DESIGN
C'mon, Get Happy
Armed with a belief that colors can't clash,
designer Jonathan Adler wants our souls to sing.
BY LYNNE KONSTANTIN
onathan Adler believes our homes should
rize his style as schizophrenic. His work references muses
make us happy. From his passion for pottery
as diverse as the Scandinavian graphic designs of 1960s
to furniture and textile design, to his latest
Marimekko, the sleek, playful silhouettes crafted by 1950s
foray as author, he has built an empire to
Hollywood designer Tommi Parzinger and pretty much
help us achieve that necessary joy.
everything about Madonna. "I want things to feel familiar
His whimsical, groovy tchotchkes, as he calls them, have
and fresh at the same time," explains Adler. "I like to call
brightened the sets of Will & Grace, Sex and the Clip, and the
it happy chic, which describes the basic spirit of what I do.
Today show. Last month, Bon Appetit magazine named him
Chic design is usually very unfriendly and off-putting —
Designer of the Year. His stylish fans include fashion
yet we all want to be chic. But I really don't like the idea of
designers Marc Jacobs, Isaac Mizrahi
unfriendliness. So I try to add a layer of
and Cynthia Rowley. He designed the
friendliness and playfulness to chic."
recently renovated Le Parker Meridien
Case in point: His first pottery col-
Palm Springs hotel. And with seven
lection, designed in college, was quilt-
boutiques across the country, including
ed — a la Coco Chanel.
New York City, East Hampton and
DESIGN EVOLUTION
Miami locations (his newest opens in
Growing up in the small farming com-
Chicago this month), a catalogue and a
munity of Bridgeton, N.J. (where, he
Web site, Adler, 38, is making it very
notes, many Russian-Jewish emigres
easy for all of us to outfit our entire
settled into livelihoods as egg farmers),
homes with the deliciously vibrant col-
Adler had his first taste of throwing
ors, boldly geometric patterns and
ceramics on the wheel (clothed in a
often elegant lines of his settees and
Rush concert T-shirt, he recalls) at
armchairs, throw pillows, bedding,
summer camp when he was 12. "My
handcrafted ceramic pots, dinnerware,
parents sort of expected to come get
lamps, doggie bowls and more.
me at the end of the summer and find
More mod than minimal, modernist
Above: Designer and ceramicist Jonathan
a
vital, tanned athlete," he told one
yet handcrafted, Adler's luxe creations
Adler has transformed clay from hippie to
resist definition — he can only catego-
hip. Top: Clean Danish modern meets Park
Avenue luxury in the Morrow Settee,
Continued on page 17
named after Doris Day's character in
Pillow Talk.
JNPLATINUM • NOVEMBER 2005
• 15