Mixed-use

Cindy Allen -- Interior Design, 11/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

At first glance, the casual reader might not grasp what our November portfolio of up-and-coming talent is doing in the very same issue as a special section on three of the biggest, most established powerhouses in the industry. A literal-minded reader might declare us contradictory or, worse yet, confused. I rest easy—not only because our formidable articles director, Elena Kornbluth, assures me that there's no such a thing as a casual or literal-minded reader of Interior Design but also because I'm 200 percent confident in the superb work put out by our dedicated editorial staff, hour after hour, day after long day. (You just imagine taking on a completely new project every four weeks, from wish list to punch list.)

If you're one of those people who's gotta be hip, let us first send you in the direction of our designers on the rise. It's a quintessentially American itinerary, starting in Miami before proceeding up to New York and out to Los Angeles—not that we can ever resist mixing it up a little. Note that the tropical-modern Biscayne Bay house is by a Venezuelan architect, the swanky Manhattan restaurant is the work of a Frenchman, and the serene Santa Monica residence was built for Korean clients, the architect's parents.

New endeavors and exploratory sorties aren't the exclusive territory of the young, however. Every November, while preparing our Thanksgiving turkey, we also serve up a helping of the business aspects of design as practiced by the best and biggest. This year's klieg lights have picked out HLW, IA Interior Architects, and Perkins & Will, Interior Design Giants that have learned how to mix professional development and personal creativity. Simply.