Interior Design: Then and Now

Let’s talk dream homes, where taste and extraordinary visions transform spaces, where interiors manifest into timeless symphonies of art, design, and architecture. Let’s meet those exquisite talents who have come to redefine the dream homes of their time.
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The three most substantial aspects of any successful interior today are a curated-style selection of objects, a strong presence of handcraftsmanship, and the notion of storytelling. Interior designers have taken on the dual role of curators and poets in their quest to achieve interiors that are meaningful, interesting, personal, and inspiring. These are the values which inject interiors with soul and contemporary identity while giving people a sense of connection.

Every era is characterized by different values for those creating interiors—such as designers, decorators, and architects—in pursuit of realizing the idealized spaces of their time. Therefore, interior spaces have always been among the most substantial expressions of the culture, taste, and politics of their zeitgeist. There were times when the interior was a self-expression of its maker, and at others it was an expression of political values. As it is now, it is the full expression and biography of the people who live in it.


To fully experience and understand the territory of the interior, one must know its history and defining characteristics. The complexity of the interior lies in the conceptions and issues of consumer culture, taste, marketplace, living spheres, changing style, mass media, and technologies. In the new series ‘Interior Design: Then and Now,’ design historian and connoisseur Daniella Ohad will host 7 conversations with interior designers, historians, and scholars, exploring identities in the past and the present while revealing what makes a space quintessential, great, and powerful.

Via Zoom: Wednesdays, 12:00-1:15 pm EST

  • February 12 – Francis Sultana
  • February 19 David Kleinberg
  • February 26 – Nicole Hollis
  • March 5 – Wharton Esherick (with Emily Zilber & and Sarah Archer)
  • March 19 – Rodman Primack with Rudy Weissenberg
  • April 9 – Palm Springs Modernism (with Alan Hess)
  • April 23 – Alfredo Paredes