Charlotte Moss is an interior designer of note, winner of numerous awards, author, photographer, collector, lecturer, blogger, bibliophile, philanthropist, and a child of the South. She has designed numerous product collections for fabric, framed art, furniture, china, jewellery, lamps, rugs and much more. She’s an entrepreneur and a risk taker. Charlotte is witty, articulate and bright as a penny.
She began her career in design following eight successful years on Wall Street. She wrote her own business plan and drew her design ideas for her design firm. All of this plus the energy of the Energizer Bunny!
Alright, granted that she’s more than a dozen years my junior, but still, I don’t know where the woman gets all her energy! Just reading her April 5th post for Tete-a-Tete of how she spent her week is exhausting enough to send me to a spa for R & R.
The information from the About Page of Charlotte’s web site would provide enough material alone for a blog post, but I have selected just one paragraph. Charlotte’s most important work is her community service and philanthropic interests. Charlotte serves on several boards of important charities, including The Thomas Jefferson Foundation-Monticello, the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, the New York School of Interior Design, Bard Center for Graduate Studies, the Bone Marrow Foundation, and has been the co-chair for the UNICEF Snowflake Gala for the past five years.
Being interviewed last year by Anna Millman for HGTV’s Design Happens, when asked if she uses her own photography in work for her clients, she replied, “No, I never do! …Never my own art. I’d feel so insecure! I know my limits, but I have fun with my photography. I’m always refining my eyes. My husband allows me to stop and take photos when we are out. He brings a book, so I don’t bore him.” (Did I mention that she has a divine sense of humor?)
Megan Buerger, for the Washington Post’s Lifestyle, asked where do people go wrong in decorating. Charlotte Moss said, “This can be summed up in two words: bad lampshades. Don’t build this big house, do all this decorating, write all these checks and then put a bad lampshade on a beautiful nightstand.” Moss collects books. “I’ve got three libraries and my greatest fantasy is to be locked inside with just my dogs and enough food and wine to keep me alive.”
David Patrick Columbia’s New York Social Diary elicited one of the most revealing interviews. When asked what she was currently reading, she said she loves biographies, especially about women. “I named all my furniture and all my fabric after women. I have a whole photography and drawing collection of women: woman as muse.”
Responding to whether or not there was an object in her own home that was special-“The older I get, the less I connect to things. Things tie you down. I do love being here but I don’t ever want to be a prisoner to things.” How wise a lesson we should all learn!
Asked what she enjoyed about the practical aspect of design and if she liked getting paint under her fingernails, the retort was a practical one. “I guess it really depends on where I’m going that night and do I have time for a manicure in between!” And how well does she tolerate mess? Again, a logical response. “Well, I have a messy husband, and you know something, I’d rather have it that way than the other way around.” She may tolerate messiness in others, but judging from the pictures of her dressing room and her shoe closet, I’d say she demands order and neatness of herself.
Charlotte will be speaking at the Washington Design Center of April 17th. Here’s the photo from the invitation which incorporates Charlotte’s Break The Rules ad for Fabricut.
So, summing up, Charlotte is one savvy, sophisticated, successful, southern lady with a delicious sense of humor!
– Lorre Lei
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