prospect in Los Angeles.

Bobby Berk

The past two years have been beyond big for Missouri native Bobby Berk. In 2018, he debuted as Queer Eye’s design expert and quickly became a fan favorite for his impactful home makeovers. The industry veteran launched his retail business back in 2006 and his eponymous design firm in 2015, but Queer Eye has brought his modern, livable style to a massive audience (as his 2.6 million Instagram followers attest). In October, Berk launched a furniture collection with A.R.T. Furniture at High Point Market featuring 44 pieces, several of which quickly sold out.

Peter Marino

Fashion’s favorite architect is Peter Marino. The design legend, who founded his firm in 1978 after working for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; George Nelson; and I.M. Pei/Cossutta & Ponte, has designed stores for a who’s who of luxury fashion and jewelry brands including Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Bulgari, Hublot, Dior, Fendi, and Graff. His boutiques, like his residential projects, are known for their luxe materials and impressive art displays. He recently released a new textile line for Rubelli and unveiled Louis Vuitton stores in London and Seoul.

Justina Blakeney

L.A. designer Justina Blakeney turned her eclectic, plant-filled style into a hot trend and a booming business with 1.2 million Instagram followers. She started her design blog, Jungalow, in 2009, and since then she’s written a New York Times bestseller, The New Bohemians; launched an online store; and embarked on a number of collaborations with brands such as Anthropologie, Band-Aid, Target, and Loloi Rugs. Her latest endeavor is a limited-edition, size-inclusive line of apparel, We Wild by Justina Blakeney, and she plans on opening a brick-and-mortar outpost in the near future.

Emily Henderson

Designer Emily Henderson made America up its styling game and helped transform bookshelves, cocktail tables, and mantels across the country. Her big break was winning season five of HGTV Design Star, and her subsequent show on the network, Secrets From a Stylist, ran for two seasons. She shares design know-how with dedicated fans on her popular blog and her Instagram feed, where she has more than 835,000 followers. Her 2015 book, Styled: Secrets for Arranging Rooms, From Tabletops to Bookshelves, was a New York Times bestseller. In addition to running her interior design practice and content operation, Henderson serves as Target’s home style expert.

Jonathan Adler

Ever since his cheeky pottery debuted at Barneys in 1993, Jonathan Adler has been infusing homes with color and humor. He quickly expanded his business beyond ceramics, designing everything from pillows and furnishings to lighting and rugs. Adler’s design studio has created the interiors of the Parker Palm Springs and Eau Palm Beach, as well as private residences and model apartments. He has licensed lines galore, including his Now House brand on Amazon; a collection with cannabis lifestyle company Higher Standards; and partnerships with Kravet, H&M Home, and the Shade Store.

Best Interior Designers - ELLE Decor’s 125 Top Interior Designers

Courtesy

ELLE Decor proudly presents the 10th anniversary edition of the A-List—our annual registry of the most stylish, influential, and innovative interior designers from around the world. Back in 2010, our first A-List had 25 members (and five to watch). Today, the Class of 2020 is 125 firms strong—a wide-ranging group who inspire us with the magical homes they create across the globe. Click through to read all about them.

Courtesy of Aero Studios

Aero Studios

STYLE Warm modernism
COLLABS Outdoor fabrics for Lee Jofa, lighting for Visual Comfort

Founded by interior and home-furnishings designer Thomas O’Brien, Aero Studios is a master design office where crossover and collaboration are the rules rather than the exception. The office’s many projects range from lofts and formal apartments to commercial work like the Sixty Thompson hotel and a condo developed by the Rudins called the Greenwich Lane.

Instagram: @aerostudios

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James Merrell

Alberto Pinto Interior Design

STYLE Linda Pinto continues her late brother’s lavish elegance
COLLABS A new joint venture with Thierry Despont

Eclecticism and refinement remain the keywords when it comes to creating entire universes for Alberto Pinto’s prestigious clients worldwide: private residences, offices, airports, hotels, yachts, and jets. Under Linda Pinto’s management, Alberto Pinto is marked by cultural influences that let traditional and modern meet in harmony.

Instagram: @albertopintoagency

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Simon Upton

Alessandra Branca

STYLE Classic con brio
NEWS A Casa Branca relaunch includes embroidery by Rwandan genocide survivors

Born and raised in Italy, Alessandra Branca grew up believing classical beauty is meant to be intertwined with everyday life. Her eclectic, colorful work fuses the workmanship of a couturier with energy and practicality in all she designs. Her book, New Classic Interiors, was published in 2009.

Instagram: @abranca

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Richard Powers

Alex Papachristidis

STYLE Affable connoisseur
NEWS Curated a recent Christie’s auction of 18th- and 19th-century furniture, porcelain, and art

Bold patterns, jewel tones, and exotic accents are characteristic of Alex Papachristidis’s work. Recent projects include a beach house in the Hamptons, a Philadelphia Main Line residence, and a Greenwich Village apartment. Tour Papachristidis’s maximalist New York apartment here.

Instagram: @alexsviewpoint

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Alyssa Kapito Interiors

Alyssa Kapito

STYLE Ivory tower
PROJECTS Minimalist homes from Manhattan’s Upper West Side to Greenwich, Connecticut

Based in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, Alyssa Kapito brings a fresh take on the classics and has a great appreciation of antiques and art. Some of her projects include a full restoration of a historic Hamptons estate; a family home in Beverly Hills; a beach house in Bellport, Long Island; and a landmarked townhouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Instagram: @alyssakapitointeriors

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Eric Piasecki

Aman & Meeks

STYLE Cheeky glamour that shows off the art
CLIENTS Patrons and philanthropists, including Emily Fisher Landau and Candia Fisher

James Aman and partner John Meeks draw on their backgrounds in store design, visual display, and fashion to create lovely, elegant rooms. The designers are especially adroit at fashioning a look of tailored luxury that evokes both past and present.

Instagram: @amanmeeks

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Thomas Loof

Amy Lau

STYLE Sensual expressionism
CLIENTS Edgar and Clarissa Bronfman, fashion designer Elie Tahari
COLLABS Gio Ponti–inspired rugs for Kyle Bunting, wallpaper for Fromental

Founded in 2001, Amy Lau Design creates interiors known for their warmth, expressiveness, and impeccable attention to detail. Amy has a reverence for the inherent beauty of natural materials and landscapes and thoughtfully incorporates elements of each into every project.

Instagram: @amylaudesign

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Marco Ricca

Apartment 48

STYLE Boho layers
PROJECTS A Manhattan townhouse on the Upper East Side, a modern home in Miami, a New York City flagship for Rent the Runway

Alabama native and noted color wizard Rayman Boozer rose to prominence when he founded Apartment 48, a chic New York home store set up like an apartment. Today, he is the go-to designer for everyone from Manhattan professionals to start-ups in search of an energetic, original look.

Instagram: @raymanboozer

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Joshua McHugh

Ashe Leandro

STYLE Chilled-out sophistication
CLIENTS Jake Gyllenhaal, Seth Meyers

Former set designer Ariel Ashe and architect Reinaldo Leandro’s New York City firm Ashe Leandro mixes contemporary luxury and natural materials to create spaces that feel open and timeless. Past projects include work for Liev Schreiber and Seth Meyers, who is the husband of Ashe’s sister.

Instagram: @ashe_leandro

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ELLE Decor

Axel Vervoordt

STYLE Wabi-sabi wow
CLIENTS Kim-ye, Robert De Niro, Bill Gates
PROJECTS His legendary art and antiques galleries in Antwerp and Hong Kong

Interior designer, antiquarian, and art gallery owner, the Antwerp tastemaker is revered for his influential style, mixing antiquities and art with modern furnishings draped in Belgian-linen slipcovers.

Instagram: @axelvervoordt

Photo forthcoming.

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Simon Brown

Beata Heuman

STYLE Bloomsbury by way of Scandinavia
CLIENTS U.K. creatives
PROJECTS Whimsical wallpaper, fabrics, and more on her online Shoppa

A London up-and-comer with a whimsical, unexpected approach to interiors, Beata Heuman is known for her playful and original work. Heuman worked for Nicky Haslam for nine years before setting up her own studio in 2013. Her team strives to create beautiful interiors—whatever the scale and budget—characterized by a Scandinavian attention to detail and longevity.

Instagram: @beataheuman

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William Waldron

Bilhuber & Associates

STYLE All-American dash
CLIENTS Elsa Peretti, Mariska Hargitay
COLLABS Fabrics for Le Gracieux, hardware for P.E. Guerin

Though the styles of his rooms range from sumptuously lush to strictly tailored, Jeffrey Bilhuber offers an all-American take on classic decorating—which explains his popularity with clients such as the late David Bowie and Anna Wintour of Vogue.

Instagram: @jeffreybilhuber

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Trevor Tondro

Brad Ford ID

STYLE Love craft
PROJECTS A model apartment at Jean Nouvel’s 53 West 53rd complex at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art
NEWS Field + Supply, his biannual makers’ fair in New York’s Hudson Valley, enters its seventh year

New York–based designer Brad Ford is known for his residential interiors that are at once modern and warm, elegant, and functional. He founded his eponymous firm in 1998, and his Field + Supply craft and design fair has more than 100 vendors and exhibitors.

Instagram: @brad_ford_id

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William Waldron

Brian J. McCarthy

STYLE Sumptuous elegance, honed at Parish-Hadley
NEWS 2020 lifetime achievement award from the New York School of Interior Design

New York–based designer Brian J. McCarthy draws inspiration from the culture and elegance of European living. That translates into eclectic spaces grounded by an understanding of history, but realized with a focus on functionality, comfort, and sumptuous materials. His book, Luminous Interiors, was published in 2013.

Instagram: @brianjmccarthyinc

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Brockschmidt & Coleman, LLC

Brockschmidt & Coleman

STYLE Classicism without cobwebs
CLIENTS The literary elite, from Jon Meacham to Julia Reed
NEWS A New Orleans design studio and boutique, Sud, which specializes in Italian crafts

New York City–based Bill Brockschmidt and Courtney Coleman describe their clients as “under-the-radar literati and collectors” who appreciate their ability to match historical references with modern sensibilities.

Instagram: @brockschmidtandcoleman

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Roger Davies

Bunny Williams Interior Design

STYLE Patinated luxury
NEWS A new line of Bunny Williams Home furniture
is slated for the fall

Bunny Williams is all about classic comfort, an informed eye, and a bit of fun. In her rooms, fine European antiques meet mirrored walls and gutsy artwork. She uses intense colors and delicate patterns with equal panache. Go inside a Williams-designed Park Avenue apartment here.

Instagram: @bunnywilliams_interiordesign

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William Waldron

Carrier and Company

STYLE Positively chic
COLLABS Lighting with Visual Comfort, fabrics with Lee Jofa

Jesse Carrier and Mara Miller are a husband-and-wife duo who create rooms that are a confident mix of timeless and contemporary design—both familiar and fresh at once. Always refined and sophisticated, light-filled and airy, their spaces range in style from elegantly traditional to luxuriously minimalist to glamorously bohemian.

Instagram: @carrierandco

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Courtesy

Champalimaud Design

STYLE Warm welcome
PROJECTS Suites for Boston’s Mandarin Oriental

Alexandra Champalimaud of the Champalimaud design firm is an Anglo-Portuguese expat and one of the world’s most talented luxury hospitality designers. The New York–based studio is dedicated to expressing the individual character of each space through extraordinary design, with imaginative and forward-thinking teams that lead successful award-winning projects around the globe.

Instagram: @champalimauddesign

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JAMES MERRELL

Charlotte Moss

STYLE Genteel and traditional
CLIENTS The Upper East Side, Hamptons, and Palm Beach crowd
COLLABS Metal botanicals, potted or framed, with Tommy Mitchell

Having launched her career on Wall Street, Charlotte Moss is equally attuned to the principles of classic decorating and the needs of a modern household, as well as inspired by women travelers and explorers who pushed boundaries.

Instagram: @charmossny

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Dominique Vorillon

Commune

STYLE Handcrafted and holistic
PROJECTS Ace Hotel Kyoto

Los Angeles–based partners Roman Alonso and Steven Johanknecht are masters of the new California cool. From homes to hotels to product design, their work embodies a respect for craft and an almost archaeological sense of place.

Instagram: @communedesign

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Marco Ricca

Corey Damen Jenkins

STYLE Motor City playful
COLLABS Hudson Valley Lighting, Leathercraft furniture
PROJECTS His lady’s library at the 2019 Kips Bay Decorator Show House

The through line connecting all of Jenkins’s work is a polished traditionalism infused with color and pattern. The Detroit native, who also has an office in New York City, made serious waves last year with his much-touted lady’s library at the Kips Bay Decorator Show House.

Instagram: @coreydamenjenkins

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Simon Upton

Cullman & Kravis

STYLE Life of the party
NEWS A refreshed lounge at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in collaboration with ELLE Decor, a teaching kitchen for the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club

Brooklyn-raised Ellie Cullman (her family owns the famous Peter Luger steakhouse) holds an Albert Hadley Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York School of Interior Design and founded the storied design firm known for its fashion-forward, modern look—catalogued in the design book From Classic to Contemporary.

Instagram: @cullmankravis

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Laura Resen

Dan Fink

STYLE New old soul
CLIENTS Tech stars
PROJECTS A seaside lounge at the Miramar Club in Montecito, California

A favorite among tech giants, Dan Fink got his start in Silicon Valley and is known for his moody, modern aesthetic.

Instagram: @danfinkstudio

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Brittany Ambridge

Danielle Colding Design

STYLE Artful, cozy medleys
PROJECTS A Kips Bay townhouse, a Prospect Heights duplex

Danielle Colding, who came to prominence starring in Shop This Room on HGTV, refers to the homes she creates as artful and cozy. Never stuffy, she likes to build spaces around a client’s family heirlooms, art collection, and knickknacks so that the room is always a reflection of the individual.

Instagram: @daniellecoldingdesign

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Simon Upton

Darryl Carter

STYLE Antiques as sculpture
COLLABS Lighting for the Urban Electric Co.

Based in Washington, D.C., Darryl Carter, a former lawyer, turns out cool, calm, and collected spaces that are distinctive in their masculine rigor. They are full of smart neutral fabrics, dark wooden furniture, and strong silhouettes. His furniture designs are spare without being austere.

Instagram: @darrylcarterdesign

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Pieter Estersohn

David Kleinberg Design Associates

STYLE Timeless tranquillity
PROJECTS Upper East Side apartments, superyachts

David Kleinberg is committed to uncluttered rooms furnished with a Francophile’s mélange of antiques. His body of work is wide-ranging in type, yet always modern in sensibility. In 2011, he published Traditional Now: Interiors by David Kleinberg.

Instagram: @dkda

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Francesco Lagnese

David Netto

STYLE Edgy erudite
CLIENTS Rockefellers and Hollywood honchos
PROJECTS A villa in the Bahamas

Toggling between his home in Los Angeles and his hometown of New York, David Netto is a Harvard architecture school dropout who revels in the unexpected, making traditionalism feel hip, and modernism like a warm and textured cocoon.

Instagram: @davidnettosays

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Richard Powers

De la Torre Design Studio

STYLE Sky’s the limit
PROJECTS An installation he created with artist James Turrell for a house in California

Having started his design career working with ELLE Decor Grand Master Peter Marino, it’s no wonder that Ernest de la Torre’s own design firm, which he founded in 2001, boasts an impressive portfolio, including Tuxedo Park mansions, Manhattan penthouses, jets, and yachts.

Instagram: @delatorredesign

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ANDREA FERRARI

Dimorestudio

STYLE Supreme sprezzatura
CLIENTS Fashionistas and luxury brands
COLLABS Home accessories for Dior

Emiliano Salci and Britt Moran make up the Milan-based super duo. Founded in 2003, the avant-garde firm is known for its furniture designs and fashion collaborations with the likes of Fendi and Hermès. Their forward-looking interiors are rich with pattern and color-blocked walls.

Instagram: @dimoremilano

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Marco Ricca

Drake/Anderson

STYLE Evolution of gilt
COLLABS Hardware with SA Baxter, furniture with Theodore Alexander

Jamie Drake is primarily a modernist, yet he’s known for his fearless approach to color and his fashion-conscious sensibility. He combined forces with designer Caleb Anderson to form the Drake/Anderson design partnership. Projects have included sophisticated interiors in many of Manhattan’s trendiest residential towers, as well as cutting-edge medical facilities and nonprofit headquarters.

Instagram: @drake__anderson

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8 top decorators of the world

Pablo Picasso once said that a good artist copies and a great one steals. Let's soften: everything new is a well-forgotten old. Great designers use all the achievements of culture and art that humanity has accumulated. At the same time, they skillfully combine them with functionality and manufacturability. Let's see how some of the most famous and highly paid decorators and designers of our time do it.

Jay Osgerby and Edward Barber

The British design duo founded a studio together after they graduated from the Royal College of Art in London in 1996. Today the Barber&Osgerby brand is known all over the world. The decorators themselves call themselves pragmatists and romantics of their work. Jay and Edward's favorite base for furniture and design has always been wood. According to the creators, it provides simply unlimited scope for self-expression.

The studio designed the torch for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Its design was made of aluminum alloy and had 8000 holes in the body. From a practical point of view, the works of designers include Tip Ton chairs made of recyclable polypropylene, Tobi-Ishi and Button tables for the Italian company B&B, Paris shelving. The portfolio also includes collaborations with Coca-Cola, Swarovski, Levis and many others. The creations of the duo entered the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Karim Rashid

The name of this man was heard even by those who consider themselves far from the world of design and scenery. Karim is the son of an Egyptian and an Englishwoman and grew up in Canada and England. He studied design in Italy and Canada. Artistic taste was instilled in him by his father, a theater decorator by profession.

One of the secrets of Rashid's popularity and demand is his ability to realize the advantage of freedom over material things. In creativity, this is manifested by a preference for convenience over style. Karim chooses pure bright colors, simple glossy surfaces, straight lines for his creations. Black color is practically not found in his collections, Karim does not like it in interiors and decor items. For production, he prefers modern synthetic materials to natural ones.

The decorator is trusted with the design of restaurants, hotels, boutiques, exhibitions and TV studios in Tokyo, London, New York, Los Angeles. His work is exhibited in 20 museums around the world, including MoMA, Center Pompidou and SFMOMA.

Karim Rashid does not make a secret of his knowledge, he willingly gives lectures, participates in competitions and design conferences. In 2001, the master published the first book entitled "I want to change the world."

Christopher Hall

From New Zealand to Turkey Christopher was driven by dreams and interest in Eastern culture. For 20 years now, he has been creating and creating his masterpieces here, and famous Arab princes are among his clients.

The interior of the Hall combines modern Western culture and millennial Eastern traditions. For the subtlety of taste, he is called the alchemist of elegant chic. The decorator himself believes that he managed to revive the interest of Westerners in Eastern culture. Its low tea and coffee tables, bronze lamps and sofas evoke dreams of Arabian tales.

Christopher's craving for luxury began with decorating an old barn in his grandfather's garden. At the disposal of the teenager were magnolia branches, pieces of brocade, old furniture and carpets. Surprisingly, the future decorator was able to create a single composition from this set. Even then, Christopher thought that his native island was too small for him. At the age of 19, the young man leaves for Greece to study culture and art. The influence of Hellenism is noticeable in his work: just look at the Somata furniture collection, inspired by ancient Greek mythology.

Patricia Urquiola

This amazing woman from Spain is called a hurricane for the speed and power with which she broke into the Olympus of world design. In her work, Patricia is attracted by African, Central Asian and Indonesian motifs. Their culture and art are inspiring. No less she loves the fjords and savannas, which are also reflected in her creations. The designer calls the history of his professionalism "Italian", as he has been living in Milan for more than 30 years.

Patricia believes that women add more sense to design than men. She sees his future in the absence of symmetry. Patricia specializes in armchairs, chairs and sofas. And, although her creations are difficult to attribute to any particular style, professionals among themselves call it "comfortable minimalism." The asymmetrical Fjord chair with one armrest, the Chasen pendant lamp that resembles a Japanese whisk, the Lowland sofa, which is copied by many upholstered furniture manufacturers, are iconic pieces created by decorator and designer Patricia Urquiola.

Ross Lovegrove

The British designer has been described as a "preacher of organic essentialism". He encourages people to give up the unnecessary and love nature. Some of Ross's ideas are truly innovative. For example, for the design of the streets of Vienna, he came up with the so-called "solar trees" (Solar Tree). They charge during the day and shine at night. This environmentally friendly solution is completely independent of the city's power grid.

The designer calls his studio "a terrible place". According to him, it looks like a NASA space laboratory and a natural history museum at the same time. However, it is here that the maestro creates masterpieces. In the studio, you can see silicon oxide chairs, biopolycarbonate furniture, a leaf-shaped Kevlar chair, and many other unexpected things. For such unique ideas, the designer is called the man of the future. Ross Lovegrove himself says that he just wants to make familiar things more perfect.

Marcel Wanders

No significant exhibition in the world of design is complete without this native of the Netherlands. The history of Marseille as a decorator is amazing. In 1988, he was expelled from the Design Academy Eindhoven, and after that he graduated with honors from art school in Amsterdam.

Wanders began his creative career by presenting to the public an armchair in knots imitating the technique of macramé knitting. Today, the designer admits that his non-standard work is loved in other countries, but coolly perceived in his native Netherlands. Inexperienced people are slightly shocked by his need to express the dark sides of the human soul, melancholy and fears in furniture and decor. His sensational project Monster Chair (“Chair-monster”), a collection of vases “Sinusitis”, “Hay fever”, “Rhinitis”, as well as decor items depicting human eyes are not understood by many. But the New Classic sanitary ware line, Blue Ming porcelain and Jardin d'Eden silverware delight the most ardent adherents of the classics.

In 2011, The New York Times named Marcel Wanders the "Lady Gaga of Design" for his unconventional approach, inexhaustible imagination and creative energy. However, the scope of his business suggests that he remains a true European, and of the toughest modernist training.

Kelly Hoppen

This woman is called the queen of English design. Kelly has created her own recognizable style, which is called "neutral luxury". It is based on a natural palette of colors and the concept of mixing east with west. Kelly was one of the first who came up with the idea of mixing interior items from different cultures.

Hoppen's clients at various times included Donald Trump, Elton John, Victoria and David Beckham. Among the works of the “queen of dark gray” are not only private houses, apartments and apartments. A woman knows how to maintain interest in her work: she decorates golf clubs and yachts, designs furniture, plumbing. One of the designer's most famous works is the interior of the 55-story Lodha Estrella tower with apartments for wealthy people.

Hoppen is one of the decorators who are willing to share their creativity and knowledge with the world. She has written several books, most notably East Meets West, and even hosted her own television show, Excellent Interiors with Kelly Hoppen.

Millionaire designer Billy Baldwin once said that the worst thing a decorator can do to a client is to make them feel like they're walking in someone else's house. Interiors should belong to the owner and not reflect the tastes of the decorator. And in this we fully agree with him.

The best interiors in the world: a list of designers and decorators with the most interesting projects

Interior

AD presents its traditional list of the best decorators and interior designers. This time, twenty-five specialists, both Russian and foreign, got into it.

June 27, 2013

AD presents its traditional list of the best decorators and interior designers. This time, twenty-five specialists, both Russian and foreign, got into it.

1. Jean-Louis Deniot

A favorite of Russian AD, whose projects regularly appear on our covers.

Xavier Bejot; Jonny Valiant/Tripod Agency; Mark Luscombe-Whyte; William Webster; Ivan Andriets, Joshua McHugh; Tim Street-Porter/Corbis Outline/RPG; Simon Upton; Stanislav Solntsev; Fritz von Der Schulenburg; Michael James O'Brien Durston Saylor; Chris Leaman, reto guntli; michael moran, Mikhail Stepanov; Faubel + Christensen; Richard Powers; Manolo Yllera; Sergei Kopytin; Sergei Ananiev; Reto Guntli/Zapaimages, Deborah Anderson; Mark Gregory Peters; Vladimir Klesov/Elena Koldunova, Dmitry Livshits; Alexander Reshetilov; Eric Sander; René Stoeltie, Jude Edginton; Jean Francois Jaussaud; Anastassios Mentis; Eric Piasecki, Anastasia Yatskevich; Mads Mogensen, Press Office Archive

A graduate of the Camondo school in Paris, in thirteen years he went from a talented beginner to one of the best decorators in the world. He began with the design of classic Parisian apartments, masterfully mixing neoclassical elements with art deco and modern art.

Dining room in Denio's own apartment in Paris

Now he complains about the stinginess of his compatriots and expands the geography of his projects from the USA to Russia and India, but the French lightness inherent in Denio has not gone anywhere.

Chicago apartment hallway

2. Christopher Hall

The New Zealand designer is based in Istanbul, where he moved in the early 2000s. Initially, he was motivated by an interest in Eastern culture, but over time he became so deeply imbued with it that he is now implementing his most ambitious projects here, in the East.

Several Arab princes are among his customers. The hall builds its interiors on the combination of modern European design and oriental architectural traditions. This is clearly seen not only in his projects, but also in the furniture that he designs, inventing intricate metal structures based on arabesques.

Palace of Prince Faisal bin Sattam in Saudi Arabia

3. Katerina Levallois

Former lawyer, graduated from the Academic School of Design and Decorating “Details”, has been decorating interiors for the last six years.

Katerina loves houses with history, tries to link the new interior with the architectural features of the apartment, for which she is ready to shovel mountains of literature (apparently, her meticulousness has remained with her from her previous profession). Levallois is worth contacting if you are striving to radically update the interior, but do not want to part with the acquired good. Finding new uses for old things is her favorite pastime.

Bedroom in a Moscow apartment

4. Anna Erman

Erman's airy interiors are actually the result of an accurate calculation. The idea of the designer is to create a high-quality base, on which you can then "wind" any decor - this approach allows you to update the interior as often as you like.

Anna pays a lot of attention to planning, loves built-in wardrobes and white color for its versatility. But when it comes to furniture and accessories, she gives vent to emotions, uses expressive design objects and vintage, which she not only brings herself from Europe, but also extracts from Russian flea markets, which she talks about in a blog on the AD website.

House in the suburbs

5. Jonathan Adler

Born in New Jersey, first sat on the potter's wheel at the age of eleven, unsuccessfully tried to train as a lawyer, worked in films and eventually became a designer.

Jonathan is self-taught, which did not prevent him from founding his own company for the production of ceramics and other accessories, opening twenty stores and decorating to boot. Often based on the elegant design of the 1950s in his projects, but through the generous use of flashy colors, graphic ornaments and provocative modern art, his interiors turn out to be extravagant and redundant.

Jonathan Adler Manhattan Apartment

6. Kirill Istomin

A graduate of the New York School of Design, Parsons worked for the first ten years under legendary American decorator Albert Hadley.

Currently lives between Moscow and New York. Kirill is a specialist in the classics, from opulent palace interiors to more restrained Art Deco. She is very interested in working with textiles, loves bold color combinations, rich textures and complex patterns.

Apartment in Moscow

He designs furniture for his projects or buys it at auctions. He is not shy about luxury, but knows how to make it cozy. In the photo - two dining rooms; these front rooms well illustrate the inherent scope of Istomin's works.

Apartment in Moscow

7. Axel Vervoordt

One of the most experienced characters on our list, Vervoordt started his company, now based in a former distillery near Antwerp, back in 1968.

In the 1970s, he bought and restored an entire quarter in Antwerp based on paintings by Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch. Vervoordt's interiors are often sparsely furnished, but because he selects things with character and history, they lack the coldness of minimalism. In addition, Vervoordt produces furniture himself: plump couches and eared chairs in linen covers, perfectly complementing the antique sideboards and tables made of aged wood, which his projects rarely do without.

Orangery in Axel Vervoordt's own castle near Antwerp

8. Thomas Fizant

American decorator and furniture designer, in this capacity he collaborates with brands Baker and McGuire. He does not like anything bright, his projects are dominated by warm creamy shades and ivory, and the emphasis is not on color, but on textures.

In terms of style, this is a typical American classic with a touch of Art Deco, Beaux-Arts and 1950s French Modernism. However, Phizant himself says that he was most influenced by his acquaintance with the culture of the East. He believes that a good interior should inspire peace. Quite in the spirit of Zen Buddhism.

Private Home Pool Pavilion, Washington

9. Suite Home Interiors

Behind this name is a trio of graduates of the “Details” school: Polina Belyakova, Ekaterina Kotova, Ekaterina Poniatovskaya. They are united by their love for gray, which they invariably use in all their projects.

Predilection, atypical for our latitudes, is explained by the fact that girls are fans of Belgian interiors, where this color is in honor. Like the Belgians, the Suite Home decorators use classic-style furniture but put it in spartan doses. The play of light and shadow in their projects is more important than even the most beautiful things.

Moscow suburban house

10. Irina Dymova

Dymova's interiors always look theatrical.

She often uses dramatic colors, works on contrast, builds impeccable symmetrical compositions, loves things with character and the combination of incongruous (in one project she laid out ordinary logs in a fragile glass display case).

Garden pavilion in the Moscow region

For the past few years, she has been fascinated by tapestries - they appear in almost every project of hers, and next to them can be not only classic furniture, but also something deliberately modern design. But no matter how outrageous its interiors look, they are based on the classics, so they are proportionate to a person and it is very comfortable to live in them.

Duplex apartment on Sparrow Hills in Moscow

11. David Collins

The British designer is famous for his public interiors: bars in five-star London hotels, spa resorts, etc. But at the same time he believes that “in order to relax, there is no better place than home exists".

Collins' interiors are elegant (he often uses Art Deco elements, although without the excesses typical of the style in decoration) and at the same time very soulful. He loves furniture with soft, rounded shapes, upholstered in silk and velvet, and chooses interesting complex colors. Often, his interiors are built on halftones and seem almost monochrome, giving the eye a rest, but not letting it get bored.

Apartment in Bangkok

12. Marina Fillipova

Like most of her Russian colleagues, she came to interior design from a completely different field - Marina is an economist by her first education.

Having decided to change her profession, she studied art history at the University of Vermont in addition to her own design subjects. Works in a style that is reminiscent of contemporary Parisian interiors. She was one of the first in Russia who began to carry vintage furniture for her projects and often uses piece items on the verge of art and design.

Apartment in St. Petersburg

13. Olga Freiman

A graduate of the Moscow Architectural Institute, she runs the Freiman Gallery bureau, which has existed since 1998 and is engaged not only in interior design, but also in architectural design.

Freiman's portfolio is dominated by classic interiors. She is a great connoisseur of antiques, well versed in art (Olga grew up in a family of artists), and when she recreates the past, she uses authentic decorative techniques.

Olga's apartment in Moscow

The emphasis on quality finishes is noticeable in Freiman's contemporary projects as well — she loves interesting materials and rich textures, which make her interiors lively and warm.

House in the suburbs

14. Carlo Rampazzi

The Swiss architect and designer began his career in the 1970s and, judging by his interiors, the spirit of the psychedelic revolution has been living in his soul ever since.

Rampazzi is not just a fan of contrasts, unexpected shapes and bright colors. He loves to refute stereotypes, break dress codes and turn the familiar world upside down. Whether you like it or not, strong emotions from getting to know its interiors are guaranteed.

House in Beirut

15. Mike Shilov

In the past, Shilov was our colleague: he graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University and wrote about fashion. He received his design education at the International School of Design. Mike is a supporter of everything new.

His interiors are rarely complete without "smart" furniture, cunning lighting systems and other engineering achievements. He prefers new buildings to old apartments, and classics of 20th century design to antiques. He likes cold gray colors, although in the interests of the project he is ready to use brighter colors. The journalistic past also makes itself felt - he perfectly articulates his ideas.

Apartment in Moscow

16. Martin Lawrence-Bullard

Born in England, lives in Los Angeles, has a sea of celebrities as clients, from Edward Norton to the Osborne family.

The press has written about him at least four thousand times, and he himself is preparing to launch his own program on British TV.

House in Malibu

Bullard's favorite technique is to dilute traditional European furniture with some exotic details like Chinese screens or Turkish inlaid cabinets.

Fireplace area of a home in Bel Air, Los Angeles

He works on a grand scale (with such clients this is not surprising), he composes impeccable still lifes from objects and is an excellent colorist.

House in Los Angeles

17. Serge Castella

The Spanish decorator with French roots knows how to decorate the interior in such a way that you would never guess that a professional has worked on it. Instead, he will look like he is at least a hundred years old.

Castella actively uses antiques and design objects from the first half of the 20th century in his projects - he has his own gallery with a very good selection of such items. Best of all, Serge succeeds in the interiors of country houses - solid, picturesque, with creaking wooden floors (this, by the way, is the decorator's favorite sound).

House on the Costa Brava

18. Irina Glik

The founder of the Geometry bureau (two dozen people work under this fragile-looking woman) is known for decorating almost all the restaurants of Arkady Novikov, not the easiest client in the world.

Irina knows how to make a public interior as cozy as a real home. And when he takes on private projects, he chooses a discreet, but comfortable and timeless classic. She pays a lot of attention to lighting and designs lamps and furniture herself.

House in the suburbs

19. Vera Sigeeva

In 2008, Sigeeva, together with Stepan Mikhalkov, opened a showroom in Moscow for the Flamant brand, which specializes in Belgian classics.

These items also set the tone for Vera's decorating projects. Her interiors are airy, calm and traditional in spirit. This style takes root well in city mansions and country houses.

Mansion near Moscow

Builds relationships with customers so that they become co-authors. Sigeeva has experience in restoring old houses, although she can create history in a completely new interior.

House in the suburbs

20. Anna Muravina and Lada Guseva

Friends who met at design courses believe that it is impossible to make a good interior without deep immersion in the life of customers. Because to do well means to do it comfortably, to match the habits of the owners.

They love beautifully aging materials and classical furniture without frills, they shy away from everything artificial, excessive and flashy. Traces of time are not faked, it is useless - with this approach, the interior lives for a long time and acquires history itself.

Bedroom of a guest house near Moscow

21. Jacques Garcia

The legendary French decorator and Chevalier of the Legion of Honor is famous for falling in love with the Cham-de-Bataille castle as a child, being a simple boy from a working-class family, and when he grew up, he earned money on it, bought and restored.

Able to create a historical interior from scratch, which will be difficult to distinguish from a genuine museum. However, the main idea of the decorator is that no matter how valuable and old the things in the house are, it should not look like a museum. Moreover, from his point of view, classical interiors are better suited for life than modern ones.

Apartment in Paris

22. Nicky Haslem

Tireless Englishman with a difficult fate (he had polio as a child, worked for Vogue in the era of Diana Vreeland) is equally famous for his social contacts and interiors.

He has already changed his eighth decade, but age in his case is not a hindrance to either work or fun. He is considered a specialist in the classics, but being an extravagant person by nature, he presents luxury with ease and mischief.

New Orleans living room

Says she likes to make decisions quickly, and yet she works through projects with a thoroughness, as in the old days - Haslem's watercolor sketches are so good that the Victoria and Albert Museum included them in her collection.

House in London

23. Tony Ingrao

The American designer manages to do the almost impossible: designing another apartment overlooking Central Park, he manages to create an environment that is not lost against the backdrop of breathtaking views of New York.

Ingrao works in different styles, depending on the architecture. In the same New York, it will be art deco or something completely modern, but if we are talking about a house lost in the forest, then he will come up with something rustic for it. What unites these projects of the designer is the quality of workmanship – Ingrao’s interiors come out dense, busy, full of interesting details. And always very respectable.

New York apartment

24. Pierre Yovanovitch

Jovanovic's designs can be used to study elements of modern Parisian style.

Clean architectural lines, white walls, an impeccable selection of mid-twentieth-century designer furniture and unquestioned contemporary art are indispensable components of his interiors. And if we talk about individual features, then this is wooden wall paneling, futuristic structures on the ceiling (he even makes them in classic Haussmann apartments) and the ability to design stunningly beautiful stairs.

Paris apartment living room

25. Nadezhda and Georgy Ananievs

After a couple of bright projects, this married couple gained a reputation as specialists in interiors in the style of the 1960s.

They really love this period, but in fact they can “decorate” anything, up to the English classics.

House in the suburbs

True, instead of strictly following the canons of style, they will create their own variation on a given theme.

Bedroom in a country house

The Ananievs are ceramic artists by their first education, but they work rather like improvising musicians: the final interior often has little in common with the original technical task, but at the same time it completely satisfies the customer.

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