Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 38
Occupation: Designer and founder of Helena Clunies-Ross Design.
Instagram: @helenacluniesross
Hometown: New York and London.
Studio location: Manhattan.
Describe what you make: We design residential and hospitality spaces from concept to completion. We are dedicated and focused on creating spaces that enhance the way our clients live and inhabit spaces.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: All our projects are equally important and challenging in their own right. However, working on restoring and maintaining heritage and history in a building brings a greater sense of responsibility, especially when balancing this with a clients’ expectations.
Describe the problem your work solves: Achieving beauty and longevity in a world of instant gratification; creating spaces that will stand the test of time. Utilizing materials that are current, sustainable, and long-lasting, can transform and change the way people live, feel, and think within their environment. Finding a marriage of beauty and practicality in this way prevents problems in the future and ensures that our designs are timeless and enduring.
Describe the project you are working on now: We are working on multiple projects, ranging from new-builds in the Hamptons and nationwide, to townhouses and apartments in Manhattan. We are also excited to announce that we are working on our bespoke furniture and lighting line, which we are aiming to launch in the New Year.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: We have a couple of exciting projects and collaborations in the pipeline, so stay tuned for more details.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: Candles, classical music, and warm, ambient lighting. Oh and English breakfast tea of course, with a spoonful of optimism and laughter.
What you do when you’re not working: I love to go to the Opera and to see the New York Philharmonic. New York is an amazing place to explore; it satisfies my love of food, art, and architecture, as well as antique shopping and discovering new places. I also enjoy life drawing and volunteer for youth empowerment programs. Every experience I have inspires the work I do. Enrich your senses, and you enrich the thoughts and ideas that feed your designs.
Sources of creative envy: There are many architects that I admire such as Christian Liaigre; for his use of texture, scale and symmetry, and Tadao Ando for the way he can mold an empty space to highlight the beauty of simplicity. But I’m particularly inspired by the Art Deco era; the detail, the symmetry, the patterns. The melting pot of different cultures and crafts that shine through the execution of everything, from fashion to theatre. The strict and layered lines that frame and focus. The weighty materials that have witnessed and soaked in a time that I can only imagine. There’s an order and opulence that I would have loved to have experienced firsthand, but also a darkness and romance that intrigues me. The architecture and art that has remained to tell the stories of the lost generation is my biggest source of creative envy. And I draw from it wherever I encounter it. From doorways to courtyards in the back streets of Paris, to stairways of skyscrapers in New York. It’s a continual source of inspiration and a love-affair I’ll always indulge.
The distraction you want to eliminate: The concept of time; it distracts us from the present. We all become so focused on running out of it that we compromise the time we have.
Concrete or marble? Impossible to choose. They are both beautiful in their own right and for different reasons. Marble has an inherent natural beauty, but concrete celebrates the skill and creative force of man. I use them both depending on the setting and nature of the project.
High-rise or townhouse? I like both. High-rises for the views and open-plan one-level living, and townhouses for their historic identity and unity. When I design townhouses, I try to bridge the gap between the two.
Remember or forget? Remember, as long as the things we recall don’t hold us hostage to the past. Remember for knowledge, growth, and wisdom.
Aliens or ghosts? Aliens. I’ll design one…
Dark or light? Both. One can’t exist without the other. I love this quote by Japanese author Jun’ichiro Tanizaki that explains this perfectly: “We find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the patterns of the shadows, the light, and the darkness, that one thing against another creates.”
