transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] Hello, everybody. Welcome to Dear Alice. Today, we have a really special treat for you. As you guys are gearing up for High Point Market, those of you that are going, it's the end of this week. And we thought it'd be fun to have one of our favorites come on the podcast as kind of a market week. We have Benjamin Johnston here with us. And we actually met Benjamin last fall at High Point at the Chadoc showroom as we were going in to see his line and such a treat to get to see him in his own area. And so it might be fun for you, those of you that are going to market, if you pop by Chadoc. Benjamin, you'll be in, you have a whole bunch of lines. Are you going to be mostly at Chadoc or where else could they find you?

Speaker 2:
[00:37] I will be at Chadoc most of the time, but because it's also the launch of our book, I will be doing a keynote. I'm one of the fall market keynotes along with some other fantastic designers, part of the DLN, they're doing a special keynote on kitchen and bath design. So I'll be there for the keynote, but most of the rest of the time, I should be in the Chadoc showroom.

Speaker 1:
[00:57] Amazing. Well, definitely stop by. His scene is obviously one of our favorites, and he's just so personable and easy to talk to. So make sure and approach him because he's one of the designers that will definitely say hi, talk to you about design, and even explain his pieces to you, which he's worked so hard on. But those of you that maybe haven't heard of Benjamin, I just wanted to quickly give you a little intro. He is the creative partner of Benjamin Johnston Design, an award-winning internationally published firm celebrated for creating classic, curated in effortlessly cool spaces around the globe. He's also an author of brand new book Refined Interiors, Timeless Homes for Modern Living, a must read for anyone who loves sophisticated spaces with soul. Welcome Benjamin Johnston to Dear Alice. We're so excited to have you here and to have our guests get to meet you as well.

Speaker 2:
[01:47] I am so honored to be here. Thank you all for having me.

Speaker 3:
[01:52] Do you go by Benjamin or what do you prefer?

Speaker 2:
[01:55] I go by Ben, but there's a funny story behind that and you can Google this gentleman. His name is also Ben Johnston and he looks remarkably like me, but he's a graphic street artist in Toronto and Canada and he does all this really cool design work. And it's a lot of times that people would Google me, they'd see him thinking it was me and seeing his work and being like, I just don't understand what it is that you do.

Speaker 4:
[02:19] What don't you do?

Speaker 2:
[02:23] I do not have that talent. I just had to adopt my full first name just so people wouldn't get confused when they were searching for me.

Speaker 4:
[02:30] I think you guys should collaborate. I think that'd be fun.

Speaker 3:
[02:33] 100 percent.

Speaker 4:
[02:34] 100 percent have a meet queue.

Speaker 3:
[02:35] Maximize that SEO. He's so cute.

Speaker 2:
[02:39] Yeah, but feel comfortable calling me Ben. That's what I prefer.

Speaker 3:
[02:43] Well, since we're catching you mid-work week, where are you at in the world right now?

Speaker 2:
[02:47] I am in Houston, Texas, which is my home and I am here at our offices and I have an amazing view of downtown Houston right in front of me.

Speaker 3:
[02:56] Cool. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for being on the podcast. Like Jess said, we're super excited to have you.

Speaker 4:
[03:01] Yes. One thing, as an interior designer, we do this for the love of the game. It's not the easiest job, which I think is very much misinterpreted on TV shows. Everybody that finds out you're an interior designer, they're like, oh my gosh, that's so fun. I want to do that. It's really, really difficult what we do, but we do it for the love of the game because we're passionate about it. What drove that passion for you? Where did this start? Where was this born?

Speaker 2:
[03:27] It's interesting you should say that. I think for me, what motivated me then, still motivates me now, but it's taken on different layers as I've gotten older. But when I was a young kid, I was fascinated by this notion of being creative and just creating things. I think for me, that drive has always been there, it's always been inherent to just my DNA, and I love the notion that we could storytell. I mean, I was fascinated by movie sets, I was fascinated by just incredible. My great aunts would take us to the ballet, and we'd see all their court of set design, and I just thought how spectacular the ability to create this environment really was. It was like magic to me. So for me, I think I didn't really know that I wanted to be an interior designer, and now with an architecture firm, I didn't know that that was going to be my path from a young age, but I found my way there and full circle. I just I see obviously those influences, and I see what I'm doing now, and it's obviously interconnected, but the path was definitely a meandering one. Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[04:33] So 10 year old Ben would be so stoked if he got a glimpse of what you was doing right now. So that's very, very cool.

Speaker 2:
[04:40] They say you want to make your eight year old self proud, and your 80 year old self proud. And I would like to say that my eight year old self would be very proud of where, where I've gone and what I've done, the opportunities that have been, you know, have come my way.

Speaker 4:
[04:53] Amen.

Speaker 3:
[04:53] That's cool.

Speaker 1:
[04:54] Speaking of opportunities that have come your way, I think the designers would love to know if there was a project that really just stretched you so completely. I think about this in our own firm, there was a certain project that we got in and it just, we were like stretch Armstrong on this project. And because of that opportunity, it completely changed the way we worked. And you found out about yourself that this was a capability, but it was so, so hard. I don't know, did you have a moment like that, that sort of took you from good to great, or that kind of where you realized your greatness?

Speaker 2:
[05:30] Well, I will never say I feel great, but at anything, I mean, I really, honestly, I don't think, the thing I love about our industry and I love about the people that this industry attracts is that we're always striving to grow, we're always striving to stretch, and we're always looking for new opportunities to be creative and new in different ways and express ourselves in new and different ways. So for me, I don't know if I'll ever feel that way, but what I will say is that actually doing my own personal home, after years of being able to do other people's homes, but just finally doing it for myself, y'all know this, y'all done your own homes. It sounds like it would just be fun and effortless because you're designing for yourself and nobody's telling you what to do, but in a way it is that much harder, and you have to think, like for me, I went into my house saying, I'm going to do all the things that my clients never let me do. I'm going to do all the things that I have wanted to try out, but it may have been because of money or because of complexity, or because we didn't have the right level of craftsmen, craftsmen who was able to execute it, I would hold back. So for my house, I was like, you know what, I'm going to do all the things. I'm going to do all the things that people told me I couldn't do, and I'm going to work through this, and I'm going to learn how that's going to affect me. And as a designer, I got out of that experience thinking, oh my goodness, I felt exhausted. And I would wake up in the middle of the night just in terror. Like, did I make the wrong decision? So I would say that that was the project that I'm so proud of. I've grown so much through that process, but I will also say it was absolutely terrifying from start to finish, harrowing, harrowing experience.

Speaker 1:
[07:17] Let me just quickly give a shout out. So this on the cover of Benjamin's book is his entryway. And also, in fact, he was just barely featured on Homeworthy, and he takes you through his home on a long form content. It's probably on 45 minutes. And he will take you room by room, almost piece by piece, and explain why and what. And it's just so fun to have a front row seat, especially knowing the background, what you just said, of just the complexity of doing a designer's own home, which is its own special kind of torture. And I don't know for you, if you have some, you probably, a lot of your employees on the firm, or maybe you have a super trusted person where you're like, which one am I? Because I can't, I can't.

Speaker 4:
[08:01] Who am I?

Speaker 1:
[08:02] Yeah, you kind of have an identity crisis, or at least I feel like that. And so I'll be like, Suze, remind me again. I think I could be happy with both. And she's like, duh, you're the one on the left. And I'm like, okay, thank you. That's what I thought. Did you have anybody in your office, or do you have a person, or maybe it's your partner at home? Who do you rely on? Who's your true North?

Speaker 2:
[08:24] Well, I would say my true North is always going to be my partner, Eric. He's also the managing partner of our firm. So we live and work together. It was our house together. He's one of those people, he's so, we appreciate all the same things, but he is just so focused, and there'll be a lot of news and noise in the world, and he's able to just tune it all out and keep me centered and focused throughout it. So for me, that has been, he was definitely the person I relied on. But I will also say I had so much fun working with our team. We do architecture and interior, so we have these amazingly talented guys in our office, and men and women, I should say. And one of the team members that I was working with most closely, his name's Mark. Mark and I just had just like the best time, hashing out details and sketching it and getting it just absolutely perfect. So I really enjoyed that closeness of that experience working on the house in that way as well.

Speaker 1:
[09:23] And when did you complete the home?

Speaker 2:
[09:24] I completed the home two and a half years ago. Again, it was a 30-month build, and I don't know if y'all are familiar with Erin Stetzer. She's kind of a well-known contractor who has an incredible channel. Yes. So she was the one who built my home, and it was a wonderful, wonderful experience, but it was also built during the pandemic. So it was also a harrowing experience from the standpoint of like, we couldn't get windows, we couldn't get doors, we couldn't get like our appliances. It was supposed to be like a 24-month build and it took 30, which in the hindsight, no big deal. But it was almost a three-year process to build the house. And I was very excited about moving in.

Speaker 1:
[10:05] I'll bet you were. OK, question for you is, is there a project that has felt completely aligned with your design DNA? And I guess for this, I don't know if it's maybe working with a client because that's such a unique thing. We were just talking before we recorded about how you don't really know what you're saying yes to when you take on a project. You know, you're kind of both in this first date process of deciding if we're the right firm for the client. Usually it's that. It's not usually, are you the right client for my firm? It's usually, are we right for you? And then we start to, we sign a contract and we get going. And we're like, wow, OK, this is different than I thought, right? Is there a project that you felt completely aligned with? Design DNA, really just, just the work felt fun and the wind was like in your sails, and it felt a little bit easier than normal.

Speaker 4:
[10:54] You're excited to go there.

Speaker 2:
[10:56] Yeah, I know. I think that's a great question. I mean, we had a client who's actually featured in the book. It's actually the last chapter. And what was really interesting in the book, I should say, what was really interesting about it was a client who just was fiercely committed to, she trusted us with the vision and she had done a fabulous job kind of expressing what she and her husband wanted. And so like we were so insane that a lot of times when we would suggest things, it was always the first thing we showed them. It was not the 30th thing that we showed them that we could settle on. So it felt lighter and easier. And when you get to know clients so well, it just can just naturally happen. And we were able to take a lot of risk with that house as well. So it's kind of a bonkers house, and it was fun to do it.

Speaker 1:
[11:46] Love that.

Speaker 4:
[11:47] When the client, when you can trust them, they can trust you. Like things just go so beautifully and so seamlessly. Less expensive, quicker, you know, and usually and usually a better outcome, the best outcome.

Speaker 2:
[11:59] And, you know, it's really when you when those clients do come along, you just you just have to like just like hold on to them because they're they're so kind and it's such a pleasurable, fun experience. That I think that's something I'll cherish forever.

Speaker 1:
[12:14] Yeah. And it's kind of addicting. I'm sure the client's like, so let's do it again. Next project. Because it kind of becomes like their hobby. Yeah. And it's kind of like you can't quit each other because you're making this beautiful music together.

Speaker 3:
[12:27] I'm always like afraid to jinx it. I'm just like if things are going too smooth right now, there's always like I try not to like think about it. I'm just like, OK, just let it be what it is, you know.

Speaker 2:
[12:37] But yeah, I think that's true of just living in the moment as well. I mean, like I think that you just have to like, that's true of all things in life. If you get too far ahead of yourself or too far from looking in the rearview mirror, you're going to trip. So it's just like you got to, you just got to soak it up.

Speaker 3:
[12:52] Totally enjoy the moment.

Speaker 4:
[12:54] I was about to say when you have that person, like when you completely align, right, they trust you, you trust them that when things go hard, like when you don't get the appliances, when the windows don't come, when things go wrong, which in every project, there is always something. There is always, you know, salt thrown in the game. It's so much easier when you like the person you're designing with.

Speaker 2:
[13:12] You also touched on something I think is so vital to our work as designers. Also setting some expectations and some ground rules from the very beginning about there are going to be those mistakes, there are going to be those hiccups, there are going to be those delays. You know, I try really hard early on working with clients to weave a bit of romance around that and say, you know, it may be painful at the time when these things happen, but it's going to make for a really great story afterwards. And just like try to like give them some of that million-mile view where they're just really seeing the forest through the trees and kind of saying, okay, well, this is part of our turning up with this particular project. And that seems sometimes that sinks through to the clients. And sometimes there's nothing I can do. It upsets and upset. But, you know, we try.

Speaker 4:
[13:59] Yeah. Jess always says if it's not a good time, it's a good story. Yep.

Speaker 1:
[14:03] So, you know, I mean, think of this is that is that is that first date that went really wrong. It's just it's always a good story. You know, it usually might take a few weeks or a few months down the road. But if something if we're going through something really hard, we'll be like, this will this will be funny later on.

Speaker 2:
[14:20] But don't you a little bit in our industry and the work that we do? I mean, like, I have a lot of friends that do not do design work, and their lives don't look like ours and their lives, you know, are sometimes I they're always like, you know, you do the most interesting things. And like, I get to work with some of the most interesting people and deal with some of the most interesting challenges. Like our life is so much more colorful because of that experience. And I feel very blessed to do the work that we're doing. I feel like it's an absolute privilege.

Speaker 1:
[14:48] I think it's a complete honor. And I feel like the challenges to obviously they're the greatest teachers early on, you know, in our careers, we get the most challenges and we're being taught so much. But then I think that's what makes us really great, is our ability to solve problems on the spot because we've encountered these other problems before. So I think one of the biggest portions of our audience is interior designers that listen to Dear Alice. I don't know if there's anything that you'd pay forward to them that are starting in their career as they're experiencing these challenges, you know, besides the fact that it might make a good story later on. How do they get through it?

Speaker 2:
[15:24] I love that question because I will also say, and I'll probably have two things to share, but the first thing is that those challenges are growing pains. I remember when I was probably in graduate school, and I would call my mom and be like, oh my God, it's so hard. It's so hard. I don't know if I can do it. She would say, well, you're obviously being asked to grow in a way that feels uncomfortable. So she would say, that's a sign of growing pains. The truth is, you kind of have to just enjoy it, even if it's uncomfortable, even if it's painful, you're being asked to grow. And so I try to, like in my head, I flip this, I try to flip the script and say, okay, if this is not something that's super enjoyable, then there's maybe a reason why. And I need to appreciate the why, you know, like I got to appreciate that aspect. And that helps me deal with it. And I would say, I would hope that other designers would also just learn to like love the discomfort and love the growing moments. Because I will say, after 22 years of doing this, I still learn something new every single day. And that thrills me, that absolutely thrills me.

Speaker 1:
[16:35] Yeah, I heard somebody recently say pressure is privilege. It's kind of that same thing, like we're so fortunate to be stuck with a problem this hard to solve, that people think I'm capable of it. And, you know, we have a team to rely on and we'll figure out amongst our minds how to get through it. And then we'll have that skill, we'll know how to get through this rabbit hole, you know, because we had to figure it out.

Speaker 2:
[16:57] If you also just touched on something I think is so valuable in this, none of us that you just said, which is none of us do this alone, like not one of us, every one of us is relying on somebody else in some form or fashion. Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you're a team of one person, collaborating with a contractor or tradesmen or craftsmen or anything, and you're a client or you're a big team. You're still working with other people and you can rely on other people. I think that's the beauty of it.

Speaker 1:
[17:26] Yeah. How big is your team, Ben?

Speaker 2:
[17:27] We are 24 and we're four of us, four of our team members are accounting and back office, and then the rest of them are split right down the middle architecture and interiors.

Speaker 1:
[17:37] Oh, that's great.

Speaker 3:
[17:39] What's your superpower within design?

Speaker 2:
[17:42] I would say superpower is empathy, number one.

Speaker 3:
[17:47] That's great.

Speaker 4:
[17:48] What a great answer.

Speaker 2:
[17:49] Two is communication. I think that I have something that's just been part of my nature always is to communicate, whether it be verbally written through drawings, that's a skill that I've always been able to have and it has served me my entire career.

Speaker 3:
[18:05] That's awesome.

Speaker 1:
[18:06] I love that answer.

Speaker 2:
[18:08] I mean, come on, y'all have to, what's y'all superpower? Come on.

Speaker 1:
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Speaker 3:
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Speaker 1:
[19:57] Well, I'd say Suze definitely has the ability, she'll always say she can draw better than she speaks. And so Suze always has a huge sketch pad, 11 by 17. Yeah. A huge sketch pad. And she's always doodling in every presentation. And it will be going along and then she'll just shyly hold it up. And she'll be like, kind of like, kind of like this. And then everybody's just like, what in a world of AI where you can render anything, this magic sitting over here, people love a hand doodled drawing and not just doodled, but it really truly is just it's what's nice about it is it's loose enough. Suze will always say this, that it's not so exacting as a rendering. So there's still room for the unimaginable and there's still there's still room for, for things to be tweaked and edited. But at the end of the day, we frame this sketch and give it to them. And there's still so much that is the same about it. This is just in looser conceptual form. And I just think that's such a superpower of Suze's.

Speaker 4:
[21:01] It's pretty magical.

Speaker 1:
[21:02] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[21:03] Since you didn't answer for me, I'll answer for Jess. Shoot, this is fun. This is a fun game you just made. Hers is her vernacular. Cause sometimes when you think you have a podcast about such a visual medium, how does that work? And it's because I think Jess has led the charge with being able to describe spaces with her words. And that's such a beautiful thing when you are working with clients, cause it's hard, cause this isn't their vocabulary. That's why they come to us, is to be able to create something. And so to be able to communicate that both visually, sketches, all the things, but also just like, I think there's a real comfort when you have someone that can communicate things so beautifully and so relatably, you know, that doesn't, it can be a daunting. It kind of what we do, I think, is it feels unapproachable to most people. Interior design is something that only the wealthy can afford. But yet if you can like say it out loud, it's something that we all experience. It's something that we all have space, right? So if we can say it in an approachable way, you know, where you can make your space beautiful, I think that that's our job. And I think Jess does it the very best.

Speaker 3:
[22:02] Yeah, all my adjectives come from Jess. I steal all of them.

Speaker 1:
[22:06] That's so nice. Well, and Cori's great. He knows how everything's built. He worked in a door shop all through high school and he can make his own cabinetry. He develops the product for our own J. Bennett line.

Speaker 2:
[22:18] It's just beautiful, by the way, it's absolutely beautiful.

Speaker 3:
[22:20] Thank you so much.

Speaker 1:
[22:21] Such a privilege that you get to do this, we get to do this, that we get to create the stuff we wish existed. But we're fortunate to have Cori because he can speak to any factory and say, no, I think the drawers should be joined this way. I think the glides would be better if they were this. I think if we apply the finish like this or if we had watermarks like this, then we wouldn't have these issues. And so he just is always looking at the very best way to construct something. And traveling to Indonesia and working with our factories just has a really great working knowledge of how things are built, which is great. And then it's also so fun to have a male point of view, I think, on the podcast, because he sees things differently than we do. Cori also, you have a high level of excellence, I would say, too.

Speaker 3:
[23:05] Wow, it's making me feel so good.

Speaker 1:
[23:07] It's awesome.

Speaker 3:
[23:08] Keep going.

Speaker 1:
[23:08] It's just so, like, the quality control piece as you're developing the product, that he just is really going to be like, no, that doesn't pass. This has to be perfect. So it's just so nice to have somebody so discerning on the team with us that we trust so much.

Speaker 3:
[23:22] And I feel like we've all learned that kind of together, too. So it's like we're, yeah, we work really well together, like we all collaborate well together because we know each other's strengths and weaknesses and can counterbalance those. So, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[23:37] Well, and you said you'll make a beautiful team.

Speaker 2:
[23:39] I kind of feel like you don't remember the Care Bears when they would like, yeah, we should reenact that.

Speaker 3:
[23:48] That's amazing.

Speaker 4:
[23:50] That's so great.

Speaker 1:
[23:51] I love it. We'll have to choose which. I'm Care a lot, Bear.

Speaker 4:
[23:55] I love you are Care a lot. I love that though, because I'm like, collectively, I'm like, I think we can we all have these superpowers because we love people. We all do what we do, and we can do these things together and collaboratively because we love people. That's why we can love the client that we're designing. When things get hard, everything's figure outable when you love people and you care about the outcome.

Speaker 2:
[24:17] I will tell you that is actually something I've said to my team many times. You have to fall in love with your client on some level or you're not going to be an effective designer for them. You've got to find the thing that's beautiful about them. You've got to find the thing that you enjoy. You've got to something because otherwise you're just not going to be great at it.

Speaker 4:
[24:35] I think that shows too through the interior.

Speaker 2:
[24:38] I do. I think you can feel it. You can feel it in the energy of the interior as well.

Speaker 4:
[24:42] Speaking of feelings, we all have stepped into beautiful rooms. We can look through a beautiful book. We love how it looks, but we all, I think the spaces that are the most memorable have a feeling. That's something that we're always going for. I think we have moments in our own homes where we have that feeling, where something like some magic happened with trifecta finishes or just a story or art or whatever it is. Explain to people, how do you get that feeling in a space? Your own space. I would love to hear about your own home, where you may have had that feeling or in a client's home, and then how people like the audience members, designers can help bring a feeling into a space.

Speaker 2:
[25:18] I think that's a great idea. It's interesting because I was listening to this guy who used to be with Disney, and Disney would always talk about, like they would do an entire scheme for anything that they were designing, and they would go through and like, okay, what does it smell like in this space? Like if there's food in there, what are the kinds of foods that you're enjoying? It was this full sensory, what are the sounds that you're hearing when you're in the space? I think one of the things that I tried really hard to do and tried to also tap in with our clients is saying, well, what memories are being formed here? What time of day are you using this? Is this a space that you're using and you're entertaining a lot of people in? Does it also need to transition into something just for you and your family? Is this something that you just enjoy with your partner? What does that look like? What does it sound like and feel like? For me, I think that when you think about things from a sensory perception, and you try to tap in and ask those questions of like, what music would be playing in the space if it had music? I think it unlocks a part of your brain, much like so your sketches unlock a part of your brain and leave something open to interpretation. You can start to tap into what these spaces might feel like and design more effectively that way. That's something we try to do, at least in our creative process.

Speaker 1:
[26:41] I love that. One of the fun things as I was watching your Homeworthy tour, just right off to, I guess it depends on what side of the house we're talking about, right off to your left, they take you into this teal living room. I just recently painted my living room teal.

Speaker 4:
[26:57] She painted her grasscloth. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[27:01] Last May, about a year ago, I painted these dark peacock walls and I did a high gloss peach ceiling. Well, we are talking about the times of day when you use the space and what's it going to feel like, what's it going to sound like, all of this. We were like, we're going to be shooting this collection here anyway at home. Let's shoot the living room. We haven't shot it yet. It's brand new. We shot it. I just barely got the pictures back and I'm like, this is all wrong. This is not, this doesn't look like the room. It goes back to what you were just saying. I couldn't put my finger on it and I think you just hit it. It's that this room, I've never home in the middle of the day. I don't use the living room in the morning. I'm at work all day. I'm rushing out the door in the morning. I'm also not a morning person. We shot this room in the morning and I'm like, this looks wrong. It's just not the room and I thought, I need to come back and do a night shoot. That's when this room, this is when I love the color of the walls. I love the ceiling, this color. I love the room with the lamps on and nothing else. I love the fireplace on. It's like this feeling of being home at night when it's slow and more thoughtful and you can take time to have a conversation. I'm like, this is just not a morning room and the feeling I have about this room isn't the morning. So why did I shoot it in the morning? I don't know. There really is a time of day and a rhythm to how we live, and that should all be considered as we're designing the house.

Speaker 2:
[28:31] I literally in the book, I talk about nighttime spaces and daytime spaces. Like not all spaces are daytime spaces. Like sometimes you need that extra layer of ambiance and light and everything. You need it, and that's when the room feels so magical. I think about even spaces like the Polo Lounge. That's not a space that's ever meant to be enjoyed in the day. Even if it was during the day, you want it to feel dark and moody and sexy, that's how it's supposed to feel.

Speaker 1:
[28:57] Totally.

Speaker 4:
[29:00] Such a great tip.

Speaker 1:
[29:00] I love that.

Speaker 3:
[29:02] Before we run out of time, I want to talk about your book. Can you tell us about it? The why, maybe advice for designers, maybe dreaming about a book, maybe an interesting story you have when putting it together.

Speaker 2:
[29:13] I love that question because I think that the reason why you do a book can be for multi-layered reason, but for the reason I did it is that it was really on our vision board as a team. We really wanted to be able to create something that was tangible, that you could hold and you can feel. In this increasingly digital age, these images just slide by us and we don't ever have anything. We can at the end of the day have a physical manifestation of. So it was really meant to be a love letter. It was meant to be a love letter to our collaborators. It was meant to be not just our team, but our clients and the incredible builders we've worked with, and craftsmen, and artisans, and all the furniture makers. I mean, it was really we wanted to do right by them, and we also wanted to, you know, so much of the design that you see in the world is in, at least in the United States, is happening on the East Coast or the West Coast. And as you all know very well, there's beautiful work happening all over the country. So we also wanted to do this for state of Texas, but, you know, say that we're strong creative voices right here at home.

Speaker 3:
[30:18] That's awesome.

Speaker 4:
[30:19] That's great.

Speaker 1:
[30:20] Yeah, it's beautiful. I think one piece of advice that we've also dreamt of a book, and I talked to our good friend, David Phoenix. I don't know if you, David Phoenix, who designs for Hickory Chair. I was talking to him about a book, and he said, one thing for sure you should do is use the same photographer when you're shooting your work, because otherwise one has to go back and reshoot the whole book with the same photographer. Is this the case for you?

Speaker 2:
[30:44] Our entire book was photographed by my dear friend that I've known for 20 years, Julie Sofer, and so she was the one who photographed it, start to finish all eight projects.

Speaker 1:
[30:54] Amazing, and I think that's good advice for any designers that dream of doing this work. And I don't know if you had to go back and reshoot it, maybe you were grateful to go back and reshoot because you didn't have to, you just use the same one the whole time. Oh gosh, that's so brilliant.

Speaker 2:
[31:07] We literally didn't even start the layouts of the books until we had finished all the photography. That was really integral to the whole process, was just using one photographer to start to finish, and the same stylist as well.

Speaker 1:
[31:19] And the same stylist, that's great advice. Any other little nuanced things that people should keep in mind as they're shooting their first project, or maybe it's once they've found their rhythm in their photographer?

Speaker 2:
[31:30] I think that obviously don't shoot towards television, and if there's a television, find creative ways of hiding it, or post-editing it out. I'd say don't be afraid to disrupt the arrangement of the furniture for the betterment of the shot. I would say that's always something most rookie designers are shooting their first project, like, no, you can't move that chair. That chair is not in the space, or it's not there. You can move the things, and you have to trust your stylist and your photographer to really guide you through that process. So I would say that's a strong one. And then I would just say be up for it. It's a full-time job. It takes a whole lot of work to put together a book, and you just need to be aware of that and just kind of make sure that you're mentally prepared to go into it with that energy.

Speaker 1:
[32:15] Yeah. How long did it take you from really starting to work on it to get all that was published?

Speaker 2:
[32:20] I would say a year and a half. So we had the eight projects we were all finishing within a year of each other, and we needed to make sure we shot all of them as they were wrapping up and completing. So it was about a year and a half from start to finish once it was actually, I mean, five years of conversation, but a year and a half of development.

Speaker 4:
[32:40] So it took you as long to do your book as it does to build a house, like five years as far as the dream, all those things as far as like you built a book. Yeah, that's neat.

Speaker 1:
[32:52] That's great. Okay, let's do a quick round, rapid round of questions.

Speaker 3:
[32:55] What's your favorite item in your home?

Speaker 2:
[32:56] Eric, of course.

Speaker 3:
[33:00] Yeah, he told us to ask that. What's a material that you're loving right now?

Speaker 2:
[33:06] You know, it's so funny, material that I'm loving. I'll just, I think I will always just love grasscloth. I mean, in all of its shapes, forms, you know, I just, I will always gravitate towards grasscloth. And I love that there's so much variety out there.

Speaker 3:
[33:21] What's one that feels overdone to you? Material.

Speaker 2:
[33:25] Well, you know, every single designer is going to say bouquet right now. I do want to say for the record, I'm actually not over bouquet. I'm over white bouquet, but there are so many incredible bouquets, and I love how they can optically mix color together. And I just love the texture. And I think it's actually just a really great upholstery material. So I am going to say that I am not over bouquet.

Speaker 3:
[33:49] OK, the sheen plays in that to me, too. Yeah, the sheen is a part of it.

Speaker 4:
[33:53] So, yeah, pile, the thickness, the density.

Speaker 1:
[33:55] Is there something that's overdone that's not bouquet?

Speaker 2:
[33:59] I think what's really, really overdone right now are these all white, beige, accrue, brown houses where they all look like they're done by the same designer. And it doesn't matter. It's like they're all drinking from the same punch bowl. And I feel like that is going to majorly date, you know, in years ahead.

Speaker 1:
[34:18] So, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[34:19] Totally agree. Cheers, cheers. One simple move anyone can make this week to elevate their space.

Speaker 2:
[34:25] Clean it.

Speaker 3:
[34:27] Clean it.

Speaker 2:
[34:28] That's all they have to do.

Speaker 3:
[34:30] You know what?

Speaker 2:
[34:30] It is so funny to me. I have clients who literally are just like, you know, what should we do about the space? I'm like, well, you could start by cleaning it. And you're going to feel instantly better.

Speaker 4:
[34:41] That's awesome. And then light a candle. That's what you're going to do. You know what?

Speaker 3:
[34:46] Maybe dim the lights, light a candle. Forget the cleaning.

Speaker 1:
[34:49] It really is so true, though, what that can do for your mind. Even if you just go in and like organize your closet. Just, you know, it feels, you walk out and you're a new woman. You're like, I feel like I've lost 20 pounds because it's like my brain isn't so stuffed. I don't know. It really is. Yeah, it's powerful. It is. Great advice. Great advice from Benjamin Johnston. Clean your house.

Speaker 3:
[35:17] This question we ask everyone that comes on. It's the last question we ask and it's how do you define luxury?

Speaker 2:
[35:24] I define luxury as about time. Time is the greatest luxury in our lives. It's the thing we don't and we can never get more of. It's the thing that also when I talk to clients, I say the greatest luxury that we could have right now is that we take our time with the design and make sure we're not rushing it. That is like the slow process is luxury.

Speaker 1:
[35:44] Good answer. I love that. Will you tell the people where they can find you on Instagram and also all of your different collections? Because when you were taking us through your home on Homeworthy, you have rugs. Like you have a lot of different lines. So take them through your lines as well. But first tell them your Instagram handle.

Speaker 2:
[36:03] My Instagram handle is at Benjamin Johnston Design. Yes, we have collections with Chattick Furniture, which is a Morganton, North Carolina furniture brand. They make all of their furniture there.

Speaker 1:
[36:13] And do you have a new collection coming out, Ben?

Speaker 2:
[36:16] No. So my big collection just launched this last market. So I'm continuing. We'll do some introductions here over the next year, but nothing new for the spring.

Speaker 1:
[36:24] Okay. So if you didn't go to fall, it will feel new to you when you're there this week. Okay, great. So make sure and check them out at Chattock. And then tell them your other lines.

Speaker 2:
[36:33] So I have a fabric and trim and wall covering line with S. Harris, which is part of the Fabrica family of brands. And then I also have the rug line with Madison Lily Rugs, which is a Houston based company of hand knotted wool and silk rugs, which I love and use all the time. And then the final one I'm working on is actually a new line of fireplace surrounds and mosaics for materials bespoke stone and tiles. So I'm really excited about that one.

Speaker 4:
[37:00] That's so great.

Speaker 1:
[37:01] Yeah, that is so great. Amazing. And also you guys, you can buy his new book, Refined Interiors, right? That's available everywhere.

Speaker 2:
[37:09] Yes. Available anywhere. Refined books are sold.

Speaker 1:
[37:13] It's such a beautiful book, beautiful cover. I have to say, when you take the jacket off, it's a beautiful fluted column linen. Gorgeous. We also love an open book sitting in a book cradle. Every page is gorgeous. So you're going to want to get your hands on Refined Interiors by Benjamin Johnston, published by Rizzoli.

Speaker 4:
[37:30] Thanks for painting the pages, the edge page, gold.

Speaker 1:
[37:34] Oh yeah. Also, yeah.

Speaker 4:
[37:36] I mean, gilded.

Speaker 2:
[37:38] If you open up the inside jacket, there's a photo of our bookcase in our home, and that's really the reason why we decided to pull the edge.

Speaker 1:
[37:46] Yeah. Every detail. Every detail. Well, thank you so much for coming on Dear Alice. I know everybody's going to love this. Go check Benjamin out at Market if you're there, and if you're not, you can go find him all the places we just shared.

Speaker 4:
[38:00] You're a delight.

Speaker 1:
[38:01] Yes, you are a delight. And if you guys have any questions, please send those in to DearAlice at alicelanehome.com. And we'd love it if you'd leave us a review, and we will catch you guys next time. Hey, thanks for listening. If you like our show, please leave a five star rating.