CHARLOTTE MOSS- by Susanna Salk for 1stdibs
“Decorating is a psychological and emotional journey of discovery,” says design maven Charlotte Moss. And as much as Moss seamlessly guides her clients through the realization of their own homes, it was a personal epiphany that recently caused her to turn her insight inwards. “I had just come out with my newest book,  Flair for Living, explains Moss, “yet I was so stretched, I was unable to enjoy my own life.”

 Launching and running the eponymous Manhattan store that celebrated her passion for living well was for her, like wearing golden handcuffs. “Having it look and feel just the way I wanted took every fiber of my being and eventually there was just no time to enjoy it -(emdash) nor anything else.” Because she doesn’t just advise about how to live life with stylish zest, but is its active participant, (with a thriving design firm, licensing business, and substantial charity involvement), it eventually became time to practice what she preached. And in true Moss fashion, she closed the doors on her store and while in fluid motion, opened the windows onto the design world for her lucky followers with two upcoming books, (one which will celebrate the muse in design and “whatever inspires us” and the second on the domestic side of Jacqueline Kennedy), a new fabric line (to be launched in 2010), a decorative accessories collection, (premiering next year), and her ever-blossoming website.

On the her Internet site, Moss says,“It’s great being able to share all the aspects of what I love in one place.”  The site not only offers shoppers some of her favorite picks for sale such as a crocodile leather case, shagreen cuffs, or a “Walk the Dog” fur vest, but also encourages us to be engaged in a kind of virtual “tete a tete” salon on subjects which freshly inspire her , whether it be sharing photos from her recent trip to Paris or viewing a newly completed Charlotte Moss designed room for a charity show house.

One has a sense that Moss has been pragmatic since she was born. The oldest of five children, she is the first to admit that her love for all that is home is thanks to the graces and talents of the women who raised her in Richmond, Virginia. “My mother and grandmother were a constant in my life and they created and raised their households so well,” remembers Moss. “From them I learned that you can tell very often who is happy by looking at their house.” Home as a priority was key - not only how it was kept but simply being there. 

With a thriving interiors practice, six books as design author, 20 years as acclaimed lecturer, overseer of five luxury licenses in her name ( most recent of which are her “Left Bank” home fragrance for Agraria and  her“L’Espalier” collection for Pickard China), not to mention managing three residences (Manhattan, East Hampton, and Aspen)  that she shares with husband Barry Friedberg, Moss exemplifies not only living with flair but a flair for living. “I have this fantasy that I live in a turn key type of a house, maybe on a cliff in the Hollywood Hills or in a field in the south of France,” the latter about which she says, “It’s all stone floors inside with rugs willy nilly and no moldings or wallpaper. There’s a freedom in that kind of living. But then I realize how happy I am with how things really are.  We all have another house in our head – it comes with the territory.
But I want to live for today enjoy what is here…now. Today is all there is.”