Brad Ascalon

Instagram: @bradascnyc

Twitter: @bradascnyc

Brad Ascalon’s eponymous award-winning studio was founded in 2006. The multidisciplinary designer specializes in furniture for the contract, hospitality and residential markets, as well as lighting, packaging, and other consumer products. With a reductive approach to his craft, Ascalon believes in design that is uncomplicated, rational and manages to find the perfect balance of form, function and concept. Through this approach, coupled with a strong understanding of strategy-driven design opportunities for his clients, Ascalon is widely regarded as one of the leading American design voices of his generation.

Working with clients ranging from global brands to start-ups, branding agencies and private clientele, Ascalon’s long list of collaborators stretches the globe, from the US to Asia, Denmark, Sweden, France, Italy, Turkey and beyond. That list includes such companies as Carl Hansen & Son, Ligne Roset, Bernhardt Design, Gunlocke, Stylex, Restoration Hardware, Design Within Reach, Skandiform, OTHR, Council, Gaia & Gino, Nude Glass, Mitab, L’Oreal, Redken, Maybelline and many others.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?: Entertaining friends, talking and laughing for hours over some great bottles of wine deep into the night.

Which living person do you most admire?: Barack Obama.

What is your greatest extravagance?: Wine.

What is your current state of mind?: Cautious hopefulness.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?: Forgiveness.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?: Are you fucking kidding me?

Which talent would you most like to have?: guitar mastery. I'm pretty good, but I'm no guitar master.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?: More patience.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?: Creating the career I've always wanted for myself. Marrying a woman who keeps me from growing up too fast.

If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?:

Where would you most like to live?: Copenhagen.

What is your most treasured possession?: My guitar collection and my dollar store coffee mug.

What is your favorite occupation?: Winemaker.

What is your most marked characteristic?:

What do you most value in your friends?: empathy. intelligence.

Who are your favorite writers?: Kurt Vonnegut, Dr. Seuss.

Who is your hero of fiction?: Holden Caulfield.

Who are your heroes in real life?: The altruists.

What is it that you most dislike?: Pretentiousness.

What is your greatest regret?: No regrets. My mistakes have made me who I am.

What is your motto?: "Work rigorously to create something that is worth bringing into existence, or don't do it at all."