SERIES • STORYTELLER
Living an exquisite life.
A glimpse into the genesis and spirit of the brand, as told by the story of Jennifer Laouari of Morgan Madison Design.
Talking shop.
As a young girl growing up in Rochester, New York, I spent many family dinners listening to my parents talk shop - specifically, the very abstract and mysterious concepts and mechanisms involved in whatever the scientific experiment was of the day. Having two highly-educated, dedicated and analytical parents, their daily existences steeped in the world of academia, grant-writing and discovery-making, made for a childhood a bit different from that of a lot of my friends. I revered my parents from an early age, and by their example, felt that the bar in life was set very high. They had high expectations but also a very “hands-off” approach to parenting. I was to make my own decisions and if they were bad ones, I would have to suffer the consequences. That being said, the implied standards of conduct were ever-present as was the pressure to achieve.
Perhaps I am a bit old to be reflecting on how I was raised and by what type of people, but of course this affected me greatly and while my professionally pursuits are what are thought of as more traditionally creative, my approach to the work I do is both genetic and taught. I abhor being disorganized or inefficient. I take a scientific approach to color - breaking down the components. Too much green in that blue, too much pink in that beige.
A color story.
Color theory in school as a painting major and art history minor – my BFA was not going to to funnel me immediately into a career – that was going to be a far more sinuous path. But, what all that painting and history gave me was an appreciation for color and for the way they bounce off each other, set each other off, or repel each other. Rothko. They synergy that a lavender can have with a yellow, each made better for the other.
This love for color, playing with combinations, would eventually carry me toward interior design, but not without some bruises along the way. I moved to New York City at 22, selling my Saturn for $12k and rooming with some college friends in a one-bedroom apartment (converted to a three-bedroom). Oh, there was a cat and a boyfriend too (neither mine).
Learning curve.
My first job was at Sotheby’s where I learned the value of a trust fund, all about “foxing” and “endpapers” in Books & Manuscripts. Never made it to contemporary art where I heard they sling-shotted rubber bands at the Kieffers. A $23k per annum salary along with four-nights-a-week minimum at bars and restaurants had me looking for new work quick. After three high-paying and ultimately failed dot-com jobs in the aughts, I interviewed for a design assistant position with a firm that comprised three partners, all with, let’s say, strong personalities. In many ways this period of 8-9 years was a great gift. I learned A LOT.
Weaving it all together.
I worked like a dog - managing a made-to-order and antiques gallery while acting as the sole assistant in a firm that sometimes handled as many as five high-end residential projects in the Hamptons, 5th & Park simultaneously. I was tracking budgets, craning in sofas, doing all of the office management and project management, shopping fabrics in the D&D, managing restoration, importing shipments from Paris, fielding calls, paying bills. I was running a mile-a-minute, flexing my multitasking muscles. I woke up every morning with a knot of stress in my stomach, drooping under the weight of all that needed to be done that day and cowed by how fast I was going to need to move. All while dealing with the abuse that would be hurled in my direction from the one partner (a trust fund brat that pulled the purse strings every day and thought a trip or a ring would balance the day-in-day-out abuse). But here I learned about horsehair, leather paneled walls studded with nail heads, Le Manach fabrics, custom weaves by Tara Chapas, the special elegance of wall upholstery.
By my mid-thirties I was convinced that I would be single, alone, with cats and spider plants living in my rent-stabilized studio in Gramercy, but sometimes a necessary change in one’s life is a flap of a monarch’s wing, and then, everything else begins to shift. Burnt out and probably with a bit of PTSD, I left the design side of things and found a very different work life in the world of sales - specifically high-end textile, lighting, and furniture sales to the trade. All of the sudden, I was out of work at five, and I left my work at the showroom. It did not follow me home. I learned the industry from a whole different side.
A passionate pursuit.
I met a man from Algeria and married him; I had babies (wonders never cease). My love for color expanded into a love for textiles, for patterns and weaves. My taste evolved, my knowledge of construction grew, my appreciation of quality deepened. I began putting together design boards for fun, spending hours shopping from my favorite lines, appreciating the depth of a sap green velvet playing off of a butter- colored boucle. I began to enjoy design work again, and realized, that with the right people, in the right place, with the right collaboration of like-minded people, it might just be that I’d found something I love to do. Work that is not just work, but a passion pursuit.
