Seasoned designer Dan Mazzarini has started a new chapter, launching Mazzarini & Co. Prior to launching his award-winning firm BHDM Design in 2012, Mazzarini traveled the world while working as Director of Store Design at Ralph Lauren. This new identity marks the design studio’s evolution. “Our latest chapter underscores our vision by allowing us to push further: exploring fresh ideas, methods of collaboration, and experiences that surprise and delight at every scale,” Mazzarini says. The firm’s project roster ranges from private residential homes, to hospitality spaces like the Harvard Club and Grand Central Terminal, and commercial spaces like Google and One Medical.
What does this new chapter mean to you, both personally and professionally?
I’m really thinking of this as an evolution—sort of a “same great taste, with a great new look.” Working for and with brands for so many years, I became a master of helping to define other people’s aesthetic and experience. Two years ago, we started our sister brand Archive, which became a study in my personal style. Nurturing that study really clarified my personal aesthetic for myself (I think it was pretty clear to everyone else…) and encouraged me to put my name on our look and work. For me, rebranding to Mazzarini & Co. is a manifestation of where we’ve grown as a team, the equity we’ve built in the name, and candidly, the opportunity to associate my personality with the work we design more intentionally. Also, the “& Co.” was a really important piece to me—I’m honored to be supported and surrounded by so many talented people every day in our work, and so I needed a way to acknowledge them all in the new name too.
Three words describe your interior style?
Crisp, approachable, narrative.
What principles did you learn at Ralph Lauren that still influence your work today?
The top of the list was that I learned how to decorate. I went to school for interior design, but the focus was really on concept and architecture. Working at Ralph [Lauren] was really a finishing school for so many people: How to style a table, how to frame art, how to hang a salon wall, and shopping for antiques. My time [there] definitely ingrained a need for exactness, not perfection (which it often was…): The exact right vase, chair, shabby pillow, or vintage mirror. All of it was in service of setting a scene, a cinematic vision, and bringing a full narrative to life. I’m certainly not the first to laud Mr. Lauren and team for being a master at storytelling, but the influence on me and my style is still profound.
How did working in a fashion-centric environment shape your approach to interiors?
Prior to starting my firm, I had always been in fashion, and I think the biggest takeaway for me is that there should be a DNA to a brand. Once you define it, it helps everyone get on board for that story, and the answers to design problems—and frankly, a lot of corporate cultural aspects are easily answered.
What draws you to hospitality projects and how do you approach them?
Hospitality is sort of the perfect mix of my retail background and residential sensibility. Retail is all about defining and storytelling, and I think the best hospitality spaces do that as well. No matter the project type, I always start with new clients by asking them: “What’s the story you want to tell the world?” I think I’m a born storyteller and narrator, and hotels are great incubators for a good story. From the big picture to the smallest detail, we love to think about it all.
You’ve worked with iconic brands like Google and Waldorf Astoria. How do you help the brand’s identity shine through via design?
While totally different, both of these brands approach us with strong narrative directives, and key touchpoints to design. For me, differentiating and creating surprise and delight are the reasons that people come back to a space, so our job is to first understand the brand, and second to layer a bespoke narrative on top of it. Translation, interpretation, and innovation are all important to making a brand’s identity shine in unique and joyful ways.
What trends are you seeing in the hospitality space?
Still meeting people where they are work-wise: Everyone is on virtual meetings, especially when one is traveling, so backdrops in rooms, lobby lounges that are powered and ready for coffee-to-cocktail use, and thoughtful places to plug in and unplug all keep spaces active and useful at all times of day. We’re also seeing branded residences expanding across all sectors, underlining our blend of residential sensibility and commercial durability. Wellness is still part of the discussion, but the smartest brands are not trying to be everything for everyone: You’re the wellness brand, or the new business traveler brand, or ‘bleisure’ (business to leisure), or art and leisure. Specificity creates deeper narratives, and more intentional touch points for the user experience.
Dream project?
Yacht! Casino! An island resort! Really anything large-scale that’s a new typology for me, and where I can wave my hands a lot while talking (that’s the Italian part of the brand name showing…). Honestly, I’m excited for projects where we get to learn and assess at the beginning—learning, applying that knowledge, and coming up with new answers is how I think about our work; we always want to be growing and evolving as people and a team.