One of my favorite things about Jonathan Adler’s designs is the cheeky irreverence. His patterns and color palettes are bursting with fun, and he all but orders you to stop taking life (and decor) so seriously.
Last week the lovely Cassandra from Coco + Kelley invited me to an event that she co-hosted with Dan Savage, his husband Terry Miller, and several other awesome Seattleites. Part of the sales from the evening benefitted the It Gets Better Project, a fantastic organization started by Dan and Terry in response to the number of LGBT students who were committing suicide after being bullied at school.
I didn’t bring my “real” camera, but managed to get a few decent shots with my iPhone. If you look closely at the photo below you can see the top of Jonathan’s head behind the sign on the checkout area.
I REALLY wanted that bedding, especially the Alexander Coverlet.
The party was to celebrate the opening of the Jonathan Adler store in University Village. Jonathan (who has an awesome “about” page) and his stylish husband Simon Doonan attended the event.
While we’re at it, you have to see this Instagram shot of Jonathan, Mr. Turk, and Simon in Capri from Trina Turk’s awesome feed. Fabulous.
Moving on.
The wire dog sculptures by Rodger Stevens are fun. I’ve noticed that I’m often drawn to the wire sculptures that I see. Hmm. Maybe I should try it sometime. If I screw it up we can just call it No Wire Hangers EVER and say it was intentional.
Have you ever read the Jonathan Adler manifesto? You’ll probably get more insight into why I’m such a fangirl.
Did I get my photo taken with Jonathan? No. I introduced myself to him before I left and told him how much I love his work and his awesome presentation on 99U, but I couldn’t ask for a photo. Sometimes I’ll do stuff like that, but that night I felt too weird about it.
I was hanging out with some blogger friends before the event and trying to decide if I wanted to go. When I first heard about the event I was so excited that I was finally going to meet Jonathan Adler – someone whose sense of style and design I’ve admired for a while and featured on this blog several times. But in talking with my friends I started thinking about the relationship our culture has with “celebrity.” It’s not like I’m drawn to the “celebrity factor” of Jonathan Adler. I mean, I know who he is because he’s a famous designer, but I love him because of what he creates and the attitude he conveys throughout his work. So why should it matter so much if I met him? What does casually meeting him add to my life or his? I couldn’t come up with an answer.
Do you guys know what I’m talking about?
It’s one thing to want to go to a lecture or an event where you’re learning from someone you admire, but just having a chance to say hello and tell someone, “I love your work” doesn’t seem that valuable. Right?
Anyway, it was a weird day and that’s how my mind was working. Sometimes I do a lot of thinking about and overanalyzing of human emotions and behavior. You can blame my psychology degrees for that. It’s a hobby that occasionally borderlines on obsession. :)
Just one more photo.
Simon is on the bottom right. I like his shoes.
I’d love to hear what you guys think about Jonathan Adler’s work, as well as your thoughts on why we want to meet famous people. So, please…to the comments section! xo