It’s the job of interior designers to interpret the fantasies of their clients through their own creative lens. But, when completely left to their own devices—more specifically, within their own homes—how do they decorate?
That’s the premise of Inside: At Home with Great Designers, a new book out on September 28 by Phaidon. Featuring an impressive array of spaces belonging to the likes of Faye Toogood, Miles Redd, to Vincent van Duysen, it’s a fascinating glimpse into the aesthetic minds of the industry’s top talents and their unencumbered creative ethos. “Home is a launching pad for dreams—and they’re always dreaming in Technicolor,” William Norwich writes in his introduction. “Even when it’s beige, it’s camera-ready.”
Some designers have a similar style to some of their most recognizable projects: the grayish Prussian blue seen in Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch’s Montauk home, for example, is similar to the shade at New York’s La Mercerie and the NoMad London. Others opt for something completely unexpected: “In Biarritz, France, Isabel López-Quesada’s cabin, as she calls it, presented an opportunity to explore her appreciation for the more homespun aspects of domestic decoration, such as found objects, thrift, and craft— the very opposite of so many of her grander international design commissions,” writes Norwich.
Below, take a look inside the living rooms, bedrooms, and lounges of the world’s top interior designers.