Join Mitchell Owens as he explores the age-old human hunger for ornamentation and the resurgence of extravagance, pattern, and color in design and decoration. Hear how, after years of penitential modernity, of rationalism, of safety, of following formulas, designers are now gobbling up the unusual, the delightful, the escapist, the personal, the off-piste; after all, why settle for a chair with a straight leg when it's the cabriole curve is what stirs (or disturbs) your heart?
Editor, reporter, curator, and scholar of subjects ranging from architecture and design to social history and popular culture, Mitchell Owens has been the decorative arts editor at Architectural Digest (AD) since 2013.
Owens began his journalism career in the early 1980s. In 1989 he moved to New York City to become the articles editor of Elle Decor, where he would eventually fill the positions of interior design director (2000–2003), executive editor (2006–2009), and editor at large (2009–2010). Owens was the senior writer at American HomeStyle (1992–1993), and later the senior interior design editor of Traditional Home (2005–2006). Owens also served as a contributing writer at AD (1998–2000), and as special projects editor (2010–2013). For several years Owens was a contributing writer at Nest, the cult shelter magazine, under editor in chief Joseph Holtzman. He wrote, produced, and edited articles for The New York Times, as well as numerous other publications including T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Travel + Leisure, House Beautiful, The World of Interiors, Martha Stewart Living, and OUT, of which he was a founding editor. He has also authored several books, including Charlotte Moss Decorates, In House and his upcoming book, Fabulous!: The Dazzling Interiors of Tom Britt, which will be published by Rizzoli in October 2017.
In 2017, Mitchell Owens received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the New York School of Interior Design.
Free and open to the public. Reservations are encouraged. There will be a reception immediately following the lecture.