I know that this may make waves, but I found the fact that Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington had overruled the president’s support of stem cell research so upsetting. With so many people needing to find a cure for their illnesses and so many scientists so close to finding solutions for some of the world’s biggest medical problems, can we really afford this now? Of course we want to defend the moral right of cells, just as they start to generate a baby, but then you think about the value of an existing human life compared to a potential one and it becomes a tricky discussion point.

The rest of the world is doing stem cell research, which means that the people of the US are not going to be able to benefit from the discoveries, which will help our economy and our world.

What is your take on this?

(Maybe holidaying is turning me into a political-minded guy? Back to ‘Ask Vicente’s’ for now…)

Yesterday a great interview with me was published on Coco + Kelley, a truly lovely blog. I have done several interviews over the course of my career, and I have to say sometimes they begin to feel stale – the same questions asked by different people. With this interview it was definitely not the case.

My conversation with Annie Lou felt fresh and challenging. She really made me think and for me that is the sign of a great interviewer. I enjoyed reading over it today – what do you think?

First we spent all our thoughts trying to guess who was going to be the new Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Digest. Now it’s all going into guessing who will be the new Editor-in-Chief of Elle Décor and will there be a change in the direction of the magazine. I hope not as it speaks to modern American design. I think that the look of the magazine has been so inspiring for so long that any new Editor-in-Chief who wants to put their stamp on what their magazine will look like may have a tough time. The fresh way that interiors are shown, the way that even the traditional jobs still come across in a modern way, the natural lighting that’s used to shoot, the whiteness of the pages…it’s something that to me is so representative of what Elle Decor stands for.

Let’s start the guessing game – who’s going to be the new leader of Elle Decor?

Lonny Magazine just released their August/September 2010 issue and I’m so proud to have my Montauk house featured in the issue. I think the layout it great and they took some beautiful images. Be sure to read the magazine from cover to cover – I think it’s so great!

There’s still a big question mark out there about who’s going to be taking over AD. And I know I’m heading into murky waters by bringing this up, but since you all commented so much on the first go-round (or is this the third?), I started to think about what, besides just a new spirit for the magazine, I want to see in the magazine from a designer’s point of view.

From talking with a lot of people about this, there is a feeling that one wants to see spaces that relate to who we are and what are we all going through now – and how interiors are reflecting that. So I guess, spaces that have a more present day point of view.

Fresher, cleaner, less contrived photography with photos that have a more natural and relatable quality to them.

While I love seeing beautiful traditional spaces like old manor houses or wonderfully designed environments by great classic and traditional designers, I think it needs a stronger infusion of the young echelon designer. This is obviously not a push for myself to be published, but there are so many wonderful designers out there aside from the regulars who have been appearing over the last ten years.

Design dialogue, talking about the concerns and needs of people in their interiors. Whether it is as simplistic as beautiful linens or how to set wonderful, elegant tables, gardens – again, topics that relate to how people are living.

There are some great designers out there that never get published in AD because of the exclusivity requirement / rule that the magazine has had. For the past decade or so, they have not been very willing about publishing work by designers who are appearing in other magazines, which means that there are some really great contemporary, very successful designers that have never appeared in the magazine. As one of the designers that was ostracized from the magazine because my work was appearing in other publications – I think they’ll have to change that mindset. Different publications have different styles. The work that appear in Elle Decor is very different from the work that would appear in Traditional Home. And so, speaking for myself, that’s a rule I hope they banish.

On the positive side, I hope they retain an incredible layout, the wonderful quality paper, their extraordinary writers and a luxurious way of showing designers’ work, related to a brand that is globally known and respected.

What do you want to see in AD going forward?