From the black leather pants to the
jeweled cross necklace, Peter Marino is undoubtedly a devoted biker. And the
serpent tattoo and mohawk only add to this unique style of his. However, what
you wouldn’t expect from this buff being is the work he creates when away from
his bike. While his clothing isn’t quite considered ‘high-end’, the places he designs for are
quite contrary. In fact, he has been referred to as the “Leather Daddy of
Luxury” seeing as he has designed for everyone who’s anyone, including Chanel,
Louis Vuitton, Fendi, and Dior, just to name a few.
Born in Manhattan and raised in North
Queens, Peter grew up in a working class family. He went on to Cornell
University for Architecture and graduated 1971. His inspiration had always been
Andy Warhol, which made it ironic that his first project was to design none
other than Andy Warhol’s townhouse, whom he had met through another young
architect. From there Warhol became his mentor until he unfortunately died in
1987. Marino did many other residential places from there on out, but it wasn’t
until 1985 when Barneys New York hired him that he decided to make the transfer
from residential to retail. From there, his business took off, designing
everywhere from Donna Karan to Valentino. They grew from a 15-man firm to a now
140-man firm.
While not Marino’s personal words,
this quote has been said to accentuate his style; “I want to create the
illusion—and the reality—of permanence”. Marino truly believes in the
integration of both architecture and interiors, which you can see through the
clean nature of both of these. What sets him apart from all of the other
designers is that he creates the full package – inside, outside, and everything
in between. In addition, he has perfected the design to get customers through
all the leather and lipstick and straight to the register, while still
maintaining separate branding for each of the separate designers.
Peter Marino is definitely one to
push limits, as one must to make it in this industry. The 62-year-old won an
AIA Institute Honor Award in 2007 for his semi-transparent Louis Vuitton
boutique in Hong Kong. He is now doing much more work in the Middle East, where
an influx of money and progressive aesthetics have allowed his designs to reach
new heights and shapes.
“I don’t work like other
architects, so why should I look like them?”
-Peter Marino
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