Michael Taylor

Michael Taylor (born Earnest Charles Taylor, January 30, 1927 – June 3, 1986) was an American designer best known for creating the "California Look" of interior design. One of Architectural Digest's "20 Greatest Designers of All Time” and "Interior Design Legends". Taylor was noted for his rooms of airiness and light with a prominent use of natural forms and the color white. In 1956, he founded his design company, Michael Taylor Interiors, Inc. Under Michael Taylor Designs, he manufactured his own designs and in 1985 partnered with Paul Weaver to develop and market interior and exterior furnishings to the wholesale design trade. Taylor worked continuously until his death in 1986.

Early life

Childhood Born in Modesto, California in 1927, Michael Taylor moved with his family to the northern California town of Santa Rosa in 1933. There, his childhood was greatly influenced by his maternal grandmother who imparted on him an affinity for natural forms by taking him on daily hikes. It was here that the seeds of Taylor’s design philosophy were first planted, with his interest in the arts shining through even at a young age. Where other young boys collected baseball cards, the young Taylor collected bits of porcelain. However, despite an obvious penchant for aesthetics, his parents wished him to become a doctor. A dream they held onto for years and that he nearly lived out.

Formative years In 1944, Taylor dropped out of High School, where he played football and was active in theater, to join the U.S. Navy. He served as a Navy paramedic until he was discharged in 1946. That experience, however, soured Taylor on the idea of becoming a doctor. Instead, he moved to San Francisco where, in 1947, he enrolled at the Rudolf Schaeffer School of Design. It was there that Taylor learned what he called "the secrets of color." Starting with Syrie Maugham's emphasis on shades of white, adding in the ornateness of Sister Parish and the simple exquisiteness of Frances Elkins' design; Taylor would then infuse his own style. A look born in the past yet completely new.

Implicit in that design philosophy was a melding of styles and ages. A set of antique Italian chairs beside a Roy Lichtenstein print; Chinese chairs set around an unvarnished wood table atop a Yosemite granite base. The next month the San Francisco Chronicle referred to his design of Fleur de Lys restaurant as the "most romantic" in San Francisco.

Famed designer, and one of Architectural Digest's "AD100" (their list of the 100 top international architects and interior designers), Suzanne Tucker was Taylor's protégé. In a 2007 interview, Tucker said, "Michael Taylor was undoubtedly my strongest philosophical influence in that he really demonstrated that design can be a mix of eras and styles, color and form, but the most essential aspect is always scale and proportion." After Taylor's death in 1986, Tucker together with partner, Timothy F. Marks, bought his interior design business, Michael Taylor Interiors, Inc. which has since become Tucker & Marks, Inc. Paul Weaver acquired 100% of the shares in the furniture company, Michael Taylor Designs, in 1986 and operated it until its sale in 2009. Michael Taylor Designs continues to operate showrooms in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and New York.