Age: 55
Occupation: Designer
Location: London
His favorite room: Mr. Newson and his family live in a converted Royal Mail sorting office. The library’s nubby stone wall, inspired by ski chalets, was installed to “soften the atmosphere” of the cavernous Victorian-era space. For Mr. Newson, the complete reworking came naturally. “I’m compelled to transform everything around me,” he said.
There’s so much luscious color. The couch. The art. Even your socks are bold red.
I’m genetically deeply programmed to respond to color — I grew up in Sydney. It’s like California, the light is incredible. I suppose it’s a nostalgic desire to remind myself of my childhood. Everything I do has to do with childhood.
A sculpture by Mr. Newson’s favorite artist, Lucio Fontana. CreditAlexander Coggin for The New York Times
You grew up in the space age ’60s and ’70s. Yet our homes have barely changed since then. Does that surprise you?
I grew up watching “The Jetsons.” Someone once likened my work to Georg Jensen meets George Jetson. But the future is simply not very futuristic anymore.
Right now, I feel this incredible reassurance in the fact that the home is one of the things that’s not yet completely submerged in technology. I am now making a concerted effort to bolster my record collection. I’m about to get out my turntable and get some analog speakers.
In fact, the chairs and desk you created for your current show at Gagosian are made using ancient cloisonné and cast glass techniques.
What I’m really concerned about is pushing the boundaries of what these techniques and processes were meant to do. Cloisonné would typically be used in a jewelry scale or to make a Fabergé egg. I trained originally as a jeweler and a silversmith, so I’m coming full circle.
Tell me about this model truck. It’s so wild.
It’s by a great artist friend who’s from Belgium, Wim Delvoye. It’s made of laser-cut steel. I don’t know how to describe it — it’s a gothic dump truck. I adore the humor in his work. He’s just done mad, mad, mad things.
The Voronoi Shelf against the wall is your own design. Do you design other things for your family that are never sold or shown outside of your home?
There’s lots of things like that. Practically every door handle. A big reason designers do what we do is we can’t get what we want. We have to design it. I don’t want to be surrounded by all my stuff, but it is an inescapable reality. And I get it cheaper.
