Thomas O'Brien

Designer We Love: Thomas O'Brien

Website: Aero Studios

Quotable Quote:

"I like practical and useful things as well as fine and rare things . . ."

Background:

Born in 1961 in upstate New York

Received his BFA from The Cooper Union in New York City in 1986

Founded Aero Studios in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood

Major residential design commissions, including homes for Ralph Lauren and Georgio Armani

Commercial projects include the luxe 60 Thompson Hotel in NYC

Lives in Manhattan and in Bellport, New York

What We Love:

His self-appointed label as a "shopkeeper," giving a boutique retailer's loving attention to all the details of his interiors

O'Brien's trifecta of home emporium, interior design service, and commercial design production makes Aero Studio a hive of industrious activity

The Target Vintage Modern Collection -- a clever expansion by the retailer into mass-merchandising of this designer's classic takes on mid-century modernism

O'Brien's coinage of his style as "warm modernism"

The designer's home decorating advice and common sense: "Don't get stuck into buying things for your home with the idea, 'It's not me.' Of course it's not you. It's a chair!"

Thomas O'Brien Sampler:

Photo Credits: Safavieh, Luxury Life and Style, Discount Fabric Resources, Outblush, katiedid, Shakadoo