INTERVIEW JORDAN MOZER
of a chair back or slightly different feet for similar- The German projects give an indication of the breadth arts on the Westside of Manhattan. Some of his peers
looking furniture. Much of Mozer’s work is to be of JMA’s work: retail interiors for department store are also not so patient. “I don’t care about what
found in his hometown of Chicago, with successful giant Karstadt, two restaurant options and the surreal other designers think of my stuff. What I do care
restaurant projects such as the Cheesecake Factory, colossus of the children’s museum at Volkswagen’s about is the people who are using the space. Some
the Hudson Club & Vivere. The city will also see Autostadt in Wolfsburg, Hertzblut bar for Holsten and designers are brainwashed into thinking a bare white
a new hotel by JMA, constructed within a former East Hotel in Hamburg. Connections in Germany led box is beautiful and sometimes it is. I have this other
knitting factory. The die-cast machine parts and to a relationship with Design Hotels which resulted idea of what people want that is more idiosyncratic
reclaimed wooden beams of which will become part in the short lived celebrity of the Royal Hotel on and doesn’t follow those rules,” argues Mozer. “It is
of the mythology of the finished product. The story Miami’s South Beach and an award winning stand compelling and I have a sense that people ‘get it’.”
of the neighbourhood will also be told with the use for the marketing organisation at ITB Berlin. A new
of curtains and lampshades knitted within the local hotel project beckons in Dresden. Not that all passes Just as the layers of stories build up for each project,
community. More prosaically, blue bricks salvaged without censure. “Some of my light fittings have Mozer is also a man of many facets. A degree
from a nearby building site will be re-used as a been criticised as not being functional (with regard in industrial design was followed by a degree in
decorative element. to the light source) but they are functioning because architecture as Mozer amassed the skills that have
they delight people. That is a function of design too,” allowed him to take the ideas of fine art learnt from
Germany has also been a highly productive market. Mozer argues of the emotional content of his work. his mother and apply them to practical situations; “to
In contrast to all that is orderly and rational about create the architecture like an art form.” The ceaseless
the country, Mozer believes that “we provide the There is a sense of wit in much of his output that sketching, a personal interest in jewellery design and
something that is it missing: design full of discovery connects with guests. Take the “handshake” with a sculpting, the vat of knowledge and lack of difference
and secrets.” Nevertheless there have been learnings Mickey Mouse “hand” as guests enter the Surf and between high culture and popular culture mark him
along the way. The host podium at the entrance to a Turf restaurant in Matsuyama, Japan and the “high out as truly a Renaissance man. And we are not
restaurant in the US, for example, is right at the door four” push to leave. Or the references to dancers’ talking Marriott brands any more.
to better provide information to prospective diners. In legwarmers on the legs of his furniture for the Iridium
Germany this is seen as too confrontational. restaurant near the Lincoln Centre for the performing www.jordanmozer.com
038 MARCH / APRIL 2009 INTERVIEW VISIT WWW.SLEEPERMAGAZINE.COM FOR MORE INTERVIEWS
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140