I’ve been dressing the same way for 30 years: a navy-blue crewneck T-shirt from James Perse with Japanese denim from Superstitch, Alden’s classic cordovan leather shoes and a pair of Maison Bonnet’s bespoke Le Corbusier 1965 black glasses. I like to be classic and not have to think about clothes too much.
The last thing I bought and loved was a Leica D-Lux 8. I love taking pictures when I travel, especially of architectural details – anything from a beautiful rope-shaped door handle on a cerulean-blue door in Greece to the interior of Carlo Scarpa’s final work, the Brion tomb near Treviso in northern Italy. Its poetic silhouettes inspired the partitions and design at my recent furniture exhibition at 242 rue de Rivoli. When I come back to the office, I print the pictures out and stick them on the wall. But now I have the Leica I want to go back to printing properly like I used to as a student in the dark room.
A Small Cap table lamp by Andrea Branzi from Design Gallery Milano and glasses from Masunaga and Jacques Marie Mage © James Nelson
The place that means a lot to me is Hydra. I’ll never forget arriving on the Greek island, which sits between the Aegean and Myrtoan Seas, on a wooden sailing boat with friends 20 years ago. I try to go back two to three times a year. I often stay at the Hydrea, a small hotel in an old ship owner’s house; visit Deste [June to October], a contemporary art foundation with a Jeff Koons outside; eat at Veranda, a taverna with an incredible rooftop terrace overlooking the harbour; then head to The Pirate Bar, an institution beloved by Leonard Cohen, for cocktails. I’m currently working on a large private house in nearby Porto Heli – the new structure is built in a Peloponnesian style by Greek craftspeople in local stone, marble and wood. In my imagination it will be a classic Greek modern house.
