Designer Crush: David Galullo
Author:Michelle Konstantinovsky1. Who is your biggest role model?
Through my entire life, my father has been my role model. He was a carpenter and when I was a child he started his own business. It was never easy, but his work ethic and his desire to give the family the best life he could kept him at it. He was a good man – honest to the core. His work was beautiful, but the joinery he was most proud of was his long-lasting relationships that he built over his lifetime. He is gone now, but with every challenge and with every success that I experience I think of him. Would he be proud? I think he would be.
2. Which movie or play do you wish you could have designed the set for?
The Shining. Sorry, Mr. Nicholson, but the hotel is the star of that film.
3. What is the best way to gauge a client’s personality before starting a project?
We always do as much research on our clients as possible ahead of engagement. In many ways the interaction with our clients is intimate and intense so our interviewing process is as much about our gauging our interest in working with the client as it is about them reviewing our credentials. It is a relationship as much as anything and it is important to trust each other. Having said that, generally, I follow my gut and avoid entering into a new relationship with red flags a-blazing. Frankly if they seem difficult – they usually are.
4. What new design elements are you excited to integrate into your work?
I am most interested in new material technologies – It is here that I find the most excitement – spaces are becoming smarter and more reactive to the users and at the same time more user-unfriendly because of the inconsistent and unsophisticated integration of technology. This will only get better as more intuitive and integrated solutions come to market (I’m at least hoping..) I long for the day that a fabric will cool to the touch on a hot day and a bed can sense your nighttime trip to the toilet and signal your sheets to glow to light the way…
5. How do you completely unwind?
I garden, tend to my goats, chickens, ducks and my Basenji on our property in Sonoma. It is the essence of unwinding…
6. If you hadn’t become a designer, which career would you have pursued?
A chef. Really, a designer in its own right as it needs to look good, have a range of textures, build a mood with colors AND taste great. Currently, I never have to worry about how the sofa tastes?
7. What’s the worst pre-designer job you’ve ever had and why?
Sweeping floors for my father’s construction company. Looking back, it taught me humility at a time when I had little, so I guess that’s a plus.
8. What’s your favorite recipe?
Homemade watermelon/basil shrub, vodka, seltzer topped with a bruised basil leaf….heaven.
9. Create your perfect playlist for us.
10. Who is your designer crush?
At the moment, I’m crushing on Arent & Pyke, an interior design firm based in Sydney Australia.
Lightning round!
11. Would you rather shop new or vintage?
Vintage.
12. First celebrity crush?
Philippe Stark.
13. What’s your hidden talent?
I am secretly, and exclusively in my head, a great singer…
14. Best restaurant in your area? Where is it?
Basalt, Napa
15. SF or LA?
BOTH! It lends perspective!
