"Smell it, see it, feel it." Such is Charlotte Moss's attitude, perhaps somewhat of a mantra, even. Throughout her three-decade career, the designer has, like many of her peers, been infinitely inspired by travel as both an impressively direct visual reference (Moss makes detailed books on every garden she visits around the world to use as reference tools) and a larger metaphor for the importance of physical, emotional real-life experiences. This past weekend, Moss served as keynote speaker at the Washington Winter Antiques Show in Washington, D.C., where, using her own trips to gardens around the world as examples, she discussed the importance of travel as both creative inspiration and cultural education. AD PRO caught up with the designer to discuss the best ways to find inspiration and the importance of holding onto analog experiences in a tech-centric world.
AD PRO: So this talk was focused on travel and its importance to your career. Have you always loved to travel? What makes it so important to you?
Charlotte Moss: Forever and ever. There are so many reasons to get on an airplane, or get in a car and drive. One, just to see the sheer beauty of someplace other than your backyard, and two, to educate yourself about other cultures. Often, you'll find you learned something along the way that you may not even realize you've learned until you have an opportunity later to allow a trip or experience to inform what you do creatively.
A lot of my examples relate to the garden. I photograph a lot of them, and if I had to say there was one overriding theme of visiting those gardens, it's that when you visit a palazzo or a big chateau, no one thinks that is relevant to their life, but it is. In a lot of different ways. In the garden, there are so many things that can be adapted and brought home. I have so many examples of seeing something in a grand setting and adapting it to my own three acres. The more you do, the more you read, the more people you meet informs everything you do tomorrow. I feel that when I'm given the opportunity to speak in front of that many people, my job is not to be a schoolteacher, but rather I want everybody to walk out charged, feeling inspired in some way or energized by having learned something.
AD PRO: Absolutely. How do you think attitudes have changed toward this in the digital age?
CM: Well, the other great reason to get on that plane is that there is no substitute for being in the place with your feet on the ground, smelling the air and being able to see and touch things. What it does require is a lot of discipline, though, to be in the moment. Sometimes you see people just flashing cameras, and they don’t even know what they're taking photos of, but they just need to have it for Instagram. Or, worse, people aren’t even looking at where they are because they're taking selfies. They don't even know they're in front of Notre Dame, but they got the photo.
AD PRO: Studies show there's an uptick in travel among younger generations—specifically the so-called millennials. How do you feel that's impacted the concept of travel as creative inspiration?
CM: I think it's great, the whole trend of "give me fewer things but more experiences." And look, I've lived a life with a lot of things, so I can't diss that. But I've also traveled a lot, and I think that having experiences and giving your children experiences is a great thing. We live in a global world, and we are hyper-connected. We hear about religions in other countries and disasters around the world, and if you don't know anything about other countries or experiences, it's a literally foreign thing. When you've been to these places, you don't just think, “Well, that’s over there, so it doesn't affect me."
So the question becomes, how do you bring that back, tell the story, and continue to tell those stories throughout your life? That’s why I’m a big scrapbook person. I like the visual and the physical. I like turning pages; it’s the way I was educated and brought up. I’m not going to sit at a computer screen and call everyone over. I want to be able to flip through that scrapbook, and also include memorabilia.
AD PRO: That's wonderful. I have a stack of travel mementos that I've been meaning to put in a scrapbok; I really need to get on that!
CM: It can definitely pile up. Every once in a while for me, it's two solid days with a glue stick! Paul Vogel at the Vogel bindery has a wonderful outpost at the Assouline store at the plaza. He’s been making all my scrapbooks and books for clients for years.
AD PRO: So how do you balance being in the moment but also wanting to capture those moments for later?
CM: You have to be very focused to be behind a camera when you're someplace, to almost shut everything else out to still be in the moment while you’re behind the photo. I’m very focused. I walk around, and I know when to take the shot. And I will remember that moment for a very long time. I’m really OCD when it comes to photos. I edit them all, then print thumbnails, then put them on the drive, then I create a blurb book for each garden. It’s being an artist in a different way with a camera. They are my visual memory. That was the point of A Visual Life, encouraging people to bring a bit back of every place they visit. It’s important to be in the moment, but my husband knows, he doesn't talk while I'm photographing!
AD PRO: Do you bring along a camera, or use your phone to photograph?
CM: I use a Sony with a fast lens. That said, I am trying to pack lighter, so sometimes the phone will have to do.
AD PRO: So how do you bring this inspiration back to your work with clients?
CM: When a client says, "I want this," I can go back and pull a book to show. It’s up to us to stir the pot and get them thinking a certain way. And that's why I think travel really adds to what you can offer as a designer to a client. You bring a lot more to the table when you visit museums and historic places, even when you read and just educate yourself. You just have these references that other people don’t have. It’s a post-grad education.
AD PRO: You've now been in this industry for over 30 years; how has it changed the most? How do you deal with those changes and how would you advise young designers to?
CM: Well, I think we can't deny the impact of technology and how it facilitates how we do business. When I started out, we were hand typing orders on an IBM! Now we can go online and research things, look up order history. It's phenomenal what it does to connect us to resources and to people everywhere. The downside of that is that every once in a while you have to push people out the door to go shopping. You need to smell the wax on that commode, to feel it. I think how we can research things, its amazing. It can become a rabbit hole, though; you’ve got to know when to quit. I've told everyone who has ever worked for me that no great decorator will ever be created sitting behind a computer. No client is calling us because we're great computer jockeys—they know how to Google! They can shop on 1stdibs; what more can we offer?
I think if I had to give one piece of advice for young designers it's that success is not going to be in the office sending emails, it'll be taking someone in a fabric house out to lunch who has facilitated an order for you. It's all relationships. And on the other side of that, it's the client, and that's all about a relationship as well. I think if you're nurturing the sourcing relationships, it enhances your ability to have a great relationship with the client.
AD PRO: And that really ties back into the whole travel theme of getting out there, doesn't it?
CM: Right! That's what it's all about. Smell it, see it, feel it!