CINDY CRAWFORD

The supermodel shares her long-held interest in all things beautiful and functional at home.

The supermodel shares her long-held interest in all things beautiful and functional at home

The name Cindy Crawford has long been synonymous with style. (After all, she’s a supermodel, and let’s not forget about her days hosting MTV’s House of Style.) Crawford’s love of fashion is equally matched by her passion for design. The model’s homes have graced the covers of magazines and she frequently shows off the stunning spaces — and her husband, Rande Gerber, and their children, Presley and Kaia — on Instagram.

But even after owning homes around the world and collaborating with top designers and architects, such as Michael S Smith and Ricardo Legorreta, Crawford still has plenty on her design bucket list. Here, the supermodel and Silestone by Cosentino ambassador talks about how her love of design began and where it’s headed.

I first became interested in design when I was 16. I shared a bedroom with my older sister my whole life, and then she went to college and it was the first time I had a room to myself. I worked in the cornfields in the summer and worked in a clothing store, so I had some money. I couldn’t pick out a new rug because [the rug I had] was made of old scraps of little rugs that my great-uncle had made. The rug was hideous. But that aside, I picked out wallpaper, mini-blinds and a new quilt set. It was the first time I got to create my own environment. And I think I realised the power of that, of creating your own space. Then, as a model, you’re travelling all the time, so your home is like your little cocoon and sanctuary.

I can find design inspiration anywhere. I get a lot from travelling. I was in Lisbon last year. Lisbon excited me about colour, because it was very sunny, and there’s kind of sun-drenched colours there.

Sometimes it could be a piece of clothing, like a fabric that could be a good cushion. I also do a furniture line, and so a lot of times, I’m looking at shapes of furniture. And it’s so easy now with your mobile phone. You take a picture, send it to the design team, and then put your own spin on it. When I’m working on a home I think about comfort and the

way things feel. My husband, he would sacrifice functionality for the look but I wouldn’t — I think that’s my practical mum brain. That’s actually why I really love Silestone, because you get both. I’ve had kitchen benchtops in the past, where if a lemon, God forbid, was squeezed anywhere near it, you’d have a white chalky mark on it. Who wants to live that way?

When my kids were little, I was like, “Can a kid throw up on this?” It had to pass that test. But especially your kitchen benchtop. You do so much on it that you don’t want to have to treat it like some precious thing. My favourite room, where we live in Malibu, is the kitchen/

family room. No matter what, that’s where everyone wants to be. Because if you’re hungry, there’s food there, there’s a TV. We have a super-comfy sofa, and two chairs with swivels. What I love about that room is it just brings everyone together.

Right now we have three houses. We have our main house in Malibu, which we’ve had for 15 years, and a lake cottage in Canada, on the East Coast, outside of Toronto. It’s very Ralph Lauren — that’s what my husband and I both wanted. We both grew up going to lakes in the summer. He went to summer camp, and I just went with my family, but we wanted that experience for our kids. And so we wanted it to feel almost like a log-cabin-camp vibe.

In 2017, we bought a house in Beverly Hills because our kids were getting older. Malibu’s great when they’re little, but they’re starting to be like, “It’s so boring here, we want to be in town.”

The house is mid-century modern, so it’s been fun putting it through our own filter, because some of the mid-century stuff is too low or it’s not comfortable. We get a lot of our furniture upholstered. My husband is very, very picky about the cushion density and seat depth because he’s taller. We’ve got it down now. We know the dimensions we like, so sometimes we just change the body style. We’ve worked with so many amazing designers in the past. But I think we both would like to work with Christian Liaigre, who did François Nars’s house in Bora Bora. We are always referencing him. We love his vibe. It’s rich and luxe, but cool and understated.