Daylight Savings just hit, and with it, the impending winter decor slump. All this talk of ‘cozy season,’ but sometimes even the chicest faux-fur pelts in the world can’t layer an interior – or the people in it – out of its lull. What it really needs is a jolt. Something with humor, heat, and personality. Or, as Jonathan Adler would say, something 'immoderate.'
‘During all times of year – dark days especially – I think the most important thing is that every single thing you surround yourself with should make your chakras tingle,’ Jonathan tells me from inside his equally joyful ceramics exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. ‘C H A K R A S,’ he spells, pausing for effect.
‘You should kind of love everything you have, and I think that’s step one,’ he continues. ‘But it is really hard when we are so inundated with information to really commit to one particular interior design style. So my solution to that is just to be a committed eclecticist. Surrender to eclecticism and don’t beat yourself up for it.’
A Louis XVI gilded mirror beside a Brutalist metal coffee table, topped with a vase from your last Portugal trip and a Nancy Meyers–adjacent ruffled sofa skirt in the corner? ‘If you love it,’ Jonathan says, ‘it will work.’ That, essentially, is his interior design philosophy: fearless, free-associative, and allergic to moderation.
That sensibility runs through the Mad Mad World we sit in. It's his first-ever curatorial exhibition, which traces three decades of work spanning pottery, furniture, and the joyful motifs that bridge them.
From the animal kingdom to Chanel, Jonathan's inspirations have been many – but currently, it's a color trend: chocolate brown. ‘The 70s could not have existed without brown, orange, yellow, and earth tones,’ he says. 'Gray has been the neutral du jour for the last ten years. I think brown is the new neutral – and I’m thrilled to see it.’
Like his other design obsessions, brown will probably ebb and flow from the Adler repertoire. Because for Jonathan, trying this, swapping that isn’t fickle; it’s creative, part of his process, and the point of design more generally.
‘I don’t want to sound virtuous and suggest I’m not judgmental, but I’m not really judgmental about trends,’ he says. Then, a beat.
‘I have two exceptions. One is moderation. I’m judgmental about people who are moderate. You should be immoderate in any stylistic choice.’ He pauses. ‘And I don’t love taxidermy.’
At 2 Columbus Circle, surrounded by the literal artifacts of Jonathan’s world – a quilted teapot from his college days to my left, a metal mid-century-inspired sideboard catching the light behind him – his maximalist mantra lands with conviction.
‘The key to joy is immoderation.’
I had been trying not to think about the December doom-gloom to come. But at that moment, inhabiting his idiosyncratic universe, Jonathan's advocacy for eclecticism is not a hard sell.
'Surround yourself with only the things that you love, and you will be happy,’ he continues. ‘The bold and risky design choice will always spark joy.’
Ahead, six Jonathan Adler–approved home decor ideas that do exactly that.
Campily convince your friends you moonlight in high fashion art theft with this round porcelain tray rimmed in diamond and sapphire baguettes. A Suzanne Kalan collaboration, it’s a little Louvre-level glamour for your nightstand.
What you put inside this brass, amethyst-topped bird box is almost irrelevant – tea bags, jelly beans, mouth tape? Jonathan would say that’s beside the point. It’s serotonin disguised as storage, a gleaming little objet worthy of maximum airtime, on a bookshelf, vanity, or credenza.
We know the best cold-weather parties involve a glass (or two) of red wine – and this groovy, ’70s-inspired number from the designer’s Ruggable collaboration is both down for debauchery and completely washable.
Nothing enlivens a cocktail spread – or a Tuesday-night binge of bad TV – quite like finger food served with flair. Elevate the evening with this tri-shell server: nautical, gold-trimmed, and capable of making popcorn look like it belongs beside caviar.
There’s no shortage of iconography in the Adler archive, but the Muse pottery collection might take the cake. Inspired by Dora Maar – the French photographer, poet, and Picasso’s longtime muse – this votive holder's feature-filled relief turns candles into sculptures.
Get a grip – on this brass-and-black hand sconce, which is part torch, part surrealist artwork. The inverted shade down up on to its offbeat ostentation, casting light that’s moody, a little mysterious, and adequately irreverent to cure even the dreariest interior, be it flanking art, lining hallways, or shining solo.
Topping the list of joy-inducing upgrades? Matching your interiors to your pets. Tired of seeing his friends’ eyesores of dog beds, Jonathan Adler decided his own muse, FoxyLady, deserved better. So he created a Ruggable pet collection to carry his joie de vivre all the way to the sitting-room floor.
