The Pacific Design Center brought together top talents earlier this month around a theme of minimalist/maximalist design, encapsulated by talks like that of Newell Turner of Hearst Design Group with Jean-Louis Deniot and a debate on less versus more, moderated by Michael Wollaeger. Some of the attending interior designers and other industry pros reflected on the innovative theme, and this season’s programming, with EAL: 

Philip Bershad of Phillip Jeffries
“It’s always exciting to see how our designer friends who are super minimal will take things like our very-fine manila hemp grass and use it in the most minimal setting. And then we’ll have a designer who is super luxe or classically traditional take one of our other wallcoverings and do something totally over-the-top. It’s great to see the yin and the yang of it all. And how people use our work on both ends of the design spectrum.”

Justina Blakeney of The Jungalow
“I consider myself a maximalist—I love color, pattern and plants. I feel like so many of the minimalist spaces have a very muted color palette—I can appreciate it, but it’s not my vibe. There’s lots of talk about how minimalist spaces can be relaxing. I find what’s relaxing about them is the play with nature—the sprawling windows with the beach or forest outside. When you don’t have the opportunity to live with that, you can bring that vibrancy of nature inside with the maximalist look.”

Newell Turner of Hearst Design Group 
“I’m constantly looking at the whole range of it, because I think people ideally want to live somewhere in the in-between. I think there’s a place that they coexist—it’s where maximalism enriches minimalism but minimalism tames maximalism.”

Holly Hunt of Holly Hunt
“We always try to be more minimal, but sales always wants everything on the floor because they think they will sell more. Which isn’t true! People like to buy when they can see and edit. So the most important thing about design is the edit.”

Kendall Wilkinson of Kendall Wilkinson Design
“I think of minimalist in terms of the more pared-down aesthetic that many of our clients are gravitating toward. It becomes even more important to carefully curate furnishings, fabrics and accents, as each element needs to stand solidly on its own yet also blend to create a comfortable and harmonious whole. Maximalist brings to mind the more traditional work we used to do. I started out with an antiques business and I still have a great appreciation for antiques and period details. There was much more layering, more objects, more trims, and a fullness to rooms in general. So a singular piece was, in a sense, less important. I think of these terms within the framework of my own design evolution and how that evolution reflects social trends and how people choose to live.... One is not better than the other.”