Did you watch the 2011 Oscar Award Ceremony? If you did, you were sure to see Krista Smith, Senior West Coast Editor of Vanity Fair Magazine in the stunning Architectural Digest Green Room created by Michael S. Smith, designer to the White House and some of the world’s most beautiful hotels.
Whether Michael is designing an interior in a beach house, town house, high rise or grand hotel, his clients include such greats as Michele Obama, Steven Spielberg, Lady Linda Rothschild, The Lowell of New York City and Shutters on the Beach in California.
So it’s a natural that the insightful editors of Architectural Digest chose Michael as their designer extraordinaire for their Oscar sponsored Green Room. One has only to look at the hotel interiors he has designed to see why.
At the great Lowell in Manhattan, Michael took the Penthouse and created a calming world of elegant style that balanced the modern with the classic as only he can in signature style that has become his hallmark. No one has a more perfect background to achieve that blend of unique and diverse elements than Michael, now a star designer.
Born in California, Michael studied first at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles before continuing his studies at London’s famed Victoria and Albert Museum. After leaving England he worked for the legendary American antique dealer Gep Durenberger and the noted designer John Saladino.
Step by step, Michael studied and learned, like a great chef, how to bring many different elements together into a complete experience that was simply stunning and totally unforgettable. In his acclaimed book Elements of Style he detailed how the magic is done.
Michael begins each project by gathering resource material from a variety of inspiring sources ranging from old magazine pictures to a single seashell. After discarding the excessive items through a focused editing process, he pairs the simple with the grand in a manner that both delights and endears.
One has only to visit Shutters on the Beach to see the final result. Once with only a rustic (and somewhat dated) lodge-y brown interior, Michael brought the breeziness of relaxing sea air indoors while maintaining an elegance that guests such as Hollywood’s A-listers treasure.
Today the property offers its guest simply the best in design without pretension or push – like a great dinner from a master chef, who understands the true nature of style - clarity without artificiality, trustfulness with wonder.
Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011
