What are you reading?

I'm reading this book on Florence Broadhurst, who was a wallpaper designer from Australia, called "Her Secrets and Extraordinary Lives" by Helen O'Neill. She was actually brutally murdered at the end, probably by an acquaintance — they never figured it out. I also read blogs every day ... like The Sartoralist and Refinery29.com, which feature a lot of emerging designers, usually from New York, and Face Hunter...to keep an eye on what's going.

How did you discover O'Neill's book?

We're doing prints at Fighting Eel now, so I was researching prints and came across the book. I bought it originally for the library of her prints in the back, and then I picked it up recently to start reading it again. It's pretty interesting. I think a lot of her wallpapers are going back into production. It's a new trend coming back.

What do you like most about it?

She was in business in the '60s and '70s and was in her 60s at the time, so she was a character. She was a singer first and then she moved to England and she designed clothes under a French name, and then she moved back to Australia, and then became a portrait painter. So she had different lives, and she was kind of a hard ass and a woman in a man's world.

As a young designer, is it affirming and inspiring to read about someone who long ago chose the same path you have?

She's not really anything like me; she's a very different personality. She was more chasing fame than an idea or a dream. ... But I do things because I like them, and turn to her as a jumping off point for our new design direction.