Make It Fabulous with William Georgis

William T. Georgis, Architect and Interior Designer (New York)

View William Georgis’s Book List

Designers & Books: In their introductory essay to Make It Fabulous, Donald Albrecht and Natalie Shivers say your work is characterized by “provocative juxtapositions.” And Penelope Green in the New York Times has called your environments both “glamorous and naughty.” What is it about your approach that elicits these sorts of responses?
William Georgis: I’m a bit mystified by these descriptions. For the most part (with the exception of the show house interiors) my work is a response to clients and context. Perhaps my clients and I are naughty provocateurs?

D&B: You frequently invite artists and other designers—like Nancy Lorenz, Michele Oka Doner, and Peter Lane—to collaborate with you on your projects, embracing the idea “to hear someone else’s voice.” How do you keep all your collaborators in step with your overall vision?

WG: I don’t keep my collaborators in step, rather I depend on them to contribute their vision, while riffing on my foundation.

D&B: One of the dedications in your book is to the memory of your mother, Mitzie. Did she have anything to do with pointing you in the direction of design?
WG: My mother, Mitzie, was a wildly visual woman with a great sense of style, who taught me the importance of perceivable and transcendent beauty.

William T. Georgis, Make it Fabulous, 2013 (The Monacelli Press)

D&B: What about that word “fabulous”? Was it a favorite of your mother’s?
WG: Absolutely!

D&B: What was the first book about architecture that made an important impression on you?
WG: Ausgeführte Bauten und Entwürfe von Frank Lloyd Wright (otherwise known as the Wasmuth Portfolio)

D&B: What about other types of books that were formative for you: Art books? Novels?
WG: The work of Joan Didion and Yukio Mishima are my guiding stars.

D&B: You grew up in Oak Park, Illinois where there is a large concentration of Frank Lloyd Wright houses. You got to know many of these very well, since when you were in high school you gave tours of them. Has anything from Wright remained with you?
WG: The concept of gesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art—whereby the architecture, landscape, interior design, and all details of a project are coordinated.

D&B: Can you tell us about your library? How many books? What type of books?
WG: My office library consists of architecture, landscape, design, art and fashion monographs, 18th- and 19th-century architecture treatises, architecture and urban histories, decorative arts histories, and auction catalogues.

D&B: Do you have a favorite place or places you go to buy rare and out-of-print books?
WG: Ursus Books, (New York), Argosy Book Store (New York), Daniel Crouch Rare Books (London).

D&B: You were one of the original contributors to Designers & Books and one of the titles on the book list you submitted was Japanese Houses Today. Have you visited Japan often? What about the sense of Japanese aesthetics resonates with you most?
WG: I have visited Japan many times and am always visually astonished by the commitment to tradition and modernity and the appreciation of the imperfect.

D&B: Albrecht and Shivers make a point of mentioning the value to you of your broad liberal arts education at Stanford. Would you recommend to students interested in architecture today that they follow that same academic path? Or do you think the landscape today has changed and a professional focus sooner is better?
WG: I strongly believe that a liberal arts education will always be of paramount importance, particularly to those in pursuit of careers in architecture and design.

D&B: From your book, it’s easy to see the broad range of your art and design interests—from architecture, interior design, graphic design, landscape architecture, and product design—to painting, sculpture, and photography. What about fashion? Are you interested in it? Do you have a uniform you dress in for client meetings?
WG: I’m very interested in fashion—particularly on others. For myself, I stick to a uniform of suits and jackets.

 

All photos are from Make It Fabulous, courtesy of The Monacelli Press.