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CHARLES DE LISLE
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San Francisco interior designer Charles de Lisle’s current client roster includes restless young South of Market IPO zillionaires, chic city restaurateurs, the developers of a cool new spa, and conservatively-stylish Pacific Heights families. De Lisle, originally from Massachusetts, is passionate and curious about all aspects of design, surfing multimedia, experimenting with ceramics, playing with neon, and testing the limits of lighting, steel fabrication, color, and surreal painted finishes. "Any medium or style can be made approachable or fantastic by its context or references," said de Lisle, an accomplished ceramist, who has produced events with city arts commissioner Stanlee Gatti, designed a room for the San Francisco Decorator Showcase, developed products for Pottery Barn, and produced a collection of tabletop lighting. "After two years of toting my lighting designs to High Point and gift shows, I decided to take a break from the commercial product scene because it was starting to tarnish my excitement for design," said de Lisle, who studied fine arts. "I had to move back into creating custom pieces and spaces so that I could keep some sort of integrity and liveliness in what I was doing." Since March, De Lisle has been an associate designer at the Your Space interior design firm in San Francisco with partners, Marion Phillpotts-Miller and Jonathan Staub. "I work individually with my own residential clients, and we collaborate on commercial and residential projects," said de Lisle. The designer has been inspired by fashion, particularly Prada, and now Miu Miu’s new fashion-forward and rather anarchistic clothing and accessories collections. "Miu Miu seems to be created by a very youthful creative team with absolutely no regard for anything popular or appropriate," noted de Lisle. "This may signal some kind of renaissance of creative design where imagination is of amazing value. Philippe Stark and the late graphic designer Tibor Kalman have both understood the importance of being borderline ridiculous." De Lisle, who also admires Stanlee Gatti’s ability to foster humor and playfulness in his creative endeavors, said he believes that "young" designers often have a tendency to be overly slavish in referencing past styles and periods. "This may just be the natural design cycle," he observes. "But a lot of contemporary design seems a mere shadow of the original philosophy and rigorous thinking from which it sprang." De Lisle is startled that some young clients lack a sense of adventure and experimentation. They also seem not to welcome the joy of surprise and the thrill of experimentation in interior design, he said. "People my age in San Francisco seem fairly conservative about design," he observed. "Young people who have the means to hire a designer often opt to go the traditional route, which is astonishing considering how "progressive" this city is perceived to be." That’s why he also enjoys the balance of working with his super-young Internet clientele, said de Lisle. "They are super-charged, and don’t have any inbred expectations, and no illusions that the Mediterranean villa style will prove their good taste or social standing," he said. "Young high-tech high-achievers have the freedom to enjoy developing a unique, personal sense of style. It’s refreshing and it spurs me on." Charles de Lisle, Your Space, 161 Natoma Street, San Francisco. 94105. (415-357-9800) DESIGN INSPIRATION PHILIP JOHNSON I love Philip Johnson because so many architects can’t stand him. He has an amazing ability to understand the nature of style, as well as the savvy to use it as a powerful marketing tool. Who else could know that rich Fortuny fabrics must be living somewhere in the subconscious of a glass house? MICHAEL TAYLOR His raw materials seemed so glamorous in contrast to their classical counterparts. The light in his rooms became almost ephemeral, and his entire sense of scale was simultaneously disproportionate and comfortable. In one superb residence, the citron yellow and acid green were at full volume yet hardly noticeable. RON MANN He can balance rough-hewn architecture with plush/feminine comfort. Mann has a great sense of proportion, which in his hands is provocative, massive, and overtly sculptural. His bold and confident furniture creates its own presence in a room unlike anything except perhaps nature itself. BUNNY WILLIAMS Just because her name is Bunny. LILLY PULLITZER I will never be able to let go of how hot pink and lime green vibrate and can cause such an intense emotional response. DAVID HICKS His interiors are passionate, and I admire his ability to clash geometric, formal, and organic pattern. WILLIAM WURSTER His work is humble and straightforward, and his houses appear almost shacklike from the exterior. They’re amazingly expansive and sophisticated with their floor-to-ceiling windows and crisp white trim. | |
| Copyright © 2002 Diane Dorrans Saeks. All contents not to be reproduced without permission. |
