Introducing the 2023 AD100 – today’s top talents in interior decoration, architecture, and landscape design. When we’re looking for incredible interiors that are liveable yet stunning, these are the names we always come back to. Stay tuned and discover the interior designers from California of 2023’s AD100!
Atelier AM
© Stephen Kent Johnson
The pair’s nearly-eponymous design company, Atelier AM, was founded in 2002, and it blends its aesthetics to create thoughtful, meticulous interiors that appeal to both European and American tastes. Atelier AM expertly crafts one-of-a-kind projects, such as their own kid-friendly home in Los Angeles, from luxury flats to coastal retreats.
Charles de Lisle
© Bruce Damonte
From the Bay Area, Charles de Lisle is a breath of fresh air into the design industry. The delightfully eccentric artist spent his infancy visiting woodworking shops while growing up in rural Massachusetts. He later studied ceramics and learned how to weld as an adult. De Lisle approaches his work as an interior designer, and maker of furniture, lighting fixtures, and items from the perspectives of a historian, a craftsman, and a contemporary arbiter elegantiarum. De Lisle was influenced by a variety of people, including the radical designers of his youth in the 1980s as well as Northern California luminaries William Wurster and William Turnbull.
Clements Design
© William Abranowicz
Husband-and-wife teams throughout the history of design are not unusual, but mother-and-son teams are quite uncommon. By creating beautifully textured, well-curated, and eminently livable houses for many of the most prominent figures in the infamously fickle world of entertainment, Kathleen and Tommy Clements have developed their powerhouse interior design company.
Commune Design
© Commune Design
Roman Alonso and Steven Johanknecht, who formed Commune Design, have developed their own interpretation of California cool. Bohemian style has been in vogue ever since the two, who first connected in the early 1990s while working at Barneys New York, struck out on their own and moved to the West. Each of their designs, from interior design to product design, exhibits a simple, rustic appeal that never goes out of style.
David Netto
© Roger Davies
David Netto is a real designer’s designer who is well-versed in the background of the trade, its illustrious practitioners, and its illustrious undertakings. He builds rooms that go beyond the increasingly outmoded categories of classic and modern, being a consummate arbitrator of elegantiae and industry gadabout. Instead, he pulls inspiration from the past to create very beautiful interiors that are rooted in the present and pulse with modern living, like a recent London apartment in a century-old Queen Anne-era maisonette.
Hallworth Design
© Sam Frost
The works of interior and product designer Jane Hallworth of Hallworth Design are distinguished by their grace, ease, and deep ambiance rather than an instantly recognizable personal style. They don’t appear to have been created magically with the waving of a decorator’s wand, but rather to have grown naturally over time. Hallworth’s work is narrative-driven and highly collaborative, telling stories that are unique to each client and were imagined by a broad team of designers, craftspeople, artists, and fabricators.
Jake Arnold
© Michael Clifford
Jake Arnold only founded his name-brand company three years ago, but he has already made a significant impact on the interior design industry. As a co-founder of The Expert, a website that links renowned designers with clients via online consultations, he upended a field known for being tech-averse and bound to antiquated business methods. In the meantime, he has grown his own design company into a behemoth, counting John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, Katy Perry, Aaron Paul, Orlando Bloom, Rashida Jones, and Whitney Cummings among his famous clientele.
Jamie Bush
© Shade Degges
The New California look, which is based on reverence for natural materials with all of their inherent flaws, artisanal craftsmanship, pronounced texture, and simple, bold gestures, could be rightfully attributed to Jamie Bush if the renowned decorator Michael Taylor is considered to be the father of the “California look.” Bush’s expertise as an architect is apparent in his respectful appreciation of historic structures by people like John Lautner and Pierre Koenig as well as a plethora of modern architect colleagues, even if the majority of his work focuses on the interior field.
Mandy Cheng
© Yoshihiro Makino
Mandy Cheng has transitioned her experience in film, television, and music into a career as one of the most sought-after decorators on the modern scene by following the well-worn path from production design to interior design. Her background in the entertainment sector also includes work with DreamWorks Animation, designing music videos for popular artists J. Cole and One Republic, and creating graphics for films like Ladybird and Beyoncé‘s Lemonade album.
The Archers
© Richard Petit
Although it can sometimes seem like an individual sport, The Archers show that it frequently works best when done together. In order to create cinematic, boundary-pushing settings that Hollywood A-listers adore, the collaborative firm, directed by creative director Richard Petit and his cofounder Stephen Hunt, harnesses the unique abilities of architects, artists, designers, and film enthusiasts.
