Designer QnA: David Netto on clients who insist upon “SWANK,” singing to the dog, and the power of a little happy yellow
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In the upstairs sitting room of a modern Amagansett house, a Le Corbusier stainless steel and leather sofa, Sizzle tables by Wendell Castle, and a pair of Alvar Aalto Paimio bentwood chairs are overseen by an Alexander Calder tapestry. Photo: Gieves Anderson |
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Photo: Katrina Dickson |
David grew up in New York surrounded by taste and people talking about it, which for a young person was both a good and a bad thing (his father owned the fabric house Cowtan & Tout). From an early age he was interested in architecture, furniture, cars, and the history of each. Since dropping out of Harvard Architecture School and founding his studio in New York in 2000, he has specialized in residential decoration in no particular style. It might be said that David’s work is known for trying to bring to modernism a touch of warmth and personality, and to traditionalism young energy and a dash of the exotic. For a project to be successful he believes in the importance of getting the architecture right, but that good decoration should also be a portrait of the person who lives there. His projects have been published in Vogue, Elle Decor, House Beautiful, House & Garden, and Veranda, as well as several books. In 2002 David launched NettoCollection, a pioneering line of modern children’s furniture which channeled the style and beauty of pieces from the 1930s and 50s to lift the aesthetics of a whole industry. As a writer on the history of architecture and design, from 2010-2012 he worked as contributing design editor to the Wall Street Journal. After 2012 he did so for T, the New York Times Style Magazine, and presently David writes the "Case Studies" column for Town & Country. David Netto Design LLC (with studio director Lily Dierkes) is now active in LA with projects on both the east and west coasts. He recently launched a lighting collection in collaboration with LA artist Jennifer Nocon. David lives with his wife Elizabeth and two daughters in a small but dazzling Neutra house—which started as a portrait of its owners but is now more a portrait of their children—in Silver Lake, and welcomes your interest.
SHOP DAVID NETTO’S INCOLLECT FAVORITES
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PAUL DUPRE-LAFON Exquisite Pair of Cerused Oak and Parchment Tables in the Dupre Lafon Manner Lerebours Antiques | Mid Century French Ceramic... Kimcherova |
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HELEN VERGOUWEN Whimsical Wood Armchairs Orange Los Angeles | ETTORE SOTTSASS 2007 Geometric Prism.... Cosulich Interiors & Antiques |
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Tell us something about you that is not in your bio.
I sing to my dog in the car. I cry when I read newspaper stories all the time. I watch the movie It Happened One Night over and over when I’m alone.
What excites you most about the design process?
Every project starts differently for me. I might start with a fabric I want to build a room around, or an adjective, or a mantel. Before I figure out what this idea is, I often wonder whether this is the project where I’m finally going to mess it up. So it’s scary, which is exciting. Changing people’s lives is also exciting. Making businessmen who can be grumpy about bills happier than they ever thought they’d be about their house is exciting.
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In the same home, the media room has a pair of Afra & Tobia Scarpa for Cassina 925 chairs from Orange Los Angeles, and a lounge-y Zanotta sectional, where, after sleepover shenanigans, the kids can proceed through the sliding barn doors to the bunkroom, just steps away. Photo: Gieves Anderson |
SHOP DAVID’S INCOLLECT FAVORITES
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Banded Mazanderan Kilim Double Knot | CEDRIC HARTMAN Brass Floor Lamp 1960s Solo Modern |
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TH ROBSJOHN-GIBBINGS Biomorphic Cocktail Table Weinberg Modern | BØRGE MOGENSEN "Spanish" Chair Denmark 50 |
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Name an architect, artist or designer, living or dead, you’d love to collaborate with and why?
I collaborated with (the late) Paul Fortune and that was very interesting and a lot of fun (I hired him to do my own house because I thought my wife wouldn’t want to work with me, but he and I just ended up doing it together). I would like to collaborate with the firm Bories & Shearron, architects in New York who are doing some of the most beautiful work of our moment. They are connoisseurs.
How do clients push you to think outside of the box and challenge you?
I try to make every project a portrait, so each one is different. I don’t have a signature style. So every client challenges me whether they want to or not. Some clients are mystics: I once had one who would only use the word “swank” to describe what they wanted.
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| Left: David channels “new American elegance” in a Park Avenue duplex. Photo: Jean Francois Campos. Right: Frank Gehry for Knoll Face Off table and Hat Trick chairs in an Easthampton house decorated by David Netto. Photo: Ken Kochey |
SHOP DAVID’S INCOLLECT FAVORITES
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JACQUES JARRIGE Meanders Chandelier Valerie Goodman Gallery | FRANK GEHRY Hat Trick Chair Stellar Union |
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ROBERT VENTURI Pair of "Chippendale" Chairs, 1984 objects20c | JAY SPECTRE Low Table Liz O'Brien |
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What is your favorite object in your home, and how and when did you acquire it?
A Louis XV chair at the beach in Amagansett. I love it so much I buy a new one every few years and switch it out. There are too many beautiful chairs out there to enjoy, can’t get stuck on just one.
How does a design project start for you? Is there a particular element that you always start with that inspires the whole project?
1) Respect and respond to the architecture.
2) Insist on quality (this can take many forms — can mean empty space, for instance).
3) Find a way to put in some young energy, something exotic.
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| David’s “beach umbrella” living room in his hexagonal oceanside Amagansett house, with blue rope-wrapped pole and six-section ceiling. Appropriately, a Finn Juhl Pelican chair, designed in 1940, sits to the left of the fireplace. Photo: Paul Costello |
SHOP DAVID’S INCOLLECT FAVORITES
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JACQUES ADNET Table Lamp, c. 1950 Moderne Gallery | CHARLOTTE PERRIAND Pair of Stools for Les Arcs Flavor |
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JEAN PROUVÉ Dining Table, 1945 Collection20C | Pair of Grand Tour Egyptian Porphyry Obelisks Robin Miller Antiques |
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What is your dream project?
The Carlyle Hotel
What is your favorite part of the install process?
Hanging pictures with the experts from I-Level, hands down.
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David’s room at the Kips Bay 2018 Decorator Show House mixes a pair of blocky zebrawood Art Deco chairs with a curvy Louis XV fauteuil, an oak free-form dining table designed by Charlotte Perriand and François-Xavier Lalanne's 1990 Oiseau d'Argent combination table/lamp. A touch of nostalgia: red tortoiseshell wall covering recalls the 1980s New York City decor of his youth. The ceramic stoneware table lamp is from his collection designed in collaboration with artist Jennifer Nocon. His signature touch of "happy yellow" is dotted throughout. Photo: Nickolas Sargent |
SHOP DAVID’S INCOLLECT FAVORITES
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French Iron and Oak Wall Shelves Orange Los Angeles | PAUL DUPRÉ-LAFON - HERMÈS Wall Sconces Lebreton |
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Vintage Spanish Painted Metal "Coral" Mirror Paris Underground - Aspen | POUL KJÆRHOLM JF Chen |
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Do you have a signature element — something you always include when styling an interior?
A little happy yellow snuck in somewhere.
Tell us what you love about Incollect and what one can expect sourcing with us.
Incollect sets me up to work efficiently as a designer. Its crisp intelligence in layout and presentation make it a pleasure to shop online, and the categories are smarter and easier to use than other sites. Thank you!
