Peter Marino

I'm really a fighter against modernism equaling brutalism.

What frustrates me is florists who put everything at the same size on the table. I like it when there's mountains and valleys.

Nine out of nine architects start with a sketch, and then they say, 'What should we make it out of?' I start from the bottom up - what should it be made out of - and then I worry about what should it look like. The material, the color of the material, the way it feels, and the way you respond to it is every bit as valid as the form or the shape.

I believe that women would crawl across broken glass to get a cool pair of shoes.

I do really modern with materials that are so luxurious that they're, like, baroque.

I have this 'Alice in Wonderland' idea in my head that a garden should be a place of wonderment.

My parents spent a lot of money so I wouldn't sound like I came from Queens. I went to speech class.

All bronzes are made to be touched. Bronze is a sensual 'living' material. The sweat and oil of your palms adds to the patination.

In 1991, if someone came in with a $1 million budget for a boutique, I would have fainted. Nobody spent even half that. But now, the bar has risen very high.

I work 12 hours a day, seven days a week - and I love it. I'm creative. I feel fulfilled. I'm from a solidly lower-middle-class background; I'm not from the world that I'm in now. So I appreciate it a lot. I've really got a rich, full life.

Anytime I see an unusual combination of colors or patterns or texture, I buy it.

If I need a pair of tennis shorts, I'll buy them online. I don't really care. Not going to go and try on a pair and see how my bum looks. Who cares? But for things that you care about - I mean, a jacket and a pair of trousers, you've got to try them on.

Publicity doesn't really get me anything. Clients are not going to hire me for a $100 million building because I have a brand. They really want the product.

It's a good marriage because each of us is what we are, allows the other one to be themselves, and appreciates each other for the right reason. You know, it's rare that you'll find two people who don't try to change the other person and let everyone be what they are.

Design-wise, I look at everything. If I don't personally design it, I'll review it. I'm kind of creative director of the firm.

I like more the fact that I like to think out of the box. Thinking out of the box goes along with dressing out of the box and living out of the box.

If you want to come up with a really original design idea, and you want to capture a whole new design direction, perhaps the best way to arrive at that is not by acting and thinking and doing like everybody else. That's all.

I always look for inspiration, and the creativity of artists is an essential element to my life, my work, and my happiness.

Creating work for the time that one lives in means no retro thinking. It can and hopefully does mean timelessness.

We have a thousand hydrangea plants bordering the house, and they were all supposed to be pink, but a handful of them keep turning purple.