Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Occupation: Designer
Instagram: @marxetal
Home Town: Dallas
Studio Location: Brooklyn
Describe what you make: Lighting and furniture in patinated brass and steel, all produced at my brother’s metal fabrication shop in Colorado. My work is heavily inspired by historical decorative arts—ancient Greek pottery, 18th-century ébénistes, and French art deco designers like Rateau and Dunand.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: We just produced Decorative Panel 001—a piece inspired by early 20th century dinanderie—particularly the work of Claudius Linossier. It really pushed our production capacity, but we’re extremely happy with how it turned out, and excited to explore the techniques further.
Describe the problem your work solves: I want to design pieces that are part of a historical tradition and ongoing design conversation while still feeling contemporary and pushing construction techniques forward.
Share the project you are working on now: We’re beginning to think about the pieces that will follow our ICFF debut—most notably, a highly decorated floor lamp that incorporates the animals (lions! stags! bulls!) that appeared on heraldic devices.
What you absolutely have to have in your studio: Classical (lately, Handel’s piano pieces) during deep work, something more lively (lately, Geese) during production work.
What you do when you’re not working: Playing an inordinately complicated board game with our friends. Currently, that’s usually Power Grid, ideally accompanied by Mommy Pai’s chicken.
Sources of creative envy (dead or alive): Pierre Yovanovitch, Albert-Armand Rateau, and Wilhelm Kåge. I have a small and much-loved collection of the latter’s Argenta ceramics.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Freight quotes! Designing crates!
Concrete or marble? Marble, but just barely.
High-Rise Or Townhouse? High-Rise.
Remember Or Forget? Remember!
Aliens Or Ghosts? Ghosts.
Dark Or Light? Light.
