Jonathan Adler is in town to celebrate the grand opening of his new McKinney Avenue shop, so, as a follow-up to our Q&A in the May/June issue, I sat down with the designer for another chat. His hubby Simon Doonan joined us briefly before heading across the street for some lunch at the T Room.
After strongly recommending the brie and cranberry panini (and doing so with full knowledge of Doonan’s staunch opposition to all things panini; it’s just that good) and perusing the goods, I launched into some hard-hitting questions for JA.
Here’s what I learned:
- 1. Jonathan Adler loves Big Sur. He loves it, lives it, breathes it — well at least 50% of the time. Oh and (given my own fondness for this particular stretch of Northern California), he strongly recommends I add The Sandpiper to my Netflix queue stat.
- 2. The other 50% of the time he’s drawing on his preppy east coast upbringing.
- 3. He’s spent the bulk of his life reconciling these two completely opposed aesthetic sensibilities, which accounts for the Dorthy Draper meets Ladies of the Canyon mash-up happening in his designs.
- 4. Every vase in his line starts on his pottery wheel. He still throws pottery. Frequently. He calls making pots “his only skill.”
- 5. He has an older brother and sister and refers to himself as the “youngest, dumbest, and happiest” of the trio. (I say he’s charmingly self-depreciating.)
- 6. He still wears Birkenstocks (they were a mainstay when he first met his husband 17 years ago), and his preferred style is the Milano in hunter brown.
- 7. He loves pop country — Eric Church is currently on heavy rotation.
I told you…I grilled the guy. I went all Woodward and Bernstein on him.
I also took a boatload of snaps of the new space, which you can view after the jump. Enjoy.
