Michael S. Smith (interior designer)
{{Infobox person
| name = Michael S. Smith
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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1963}}
| birth_place = Los Angeles, California, US
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| education = Otis College of Art and Design, Victoria and Albert Museum
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| occupation = Interior designer
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| spouse = James Costos
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Michael Sean Smith (born 1963)Full name and birth year according to [http://lccn.loc.gov/2005011547 Michael S. Smith : elements of style], Library of Congress catalog entry is an American interior designer based in Los Angeles. Smith was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House from 2008-2016 and is responsible for the 2010 makeover of the Oval Office.
Early life
Michael Smith was born in 1963. He studied at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles and at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London for graduate studies.
Career
He started his career by working with the antiques dealer Gep Durenberger and with the New York designer John Saladino. He has been running his own interior design business since 1990.{{cite web |url=http://www.michaelsmithinc.com/about/ |title=About Michael Smith |access-date=12 September 2010 |publisher=Michael S. Smith, Inc.}}
In an interview with The Washington Post, he describes his style as "updated traditional"; in fact, his work blends vintage and contemporary looks with elements such as "Georgian antiques, Uzbek suzani textiles, 18th-century Chinese wallpaper, sun-bleached Moroccan carpets and a dash of Anthropologie and Pottery Barn".{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/10/AR2009111013393.html |title=Helping the Obamas make the White House home |last=Koncius |first=Jura |date=12 November 2009 |access-date=12 September 2010 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}
Architectural Digest included Smith among its "AD 100", its "selection of the top architects and interior designers" published in the magazine in recent years.See the [http://www.architecturaldigest.com/architects/100/ main page for the AD 100] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514204019/http://www.architecturaldigest.com/architects/100/ |date=2008-05-14 }}, with a list of the included designers and architects as of 2010, whence the quote has been fetched. Its editorial "profile" of Smith characterizes his style as "a blend of classic European style and American modernism"."[http://www.architecturaldigest.com/architects/100/michael_smith/michael_smith_profile Michael S. Smith] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222060457/http://www.architecturaldigest.com/architects/100/michael_smith/michael_smith_profile |date=2010-12-22 }}", published in January 2010 Smith was also named 2003 Designer of the Year by Elle Decor.{{Cite web |title=Know Before You Go: Spain with Designer Michael Smith |url=https://indagare.com/sirius/spain-with-designer-michael-smith |access-date=2024-03-22 |website=indagare.com |language=en}}
Smith's clients reportedly include News Corporation president Peter Chernin, Oaktree Capital chairman Howard Marks, writer Gigi Levangie Grazer, model Cindy Crawford (for whom Smith has designed two California houses and two New York apartments),{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/garden/02oval.html?_r=1 |title=The Audacity of Taupe |last=Green |first=Penelope |date=1 September 2010 |access-date=12 September 2010 |work=The New York Times}}{{cite web |url=http://www.architecturaldigest.com/homes/features/archive/crawford_article_032001 |title=Architectural Digest Visits Cindy Crawford: East Side Elan for the Model and Her Family in New York |last=Clarke |first=Gerald |publisher=Architectural Digest |date=March 2001 |access-date=12 September 2010}} film director Steven Spielberg, and actors Dustin Hoffman and Michelle Pfeiffer.{{cite web |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5576701.ece |title=Hollywood designer Michael S. Smith will bring family values to the White House |last=Reid |first=Tim |publisher=Times Online |date=24 January 2009 |access-date=12 September 2010}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
=White House makeover=
In 2008, Barack and Michelle Obama appointed Smith to redecorate the residential quarters of the White House. During this project, Smith worked with Michelle Obama and White House curator William Allman to select art on-loan from museums to be displayed in private quarters and elsewhere.
In February 2010, President Obama appointed him a member of the Committee for the Preservation of the White House.{{cite web |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announces-members-committee-preservation-white-house |title=President Obama Announces Members of the Committee for the Preservation of the White House |date=3 February 2010 |access-date=12 September 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216173123/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announces-members-committee-preservation-white-house |via=National Archives |work=whitehouse.gov |archive-date=16 February 2017 }} Smith's makeover of the Oval Office was revealed to the public in late August 2010.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/us/01oval.html?fta=y |title=President's Office Takes On New Neutral Tones, But Keeps Its Familiar Shape |last=Stolberg |first=Sheryl Gay |work=The New York Times |date=31 August 2010}} Dominated by shades of taupe and beige, the designer redecorated the bookcases with Native American baskets and ceramics from the National Museum of the American Indian and installed "a rug woven with quotations from Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy and others; two fawn-colored cotton-rayon sofas; two elegant midnight-blue lamps by Christopher Spitzmiller; and an extremely contemporary mica coffee table from Roman Thomas, a New York furnituremaker".
Smith has authored several books on interior design including: The Curated House: Creating Style, Beauty, and Balance, Building Beauty: The Alchemy of Design, Kitchens and Baths, Houses, and Elements of Style.{{Cite web|url=https://www.michaelsmithinc.com/press-and-books/books|title=Press & Books|website=www.michaelsmithinc.com|access-date=2020-01-05}}
Personal life
He lived in Madrid, Spain, with his partner, United States Ambassador to Spain, James Costos. Currently Smith and Costos reside in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles and in Palm Springs, California.{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304765304577482593839972130|title=Going Modern, Staying Grand|last=Reed|first=Julia|date=2012-06-28|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=2020-01-05|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660}}
Publications
- [http://lccn.loc.gov/2005011547 Michael S. Smith: Elements of Style] (with Diane Dorrans Saeks). New York: Rizzoli, c2004. {{ISBN|0-8478-2762-3}}
- [http://lccn.loc.gov/2008930944 Michael S. Smith: Houses] (with Christine Pittel). New York: Rizzoli, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-8478-3070-1}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.michaelsmithinc.com/ Official website]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20100417015835/http://www.elledecor.com/celebrity-homes/articles/designer-s-world "A Designer’s World: The dazzling interiors of Michael Smith" (Elle Decor)]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110308151151/http://www.elledecor.com/decorating/articles/elegant_retreat_malibu "An Elegant Retreat in Malibu: Inspired by Palladian villas, designer Michael S. Smith creates a sublime seaside getaway" (Elle Decor)]
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