Talk Shop: Peter Dunham
Photo by Jonny Valiant
ABOUT PETER
You may know Peter Dunham for his California-cool-meets-international-chic interiors, or for the beautiful fabrics and wallpapers he produces for Peter Dunham Textiles. Or you’ve heard of Hollywood at Home, a destination he created for furnishings, lighting, accessories, and vintage pieces (AOI is a frequent customer.) In sum, Peter Dunham is a multifaceted pillar in the design industry – and we admire everything he does!
Peter was raised in France and studied there, as well as in England at Stowe. He traveled to New York City to work in real estate, moved to Los Angeles in 1998, and started his interior design company soon after. Five years later, Peter launched his fabrics and wallpaper collection, which has blossomed into a beloved industry resource. To house a growing collection of handcrafted furniture, textiles and vintage finds, Peter opened Hollywood at Home in 2007. His flagship showroom, located in Los Angeles’s La Cienega Design Quarter, is a bucket list destination for design lovers.
The Elle Decor A-Lister finds inspiration for fabrics and wallpapers everywhere, from international travels to India, his European upbringing, and the relaxed nature of the California lifestyle. Everything Peter does celebrates adventure, history, color, pattern, and relaxed sophistication. We loved sitting down and hearing about Peter’s start and sage advice, and hope you enjoy the latest installment of our Talk Shop series!
Describe your style in three words or less:
Eclectic, casual, sophisticated.
What have been the three biggest influences on your aesthetic in your life:
English country houses, Cadaques, India
How did you start your company, and what is your favorite thing about what you do:
I started flipping houses when I moved to LA in the late ‘90s. People started asking me to help them with their houses. My first budget was $25,000. Favorite: What I really like is that there is no one thing that dominates my days. Any one day can include visiting job sites, working out details with fabricators, designing textiles, vintage sourcing, working with my teams on new product for HaH & PDT, and interaction with my generally very creative clients. I may be tired but I’m never bored!
Do you have a mentor in your career, and if so, how have they helped to shape your trajectory:
David Hicks was my first exposure to interior design through his son, Ashley, who was my best friend in high school. I was lucky to intern with him and become a friend for the rest of his life. I didn’t really realize to what extent he influenced me until I woke up one day and realized that I, too, had designed projects, a textile collection, furniture collection, and a shop all of which he had when I knew him. It wasn’t strategically planned, it just happened bit by bit. I don’t pretend to have his immense talent, but I see his influences in how I lay out rooms, or how I mix different cultures, or how my textiles are almost always a geometric—mine are a more organic version.
What does your home say about you:
I love to collect. Every day I fight the urge to clutter. Our apartment is filled with African Art, 20th c. and contemporary works on paper, books, ceramics, Roman sculpture and anything Islamic. I would say my home shows I have a geographically adventurous outlook, that I like warmth and comfort, that I like to read, and that I’m not formal and love to have friends over.
Where do you find inspiration:
Travel, museums, books, vintage shopping, art exhibitions, and my many creative friends. To be honest, my eye is always scanning for rhythm or shape that I can transform into a textile, furniture, lighting, or carpet design. My office calls it the “Peter Touch” when I take one thing and transform into something else entirely.
Who are your style icons:
Picasso, Matisse, Elsie de Wolfe, Billy Baldwin, obviously David Hicks, Jacques Grange, Paul Fortune, Bill Katz, Chessy Rayner, and Mica Ertegun, Nancy Lancaster, Mattia Bonetti, Nanna Ditzel…it’s all over the place ;)
What are your key ingredients for entertaining:
Candlelight! Music. And enough staff. No one gives a hoot about the food.
Do you collect anything:
I love to collect these things: African Art, 20th c. and contemporary works on paper, books, ceramics, Roman sculpture and anything Islamic
What design “rule” do you always follow, and which is made to be broken:
Rule to follow: Always start with the carpet, it’s the hardest to back into an existing scheme.
Rule to break: All rules should be able to be broken, that’s what makes for dynamic decor.
What are you working on right now:
Working on a book – my first! – due out in 2024. After the supply challenges, we are ramping up Peter Dunham Textiles & Wallpaper indoor/outdoor wovens, prints, and wallpapers, and with Hollywood at Home, more furniture and a focus on lighting. On the design side, we typically work on 12-20 projects at once. Current projects include a contemporary house in my favorite place, Hollister Ranch, overlooking the Pacific Ocean; a beautiful Modernist home in Highland Park, Dallas, a Paul Williams-inspired house above Sunset Strip, a fantastic, historic Reginald Johnson house in Pasadena, a Penthouse in New York City, a 1910 Spanish house in Hollywood, and an exciting beach house with Tichenor-Thorpe in Malibu.
Wardrobe staples:
Jeans from General Quarters in LA, Dries Van Noten pullovers and cardigans, long sleeved white Lacoste polo shirts, and Margiela sneakers.
Favorite fabric/wallpaper (of yours & others!):
I’m always in love with the latest one on the drawing board. Right now we are finishing strike offs on a Tuareg-inspired grass cloth. We just received a new multi-color woven stripe that I’m obsessed with, called Espadrille. I love Fermoie’s semi-solids in their range of beautiful colors. For wallpaper, I always return to Fromental. They do amazing, hand-painted custom work.
Where do you find inspiration for your textiles:
I’m always looking for inspiration from existing documents, it may well be an Eva Hesse drawing, an old rug, or endpapers from a vintage novel.
Best interior advice you ever received:
From Vincent Wolf: Always install in one go, after they’ve paid in full. It’s very difficult for clients to contextualize the whole room in bits and pieces and they start second-guessing everything.
Best career advice you ever received:
Get a really good business manager so that your business is on solid footing. Bills paid on time, sales tax, so you don’t have to sweat that and you can focus on client needs.
Types of home purchases you invest in, and save on:
I’ve always wanted a Miele Mangle.
Your greatest extravagance: Art. I always stretch to buy something good. It always seems so cheap two or three years later.
Favorite places to shop for home:
You mean, besides Hollywood at Home? (Which my team teases is my unofficial storage facility.) Live Auctioneers (maybe more of an addiction), Claremont Textiles who have a unique collection of luxury basics, the super-poetic Nickey Kehoe, and Pat McGann for wonderful antique textiles and cushions.
Most prized possession and why:
My ranch in Yucca Valley. It’s my dream version of California. It’s extraordinary wilderness 100 miles from my office with amazing views and total quiet.
Your interiors motto:
Always leave any house you go to looking a little better. Even if we just go to change a light bulb, eyeball and see if the lamp seam is showing, if the cushions need arranging, etc.
Your life motto:
Remember to do your gratitude list at least once a day.
Advice for someone looking to define their own interior style:
Practice transcendental meditation.
Take Ten: My Favorite…
Food: Sugarfish sushi
Drink: High quality Mezcal
Film: The Conversation Piece by Luchino Visconti
Hotel: Fort Ahilya in Maheshwar. I first saw it in World of Interiors and was beyond bedazzled 10 years later when I finally went.
City: Paris, of course.
Bedding: I’m a Deborah Sharpe devotee.
Tea or Coffee (and how do you take it): Matcha Uji from Mariages Freres; I take it plain and not quite boiling hot.
Playlist: My boyfriend, ceramist Miguel Torres, makes the best playlists ever.
Weekend Activity: If in LA, farmer’s market, yoga, hiking, shopping, movies and seeing friends. I always want to but try and curtail more vintage shopping.
Design Book: All the David Hicks books. They taught me everything I know.