Straight Aero

Recently, three very different people have spoken to me of passion.  A professor, a designer and a curator each used the word and evoked the emotion though none referred to the physical, instead to writing, to home and to art.  

Not one of the three is flamboyant.  When they speak with their hands they keep them close to their frames; they do not spread wide and flail about.  While each of them wears color, it is usually of cooler hues. Sometimes richer – rust, bittersweet, mocha, but I cannot remember any of them in red.

These three remind me of my friend, Thomas O’Brien, whom I met six years ago.  He has inspired me and taught me, made me laugh and made me lunch.  He, too, has spoken to me of passion and with passion about his work and his homes and his life. 

Aero, his shop in Soho in New York is one of these passions and its spirit and its evolution is at the core of Thomas’s latest book.  While it is the heart of the story, I fear the title may cause someone to think, “It’s about a store.”

It is not about a store, but rather the curing of an aesthetic.  Through the text, beautifully rendered by Lisa Light who has translated Thomas’s philosophy into print, you can follow him finding his way to a very thoughtful life.

If you don’t read design books, which you should as there is always more to learn about the pictures, you will enjoy this for the images: Thomas’s first apartment in New York, Aero’s first location and pictures of his friend’s, Laura Resen’s, homes which offer a perspective on his influence in more transferable environments.

Aero: Beginning to Now is a very good book in a very good book season.  You can find it here.