Amy Lau

The interior designer talks about trailblazing mentors, Greek cave houses, and the glories of tequila.

Job Description
Interior designer, product designer, independent adviser
to collectors of 20th-century decorative arts

Current Projects
A Fifth Avenue residence, a Soho triplex, a West Village town house, and homes for a family that resides in New Orleans, Brooklyn, and everywhere in between. For our product-development arm, we’re designing two furniture collections, a tile-and-bathroom collection, and a rug-and-pillow line.

Why do you do what you do?
Everything inside my core being yearns for and desires it!

First step on a project
Methodology, preparation, and united teamwork

Last step on a project
Appreciation and documentation

How do you break a creative block?
Go to the research library at the Cooper-Hewitt, spend a Saturday at a museum or gallery show, do yoga, or surround myself with nature

Education
B.F.A. in art history and marketing, master’s degree in fine and decorative arts from Sotheby’s graduate program in New York City

Mentors
My visionary grandmother; the fearless artists that blazed many trails from North America for womankind: Georgia O’Keefe, Frida Kahlo, and Emily Carr; and the ever-so-multifaceted designers Gio Ponti, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and Mary Colter

Dream team
My current design team!

Office chair
Hans Wegner’s the Chair. A forever classic.

Office sound track
The sultry, exotic, and dreamy “Hôtel Costes” and “Buddha Bar” collections

Favorite tchotchke
My small collection of copper chunks from Holbrook, Arizona

Most useful tools
The iPhone camera. I currently have more than 3,000 photos I am constantly referring to.

Bookmarks
www.designaddict.com, www.1stdibs.com,
www.designtherapy.com, www.allthebestblog
.com, www.editoratlarge.com

Best place to think
For big thoughts, I need to think outside of the office.

Something old
My father’s prehistoric pottery from the Anasazi period

Something new
The Flip camera

Favorite space
Cave houses in Oia, Greece

Guilty pleasure
Tequila, dancing, and late nights

Underrated
Milo Baughman and Paul McCobb

Overrated
Philippe Starck

Learned the hard way
Construction

Command-Z (Undo)
There is nothing I would undo because
with mistakes comes growth, and I wouldn’t
be where I am today.

Dream Job
Historic hotel

Recent Programs