Design
Luxury Designer
Jonathan
Rachman
By Sherrie Wilkolaski
J
onathan Rachman is an
internationally-acclaimed
designer, soon to open an
eponymous store of custom
made goods, J. Rachman, in
San Francisco, recently featured on
HGTV, ELLE DECORATION and C
MAGAZINE. He is about to open
a store in San Francisco which will
showcase many of his customdesigned goods in addition to
serving as a showroom for his
design business. In addition to
designing, he is the editor-inchief of a little magazine called
DiSini DiSana, which means “here
and there” in Indonesian, he says,
“my heart is here and there all the
time.”
In recent interview with Luxe Beat
Magazine, he shared with me his
thoughts on design and told me
about how one chance meeting,
changed his design career forever.
Here is the interview:
Sherrie Wilkolaski: Residential vs.
hospitality. Which type of design
work do you prefer?
Jonathan Rachman: I truly have no
preference between the two. What
I do prefer is to work on a project
where the client and I speak the
same ‘language’ - appreciate the
same style and design intent for the
specific project. When this happens,
so does magic! The project naturally
takes on its own fabulous course,
which will ultimately show in the
final work.
SW: How did you get into the
business, particularly...working
with celebrities?
JR: I never intended to be an interior
designer - I was once your typical
corporate “soldier”. I left everything
behind and opened a floral shop in a
tiny neighborhood in San Francisco.
Low and behold, Marc Jacobs and his
creative team walked in and hired me
on the spot to do their store floral
arrangements, which ultimately lead
to clients like Sarah Jessica Parker,
Oprah and the like... later I did event
designed including the 60th United
Nations anniversary celebration and
few other high profile events.
property’s nature and location: a beach
house in Bali must have a different
decor from a pied-à-terre in Manhattan
or from a mansion in a traditional
setting. The same can be said about a
hospitality work: a boutique hotel in an
urban setting should read differently
than a commercial business hotel. To
understand your scopes and agree on
them with your clients is the first rule
of business.
SW: When you are designing, how
do you draw the line between your
personal style and the taste of
a client?
JR: It goes back to the foundation
of a solid understanding of the
intention of why they are awarding
me with the design work: for what
type of property, the function of
the property, who will be using the
property and ultimately to interpret
We were also the preferred purveyor
for The Four Seasons Hotel. Because
of all of that exposure and my
storefront, clients saw my aesthetic
and design style and learned what I
was all about. Because I never went
to a formal design school (except in
fashion,) I have always designed
intuitively: from the heart.
I break rules and simply follow my
gut instinct and taste.
SW: Design is interpretive, how do
you ensure a positive outcome at
the completion of a project?
JR: It is absolutely essential that you
know your client, be it an individual,
couple, family or a company, very well,
in their intent of the space, home or
property. To know the “why” is as
important as to fully understand
their style. You must also have
a solid understanding of the type of
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