At this special time of year, we want to Thank You!
Dear Members, Designers, and Friends,
As we reflect on the past year, we are filled with gratitude for your continued support and dedication to the Designer Society of America. Your creativity, passion, and commitment inspire us daily, and we are so proud to have such an incredible community.
As the holiday season approaches, we want to take a moment to thank you for being a part of this journey with us. We wish you and your loved ones a season full of joy, warmth, and wonderful memories.
We are excited for all the opportunities the new year will bring and look forward to connecting with you as we continue to support and celebrate excellence in design together.
Warm wishes for a happy holiday season and a prosperous New Year!
With gratitude,
Natasha Younts,
DSA President
and the DSA Team
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How Acting Helped Launch a Famous Interior Designer’s Success
“Acting is magical. Change your look and your attitude, and you can be anyone.” – Alicia Witt, American Actor and Musician
Many interior designers don’t necessarily find taking the stage on Broadway as their cup of tea, but in a way, you can imagine our industry as one big stage—one where we may have to put on a show just to sell that perfect design concept, floor covering or paint color to your audience (the client).
If you approach a difficult client, for example, with a new attitude or look, it could be a little easier to convince them of your vision. It is about creating an atmosphere that speaks to their wants and desires for a designed space.
And while many of you did not start your journey into our industry with acting in mind, one very famous interior designer—Martyn Lawrence Bullard—actually got his start in interior design (albeit unintentionally) thanks to acting.
Shortly after moving to the United States from England about 35 years ago to pursue a career in acting, Bullard befriended a producer who came to his house and quickly discovered his passion for design. He was then invited by the producer to design the offices at Hollywood Film Works on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.
“I thought it was so crazy, but I still did it,” he shares with a smile. “I didn’t know what I was doing, but I did it and the day it was finished, the president of Capital Records, Liz Heller, called me and said, ‘I’ve just been to the Hollywood Film Works office, will you come and look at doing my offices?’”
More than three decades later, Bullard is still decorating for some of the most famous and beloved people in the world. Learn more about his journey in interior design in the Q&A below.
Martyn Lawrence Bullard: Shares His Star-Studded Career & Design Inspiration
By Lindsay Field Penticuff
It's been a pretty wild ride, according to celebrity interior designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard when describing his career in the industry.
“I was born in England, but I’ve lived in Los Angeles for 35 years now,” he says. “I came over here to be an actor at 21 years old.”
Between gigs, Bullard supported himself by going to flea markets, buying and selling antiques, and bits of jewelry—anything he could do to make money while sustaining his passion for becoming a movie star.
“That didn’t really work out,” he admits, “but I was in a movie where I played opposite Eartha Kitt and I befriended the producer of that movie who came to a very tiny house I had back then because I didn’t have any money, and they loved it.”
Seeing firsthand what Bullard could do with his passion for design, he was invited by the producer to design the offices at Hollywood Film Works on Sunset Boulevard.
“I thought it was so crazy, but I still did it,” he shares with a smile. “I didn’t know what I was doing, but the day it was finished, the president of Capital Records, Liz Heller, called me and said, ‘I’ve just been to the Hollywood Film Works office, will you come and look at doing my offices?’”
Bullard ended up meeting with Heller, becoming fast friends, then while attending her wedding met Cheryl Tiegs, the world’s first-ever super model.
“Cheryl hired me by the end of the wedding to decorate her brand-new house, and nine months later, we were on the cover of nine magazines around the world and my career was born,” he says, adding that he was about 22 years old at the time. “It was pretty wild!”
We had the pleasure of interviewing Bullard, one of the more award-winning designers in America, digging in to learn more about his love for interior design, what inspires him when creating for A-list celebrities like Cher and RuPaul, the advice he has for other designers and a favorite piece—or pieces in this case—in his home. Learn more in the Q&A below:
You've had a fascinating journey, from selling antiques as a teenager to becoming a renowned interior designer. Can you share more about how your early experiences at the Greenwich Antiques Market influenced your design philosophy?
“From the age of 12, I was learning how to pair and display items together so they looked even better, and people were willing to pay more for them. The hands-on experience of doing—touching, feeling and understanding—that if I could pair something up with another object and make it look more beautiful, I could sell it for a profit. That was really something that has been invaluable to the understanding of this career.”
Your transition from acting to interior design was unique. How did your background in acting and your time at the Lee Strasberg Actors Studio contribute to your approach to design and working with clients?
“My acting experience has been something quite invaluable. At the end of the day, it’s all a performance—the way you present your designs and the way you present to the client is inevitably the way you sell your project. You could present the most beautiful design in the world, but if you aren’t presenting it with confidence, as a showman, you aren’t going to sell it. From my acting training, I learned how to perform, how to sell the show, how to become the character. That is a vital part of who I am today.”
You've designed homes for many A-list celebrities, including Cher and RuPaul. How do you balance their unique personalities and lifestyles with your own design aesthetic to create spaces that truly reflect who they are?
“It’s very important to get to know someone as much as you can; get to know who they are, what they want, what their goals are, what their decorative desires are. Once you have all that information, you can start to really formulate something that is representative of their character. To me, design is not just about making pretty spaces, it’s about tapping into who the person is and really making their decorative dream a reality. Quite often, that means a conversation, finding out what they love, what they don’t’ love, where they like to vacation, where they go out to eat, what they don’t like about their current house, what they like about their best friend’s house. It’s a series of getting-to-know-you questions that eventually formulate the threads to create a tapestry of their final decorative fantasies.
“I’m not here to impose my style, my look, my feel. My career has encompassed everything from the most ancient to the most modern, and that is because those elements have captured what clients want and what part of their personality they want to incorporate at that time. It’s all about understanding the current phase of someone’s life, giving them the tools to move into the future. The fact that I’ve created for so many extraordinary clients and from all different walks of life, it’s been amazing to be able to understand who they are at that point and where they want to go, and how we get there. Those creatives—those wonderful people like fashion designers, actors and musicians—are always open to that because they are always looking for more; new inspiration, new ways to expand their life. As a decorator, that’s the most ideal client you could ever have.”
Your new book, "Star Style," offers an inside look at celebrity homes. Can you share a particularly memorable or surprising moment from working on this book that readers might not expect?
“’Star Style’ celebrates my 30-year anniversary. It was really important for me to have a book that showed everybody the thing that has made me really famous around the world, which has been my celebrity interiors. Even though some of my best interiors may not have been for famous people, the famous people are the ones the world wants to see and know about. That’s been part of my creative journey and why I’m still around 30 years later. I wanted to celebrate those incredible people who have let me work with them to create these amazing spaces for them. It was also surprisingly fabulous to look back at the finished book and see the diversity of the design I’ve done throughout the years.”
Your designs are globally inspired. What are some interesting places that have influenced your work, and can you share a specific example of this influence in a project?
“Travel is so important to me—the people and culture, and seeing how different people live. It inspires how you create a space for someone. It’s not just about the fabrics and flowers, it’s about how you live within that. Important places to me have been India, in particular Rajasthan, for the color and texture, and the passion for living. Whether you have $3 or $300 million, there’s a passion for living there in every part of its essence. I absolutely adore Istanbul, because it’s the East meets West and it’s the blend of the cultures. It was once the capital of the Roman empire, and now it’s this Muslim country with an amazing amount of eastern and western culture, and influences. There’s something incredibly amazing about understanding and experiencing that city. Paris has always had my heart, because I am an antique dealer at the bottom of all this, and I love Rome, because I’m half Italian and that half of me lies dormant until I get into Italy, at which point I explode with passion.”
You’ve designed residential and commercial spaces, from luxurious homes to high-end hotels. How does your design process differ when creating a personal home compared to a commercial space like a hotel or restaurant?
“Commercial spaces are very much about fantasy. Hotels and restaurants are where people go to experience something different than their home life, an experience that is memorable and becomes something special. You want to make sure a restaurant has an ambiance that is inviting, makes you feel sexy and like you’re doing something special. Restaurants, to me, must have an exciting moment. Hotels must have a sense of place. They should always announce where you are, what that culture and experience is about. You need to feel where you are and understand it, why you’re there, and the beauty, comfort and luxury of a hotel needs to be within your psyche forever and always drawing you back. That’s the secret to really good destination and commercial design.
“Residential design is about creating sanctuaries, spaces for people that are their haven. We are all pack animals at the end of the day, which means our homes become our special place. We must make it our special place and it has to be a mirror of our personality, and a place where when you invite people in, they get to see a different side of you that they didn’t know existed. That’s the magic of the home.”
Read the rest of the article HERE.
Discover more about Martyn Lawrence Bullard and his visionary designs. Follow him on Instagram for updates, inspiration, and a behind-the-scenes look at his latest projects.
