The Ring Master: Katherine North

By Donna Sapolin

Few designers point to the circus as a key source of inspiration. But San Francisco-based designer Katherine North is quick to identify this extravaganza of color and international showmanship as one that wields a significant impact on her design perspective. Her great great uncles were the Ringling Bros., her father owns and operates the traveling Kelly Miller Circus, and both her childhood and adulthood have been peppered with unusual visual insights gleaned under the big top, with all its boisterous and bustling on-the-go fun and pageantry. Long a student of complex performances, multi-faceted environments that go up and come down in a single day, and costumes composed of riveting fabric blends, North is a designer who knows how to forge anticipation-with an exquisitely orchestrated balancing act of subtle moves that build up to more dramatic ones.

Designed by Katherine North and Barbara Scavullo. Photography by Matthew Millman.

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Tell us more about your background in the circus and its influence on you.

I’ve traveled with Kelly Miller, my father’s circus, six times in the last two years and have been to 12 states in those six trips-there’s a lot of color that’s specific to particular places. Most striking to me has been eastern Pennsylvania and its beautiful palette of browns and greens. One of the things I respect most about the circus is the intense focus of the performers and the costumes-each one is like a piece of art.

Designed by Katherine North and Barbara Scavullo. Photography by Matthew Millman.

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Every day in the circus is like going into a different world. They create a new environment every single day-it goes up, it goes down. The show/the performance changes based on the audience, how the performers are doing that day, and the weather-you think it’s the same but it’s not at all. In that way, it is like a home, which is always a work-in-progress because nothing about it is static.The structure and its key components are the same but it will have an entirely different feeling every day depending on the life that goes on within.

Designed by Katherine North and Barbara Scavullo. Photography by Matthew Millman.

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Another thing I love about the circus is how international it is. In my father’s circus there are acrobats from Kenya, other performers from Mexico, a French photojournalist who is married to a Peruvian performer, and many Americans. The elephant trainer is a member of a 9th generation-circus family; there’s just so much fascinating history. Color in the circus environment has helped me think about all color as a matter of the context in which it is going to appear.

The circus also always helps me to remember to have fun in what I am doing and to inject some whimsy into every project.

Is there any risk of you running off to joint the circus?

Oh no! But I was in charge of the show for three weeks in June. My Dad was in Europe and the manager was also away. I was able to run it because of having heard about every aspect of it virtually my entire life and also because of my management experience in running my design business.

Photography by Lanola Kathleen Stone.

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So you’re a design ringleader. Tell me about your style and signature touches.

We articulate for people what they cannot articulate for themselves in their interiors. So our style is really about creating an environment that reflects their personality-what they like and who they really are. We are helping them manifest their tastes, preferences, lifestyle and sense of themselves by pulling it all together for them.

Everything I do has a strong interior architecture focus-I firmly believe in the old saying “if the interior architecture is not right the furniture is not going to make it any better.” We do a lot of renovation work and everything is planned to the last detail. My signature touches are: 1) reflect the client; 2) make sense of the interior in the context of the larger environment; and 3) add some whimsy.

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NORTH’S DECORATI FAVORITES
Daybed by Antoine Proulx	Floor Lamp by Ironies	Intermezzo Sofa	Bookcase by Harris Rubin

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Spectacle is not the first thing that comes to mind when one enters the living room designed by North for a couple residing in a two-story home in the Liberty Hill district of San Francisco. One is instead struck by the quiet, elegant appeal of the space’s neutral palette of browns and grays and its aggregation of spare forms-a mellifluous melding of traditional and casual contemporary elements intended to accommodate the two owners’ divergent aesthetics and play up exterior views.

Photography by Lanola Kathleen Stone.

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Upon deeper scrutiny, however, one notes numerous strokes of whimsy a common ingredient of the circus milieu and the most critical aspect of any environment designed for entertainment: a spicy red McGuire table lamp that plays off the red bodice in a master artwork like the rubber nose on a clown’s white-washed face; a delicate gilded metal side table from Baker that stands on toe with all the grace of a tight rope walker; a pack of animals on a Brunschwig & Fils fabric that prance across Interior Crafts armchairs like a trainer’s entourage.

Photography by Lanola Kathleen Stone.

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The mohair-covered sofa’s arms flair on tapering legs with the sculpted flex of acrobats preparing to spring; the metallic finish on the legs of the Interior Crafts coffee table glimmer with the sizzle of a trapeze artist’s costume; and the ovals and broad stripes on the pillow fabrics from Donghia and Brentano suggest a lively tent.

Photography by Lanola Kathleen Stone.

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Would you cite a recent influence, apart from the circus?

The wooden churches in rural Russia that were shot by Richard Davies and appeared in the July 2008 issue of World of Interiors magazine. They’re quite elaborate with their abundance of onion domes but they’re made of rustic materials. The interiors have carved, very intricate columns and crown moldings but they’re made of teak and feature some fun paint colors.

These churches speak to my way of thinking; the notion just because you’re taking serious architecture into account when you’re doing an interior doesn‘t mean you can’t have fun with it in a way that is responsive to the environment.

Whose design work do you admire?

Jeffrey Bilhuber. I’ve heard him speak and I reference his book a lot. He thinks about every aspect of design in everything he does. He has a streak of whimsy in his work and his design is also very approachable; it’s important to me that rooms not feel stuffy.

What drives you crazy in an interior?

Two things in particular. One is a lack of ambient light fixtures-the sort that create light at eye level when standing or lower. A lot of people just have overhead lighting and don’t have lamps or don’t turn them on, which makes a room feel cold and impersonal.

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MORE OF NORTH’S DECORATI FAVORITES
Cocktail Base by Edward Ferrell + Lewis Mittman	Bench by Ironies	Rug by Mansour Modern	Lantern by Boyd Lighting

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What are you up to right now?

Settling into my new office space. We moved into the top floor of a Leed Certified historic renovated brewery with bamboo floors and an exposed timber ceiling. On the exterior, the windows are covered with corrugated metal with perforations. The building looks solid from the outside but light comes in through the perforations. The furnishings palette are gray, yellow and brown. The walls are white mixed with wood, sisal and metal. We prefer to keep it fairly neutral so our clients’ palettes can take center stage. But we added yellow file cabinets and that yellow will create a sense of excitement.

Photography by Matthew Millman.

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How do you get started on a project?

In the first phase we try to get to know the clients as much as possible-their lifestyle and how they plan to use the space-and I also give consideration to the interior as it relates to the overall architecture. To acquaint ourselves with the clients, we rely more on an interview process and discussions conducted in their home rather than on questionnaires. I find that people don’t react too well to written forms. We try to keep it fun and reserve the questionnaires for determining specifics like closet and kitchen cabinet interiors. We also always ask our clients for any images they have gathered.

Photography by Matthew Millman.

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Then we pull inspiration images to help pin down a design direction. We go through magazines and books and we show them what we think will work for them based on all that we know about them, what we think will work in their house, and what furniture or artwork they already have and want to keep. We show them these inspirations and get their feedback.

Photography by Matthew Millman.

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From there, in our second phase, we start selecting particular items for the individual rooms and doing furniture plans. We also do renovation planning at the same time. Once the furniture and renovation plans are pinned down we create the budgets. From that point forward, the process is about a back-and-forth communication with the client. The more involved the client is, the better. A client who is really interested in the project and really wants the place to feel like them makes every project stronger.

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Resource List:

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SHOWCASE HOUSE 2007: Desk Chairs & Slipcovers – Troscan, Desk – custom design ,Wall sconce – Objets Insolite, Round Pillow – Rosemary Hallgarten, c/o DeSousa Hughes, Table – Gary Hutton, c/o Therien, Fabrics – Kravet, C&C Milano, Holly Hunt, Sofa with patterned linen – Koch Smith, c/o Sloan Miyasato, Sofa with orange fabric – Ironies, c/o Kneedler-Fauchere, Coffee Table – Berman Rosetti, c/o DeSousa Hughes, Table Lamp – Dos Gallos, Los Angeles, Side Table – Troscan, c/o DeSousa Hughes, Area Rug – J.H. Minassian & Co., Mirror – custom, Floor Pillows – custom, Art Consulting – Alice Ranahan Art Advisory Services, Oakland CA

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GREENWICH VILLAGE: Living Room Chair – Vintage, found in NYC, Credenza – DWR, Pendant – DWR

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LIBERTY HILL RESIDENCE: Sofa – Baker Knapp and Tubs, Metal Side Table- Baker Knapp and Tubs, Coffee Table – Interior Crafts, c/o Beacon Hill, Arm Chairs- Interior Crafts, c/o Beacon Hill, Dining Chairs- Baker, Dining Table- Colomber for Baker Table Lamp – McGuire, Fabrics – Donghia & Pollack & Brentano & Textus & Brunschwig Fils, Rug – Tufenkian, c/o Floor Designs

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Northbrook Design Office: Swivel Arm Chairs – Eames Management Chairs by Herman Miller, Side Table – Aaron Crespi, Conference Table – custom design by Northbrook Design, Conference Chairs – Globus by DWR
Library Shelves – Jay Spix Custom Cabinetry, Auger Lamps – Coup d’Etat,  Area Rugs – California Carpets
Desk Ergonomic Chairs – Avia by Steelcase