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: NOW PLAYING :: ARRAY :: Backstory: Jarrett Hedborg Jack Nicholson has an Oscar. And he also has a Jarrett: Los Angeles-based interior designer Jarrett Hedborg, who has helped him (and A-listers like Jim Carrey, Jeff Bridges, and Anjelica Huston) realize their dream homes in Tinseltown. California born and bred (“my Swedish-American parents ran for the sunshine”), the designer’s career has been like a movie—opening with his first star- studded assignments, cutting to his grand-scale work with the Saudi royal family, and spinning off into corporate projects, notably his prototype designs for new Kay Jeweler stores in malls nationwide. Regarding his Brando-like aptitude at career metamorphosis, Hedborg simply says, “If it interests you, you’ll do good. It’s when you’re bored that you don’t do good.” The designer has done well by furniture, with a new line of elegant but casual pieces for A. Rudin Designs, at the Profiles showroom at The New York Design Center (200 Lexington Ave., 212-679-9500). “My mandate from A. Rudin, which I’ve worked with for years, is ‘Do what you do,’” Hedborg says of his end tables, chairs, beds, and sofas, which are made with an eye toward comfort rather than extravagance and favor down-to-earth materials like wood for a homey, relaxed feel that recalls mid-century American design. “I take the postwar optimism of Scandinavian modernism and Ray and Charles Eames as my inspiration. It’s something that everyone, from conservatively dressed ladies to kids with spiked hair, responds to. They say, ‘It works for me,’ to which I say, ‘Then go, go, go with it.’” Array: How has Hollywood influenced your sensibility? Hedborg: Designers tend to invent themselves, and we invent ourselves first from the movies. Some hate to admit their debt to set design; they’ll say they mourn the loss of the great homes of England, but what they really miss is those houses as portrayed by MGM, not the real ones, which are cold and dark and pitiful. Here’s a tip for an up-and-coming designer who immediately wants to be thought of as incredibly chic: Find a Vincente Minnelli movie called The Reluctant Debutante (1958) and copy Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall’s Belgravia drawing room. You will be famous. The designers got it right. Array: Your Rolodex is filled with star names. How did you go about filling it? Hedborg: Strangely enough, that’s where I started my career. Jack Nicholson was starting to amass his art collection when we met 25 or so years ago. I had a master’s degree in painting from California State University and we both shared an interest in art, and he said, “If you’re going to collect it, it’s good to have someone around who’s actually studied it.” My own fascination was for that period in Europe, in the 17th century, where the decorative arts and painters like Charles Le Brun were taken seriously, and that in turn got me interested in design. Jack was my second or third client when I entered the field. Array: What is your celebrity clientele looking for when they contact you? Hedborg: Mostly they’re looking for a place to hide. And who can blame them? [Laughs] Array: How receptive are they to collaboration? Hedborg: There’s this idea of them being all about themselves, which isn’t true. They’re very used to group work and like to hear ideas about what they’re trying to do. They all give me a lot of leash to do what I do—Jack likes contemplative, tranquil design for his art collection, Bette Midler was Miss Bloomsbury (flowers, flowers, flowers), and Jim Carrey wanted a bunch of Hawaiian stuff for his office. I’ve found that the more famous they are, the easier they are to get along with. None of them have tried to hurt me yet. [Laughs] Array: Your career has taken you into even higher stratums of society. Hedborg: Yes, working with what I call “high-end royalty,” notably the son of the king of Saudi Arabia on a couple of enormous palace projects, like 150,000 sq. ft. When I went out there for the first time, Jack said to me, “Jarrett, it’s your Batman”—and that was exactly right. Array: It was for you the blockbuster summer release. Hedborg: The big movie. And it was more akin to set design than to interior design, as I had 25’ ceilings to work with. The funny thing, however, is that everyone thinks the budgets on those projects must be astronomical, but the Saudis really understand the concept of dollar-per-foot cost; they are nobody’s fool. I’ve been going out there for 15 years, and it’s interesting reading what people write about a country they’ve never been to. The more you see, the less opinionated you are. My last trip was two days before the Iraq War broke out. Array: For a lot of people, interior design means those “home makeover” reality TV shows. Are you a fan? Hedborg: Designers like them because we love train wrecks. [Laughs] I hate to say anything negative, but for anyone who watches those shows who’s thinking about getting into the field, here’s the big headline: Interior design is not shopping. There’s this implication that we’re all gleefully jumping from store to store buying consumable products. Purchasing is maybe 10-20% of what we do, and we always use a tape measure, which is something you never see on TV. Most of our time is spent planning. On the positive side, they let viewers know that they can get rid of the white box they’re living in. Array: What led you into furniture design? Hedborg: I design furniture to fill holes in the market. For this collection, I developed a bed and a bedside table—the table is something everyone uses a lot without realizing it. They’re usually pretty, but maybe not practical. Mine have drawers so that you can shove everything in when company comes over, and a shelf below to fit all the half-read books that will sit there forever. Designers who purchase them can dress them up or dress them down. Informal doesn’t have to be dumpy or unkempt. All my pieces are comfortable for real-life use and attractive enough to go into a beautifully designed home without making you feel that you have to wear a suit in every single room. [Laughs] Array: Bringing it back home again, do you have a quintessential Hollywood story? Hedborg: A designer friend of mine, John Patton, had done an office for a studio bigwig. Well, he took a walk, this being Hollywood, and another bigwig took his place. He hired me, so I called John to ask him what he had done, and he said that he just finished the office and had done this, and this, and this. No sooner had I redone the office than my bigwig was out—and his was back in. John called me and said, “What did you do?” and when I told him, he said, “Oh, thank God, I always wanted to get rid of that.” [Laughs]