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Five Designers on Design in Film
William Sofield is known for his unique take on modernism. Combining the ornamental with the functional, a spirit of craft infuses Sofield's work and is the key to a design process that is always faithful to the nature of the project at hand. Among his clients are Brice and Helen Marden, Tom Ford, Bottega Veneta, Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, The SoHo Grand Hotel, David Barton Gyms and Baker Furniture. In 2004, he was inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame, and was twice awarded the City of Beverly Hills Architectural Design Award.
As a dramatic designer, we ask William Sofield the dramas and comedies that influence him.
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Alice in Wonderland
At age four. The animist in me was overwhelmed by the presence of hardware, the doorknob that asserted itself when felt up. Scale changes, bold pattern and phrases such as "whhhhhhhooooooooo arrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeee yoooooooooooo?" and "Eat me" are still useful.
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Auntie Mame
At age fourteen. I'm sorry but it's true. Greatest story ever told. Styles change but verve does not at Number One Beekman Place. It's not what you do but the way that you do it! From interiors inspired by Picasso's black and blue period, the elegant period rooms of Peckerwood, the don't-let-this-happen-to-you colonial revival of Upson Downs, to the avant garde creations by Yul Uhlu — "say that again and you might get kissed" — a celluloid twin to Emily Post.
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The Pumpkin Eater
At age eighteen. I was aware of the psychological impact of spaces and from then on became a card-carrying claustrophobe. Was it Vitruvius who said that every building was striving to be the ultimate shell? The spinning cabochon floor of Harrod's in the nervous breakdown scene is one of the most terrifying moments caught on film. This is why I'm a retail designer.
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Sunset Blvd. & A Star is Born (1954)
(Don't ya just hate a cheat?) At age twenty four. The absence of hardware, hinting at suicide, was equally poignant. High style gone unappreciated, chimps in velvet tuxes and bouillon fringe wands tugged to reveal motion picture screens. Norman Maine's black patent leather headboard, and Malibu Modern for another tragic view of a private screening room. Knew I'd be that crazy, formerly classy bitch someday.
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Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
At age thirty four. I was consumed by the ultimate love story. Life is tough and the older you get the tougher it gets and then you die, as an elementary school teacher of mine once said. It's just as difficult being outside as it is inside. Relax and just be. Don't go to the bottom with rocks in your pockets (see A Star is Born), just enjoy that bay window that some simpleton designed.
Auntie Mame (top) and a Southampton, NY Gazebo by William Sofield