Ralph Lauren

I like things that are worn, like an old pick-up truck that’s stood by you, hauled wood or hay, moved your neighbor’s furniture, carried kids and dogs. It’s a little dented and the paint’s a little faded, but that patina is evidence of a history of work and a kind of honesty, which to me is very American.

I believe very much in the power of proportions. It’s something you feel. In the 16th and 17th centuries, proportions were a secret knowledge; only the initiated could know the art of proportions. Now we live in a time when there are no secrets anymore.

Nothing goes out of fashion quicker than fashion.

Art made me look at things differently. It opened my mind.

You want to be part of the flow without ego. The freer you are, the more creative you will be. Ego is limiting.

Axel Vervoordt is kind of everything.

Axel Vervoordt’s talent is to find the spirit of any place he transforms, and to reflect it back within design.

We want to feel the origin of nature, the origin of that mountain and what that mountain wants of a house.

The best rooms also have something to say about people who live in them.

I like things that are close to you that give you spirit.

I don’t read papers anymore. I almost never look at television because I like to have that open mind and feel things not with the influence.