Your name: Mardi Doherty
What you do: Interior Designer, Director of Doherty Lynch.
Your latest project: A beach house in Jan Juc, Victoria Australia.
What first inspired you to be a designer? It was an architect friend who built his house in Apollo Bay. We lived close by and were regularly helping him. I was seven at the time. Since then I have been intrigued by architecture and design.
We hear you have quite a light collection, how did it all start? I was hooked after a university class where I designed an exhibition about light – both natural and artificial. My passion spans vintage and contemporary lights, and at Doherty Lynch we try to design bespoke lighting into many of our projects.
What is your favourite light (at the moment at least)? We recently used the OMG! pendant by Volker Haug in a client’s home. It’s an amazing piece made from smashed paint tins, then powdercoated in gorgeous colours.
If you could have any light in the world what would it be? Right now I would have a glass ball pendant by Barovier & Toso, from Nicholas & Alistair in Melbourne, Australia.
Who are three people that inspire/excite you:
1) Designer Marcel Wanders.
2) Photographer Samantha Everton.
3) Stylist Megan Morton.
What is your creative philosophy?
To be authentic and to be productive in creating design responses.
What is your favourite…
travel destination: Ravello on the Amalfi Coast, Italy.
hotel/place to stay: Hotel Fox, Copenhagen.
luxury goods company: Marc Jacobs.
value for money company:eBay.
design classic: Homes designed by Richard Neutra.
new design: Millau Bridge in southern France, designed by Norman Foster.
chair design: Marcel Wanders’ Knot chair.
meal: Caramelised sticky pork with sour herb salad and chilli vinegar.
restaurant: Chin Chin, Melbourne.
drink: Hot chocolate.
bar: The Social, Little Portland Street, London
vice: The internet.
virtue: Loyalty.
gallery/museum: NGV at Federation Square and Heide Gallery, both Melbourne.
book: The oversized books by artist Anselm Kiefer.
item in your studio: Fluoro pink timber inserts in our black shelves.
artwork: Weather Project by Olafur Eliasson, Tate Modern, London.
artist: Jeff Koons (I love his Puppy at the Guggenheim in Bilbao).
piece of technology: iPhone.
What does the term ‘Design Hunter’™ mean to you?
To take an idea and develop it to create an unexpected response.
