Bérénice Eveno and Serban Ionescu with Zélie and Azure in Brooklyn.
Todd Selby became a phenomenon when he launched his website, , in 2008. He photographed interiors in a way that we hadn’t seen before; they were messy and un-zhuzhed: documents of how we really live. And they had a sense of humor. In 2010, he published first book, The Selby in Your Place, followed by Edible Selby (2012) and Fashionable Selby (2014). And then, nothing for a decade, until now, with the arrival of this month from Abrams Books.
In its introduction, he recalls how he found his voice as a photographer in 2007, while taking a portrait of Tom Wolfe in his apartment: “On the desk in his study, he had a lamp with a hat on top of it. I was fascinated by that lamp. It said something about him that words could not describe. My portrait of Tom Wolfe was okay. But my photograph of Tom Wolfe’s lamp was spectacular. At least to me. I realized that people’s spaces and possessions have stories to tell, and all of my books can be traced back to this moment.”
So what has he been up to over the last decade since his last book? He started a production company making TV commercials and ad photoshoots. But like the 41 families from around the world he features in the book, he’s also been busy with creating, and raising, his own family.
“I have two kids; an 8-year-old and a 6-year-old,” he says when we spoke over Zoom. (He lives in Los Angeles.) “So basically once I had kids, I put the books on the shelf as you will, you know? Then it was time to get back out there and at that point my whole life had been transformed, as you can see, from the little ones” — here he points to bulletin board of his kid’s art on the wall behind him — “the children, so I thought that is really what I should do, something about families and homes, because I hadn’t really seen that.” When he had started doing photography, “it was always my nightmare to shoot kids,” he says, laughing. They just added to the chaos of a shoot. “It was like, Oh God, oh … I had to become better at my craft, and I think that challenge and being ready for that, the total unexpected, just going, and not knowing.”
But his photography was always more spontaneous-feeling than typical interior shoots, I remind him. “It’s true,” he says. “I was always unhinged, totally running around, no sign of a tripod!”
This book was the product of four years of research and two years of shooting. It exudes joy.
“Bérénice and I built this apartment together, and it was parallel to us assembling our relationship,” says Ionescu.
“This place is like a metaphor for our relationship,” says designer . “Originally it was going to be my bachelor pad, and during that time I fell in love with Bear. By her second day here in the apartment, she was helping me put polyurethane on the bare pine floor. We had two children here, two home births. It’s changed as we changed.”
Their Brooklyn apartment lives on the border of Red Hook, Cobble Hill, and the Columbia Street Waterfront District. “It’s a small apartment, but there are always activities. We build things with blocks, clay, and paint. We love to draw. We love to play games and dance. I hope the kids will be inspired — all we can do is create a world where it feels like there’s always something 62 unique and exciting for them and for us.”
“We had children here, two home births. I gave up on my past in design, architecture, and more functional ideas up until I started making chairs, walls, and tables for the apartment. It arose again; I felt complete,” he says.
“We moved in fairly quickly, like we rushed in and discovered ourselves after. And the house started shaping us as we were shaping it. It is rare to find a space that you can sculpt as you are changing and evolving.”