Designer of the Day: Rafael de Cárdenas

With each subsequent project, highly awarded designer Rafael de Cárdenas unveils a facet of his creative capabilities. With a cinematic touch and a precision shaped by his early background in fashion, de Cárdenas can develop the comforting yet transportive language for a Long Island beach house as easily as the interiors of the Manhattan luxury high-rise The 74. For the latter, the designer imbues elegance through a soothing, spacious, and sculptural sensibility. It’s one of many distinguished projects—also including the SKIMS, HommeGirls, and Baccarat flagships in New York—that channel his perspective on worldbuilding.

The 74, courtesy of Beatrice Smith

Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.

Age: 51

Occupation: Designer

Instagram: @rafaeldecardenas.ltd

Hometown: New York City

Studio Location: New York City and Paris

Describe what you make: I oversee my studio Rafael de Cárdenas, Ltd. where we work across residential and commercial interiors, architecture, furniture design, art advisory, and brand development.

The most important thing you’ve designed to date: My amazing team, it blows my mind that all of these people have wanted to work with me these past 19 years.

The 74, courtesy of Beatrice Smith

Describe the problem your work solves: Interior design and architecture suggest how we might behave in different kinds of spaces—how we move, pause, connect, or retreat. They guide our gestures and shape our moods.

Share the project you are working on now: We completed the Skims NYC flagship on Fifth Avenue late last year and Skims L.A. on Sunset this past Spring. Skims Chicago is next! Recently we also completed a home in Long Island on the ocean just outside Montauk and HommeGirls’ new NYC store in Chinatown.

A new or forthcoming project we should know about: Installing the various amenities spaces throughout The 74 on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

What you absolutely have to have in your studio: Music that regulates our nervous systems…typically soft and lyrical in the morning and a little dancier in the afternoon.

Long Island residence, courtesy of Beatrice Smith

What you do when you’re not working: I try to spend as much time as possible outside in the countryside. And lately I’m on a new quest to make friends with my neighbors.

Sources of creative envy (dead or alive): Anouska Hempel, Peter Saville, John Baldessari, Madonna…My life-long friends still inspire me a great deal.

The distraction you want to eliminate: Social media has helped me speak some of my personal interests, but, in general, social media as currently designed seems like a distraction. I limit my time on it to 10 minutes per day.

Concrete or marble? Both

High-Rise Or Townhouse? High-Rise

Remember Or Forget? Remember for the most part

Aliens Or Ghosts? Aliens, please come fix us

Dark Or Light? Both

Long Island residence, courtesy of Beatrice Smith

Skims NYC, courtesy of Beatrice Smith

‍