Clinton Smith is an award-winning journalist with more than a decade’s worth of experience covering the fields of interior design, style, architecture, travel and other lifestyle-related topics. A native Texan, Smith currently serves as the editorial director of Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles magazine.Many of the projects that he has styled and produced over the years have also been featured in international publications including Architectural Digest Italy, AD France, AD Russia, Elle Decor Russia, Elle Brazil, That’s Beijing Home Magazine and publications in South Korea and The Netherlands. He's one talented guy. Take it away, Clinton!Who would you want to play you in a movie?Gregory Peck, but he's unavailable.I wish I could...Pilot a plane. Develop my own blend of coffee. Cultivate a new rose. Speak Spanish. I've always wanted to edit Vogue Mexico, but having a command of the language might be helpful in an interview.My first style memory is…growing up in deep East Texas and going to Dallas, about 2 1/2 hours away. It was so exotic. Shopping is an art form in Texas, and I'm certain that the contemporary architecture and art collection at Northpark Center had some sort of lasting influence on me, a small boy from small-town Texas. What other shopping malls are as beautifully designed, and include works of art by Andy Warhol, Antony Gormley and Frank Stella in its collection? Only in Texas could you have a mall-cum-art museum. The collection of amazing Art Deco structures at Fair Park—home to the Texas State Fair—were always enchanting, as well. All of this sightseeing was taking place at the same time that Dallas, the TV show, was at its peak. Maybe that's why I'm loving so much gilt and glamour right now—I'm sure the style of Southfork is buried somewhere in my subconscious.I could not live with out my....daily walks (and the clarity they give me), nor my Canon G12 camera, Kaweco Sport fountain pens, and the handful of ceramics I made in college while at Ole Miss. They were so challenging to make and turned out beautifully ugly, but I like to keep them on hand as a reminder that not everything in life is easy (or pretty). Sometimes, things don't always have to be perfect; 'perfect enough' is just fine. It also would be difficult to live without guacamole or reruns of Murder, She Wrote.I could live without…loud people, tardiness, excess, riding horses and playing golf. In that order.Pick a photo or décor objet, or piece of clothing that defines your style.
Ellsworth Kelly's outline drawings of nature, particularly the Lemon (Citron) and Oak drawings. They're strong, yet fluid, and perfect in their simplicity.
photo of Clinton by Mali Azima
