Interior Design Hall of Fame

Patinated surfaces, artisan details, interiors adhering to the ancient tenets of feng shui. Credit Clodagh, the iconoclastic Irish designer who goes by her first name only, for bringing them to the fore. Design for Clodagh entails not only spatial and visual solutions, but also, she says, engagement of "all the senses and all the elements—earth, water, fire and air as well as the intangible."

Currently based in New York and the world of interiors, Clodagh came to her current position by way of Ireland, Spain and a full-blown career in fashion. At 17, she established an atelier for fashion design in her native country. Collaborating with Irish experts in knitting, weaving, and fabric painting, she produced clothing, fabrics, and accessories for worldwide distribution. Moving to Spain, she changed her focus, founding a company that landed such varied commissions as hotels, spas, and landscape design projects. She also opened a retail store to feature the work of local artisans. A similar undertaking marked her entry to the United States.

In 1983, she moved to New York, where she established a downtown showplace—part store, part showroom—to bring attention to the emerging talents of contemporary artisans working in a range of media. As a natural expansion of operations, she established Clodagh Design International, a design studio to tackle commercial and residential interiors projects. Many of these are well known to readers of the professional and consumer design press. They include the exotic shopper's paradise Felissimo, Manhattan offices for Elektra Entertainment Group and American Can, the Tokyo offices of Dentsu, Japan's largest advertising agency and notably the project that has given a new face to Elizabeth Arden's famed Red Door on Fifth Avenue.

Clodagh Signature, the licensing and product design division, designs furniture, lighting, bath accessories, hardware textiles, and carpets for licensees such as Ann Sacks, Levolor Kirsch, HBF, Visual Comfort, Tufenkian and Lees Carpets. Clodagh Signature also designs brand identity, packaging and graphics for many companies including Awake Cosmetics, a division of Kose, Japan's second largest cosmetics company.

The Clodagh Collection Showroom is a gallery and retail showroom dedicated to Clodagh's own design resources which include works from admired artists/artisans, private label, and licensed products. The collection features furniture, fine art, and home accessories and is open daily to the public and trade.