Talk Shop: Bobby McAlpine // McAlpine
Photo by Simon Upton
ABOUT BOBBY
Born in an Alabama sawmill town, Bobby McAlpine designed his first house at the age of five and hasn’t stopped since. Architect, romantic, poet, and entrepreneur, he envisions home as a timeless, graceful, and emotionally evocative place. From the time he founded the firm in 1983, he has designed a diverse array of traditional styles and regional vernaculars for clients all over the country and abroad. Simply known as McALPINE, the firm embraces a brilliant and eclectic family of architects and interior designers with offices in Atlanta, Nashville, New York and Montgomery. They have been listed on Architectural Digest’s AD100 and Elle Décor’s A-List. Their designs include hundreds of residences, restaurants, private chapels, follies in a public park and on private lands, hotels, a school, a rehabilitated town, and a family compound on a private island in the Caribbean.
Bobby’s popular furniture line, McAlpine Home, is available nationwide. He holds both architecture and interior design degrees and he continues his lifetime of learning in the world’s classroom. Bobby’s latest book, McALPINE Romantic Modernism (Rizzoli 2023) joins his critically acclaimed and Rizzoli bestselling titles The Home Within Us (2010) and Poetry of Place (2017). We’re so honored to have Bobby be a part of our Talk Shop series, and hope you enjoy his interview!
Congratulations on your latest book, McAlpine: Romantic Modernism! Tell us about the book:
It is a telling of my journey in classicism and modernism. A crossbreeding story told by a fierce romantic.
What was the inspiration behind the book:
A sharp left turn in certain houses of late.
What does romanticism mean to you:
A free-wheeling willingness to cross time and geographical lines to portray an emotional accuracy.
What is something you want readers to take away from this book:
The differing portraiture of each and every house.
Describe your style in three words or less:
Intimate, dramatic, storied.
What have been the three biggest influences on your aesthetic in your life:
Constant craving, storytelling through design, inheritability.
How did you start your company, and/or what is your favorite thing about what you do:
At 25, I began collecting talent and loveable souls of which I’m proudest to this very day.
Do you have a mentor in your career, and if so, how have they helped to shape your trajectory:
My own heart’s desire.
What does your home say about you:
I am not afraid to push the limits.
Where do you find inspiration:
Music, film, paying attention.
Who are your style icons:
John Saladino, Anouska Hemple.
What are your key ingredients for entertaining:
Good music, good lighting.
Do you collect anything:
Anything that contributes to telling an accurate interior story.
Favorite Instagram accounts to follow for inspiration:
I’m not a follower.
What design “rule” do you always follow, and which is made to be broken:
Anything goes, I’m not a puppet to doctrine.
What are you working on right now:
Houses of every ilk, barns, chapels, monuments, follies, artist studios, and the new book tour and talks.
Wardrobe staples:
Black most days, but sometimes I’ll have an occasional all-white clothing day.
Favorite fabric/wallpaper:
A commissioned mural.
Best interior advice you ever received:
Listen.
Best career advice you ever received:
Listen.
Types of home purchases you invest in:
Antiques and artifacts.
Your greatest extravagance:
Time alone.
Favorite places to shop for home:
France, England, Belgium dealers & online sites.
Most prized possession and why:
An Elizabethan box of letters, my precious animals.
Your interiors motto:
Be brave. If I don’t do it then who will?
Your life motto:
Stay true.
Advice for someone looking to define their own interior style:
Attend the contradictions that comprise the original you.
Take Ten: My Favorite…
Food: Simple meats and greens.
Drink: Coffee and the trashiest new zero soda I can adopt for a while.
Film: A near-constant flow of it!
Hotel: Hotel Costes, Paris
City: Paris
Bedding: Bleachable whites, dog friendly
Tea or Coffee (and how do you take it): Coffee, cream, sweetener
Playlist: Pandora stations kicked off by whomever I’ve just learned of.
Weekend Activity: Lake living.
Design Book: The one I’m writing, always.