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When I spoke with Markham Roberts last week, he was hours away from receiving the Arthur Ross Award for interior design from the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art (ICAA) at The University Club of New York. Still working on his acceptance speech, the AD100 interior designer paused to reflect on his career, from his early days under the design tutelage of Mark Hampton to the standards he hopes to instill within his own team today.
Mel: When you think of mentorship in your career, what comes to mind?
Markham: I was lucky to get to work for Mark [Hampton] and to learn from him. It was sort of like an apprenticeship in the Renaissance, right? He was generous with me, like whenever I was traveling with friends, he would say stay an extra day or two in Italy and would give instructions of what to see and do. He’d say don’t come back unless you have seen them. He really understood the power and value of travel for our trade.
He would send me to the English furniture sales and the French sales—you’d learn so much just walking around and seeing the collections. Because when you're working for [Former US Ambassador to France] Pamela Harriman on the Embassy in Paris, you want to know about French furniture.
I imagine a lot of what you learned from Hampton was observational, too?
Yes, so much of that. There is no substitute for practical working experience in our industry. To learn how people navigate certain situations is key to being able to function with whatever is thrown at you. And there’s a lot thrown at us—the contractor’s late; you have to move the entire installation three weeks; the client has changed their mind. When you’re working on a scale like this, nothing ever goes off without a hitch.
How has the studio workplace changed since your early-career days?
Not to sound like the old Muppet in the balcony, but it's a very different world. We didn't even have cell phones when I started, let alone social media. Mark would give us homework to look up. I had to know Madeleine Castaing and her work because when I was sent out to shop for something like a console, he might say to me, just think Madeleine Castaing or Parish Hadley. There was a lot of learning that is lacking today. Instagram revives interest in somebody like Bunny Mellon, and everybody jumps on the bandwagon for a short time, whereas we learned slower and steadier.
Have you been able to implement similar team-building exercises into your own studio?
We go through shelter magazines occasionally and talk about what we’re seeing, what we think is successful or not successful, what we like or don’t like. I recommend films to watch—Barry Lyndon is a favorite. It would be so great if every Monday were just dedicated to research and discussion, but I don’t want to impede on anyone’s free time. People need their weekends.
Honestly, the problem with today versus back then is that there is so much less time. We are in much more of a hurry, and it feels as though we’re always trying to catch up. It drives me crazy because good design takes time and work to put together. And if you’re going to do it well and without mistakes, you need to do it thoroughly.
What do you blame for that fast-forwarding?
It’s generally a client’s will to get something done. I cannot tell you how many times I get a call from clients like, ‘We just closed on this house in Southampton, and we’d like to be in for the summer,’ and it’s April. I respond with, ‘Good luck finding the person who’s going to jump into that.’ I work fast, but I don’t perform miracles. I want the time to come up with something great for each individual client or project. You have to set expectations, which is also a good litmus test for whether you want to take the client on. If they’re rational people, they’re going to understand—and I don’t want to work with irrational people.
Now that you’re at the helm, what do you hope to instill in your team?
You want to be able to prepare somebody who’s working with you to deal with something when you’re not there. Manners go a long way in professional relationships and in life, and I encourage all the younger people I've worked with to always be as polite and respectful as possible. You need to keep your head about you when dealing with clients or vendors or colleagues. There’s truth to that poster: Keep calm and carry on.
This interview has been condensed and edited for brevity and clarity.
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