Issue № 17 FALL 2014 $12.00 U.S.
DESIGN MATTERS FORM AND FUNCTION FROM OBJECTS TO INTERIORS
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EDITOR’S
Letter
DESIGN IS ALL AROUND US. It’s some-
We then connected with a local writer/editor who has closely followed the area’s growing design scene and was happy to create a guide (“Hiding in Plain Sight,” page 44). And we lucked out with our entertaining story, “Circle of Friends” (page 114), which takes place in the Los Angeles home of an interior designer and her chef husband. That means the setting for the dinner party is just as impressive as the food served! Hopefully some of this issue’s content will provide insight on different careers in design and the way things are made. For instance, there are articles about a wood turner (“Wood Works,” page 69), chocolatiers (“Creative Confections,” page 37), and a letterer (“Arts & Letters,” page 56). And we also join in on removing the mysterious cloak of design: if you’ve ever been curious about how Antholog y comes together, this issue’s “Making the Magazine” (page 8) offers a closer look at our editorial, design, and production processes. The legendary Paul Rand once said, “Design is everything. Everything!” We couldn’t agree more.
Anh-Minh Le Editor in Chief
LAURE JOLIET
thing we encounter and engage with every day—from the smartphone that’s always in our bag, to the shoes that help get us from Point A to Point B, to the pots and pans we use to whip up a quick bite or a lavish feast. Yet despite its ubiquity, we don’t often stop to think about the daily impact of design. Rather, it can be an invisible force in our lives. So we decided it was high time for a design-themed issue. Yes, you could argue that Antholog y has consistently emphasized design in its pages, but for Issue No. 17, we wanted to focus on it more than we ever have before. So this edition of the magazine not only showcases the personal spaces of architects and interior designers—in the “Conversation” (page 15), “Agents of Change” (page 28), “A Study in Contrast” (page 61), and “Personal Project” (page 105)—but also the homes of floral designers (“New Rustic,” page 75), the owners of a ceramics and tile company (“FancyFree,” page 96), and even an automotive designer (“Laying the Foundation,” page 86). For the travel feature, we considered a handful of cities before going with Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Creative director Meg Mateo Ilasco’s vacation there earlier this year sealed the deal for us; during her trip, she came across plenty of great design.
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Contents Fall 2014
FEATURES
DIVERSIONS
IN EVERY ISSUE
AGENTS OF CHANGE 28 Transformations—of rooms and the objects in them—are constant in these newlyweds’ Brooklyn abode.
ARTS & LETTERS 56 Take a peek at a letterer and type designer’s San Francisco studio, along with her amazing portfolio.
EDITOR’S LETTER
HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT 44 A Manila native makes a case for why there’s never been a better time to visit the Philippine capital.
WOOD WORKS 69 In her garage-cum-workshop, a wood turner crafts pieces that are at once timeless and modern.
SHOPKEEPERS’ PICKS
LAYING THE FOUNDATION 86 A designer for BMW tackles a different kind of challenge: his own contemporary residence.
PERSPECTIVES ON DESIGN 82 An artist, designer, and educator shares her thoughts on diversity in her personal and professional worlds.
FANCY-FREE 96 In the Bay Area, a family updates an 1886 cottage with mid-century and modern flair. PERSONAL PROJECT 105 A talented young San Francisco interior designer opens the doors to her chic and inviting loft.
CREATIVE CONFECTIONS 37 Relying on their joint backgrounds in art, design, and food, a husband and wife launch a chocolate business. A STUDY IN CONTRAST 61 A Dutch interior designer’s artful eye is evident throughout her serene domicile.
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MAKING THE MAGAZINE
MARKET REPORT
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CONVERSATION Barbara Bestor 15 SCREEN PLAY RESOURCES
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BY THE BOOK
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PRIZED POSSESSION Andy Spade 128 Cover Photograph by KELLY ISHIKAWA
Cover Styling by MIRANDA JONES
NEW RUSTIC 75 In the Netherlands, a bucolic property proves the ideal locale for a couple involved in floral arts.
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CIRCLE OF FRIENDS 114 In their Los Angeles home, a chef and an interior designer are consummate, yet casual, hosts.
HOMEWARD
CONTRIBUTORS
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Contributors
A closer look at the talent that helped fill our pages
JODY BRETTKELLY “I started writing for the university newspaper as a relief from the dreary rote learning of my law degree,” recalls Jody, who hails from New Zealand and now calls Oakland home. “I qualified as a barrister and solicitor and even worked in court wearing that curly wig, but the lure of newspapers won me over.” She worked in London for 15 years, contributing to publications such as The Times , Mail on Sunday, and London Evening Standard. Jody started writing about interiors five years ago, when she embarked on a remodel of her family’s home and launched a blog (aboutlastweekend .blogspot.com). She currently freelances for the San Francisco Chronicle —a gig that “has seen me climbing up a tree house one week and the next week mingling with horses and miniature donkeys,” she says. Her inaugural assignment for Anthology focuses on a late 1800s home in the Bay Area (“Fancy-Free,” page 96).
JESSICA COMINGORE After studying interior design at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, Jessica worked for several firms. A few years in, she enrolled in a photography course at a community college. “I started shooting for leisure after that,” she says, “and soon for my boss at the time, namely scouting shots for our finished residential projects. One thing led to another and, through word of mouth, I began to pick up more interior photography work and started to hone my craft.” In this issue, her talents can be seen in “Laying the Foundation” (page 86). Jessica has also shot for Freunde von Freunden, Kinfolk, Remodelista, The Ace Hotel, and Refinery29 (jessicacomingore.com). In addition to interiors, she can often be found “capturing my surroundings and the open road,” she says. “I’m not sure a photo could ever truly capture the beauty of a stunning landscape, but I sure do enjoy trying.”
MARTHA MULHOLLAND
LESLIE WILLIAMSON Leslie once harbored aspirations of becoming a fashion designer. But there were two problems: “I hated drawing and sewing,” she says. Instead, she cultivated a successful photography career that includes a range of clients (lesliewilliamson.com). “I split my time between commercial work for designers like Ilse Crawford and Charles de Lisle, and magazines—T Magazine , Martha Stewart Living, Monocle —as well as photographing and writing my own books and fine art projects.” Leslie has released two books: 2010’s Handcrafted Modern and, this past spring, Modern Originals . She recently exhibited at The Future Perfect in New York City and Playmountain in Tokyo, both of which carry her fine art prints. For Leslie’s first Anthology shoot, she photographed the Bay Area residence of the owners of Heath Ceramics (“Fancy-Free,” page 96).
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PORTRAIT OF JODY BRETTKELLY BY LARA ROSSIGNOL.
“I’ve been styling things since I owned things to style really,” says Martha (martha mulholland.com). “Starting with my first apartment in college, I developed a love of collecting objects and creating ever-changing vignettes. When I discovered that what I was doing for fun was actually a job that people might pay me to do, I started styling professionally—first as a visual merchandiser and window dresser, then as a prop and interior stylist.” In this issue’s “Conversation” (page 15), she styled the home of an architect and designer. Martha’s own Los Angeles residence “is a laboratory—a prop house and a living space all in one,” she says. “I have very traditional family pieces from Kentucky mixed in with Memphis Milano lamps, Rococo cabinets, tribal textiles, you name it.” She recently completed the interior of the flagship boutique for The Row. Her work has also been featured on Domaine and Remodelista.
Conversation Photographs by LAURE JOLIET Styling by MARTHA MULHOLLAND
Barbara Bestor
has held jobs in sneaker sales, farming, and libraries. But she credits her pre-teen gigs for introducing her to her future profession: “At age 12, I was babysitting for a lot of architects and started to read their architecture books,” she recalls. After studying at Harvard, London’s Architectural Association School of Architecture, and Southern California Institute of Architecture, in 1995, she established her eponymous firm (bestorarchitecture.com). Her recent projects include the headquarters for Beats by Dre; the residence of Sophia Amoruso, the CEO of Nasty Gal, whose offices Barbara also worked on; and a pair of shops for local handbag designer Clare Vivier. “I like making houses and work spaces that are beautiful, comfortable, and not too trendbased,” says Barbara, who is also an author; Bohemian Modern was released in 2006. And along with Karen Alweil and Sara Stein, Barbara founded Sisters of Los Angeles (sistersoflosangeles.com), which aims to “rethink souvenirs for our city, for our generation.” She adds: “I think architects have given up a lot of design turf in the last few decades. It used to be totally normal to design everything from train stations to tableware, and I like trying to grab some of that breadth back for our discipline.”
In the kitchen, the Strut table by Blu Dot is flanked by Gio Pontidesigned Superleggera chairs. Previous page: Barbara
Bestor’s living room is furnished with a sofa from Ten10, white side table from the Rose Bowl flea market, and coffee table of her own design.
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“I like making houses and work spaces that are beautiful, comfortable, and not too trend-based.”
ON THE HOME FRONT: I live in Silver Lake in an
anonymous but architect-designed house from 1946. I kept the exterior, but gutted and remodeled the interior and dug out some lower floor space to make room for the kids. The house has very big plate glass windows that look toward downtown and to the west side of Los Angeles and the ocean, as well as a cool guesthouse and—the main attraction—a heart-shaped pool from the 1950s. I live here with my fiancé, my kids, his kids, and two dogs—one a puppy and one an octogenarian (in dog years). FAVORITE SPOT IN YOUR HOME: The kitchen
table—for talking and eating. It’s the hub of the house.
Clockwise from top left: Barbara with her
daughter Charlotte. The front door was found on eBay, resized to fit the frame, and painted magenta. A brass Timex watch is always on Barbara’s wrist.
ALWAYS ON YOU: Timex Indiglo digital watch in
brass. BEST
RECENT
ACQUISITION
FOR
YOUR
HOME: New ceramic platters by Ellen Evans that
I got at Nickey Kehoe. They have big blue dots and handprint patterns. 17
ALWAYS IN THE FRIDGE: Grüner Veltliner
(wine) and blueberries. ALWAYS IN THE PANTRY: Almond milk for my
younger daughter. I’m learning to make it, but I am lazy. I heard making your own hazelnut milk is easier though! CHILDHOOD MEMENTO: A 1970s German
“Everyone should experience strange beauty every day.”
photo book—a narrative, for kids, about a child and a donkey wandering around a Greek island. Mein Esel Benjamin was a favorite book of mine as a kid and I got to share it with my own daughters. It somehow evokes all the good parts of the 1970s cultural outlook for me. NEXT ACQUISITION: Another site or old house
to use to build a new house for us—if L.A. prices would just stop rising for a half a minute! FAVORITE HOBBY: I like to play tennis. I love
the game and I love the aesthetics—the clothes, the green courts. BEST GIFT RECENTLY GIVEN: Brass candle-
sticks by Swedish company Skultuna, which specializes in metal objects. BEST GIFT RECENTLY RECEIVED: A bound
book of the text messages my fiancé and I exchanged in the first months of our relationship. 18
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A wood-clad corner is appointed with vintage pieces such as the pendant lamp and Eames chairs. Opposite: The airy and
light-filled kitchen features vintage bar stools from LawsonFenning, and looks out onto the pool.
AGENTS of CHANGE A Brooklyn residence evolves along with its occupants and their creative whims
Opposite: Evan Haslegrave and
his wife Hannah Haehn enjoy a leisurely breakfast in their Brooklyn apartment. This page, left to right: Evan and
his brother Oliver, who founded the design and building firm hOmE, installed the wall and windows that divide the living and dining areas. The space above Hannah’s work nook serves as storage for scrap wood waiting to be transformed into something new.
Text by AMY ROSENBERG Photographs by SETH SMOOT Styling by KENDRA SMOOT
I’LL DESCRIBE HANNAH HAEHN and EVAN HASLEGRAVE’S HOME to you, but keep in mind: it might not look the same a few months from now. It might not even look the same tomorrow. The place is magically dynamic, with objects transforming into other objects, and their whereabouts constantly changing. For instance, I ask about a neatly cluttered nook above Hannah’s office area, where stacks of wood occupy shelves that run halfway up the wall to the ceiling. “Those are scraps,” she says. “Reclaimed wood, old flooring, a little bit of everything. I recognize a piece of Evan’s old nightstand. And I’m pretty sure that one over there used to be our coffee table.” As for their current coffee table, it was previously an architectural drafting desk. “Evan started working on it, and 20 minutes later it became this,” says Hannah, gesturing toward the middle of the living room—the light-filled open space that you enter after ascending two long staircases in their building, a former factory in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood. A brown leather sofa anchors the space, along with a pair of Ikea Strandmon wing chairs in midnight blue. The dark furniture rests atop white wooden floorboards, offering a crisp contrast. Evan fashioned the light fixture overhead out of salvaged window frames. In the corner—waiting to be played—are a guitar, a piano, a tambourine that Evan made for Hannah, and one of Evan’s favorite objects: a 1913 phonograph.
Above and below: The liv-
ing room opens into the kitchen, which is bathed in light thanks to a skylight window—a feature the plants no doubt appreciate. The decor includes myriad vintage finds.
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“We like to work together,” says Hannah. “Evan builds things, sometimes I help, and then we spend hours and hours rearranging the furniture together.” Even knowing how changeable the place is, it’s hard to believe that not long ago the living room was a jumbled reception area/conference room/workspace/storage room that was full of scattered chairs. (Says Hannah: “We once counted 24 chairs, including all the dining room chairs and office chairs and chairs that were stored from past projects. Chairs were everywhere!”) That room of many functions was for the building and interior design partnership that Evan and his brother Oliver launched in 2009 from the apartment. In the years since, hOmE (home-nyc.com)—the business’ moniker represents an acronym of the brothers’ names and those of their sisters Hadley and Morgan—has become a highly sought-after firm, the guiding design force behind scores of well-known New York City bars and restaurants, including Alameda (which Evan and Oliver partly own), Elsa, and Goat Town. Before starting hOmE, Evan had a solo business as a handyman. It was a small operation, but it gained some notice: in a 2008 article highlighting New York’s best services, New York magazine named it one of the city’s top handyman outfits. As a result, work picked up and Evan began meeting more people, among them bar and restaurant owners who were looking for a designer/ builder. Oliver—who had been working as an editor for Little, Brown and Company—left publishing and teamed up with Evan. The brothers rented the apartment with an eye toward setting up shop there. It was only this past spring that hOmE decamped to an office space around the corner. “The reason it was in the apartment,” explains Evan, “was that we couldn’t really afford anything else.
The place is magically dynamic, with objects transforming into other objects, and their whereabouts constantly changing.
Evan and Hannah frequently entertain, putting to use the nine-foot dining table that he built. The space was previously a workshop for hOmE.
This page, right and below: Evan
built the loft bed as a surprise for Hannah when she was away one weekend; the pillowcases are from a breastfeeding conference that she attended. Evan’s closet is situated beneath the lofted bed area. Opposite: Hannah looks down from
the bedroom window to where Evan stands at the edge of the kitchen.
When you start your company from scratch with no investment or money, you have to be creative with where the work gets done. It was great to be able to work on things in the middle of the night when we had ideas, and not to have to worry about leaving to sleep somewhere else. Now that the office is elsewhere, though, it’s nice to have a separation of work and home.” For a while, the apartment was an epicenter of creative work and social energy; Hannah, Evan, and Oliver all lived in the space while hOmE operated there as well. “It was so much fun,” Hannah recalls. “There was always something going on.” Hannah shares Evan’s entrepreneurial streak: she runs Full Moon Birth NYC (fullmoonbirthnyc.com), a birthing education and service center, where she works as a doula. In June, after a long courtship that included an extended period of sustaining a long-distance relationship while she was in graduate school in California, and Indonesia studying international relations and maternal health, Hannah and Evan got married. In the year or so leading up to their wedding, they had begun shifting their focus from communal living to a more intimate setup. Oliver moved out a few months after Hannah moved in, but well before hOmE relocated; it was a move he was ready for, as he and his now-fiancée were preparing for a place of their own in nearby Carroll Gardens. “For me, the process of creating a home together makes me feel like Evan and I can do anything together,” says Hannah. “Like if we are always able to listen to each other’s 32
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Wood Works For a Bay Area designer, wood turning proves a transformative craft on a number of levels
Text by ANH-MINH LE Photographs by AYA BRACKETT
IN SILVIA SONG’S STUDIO,
This page: Silvia Song,
who describes herself as a
“wood potter,” converted you can expect to find the usual wood-turning accoutrements: a lathe, her garage into a workshop. planes, a variety of saws, chisels, a drill press, hammers, and a belt sander. Opposite: Her collection But what you won’t come across are sketchbooks filled with drawings of fuincludes bowls made of various domestic woods— ture bowls and butcher blocks. “Everything is so intuitive,” Silvia says of her some are unfinished, while work. “It can’t be predetermined. I have some ideas, but don’t want to force others are oiled and waxed. the wood into becoming something.” It appears that same mentality applies to Silvia’s career path. Wood turning is her second act—one she embarked on in her mid-30s. Silvia, whose parents are of Korean descent, was born in São Paulo, Brazil, where her father worked in the textile industry. She grew up around factories, witnessing how things are made. At the age of six, Silvia’s family relocated to Los Angeles. She later studied architecture at Cal Poly Pomona. Never a fan of the heat, though, four years ago Silvia and her software engineer husband, Patrick Hull, decided to move to the San Francisco Bay Area—which promised a cooler climate, and where her two sisters already lived. Silvia enrolled in a masters of architecture program at UC Berkeley, but took a medical leave midway through the first semester because of a thyroid condition. “During my leave,” she recalls, “I came to the conclusion that I would not return to school, and I felt the need to step away from the architecture profession altogether.” She began designing furniture for private clients and for herself. “At the time, I did not have any woodworking tools, so I started with the idea that I could design something around two tools: a hammer and a saw.” Her first piece was a bookshelf that she still uses in her living room.
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“I H AV E SOME IDE A S , BUT DON’T WA NT TO FORCE THE WOOD INTO BECOMING SOME THING .”
2 1 But Silvia long harbored a dream of being a potter. “Sculpting and form-making with clay was always intriguing to me—to work with raw material and to sculpt something with your hands,” she says. Her unstable thyroid—a side effect of which has been eczema—made it especially difficult to pursue an art form that requires constantly dipping your hands in warm water to manipulate wet clay. She concluded that wood turning was the next best thing: instead of throwing clay on a potter’s wheel, she would turn wood on a lathe; both entail spinning a medium as the final product takes shape. In the summer of 2013, Silvia set out to teach herself the craft. She had taken woodshop courses as an undergrad, but relied on mostly books and online sources to develop her wood-turning skills. “I can only read so much and watch so many videos on turning vessels,” she says. “So I took a hollow vessel turning class with woodworker and artist David J. Marks.” She also purchased some basic equipment and converted her El Cerrito garage into a studio. From her studio, she has a clear shot of her three-year-old daughter Adeline’s preschool and can watch her at play. And apparently it goes both ways: Silvia didn’t realize that teachers and fellow parents at the preschool had been eying her as well—until, after seeing her haul cypress wood from her car, they inquired about what she was working on. She hasn’t done anything with the 72
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3 wood yet, prompting an admission that she has “become a wood hoarder.” Today, the Silvia Song line (silviasong.com), which officially launched in January, is appreciated by design and culinary enthusiasts alike. She has collaborated with well-respected local businesses like MARCH and Heath Ceramics, which she believes learned about her work by word of mouth or her Instagram feed. Right now, since she’s a one-person operation, she hasn’t been able to establish broad distribution; figuring out a way to devote more time to designing products and increasing production are among the goals for
PERSONAL PROJECT IN HER OWN HOME, A SAN FRANCISCO INTERIOR DESIGNER KNOWS WHEN TO SAVE AND WHEN TO SPLURGE
Text by ANH-MINH LE
Photographs by KELLY ISHIKAWA
Styling by MIRANDA JONES
I
t’s one thing to have a standardissue condo as your starting-off point. Those are essentially blank slates for an interior designer. Unfortunately for Catherine Kwong, when she purchased her place five years ago, she had to work her way toward that blank slate. “I had to take a leap of faith,” she recalls of her initial impression of the San Francisco home that she now shares with husband Brian. “It was very ’70s—and it was very cool for the ’70s. There was white shag carpet, and mirrors everywhere. I mean, every wall, even the chimney, was mirrored.” So she got to work on remedying some of the retro attributes. The carpet was ripped up, and the mirrors taken down. A spiral staircase was replaced with an open-tread design. Since she appreciated the home’s architecture, which includes copious windows and a double-height living room, the layout remained intact. “The next step,” she says, “was to attack the finishes.” Catherine had ebonized oak floors installed, and she freshened up the interior with new paint throughout (for the most part, China White for the walls, Decorator’s White for the trim, both Benjamin Moore colors). While work was being done on the residence, Catherine rented a furnished apartment. And since she had arrived from New York City not long before, “I had nothing,” she says. “I basically had boxes of books and magazines—and that’s it—because I didn’t want to bring anything from New York.”
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In the living room of the home that she shares with husband Brian, Catherine Kwong effortlessly mixes custom (the mantel, drapes) with retail (Restoration Hardware sofa, Room & Board rug).
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WHILE CATHERINE’S PROJECTS INVOLVE ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY HIGH-END FURNISHINGS, IN HER OWN HOME, SHE TAKES A MORE ECONOMICAL APPROACH. 22
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This page and opposite: The kitchen,
dining area, and living room—which flow into each other—occupy most of the first floor.
Catherine grew up in Fremont, about 40 miles southeast of San Francisco, and studied political science at Brown University. Massachusetts native Brian also went to school there, but the two didn’t meet until years later, when they were both living in New York City. At the time, Catherine—who also earned a degree from Parsons—was doing high-end residential interior design for Bill Sofield, and Brian was completing his medical residency at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital. When they crossed paths on a bus one day, there was an inkling of recognition, since they had been on the Brown campus during the same period. They struck up a conversation, and a first date soon followed. In 2008, they relocated together to San Francisco, and she subsequently bought the condo. After the couple got engaged in 2011, Brian moved in; they wed in August 2012.
Two-thousand-and-eleven was also a big year for Catherine professionally: after stints at a couple of local interior design firms, she launched her own practice (catherinekwong.com). Since then, she has twice landed rooms in the prestigious San Francisco Decorator Showcase: a fashion blogger’s office in 2012, and a year later, an elegant yet edgy living room inspired by Mick and Bianca Jagger. While Catherine’s projects involve almost exclusively high-end furnishings, in her own home, she takes a more economical approach. “For work, most of the things we do are custom and very specific,” she explains. “Doing this house on my own budget, I couldn’t always have that for myself. So I did a mix of retail and custom. I definitely splurged on some things, and went more budget for others, instead of going middle of the road all the way.” Indeed, sources for the main items in the living room are familiar to most: the rug is from Room & Board, the sofa from Restoration Hardware, and a pair of Paulistano armchairs from Design Within Reach. The 109
PRIZED Possession Photograph by SETH SMOOT “One day after I had moved to New York City, I was at the Chelsea flea market and I saw this green 1976 Honda motorcycle on the back of a guy’s truck. It was the exact one I had owned when I was 13. Growing up in Arizona, I used to skateboard and ride motorcycles with my brother. So I had to have it. I initially kept the motorcycle in the living room of my apartment. Even when I wasn’t riding it, I just liked looking at it because I love the graphics on the old Hondas from the 1970s. This motorcycle has traveled with me ever since I bought it, and now lives at the Partners & Spade office.” ANDY SPADE is the co-founder of the New York studio and storefront Partners & Spade (partnersandspade.com), as well as the not-quite-ready to wear line Sleepy Jones (sleepyjones .com). He previously worked in advertising, launched the Kate Spade New York and Jack Spade brands, and earned a CFDA award for excellence in design.
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