Michael S. Smith | |
---|---|
Born | 1964 (age 52–53) |
Education | Otis College of Art and Design |
Occupation | Interior designer |
Michael Sean Smith (born 1964) is an American interior designer based in Los Angeles. He has been the White House decorator since 2008 and is responsible for the 2010 makeover of the Oval Office. He currently lives in Madrid, Spain with his partner, United States Ambassador to Spain, James Costos.
Michael Smith was born in 1964. He studied at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles and at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
He started his career by working with the antiques dealer Gep Durenberger and with the New York designer John Saladino. He has been running his own interior design business since 1990.
In an interview with The Washington Post, he describes his style as "updated traditional"; in fact, his work blends vintage and contemporary looks with elements such as "Georgian antiques, Uzbek suzani textiles, 18th-century Chinese wallpaper, sun-bleached Moroccan carpets and a dash of Anthropologie and Pottery Barn".
He has created his own furniture and fabric collection, Jasper, and has licensed collections of tiles and stone for Ann Sacks, vintage and contemporary bathroom fixtures for Kallista, vintage lighting fixtures for Visual Comfort, floorcoverings for Patterson, Flynn & Martin, rugs, carpets and tapestries for Mansour Modern, and home fragrance products for Agraria.
Architectural Digest included Smith among its "AD 100", its "selection of the top architects and interior designers" published in the magazine in recent years. Its editorial "profile" of Smith characterizes his style as "a blend of classic European style and American modernism". Smith was also named 2003 Designer of the Year by Elle Decor.