what is your idea of perfect design happiness? RICH COLOR COMBINATIONS THAT ARE SO DELICIOUS I COULD EAT THEM.
what is your greatest fear in design? HAVING LEARNED FROM EXPERIENCE, THAT IT WOULD BE TOO FAR AHEAD OF ITS TIME.
which historical design figure do you most identify with? MARIO FORTUNY. HE WAS INFLUENCED BY MANY OF THE SAME CULTURES THAT I WAS INFLUENCED BY, INCLUDING THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND EVERYTHING INDIAN.
which living designer do you most admire? THIERRY DESPONT. I LIKE THE WAY HE BLENDS ARCHITECTURE, INTERIOR DESIGN, NATURAL FLORA AND FAUNA WITH ART.
what profession other than design would you like to attempt? TO BE A MUSICIAN OR A PAINTER.
what is your greatest design extravagance? HAND-WOVEN TEXTILES.
when and where were you happiest with your design? IN NEPAL, WHEN I SEE THE CARPET DESIGNS CREATED ON THE LOOMS.
what do you consider your greatest achievement in design? MINIMALLY DESIGNED, HAND KNOTTED VEGETAL DYED CARPETS.
if you died and came back as another designer or design object, who or what do you think it would be? A CANDLE HOLDER.
what specific design related talent are you lacking that you would you most like to have? DRAWING SKILLS.
what is your most treasured design related possession? TRESSERA JEWELRY CHEST.
what do you regard as the lowest depths of misery in design? KNOWING THERE ARE BAD KNOCK-OFFS, USING CHILD LABOR.
what curse word do you most frequently use? I DON’T CURSE.
what is your favorite design related word? CURATED.
what is your least favorite design related word? FABULOUS.
what turns you on in design? ECLECTICISM USING DIFFERENT BEAUTIFUL HAND WOVEN TEXTILES IN THE MIX.
what turns you off in design? THE OFF GASSING FROM MACHINE MADE CARPETS IN NEW HOTEL ROOMS.
what is your motto in design? DYNAMIC DESIGN IS NOT LIMITED BY TRADITIONAL CRAFTS AND FAIR LABOR PRACTICES.
//IMAGE CREDITS | Images provided by Stephanie Odegard, Theirry Despont & Architectural Digest.
ABOUT PROUST ON DESIGN | Answered by our design icons, these must-ask questions come from a 19th century parlor game made popular by Marcel Proust, the French novelist, essayist & critic. Proust believed the direct questions and honest responses that they elicited revealed the true nature of the individual. For this column, we have put a design related spin on the traditional questions. While this method has been used by many journalists throughout the years, we were primarily inspired by The Proust Questionnaire, which appears monthly on the back page of one of our all time favorite magazines, Vanity Fair (also Krista’s alma mater). Read all of the previous Proust on Design questionnaires here.