Dr. Daniella Ohad has embodied many roles throughout her distinguished career: design historian, connoisseur, educator, curator, writer, talk show hostess, and influencer. She has taught in some of the world’s leading art institutions, and has spoken in conferences, events, and symposiums in museums, cultural institutions, and television networks across the globe. This year, Daniella once again graces our Honorary Committee, and we asked her some rapid-fire questions about how she would design her dream home, the best design advice she has received, and more.
What's your favorite piece of art/design in your own home or collection?
A set of a sofa and armchair by Italian architect Gino Levi-Montalcini, which he created in the 50s for his own home in Turin.
What's your favorite NYC building?
What is your most recent acquisition?
When I went to Japan last year, I acquired the most exquisite basin-sculpture by Imbe-based ceramicist Kakurezaki Ryuichi, who is the ultimate star of Bizen-Ware today.
If you were designing your dream home, which pieces would you choose?
1 – Sebastian Brajkovic, Desk ‘My Memoirs’ at David Gill
2 – Line Vautrin, 'Roi Soleil' gold & purple mirror at Galerie Chastel-Marachal
3 – Max Ingrand, 'Table Lamp' at Donzella
4 – Tanaka Terukazu, 'Two Tone Box 01' at Onishi Gallery
5 – Ayala Serfaty, 'Masha' coffee table at Maison Gerard
Best design book / podcast / meme / blog / article you've consumed recently?
The recent book Point Line Plane by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. Here, he is taking the readers on a journey through the roots, meanings, and allure of the story of architecture of lines, planes, and points. He does this by revealing how his constant encounters with the history of architecture over time has come to shape and enrich his own vision, from the small wooden house surrounded by rice fields where he was raised, to the genius of Florentine Renaissance architect Brunelleschi, to Buckminster Fuller’s experimental domes, to Kenzo Tange’s radical and successful approach of dismantling concrete into lines when translating wood construction to the material of his day, to the German Expressionist Bruno Taut.
What's the best design advice you've ever received?
To never stop learning. To never stop developing passions and to always strive for the best aesthetic sensibility.
What upcoming project(s) are you most excited about?
1 - Going to Japan (again) this spring on an expedition of learning how contemporary craftspeople use the traditional crafts to forge new and personal vocabularies.
2 – My series ‘Furniture Design: Then and Now,’ where I explore the world of furniture design in the past and the present. This is a virtual series, starting on October 30th: https://daniellaondesign.com/furniture-design-then-and-now/.