Adam, could you tell us a little more about yourself and your daily life in Berlin?
I meditate every morning. Then I make sure to get outside for a bit, following my motto: “daylight before screen light”. I like to start the day quietly before things become more hectic.
Perhaps that’s why Berlin suits me so well. It’s a large, international city, yet compared to New York, London or Tokyo, it’s surprisingly calm and green. I live in an Art Nouveau building dating from 1900, right next to a park. You rarely find this combination of cosmopolitan energy and tranquillity anywhere else.
Apart from that, I never miss an exhibition at the Neue Nationalgalerie. The Mies van der Rohe building alone looks beautiful in every kind of light.
You have lived in both New York and Japan. How have these experiences influenced the way you see interiors and living spaces today?
Japan taught me, above all, to trust in simplicity: natural materials, clean lines, and objects that never pretend to be something they are not. I seek that same sense of calm at home, for example in the soft light of my Akari lamps by Isamu Noguchi.
New York was the opposite: loud, dense and full of energy. Both influences are present in my apartment today, most clearly in my gallery wall. At first glance it may seem chaotic, yet it is carefully structured, much like the city’s street grid, and filled with art from around the world. Bringing these two opposites together is what I find most compelling about a space.
What do you pay particular attention to when designing your home?
Above all, I buy what I genuinely love and never force pieces to match. I trust that my taste is coherent in itself, so everything eventually comes together naturally.
There are only two principles I consciously follow. First, I choose authentic materials only, never imitations: real wood, stone and marble, because they feel better and age beautifully. Second, I pay attention to balancing hard, polished surfaces with softer, more textured ones, combining materials such as chrome and stone with textiles and woven cane.
The only exception to my otherwise intuitive mix is the dining area, which I dedicate to German and locally produced design: the Floatation lamp by Ingo Maurer, the Richter table by OUT, a S 533 by Mies van der Rohe and the S 32 by Marcel Breuer as the perfect complement.
How do you recognise a truly great piece of furniture? And what role do timeless design classics play in your everyday life?
A great piece of furniture has a strong identity of its own. Ideally, it is something I have never quite seen before. It simply has that wow factor. You can’t immediately look away.
Once you live with it, however, it settles naturally into the space and becomes part of everyday life from the very beginning. The same is true of design classics: they are not meant merely to be admired, but to be lived with for a lifetime. They only become better with age.
You chose the S 32 cantilever chair for your dining table. What was it about this design that particularly appealed to you?
The S 32 brings together opposites: chrome, hard and reflective, alongside wood and woven cane, which introduce texture and warmth. Then there is its wonderfully simple form.
What really sets it apart, though, is the fact that it doesn’t have four legs. Dining rooms almost always have too many legs. You look around and see legs everywhere: on the sideboard, the table, the chairs. By removing them, the room immediately feels calmer. The cantilever chair solves this in the most elegant way.
Are there any other Thonet designs that are currently on your personal wish list?
The S 64 in the Jil Sander edition. I imagine it as an elegant, almost sensual desk chair: traditional yet modern at the same time, a little like early Yves Saint Laurent.
And the bentwood armchair 209 in black, paired with a round Arabescato marble table. It would be the perfect combination.
