it is always wonderful to get a sneak peek inside the creative space of someone you admire and respect, so last week’s blogtour visit to jonathan adler’s soho hq was the icing on the cake to a wonderful walking tour of the area, curated by abcd design’s amy beth cupp dragoo (which you can read more about in my post for heart home this week).

we received such a warm welcome and incredibly generous hospitality it was impossible not to love the  jonathan adler team. their office was full of light, colour and pattern – and several mini pooches! we even got to see inside the office of the man himself, where he dutifully posed for photographs, before heading into the workshop to re-throw the prototype for a new season vase while we watching in awe, and grilled him about his background and influences.

jonathan told us that people often think his products “just are”;  they don’t imagine that they are all hand thrown and start from prototypes designed and crafted by his small design team in downtown new york. it was such a simple statement but a very thought-provoking one, and one that stayed with me long after i left. too often with well-established, commercially successful brands you forget the design and manufacturing processes that result in the wonderful array of goods on offer in store, and do not consider the personal inspirations and design creativity that has brought them there.

so thank you jonathan, for opening our eyes, and your hq, to us all!

blogtour nyc was sponsored by: miele, samuel heath, rotsen furniture, scholtes, du verre, mmpi (organisers of ad show 2012), blanco america, poggenpohl, spirit of sports, victoria and albert baths, jenn air, big ass fans, modern aire, vitra, wallunica and mix magazine.