read more about Geoffrey Bradfield

Geoffrey Bradfield

It’s definitely a small world. More than 10 years ago I had the pleasure of meeting an extraordinary interior designer named Geoffrey Bradfield. He happens to come from the same small town in South Africa that I do, he attended the same high school as I did, and he lives in NYC, same as I do. Whenever we’re together, we laugh about the coincidence of our meeting and hailing from the same “village”. We’re both so incredibly lucky to have made our way to America and to have been given a world of opportunity that we could never have imagined or dreamt of as children growing up. Geoffrey is at the top of his game; highly respected in the design world, recognized by the world’s top design publications, and is a member of the elite group of Architectural Digest Top 100 Designers. His aesthetic is clean and modern with under- and overtones of pure luxury. I’m proud of his accomplishments and happy to call him a friend.


      

Tips from Geoffrey.

• The mistake most people make when doing their own decorating is... A lack of objectivity can be a major stumbling block. I believe most people find it difficult to visualize the end results. This confusion can be disastrous: too many ideas enter the picture. There should be design cohesion in a room or rooms. It need not be obvious, but ideally, there should be a subtle conceptual signature, which unites the spaces.
• For someone who wants a big look on a small budget today... One of the least costly glamour guarantees would be the use of mirror. It introduces immediately a sense of infinity and grandeur, whether it is a traditional wall-mounted gilt frame above a mantelpiece or an entire contemporary surface installation reflecting a cityscape. The cost of the material is negligible but the impact is immeasurable.
• One of the best things right now to collect for an investment is... My work, to a large extent, is predicated on the use of Contemporary Art. I always try to influence my clients, if they are not already collectors when they come to me, to consider this field of acquisition. With few exceptions, the investments have proved to be significantly financially rewarding.
• My favorite room to decorate is... For me, there is obviously no hard and fast rule in this regard. It is the clean slate that is so stimulating for a creative mind. An Entrance Hall as a starting point dictates, to some degree, what will follow. I always enjoy capturing the spirit of an interior by exploiting, and sometimes exaggerating, the first venture into the space. But each room, for me, has its unique appeal when it comes to design.
• There are many rules decorators should bear in mind. One is... I always think that an important rule to bear in mind is location. One can so easily forget environment. I don't believe that designing an urban Manhattan apartment interior in a Tudor country house is necessarily successful. The same could apply to a traditional Tudor interior in a high-rise. I think one should be sensitive to the architecture and vicinity of a structure and approach the design in keeping with its definition.
• Every home must have... There are many things every home must have, but in the end, I think we all agree the basic requirement is probably comfort. I identify with Billy Baldwin's quote in the New York Times toward the end of his life: "lately I have been thinking how comfort is perhaps the ultimate luxury." I believe this says it all.