Peter Marino
September 6, 2007 
Designer We Love
Peter Marino
Website Address
Quotable Quote
People think my work is sculptural, but I think it's painterly.
Background
Architectural degree from Cornell. Earned his architecture chops at Skidmore Owings & Merrill, George Nelson, I.M. Pei/Cossutta & Ponte. Struck out on his lonesome in 1978. Today has 8 Associates, 135 employees, offices in Philly, New York, Southampton, Santa Barbara, and Paris.
Residential and retail designer for Fendi, Armani, Warhol, Valentino, chanel, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Donna Karan, Barneys New York. 2006 honor elevated Mr. Marino to a Fellow by the American Institute of Architects and awarded an AIA Merit in Design award for the Nassau County Museum of Art.
Many awards and thrilled clients have piled up through the years.
Designers He Loves
In a recent Businessweek article, Marino picked his 10 favorite buildings of the past 100 years. Buildings came from design greats Santiago Calatrava, Renzo Piano, Herzog & de Meuron, Josef Hoffmann, Jean Nouvel, Luis Barragan, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Louis I. Kahn, and Oscar Niemeyer.
What We Love
Peter Marino combines incredible knowledge and education of furniture, art, architecture, and design into one complete package. He can integrate all of these elements seamlessly, much like the great architects of the past. Frank Lloyd Wright comes to mind in terms of the same wholistic approach to design - from the structure itself down to the doorknobs.
Let's face it, the fellow is highly regarded by the top fashion designers. When Georgio Armani asks you to design his personal residence, this is a complete honor.
Peter Marino took on an early commission for a friend of Design2Share's, creating a boutique clothing store in St. Thomas in the '70s frequented by jet setters and the yacht crowd. His flagship stores for fashion houses have really put him on the design map, and we were wowed by his impressive 2004 Chanel flagship in Tokyo, a building that turns into a brilliant wall of video at night, courtesy of 700,000 LEDs.
We think his work overall is clean, luxurious, elegant, and detailed. Poltrona Frau, the high-end Italian furniture company, will soon release his first retail line of furniture. Our advice: go for it.
Peter Marino Sampler
Photo Credits: Poltrona Frau, Peter Marino Architect, MediaArchitecture.org, AIA.org, Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images, RobbReport.com
Peter Marino, architecture, fashion in designer, interior designer 
