Inside design: Thomas O'Brien

Style at Home: You originally went to New York to go to art school. How does that artistic background influence your work in design?
Thomas O’Brien: Obviously art is about beauty, but beyond that, I think it taught me to appreciate individualism. I like things to be authentic, and my interiors aren’t designed to be perfect. These days, design is more about being unique; it’s about having rooms with personality, not rooms that look like everyone else’s.

S@H: When you talk of bringing personality to rooms, do you mean, for instance, incorporating collections?
TO: Yes, but not just that. The art and furniture that people are drawn to say a lot about who they are. I start there. It’s important to include pieces a client already owns. Existing art, collections and special furniture pieces define a room and give it charm. There’s so much variety in the market now. It’s almost obscene how much there is to choose from. Customizing, or personalizing, is more and more important. My own furniture line [visit hickorychair.com for Canadian dealers] was designed with a blend of styles so it could work with someone’s antiques or other pieces the client already owns; it’s not designed to work only with my things, because I want consumers to be able to express their own personalities.

S@H: Let’s talk about the Thomas O’Brien range of products. Your look has been described as “soft modern.” Do you think that’s fitting?
TO: People have been calling my work soft modern, or warm modern, for a long time, and I guess it’s apt because, while highly stylized modernism doesn’t interest me, I do appreciate a modern attitude to putting things together.