One on One
Diamond and Baratta
In Atlanta recently to promote their new book, Diamond Baratta Design, William Diamond and Anthony Baratta sat down with AH&L contributor Heather Paper to reflect on their illustrious careers - and where they're headed next.

William Diamond founded his interior design firm in 1974 and, not long after Anthony Baratta joined and, Diamond Baratta Design was born. With a penchant for bold color and grand scale, the designers' inventive work encompasses projects in a wide variety of styles. Their signature look is always distinctive but forever surprising, too.

AH&L: How did the two of you come to join forces?

Anthony Baratta: Bill and I were introduced through a doctor friend of his - and I ended up becoming his apprentice. It was an unlikely experience. I went to interview with him and he said, "I really don't have any money and I really don't have anything for you to do. But you could come and apprentice." For the first six months, seriously, there was no pay. I was doing it for the love of it - but then the love ran dry. Bill said to me, "Someday, you will reap the rewards from all this."

William Diamond: I think our partnership was meant to be. We have been together for 26 years and, to this day, we speak a shorthand that very few others have. He will say something - even one word - and I'll say, "Oh, you mean such-and-such?" and he'll say, "How did you know that?" And that goes on all day every day.

AH&L: Who have been your mentors along the way?

AB: The most influential has been Pauline Feldman, Bill's original partner.

WD: Who continues to be an incredible mentor for both of us. But there are so many mentors and they're eclectic. I can tell you that we think Sister Parrish is a genius and, in the same breath, tell you that we think Zaha Hadid is a genius. We love David Hicks. Richard Rogers. And Joe D'Urso; we still think Joe D'Urso was the greatest designer of the '70s - bar none. There are so many people that we're inspired by. And we're totally obsessed with Gio Ponti right now.  

AH&L: Thus the eclectic nature of your work?

WD: Tony and I have learned that all the design rules we had 20 years ago are important; it's like learning the classics. But those design rules, basically, all have to get thrown in the garbage or you're not growing. You keep them, and you have to integrate them, but you have to expand, too. You have to keep reinventing.

AH&L: Your approach is characteristically vibrant and bold. Have you ever been asked to tone it down?

WD: We've had clients come to us and say, "We love your work but we're very low-key, we don't like a lot of color. And we don't like a lot of pattern. Can you work with us without using a lot of color and a lot of pattern?" And we love that. On the other hand, we've had clients ask us, "Can you be more creative? Can you be more colorful?" Some of our best projects have been clients who have come to us and said, "Weíve never seen you do 18th-century French and we want 18th-century French. We've interviewed a zillion designers who specialize in 18th-century French but we're thinking of hiring you. Do you think you can do it?" That's the kind of challenge that we really get excited by.

AH&L: So what inspires you every day?

AB: Our biggest inspiration, right now, is probably art - painters and sculptors. We look to it for color and pattern.

WD: That's where it's all coming from right now. All the rugs and fabrics we're designing are really coming from great art - either contemporary art or great art of the 20th century.

AH&L: The scale of your work makes your color choices even more eye-popping. What's your philosophy in terms of scale?

AB: At one point, Bill went to the extreme; he made the biggest sofa that the world has ever known. It's called the Diamond-Baratta sofa. It looks like you took a bicycle pump and blew it up! It took scale to new levels.

WD: We keep trying to improve, to experiment and play with everything because you can go too big for human beings. But everything we do is custom - we make all our own furniture, our own fabrics, our own rugs - so each piece is scaled to the others in the room.

AH&L: You've launched collections for both Lee Jofa and Stark. What can we look for next in terms of product?

WD: We're on our third line for Lee Jofa and it's modern. The first two were freshened-up traditional, but the new collection is much more inspired by modern art.

AB: And at Stark we're always doing new patterns.

WD: And they are also cleaner and more modern. And we just did a line of wallpaper for Old World Weavers. It's very chic and stylish and right now, of the moment.

AH&L: So what's the one piece of design advice you'd give someone?

WD: Be true to yourself.

AB: Stay away from being 'trendy.'

WD: If you do 'trendy,' in two years you're going to hate it if you're doing it because you think it's what you should be doing. But if you're doing it because it's who you are, what you really love, you're going to love it forever.


Diamond Baratta's fabrics are available through Lee Jofa, ADAC, (404) 812-6995
Their rugs are available through Stark Carpets, ADAC, (404) 266-8959
Diamond Baratta Design
(212) 966-8892
diamondbarattadesign.com