Anyone who knows me knows that I love Nate Berkus and Jonathan Adler more than anyone else in the design world (although I have sizable girl-crushes on Sarah Richardson and Candice Olsen) so when I got an email asking if I wanted to hop on a phone interview with J-Ad (as I like to call him in my head since we’re besties) well, I momentarily lost my mind.
I debated saying no (I’ll definitely get awkward and squeal-y and make him think I’m nuts) but after chatting about it with John, he convinced me that a 15 minute call with Jonathan Adler might end up on my highlights reel of this whole blogging “career” when we look back on this crazy ride of ours. Hubs was right, I had to do it. Clamminess and too-loud-laughs be darned.
So I emailed back a response that I hope came off cool and collected (as opposed to hyper and maniacal) and was given a Friday at noon time-slot for my call. I hardly slept on Thursday night thanks to getting all of my questions ready and second guessing myself a million times, and I even asked you guys for question ideas on Facebook. Then fifteen minutes before my time-slot for the call on Friday I got an email asking if Monday would work instead. Ahhhh! Half of me was relieved to put it off for another few days, and half of me immediately went into a bigger tizzy (the anticipation of more days of planning/waiting/second guessing every question sufficiently loosened more marbles).
And then I heard his voice. And all was right with the world. Turns out I still was too giggly, talked way too fast, and generally just couldn’t help myself (as interviews go, I’m sure I was far from the smoothest or the most professional) but he was so nice. And I didn’t know this was possible going into the call, but when I hung up the phone, I loved him more. I couldn’t stop talking about it with John, and I’m SO GLAD I did it. It was definitely highlight reel material.
I’m terrible at taking notes while talking, so I recorded the interview on my phone (after asking J-Ad’s permission of course) and as laughy and loud as I am, I thought you might like to hear it all go down in real life, so here’s the clip. Update: Click here to be taken directly to the sound clip if it’s not showing up below.
Is he awesome or what? You guys. My design idol said I got his CHAKRAS TINGLING. I’m floating on air. And we exchanged I love yous. Hello? Is this real life? My favorite discussion was the whole “just start with the vibe – not the walls or the curtains – and define how you want your house to feel in three words and use those as your guide. SO SMART.
My only regret is that I didn’t make John snap a picture of me while I was on the phone. But this is pretty much what it looked like:
So I hope you enjoyed that little brain-picking session with one of my favorite designers ever. Have you ever met or phoned someone up that you’re crazy about while half worrying you’d put your foot in your mouth (or just start babbling incoherently)? I’m telling you, it can be pretty amazing, even if your heart’s beating out of your chest the whole time.
Psst – For anyone who can’t listen to it right now, or would prefer to just read the interview, here’s a general recap for ya (there’s a little more banter in the recording, it was just tough to write every line out since we overlapped sometimes, etc).
Lucy says
Jonathan Adler is my favorite designer! I’ve been working on an article on him because of his no care what other’s think attitude. He hates design rules which is really such a breath of fresh air!
You are so fortunate to get an interview. Really the design world would be such a happier world if more designers took his no hate no rules attitude.
Olivia says
Ahhhhhhhhh, that is so cool! Good for you for facing your nerves and getting an amazing experience out of it. You clearly put a lot of thought into the questions which I’m sure he appreciated. J.A. sounds so nice & friendly in addition to be so super talented.
Elisa Simpson says
Love you guys!
My 3 words to describe my house
Happy. Loved. Growing :)
my dream come true!
Andrea says
Hey Sherry – loved your interview! The duck question is great and made me wonder if you had heard of the giant duck that is currently floating in the rivers of Pittsburgh, PA? Here’s a link … http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/giant-ducks-arrival-paints-pittsburgh-quack-and-yellow-705216/
Plus here’s a general plug for Pgh, hope you can get up this way on your next book tour! It’s a great city to visit with kids!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I love that! And we’d love to come out and visit sometime!
xo
s
Stacy Moore says
Yes! I totally get the whole “shy Ronnie” bit. It happened to me when you two did the book signing @ Mongrel. I was in awe & could barley muster a word. Just glad that I was able to ask for the “Charlie’s Angel” pose even though I looked incredibly awkward do so. HAHA!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, you’re so sweet Stacy! Thanks so much for coming out and Charlie’s Angeling it up with us!
xo
s
Brie says
You did a great job! Fantastic interview.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Brie!
xo
s
Erin says
So last Tuesday I was in Brooklyn by the Jonathan Adler store and I thought of you! I wanted to go in and take pictures of myself to send you (is this getting weird), but I was on a tour with about 25 strangers so unfortunately I couldn’t do it.
But I did find it interesting that seeing the Jonathan Adler store immediately made me think of you. “Where boring couches meet perky pillows!”
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I love it Erin!
xo
s
Annie says
Great job, Sherry! Go you!
Tanya says
HI Sherry
Don’t you dare put yourself down as being laughy and loud! You were AWESOME. He was a bit pathetic, I reckon.
Tanya.
Australia.
Susan says
I think you did a great job :) someone commented above and said most of us would feel the same way if we were to talk to you guys, that’s so true! You may have a future in interviewing.
My 3 words are… Airy, clean, welcoming.
Lisa says
You made his chakras tingle. I am SO jealous!
Lindsey says
What an amazing interview! Fun but very informative as well. I love the three word idea and “I’d rather be experimental and fail, than safe and mildly successful”. The questions you planned were perfect!
Melissa van Herksen says
wow…wow…wow…one more time for effect…WOW! you are incredible. I just posted on facebook and mentioned imagine you have 15-minutes with your mentor/idol in your respective field. What an amazing opportunity. You rocked the interview! So he has 100…you have to do some catching up. I only have 6!!! Now i can tell my husband that JA has a 100 so not to give me the evil eye as I search the globe (literally) for ceramic animals. Really a fun interview!
Melissa van Herksen says
Oh wait…my three words are: global, crisp and homy…probably since we have to make a new home every 2-4 years…homy is on the top of my list. Is it spelled homy or homey???
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I think homey?!
xo
s
Carmen says
So nice!!!! And a big thank you for the transcription because I’m not very good at listening English and it’s been easier for me to follow the interview while reading it.
Thank you!!
Bailey says
You did a GREAT job with these questions Sherry!! You didn’t sound nervous at all – sounded like you do this sort of thing all the time. And you can tell that Jonathan appreciated getting some off-the-wall questions – I bet he’s used to the same ol’, same ol’ when it comes to interviews. This was fun to listen to :)
Bailey
http://akabailey.blogspot.com
Kristen says
I had to go back in time to make this observation… I’ve been meaning to comment about this for a week! You and Jonathan must be design soulmates because you have been using two word descriptions on the house crashing section forever! Now I’m curious – did you ask the house crashees what two words they would use to describe their house? If not, I wonder if the words you picked are what they hoped their home would say. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I never even thought about that! I love it!
xo
s
Bree says
AHHHH
that is so cool!! I can’t wait to listen (not at work) that’s thrilling !!
we also completely share in the same design idols, obviously with you guys on my list as well !!
major girl crush on Candice Olson though shes a doll ! :)
<3
car54 says
I went to a JC Penney Home store today–haven’t been there in a long time–and they had a JA boutique front and center facing the front door.
It looks like they were pushing Martha Stewart out the back door –after the Macy lawsuit over Martha product–it was all 60% off and replacing it with Adler. I wanted a little owl coffee mug so bad. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Wow! Thanks for the the tip!
xo
s
Retrosmith Design Co. says
Yay so exciting! I can’t believe you got to interview him! You sounded so calm too! Excited, but no way near neurotic – such an awesome interview! Quite sure he would have reported me for psychotic behaviour should I have been on the phone with him. Such great questions! Thanks Sherri for doing that!
Lisa M. says
How did you record this interview? I am interviewing founding members of my organization and want to record our phone conversations. Yours came out so well. Thanks in advance!
YoungHouseLove says
I just put the house phone on speaker and used “voice memo” on my Iphone to record it all!
xo
s