Upon graduating from Cornell University, Douglas Durkin began working with New York designers Ellen Lehman McCluskey and Robert Metzger. Soon after, he relocated to San Francisco, where he worked as a principal designer at The Wiseman Group. Deciding to set out on his own, he founded his firm in 2002.

“I learned a lot working for other people for many years,” he explains. “So I think I avoided some of those inherent growing pains.” He believes the firm’s diverse projects—from a Tribeca penthouse to a residence on Hawaii’s Kona Coast—reveal a passion to create spaces that are wholly personal. “Craft and the handmade will always inspire me,” he notes. “I collect textiles from around the world, as well as utilitarian stone vessels, pottery and ceramics.” Durkin’s extensive collection even includes pieces recovered from shipwrecks.

Douglas Durkin

415-255-0540

www.durkindesignom