One on One
Vincente Wolf
For famed designer, author and photographer Vicente Wolf, who came to the U.S. from Cuba in 1961, life is a journey full of twists and turns, with a new experience awaiting around every corner.

For famed designer, author and photographer Vicente Wolf, who came to the U.S. from Cuba in 1961, life is a journey full of twists and turns, with a new experience awaiting around every corner. On this particular day, the journey has brought him to Atlanta for the opening of his photography exhibit at the Naomi Silva Gallery on Bennett Street. Wolf is fit, tan and casually stylish in a form-fitting shirt, his gray hair the only hint of age. He is soft-spoken, with a quick and sarcastic wit and an air of confidence, which he has rightfully earned.

How did you become interested in photography?
I am a visual person. I've been a photography collector for 30 years. I learn instinctually and taught myself to take photographs about eight years ago. I am always challenging myself to look at things differently.

Do you use a digital camera?
The problem with digital cameras is you have to read the instructions. I've never passed a grade in my life. I spent two weeks in design school and walked out as soon as they told us the 'correct' length curtains should be. Design is not about rules.

Your most recent book, Crossing Boundaries: A Global Vision of Design, is filled with photographs you took while traveling around the world for three years. But this was hardly a luxurious tour, was it?
When you travel you should be able to step out of your comfort level. When I'm in New York working in the high-end world of design, it's easy to start to think of that life as reality. But true reality is cooking dinner on the jungle floor. My travels are reality.

What is the point you are trying to get across to the readers of your book?
We need to have dialogue with the rest of the world. We are too isolated in politics and the arts. I want people to see these countries through my creative vision, not like they are seeing them on the pages of National Geographic.

It is about design, too, isn't it?
Yes, I wanted people to see where I found something and where it ended up in an interior.

You are known for the lack of color and pattern in your interiors.
My new book has more color in it, but even when I have color in a room, it still reads neutral. Shapes and forms get lost in patterns. I believe a space should be perceived from an architectural point of view.

You designed the interior of Steve Wynn's hotel in Las Vegas. Vegas seems like an unusual place for your interiors, with the classic lines and neutral palettes you are known for.
I love the overtly wanton-ness of Vegas. It was a great experience.

Do you plan to publish another book in the future?
Yes, my next book will be about how to look at a space from the beginning to the end of the design process. I want to teach people something with my books. In my first book, I explained how I got where I am today. I wasn't telling people to do it my way, but giving them guidelines to follow.

What about style? How does a person find his own sense of style?
You can find your own style by being conscious of the things that bring you pleasure.

What advice do you have for artists and designers?
At some point everyone comes to a fork in the road, when you have to decide to either 'give 'em what they want' and possibly have broader success, or to remain true to what you believe in, even though you may be less commercially successful. My advice is to remain true to your beliefs.

Vicente Wolf is principal of Vicente Wolf Associates Inc. in Manhattan. Locally, his photography is carried by Naomi Silva Gallery, (404) 350-8890; naomisilvagallery.com. To buy a copy of his newest book, Crossing Boundaries: A Global Vision of Design, visit atlantahandl.com/atlanta/bookstore.html - it will be the first book listed.