We had the pleasure of buttonholing Jonathan Adler yesterday afternoon for almost 40 minutes and getting his take on the world as he answered your questions.
He is as upbeat and casual AND serious about his mission as you might hope, and regularly peppers his conversation with modesty ("I'm very lucky"), admission of his own naivete when he started ("I knew nothing about business"), and a fierce desire to get "fun" into the world of high chic.
Part One
Part Two
(there was an interruption when recording)
This interview takes place on the eve of the publication of his new book, My Presciption for Anti-Depressive Living, and the dawn of JA going global. His hip, funky style has outgrown the insular world of Manhattan and is working it's way around the country (can the world be far behind?). He's got 7 stores now, giving him an "incredible platform" for creating and trying out ideas and "finally" making some money (he says he was hand-to-mouth until he opened the first store in '98). A word to all you budding designers: having control of your sales is key. Enjoy!
Maybe it's my computer, but I'm not seeing any buttons to press to hear anything. Maybe my home one will do something?
We had the pleasure of buttonholing Jonathan Adler yesterday afternoon for almost 40 minutes.
Someone call NPR and get Maxwell a correspondent gig on "This American Life"... That was a great interview! Listened to it at home over coffee and, of course, was an hour late for work. (But it was worth it.) MGR: Nice, easy interviewing style. And JA was such a great subject--very charming, funny and self-effacing. The formality of the interview seemed to break down a bit halfway through it, and started to feel like two like-minded guys just sitting around and talking informally about design. Nicely done. (PS Had a chuckle as Maxwell stumbled on the non-verbalized parenthetical phrase in my question. Who's afraid of a parenthetical "penis" or two?) Mission accomplished. I'm headed to buy JA's book and SD's "Nasty" today... and maybe the needlepoint Disco Dolly/Dandy pillows, too.
Final thought. Any chance of the interview being transcribed and the text posted on the site?
With flattered tone in voice, "thanks, Enrique!", but as far as the text goes, unless someone has a piece of software that will do it automatically or a lot of patience, I don't think it will happen. And thanks to oyster for catching the typo. :-)
i really enjoyed that!
thanks... from a struggling entrepreneur/designer
That was a great interview. It's always interesting to find out what people really sound like. Good job!
wow. jonathan adler - i love his pieces. but i was wondering - will there be a transcript? i'm deaf and i can't exactly understand the interview if it's a voice file. :/
i'm a 'terp... maybe maxwell can set up a special playing at the holiday party and i'll interpret it for you. =)
of course, you'll have to deal with the glass of eggnog in my hand the whole time.
haha. that sounds like fun - eggnog spilling all 'round. :)
What a lovely interview! Maxwell, you are a very warm, relaxed, engaging, smart interviewer. I don't want NPR to snap you up, because then you'll have less time for us. Oh, OK, it would be cool to hear your interviews on NPR. And after hearing Jonathan, warm, honest, delightfully self-deprecating, funny, I want to read his book and Simon's book "Nasty" also.
Oh, also charming and understated- both Jonathan and Max.
Aww, I wanna hear! But I can't listen to this at work, and I don't have a soundcard at home (taken out for extra memory) because I inherited my computer from my old job. Oh, well.
I loved how much of this interview I got to hear, and I have a suggestion of another person to get interviewed in the future. The guy Joseph (?) Holtzman guy who used to do Nest Magazine. I just got a check in the mail for the balance of my subscription money for that magazine.
That magazine was unique in the purest form of the word, in that there was NOTHING like it anywhere, and I miss it. OK, it was completely the opposite of the uncluttered vibe that AT tends toward, but it was fantastic. Again, in the literal sense of the word.
As interested as I was in hearing about JA, I thought the interviewer was kind of so undynamic and painfully boring--flat and pathetic, I shut it off!! There was like no...nothing. Sorry Maxwell! But if it's any consolation, your voice does match your picture and your name!! At least the blog has some pizzazz.