Checking in with Thomas Pheasant

Interior designer Thomas Pheasant spends a lot of time visiting clients from Singapore to San Francisco, and he has an apartment in Paris. But Pheasant, a fourth-generation Washingtonian, also has a lot going on right here. Last month, Pheasant, 57, introduced his latest furniture collection (75 pieces) at the Baker store, just a block from his Georgetown office. Hes working on houses in Kalorama, McLean and St. Michaels. And he recently began a long-term project to refresh the rooms at Blair House, the presidents guest house.

Pheasant is known for his look of luxurious understatement, with interiors that are at the same time modern and traditional, with mainly neutral colors. His client list includes the Hay-Adams Hotel and BET co-founder Sheila Johnson, for whom he designed a 100-year-old stone house in Virginias hunt country. Pheasant is one of the most published designers in Washington, although many of his well-heeled clients prefer to keep their names, if not their living rooms, out of the limelight. He is a fixture on the AD100, the annual list of top architects and designers compiled by Architectural Digest. In the 2012 list, the magazine describes Pheasants work as having restraint, clarity and timelessness.

(From Thomas Pheasant) - Thomas Pheasant

(BAKER) - Pheasants Constellation Mirror was inspired by a brooch he saw in the window of a Paris antique shop.

Pheasant grew up in a split level in Adelphi and studied architecture and interior design at University of Maryland. When I got out of school, all my friends went to New York, but I decided to stay here, Pheasant says. He worked briefly at a fabric showroom and after graduation was hired by designer Victor Shargai as an assistant. At age 24, Pheasant opened his own firm.

I caught up with Pheasant a few weeks ago at the Baker store in Georgetown, where we tested out his new furniture and discussed current projects. Here is an edited transcript.

When did you first know you wanted to be a designer?

On my third-grade field trip, we took a big yellow bus to the National Gallery. As I waited in line, I looked up at the Rotunda. It just overwhelmed me. Its the first emotional connection to a space that I recall, and I was thinking I would love to live there.

In the past decade, how has your design changed?

Both my furniture designs and interiors are moving in the same direction. I am putting a lot of effort into streamlining both. I take classical ideals and strip them down to the essential, whether a sofa or an interior.

Original post:
Checking in with Thomas Pheasant